AndyO Blog

There were two things Brenda wanted to do on Oahu: snorkel in Hanauma Bay and visit the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). So this was the day we visited PCC. 

Along the way, we stopped at Romy's Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp, one of the many recommended shrimp shack's on the island. Upon arriving, we opened our car doors and were blasted by a wave of GARLIC aroma. I've never smelled garlic so strong in my life -- as if they were roasting it in the fields. Brenda was in heaven.

We joined the long line for shrimp. A sign proclaimed:

This is not fast food. It is good food, as fast as we can make it.

The sign represents an artifact of the sad, fast-food reality that we live in today. People expect McDonald's-level service speed everywhere they go. But as our 20-minute estimated wait time extended to about 40 minutes, I started to question whether good food should really take this long -- especially when you're sweating in the shade past the point of comfort.  

Romy's website explains:

Romy's Kahuku Prawns and Shrimp is one of the "must see" spots when visiting the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Harvested daily, Romy's prawns and shrimps are cooked live for the most succulent seafood on the island. Drop by for lunch or dinner when you are visiting the hot spots of the North Shore.
The food is four-star quality, but the roadside "shrimp stand" atmosphere guarantees a real taste of local culture.

When the shrimp arrived, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. We're so used to having our food killed, prepared, cooked, and packaged, it's a shock when shrimp and prawns show up with the heads intact. I started peeling away. The pitiful, small napkin I received with the meal was soon so full of mustard-yellow shrimp goo that I abandoned the idea of ever taking any pictures of this meal. And, really, why would I want to? 

After eating only one or two of these shrimp (which tasted wonderful by the way), I started to lose my appetite a little. Brenda was undeterred. She even offered to gut a jumbo prawn for me (full of even more guts), which I gladly accepted.

I totally admit it: I'm just a wimpy American male who's used to getting my food on a platter, ready to eat. It's a good thing to experience the messy reality of real food (and I didn't even have to cook it). It's not like this is cheap food. 

So, if you don't mind sweating outside and working a little to get to the delicious food, Romy's is your place.

Labels: Oahu 2012, Travels

Today, we went on our first snorkeling adventure of this trip. We decided to try out one of the most recommended sites on the island, Shark's Cove on the North Shore.

We got up early (well, early for me anyway) and drove about 15 minutes from Turtle Bay Resort to Pupukea Beach Park, where Shark's Cove is located. There we left our car unlocked (as you do in Hawaii), and took our gear down to the beach. Because we didn't want to get anything stolen, we left all cameras, phones, and other electronics at the hotel (which is why there are no pictures). But here's one I found on ShoreDiving.com that shows Shark's Cove from the air. TropicalSnorkeling.com has a great page about Shark's Cove with more photos.

Groups of divers did their pre-dive checks in the park above the cove, most of them from Japan, Europe, and other countries outside the U.S. We found our way down the steep, rocky trail to the beach. Here, we found slivers of course sand between mounds of volcanic rock. We found a good spot to set up camp and headed out.

I've always had difficulty with snorkeling -- at least on the first day. The combination of the mask and snorkel is a claustrophobic experience. But except for navigating the rocks to get out into the bay, and then getting used to the 75-degree water (which is cold at first), I was snorkeling above some breathtaking underwater scenery in less time than any other trip. Never had I seen so many species of fish in one place. One moment I was floating almost inches above a reef and the next above an abyss of clear, blue water.

And in case you're wondering, there weren't any sharks there in Shark's Cove on this day. From what I've read, they are infrequent visitors.

As the morning hours ticked away, crowds of other snorkelers found their way to the beach and water. This made it nearly impossible to move around in the water without bumping into someone. After two hours of snorkeling and sitting at the beach, we left the crowds.

Lunch at the Turtle Bay Resort

After the post-snorkel ritual of showering, enjoying the view from the hotel, and relaxing, we headed off to lunch at Ola Restaurant at the resort.

This is the kind of Hawaiian restaurant you fantasize about, as you're almost dining right on the beach (you can even eat on the beach if you want). For some reason, after snorkeling I'm always ravenous for a hamburger. We started off with the Seared Beef Poke as an appetizer, which was good -- but had a little too much fat for us (which we told them).

For lunch, Brenda and I split a North Shore Cheddar Cheese Burger and a Grilled Fresh Island Fish. It was all excellent.

After lunch, I'm semi-embarassed to say, I sat around for most of the day (in between calls from our son Cameron with Xbox problems and questions). It was definitely a relaxing day.

As the day wore on, I noticed the searing sensation of sunburn on my neck and back --uncomfortable but not really painful. Brenda came up with the theory that our sunscreen had washed away after our first snorkeling run at Shark's Cove. And since Brenda spent more time in the water than I did (face down, as you do when snorkeling), she was also more burned on her back and legs. 

This was actually the first time I've been burned in Hawaii, and I realized it was one of the first times I'd gone snorkeling without one of those UV shirts. I knew what I'd be picking up before I went snorkeling again.

Labels: Oahu 2012, Travels

Our last stop on our Pearl Harbor tour was the U.S.S. Missouri. You have to take a bus to get to the Missouri, as it's moored on Ford Island, an active military base.

As you drive out to the island, there's an announcement on the bus intercom about not taking pictures during the drive. Once you're there, you walk across the dock to the battleship directly ahead of you.

It was on the U.S.S. Missouri that the Japanese Empire surrendered to the Allied Forces on September 2, 1945. A plaque now commemorates the spot where the surrender document was signed.

Besides being the location of this historic event, I learned a lot about the Missouri:

• She was the last battleship built by the United States. With modern aircraft and aircraft carriers, battleships became obsolete.
• She was decommissioned in 1955 after fighting in World War II and the Korean War.
• She was reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the Navy's 600-ship Plan and went on to fight in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. (I guess battleships weren't obsolete.) 
• The U.S.S. Missouri Memorial Museum organization must keep the ship ready to go back to sea. (Now the ending of the movie Battleship makes a little more sense.)
• She barely fits through the Panama Canal and makes horrible sounds as she scrapes through it.
• The teak deck is in poor shape and is currently being refinished. Here's the difference between the refinished deck (on the left) and the weathered deck (on the right):

• She has nine 16-inch guns that can fire a 2,700-pound shell 23 miles.

But what most surprised me about the ship was its size. When we traveled through the decks below, it felt like a small city, complete with offices, kitchens, computer rooms, bunk rooms, and everything else. Of course the officers' areas have more space.

Here's a view from the bridge with the Arizona Memorial in the distance.

Reflections on World War II

Seeing these two memorials together like this kept bringing me back to the same questions about World War II: Why did it happen? Could it have been avoided? 

As I walked around these memorials with many Japanese tourists, I wondered why these people who are now our friends had become the enemy by 1941. After all, the Japanese were our allies in World War I.

To understand why the Japanese attacked, you have to go back to 1870, when it became a modernized nation. With this change came a powerful, modern military. But Japan was also dependent on other nations, as it lacked natural resources. If you don't have the resources you need, you either trade for them or take them from other nations.

Japan began to flex its military muscles at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. They went to war with China from 1894-1895 and Russia from 1904-1905. The result was that Japan became the dominant power in the Far East. They also achieved their objective of creating a larger buffer against future attacks.

The Great Depression pushed Japan over the edge into total militarization and Fascism, similar to what was happening in Germany. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria. After international outrage, Japan resigned from the League of Nations.

By 1937, Japan was in a full-scale war with China. As atrocities mounted from Japan's occupation, including the Nanking Massacre, the U.S. supported China with money, fighter pilots (The Flying Tigers), and supplies. When Japan invaded French Indochina in 1941, the U.S. froze all Japanese assets and cut off its oil supply (the U.S. supplied 80% of Japan's oil).

With its back against the wall, Japan became even more aggressive. Plans were made to knock out the U.S. fleet stationed on Oahu. With that fleet destroyed, Japan could continue its conquest across the Pacific, unchallenged.

But beyond an initial victory at Pearl Harbor, it didn't turn out well for Japan. At the end of the war:

• 2,620,000 to 3,120,000 million Japanese had been killed (military and civilians)
• Millions of people were slaughtered by the Japanese during their conquests and occupations (the number is somewhere between 5.4 - 30 million, but we'll never really know)

The conclusion I've come to is that wars will happen. Countries (or certain people in them) will want things they don't have (including strategic locations or resources). The invention of the atomic bomb changed the nature of war, as was seen throughout the Cold War. And then terrorism in the 21st century changed it again. Through it all, the military industrial complex has continued to feed the machine.

So all I can hope for is that our leaders learn from their mistakes and we never have a war like World War II again.

Here's a sign I saw in Chinatown in Honolulu that sums everything up pretty well:

Labels: Oahu 2012, Travels

After seeing the Arizona Memorial, we visited two other ships at the park.

Our first stop was the WWII submarine, U.S.S. Bowfin (SS-287). I'd never been on a submarine before and had always wondered what they were like inside (especially after seeing all those movies).

The Bowfin was launched exactly one year after the Pearl Harbor attack, earning her the nickname "The Pearl Harbor Avenger." She completed nine complete tours, and sunk many vessels during the war.

A tour of the U.S.S. Bowfin

The first thing that I noticed was the deck of the submarine actually sits far above the hull of the ship -- so much so that you feel a little uneasy when you walk above it. Pipes and other machinery criss-cross the hull in this space. Here's a photo I took that shows what this looks like:

The red rectangle in these blueprints will give you some idea of how much space is below the deck line (note that the deck slopes up).

Upon entering the sub from behind the Escape Trunk area, we dropped into the forward torpedo tube bay. It was here I began to get some idea of the complexity of this machine. It actually reminded me of a Apollo Command Module or some of the other spacecraft I've seen.

It was no surprise the submarine was a cramped space, but I was able to move easily through the compartments.

The command area of the sub contains all the dials, gauges, and controls you see in those WWII movies. Here, Brenda and I are operating the wheel that submerges the sub:

Here's where the crew slept:

Here's one of the two engine rooms:

Once outside again, I walked up to the conning tower and looked back. I was surprised at how high up the conning tower was, and how big the guns were.

The hidden cost

What I sometimes forget when looking at the machines of WWII is that they were designed to destroy the enemy. And while the Bowfin did her job with distinction, I read a sad story about a ship that she sunk that highlights the hidden cost of the war.

On August 22, 1944, the Bowfin sank the Tsushima Maru off the coast of Akusekijima. The Tsushima Maru was an unmarked, unlighted passenger-cargo vessel. What the Bowfin crew didn't know -- and didn't find out until 20 years later -- was that the Tshushima Maru was carrying 826 children. As the Bowfin website recounts:

"They, along with some of their school teachers and a few of their parents, were being transported from Okinawa to the mainland of Japan to escape the anticipated invasion of the Ryukyu Islands. Of those children, 767 were lost; only 59 were saved. Survivors of the sinking were not allowed to speak of the incident under threats of extreme punishment."

In total, 1,484 civilians were killed. To put this in perspective, when the Titanic went down, 1,502 people died. 1,771 men perished aboard the Arizona.

In World War II, it's estimated that between 62 and 78 million people died. Of this total, 40 to 52 million civilians died. Military deaths accounted for 22 to 25 million.

As horrifying as the Tshushima Maru sinking is, this is only one of the incidents that took innocent lives during this war.

Read Kiyoshi Uehara's account of surviving the Tshushima Maru sinking.

Labels: Oahu 2012, Travels

Today I visited Pearl Harbor for the first time. As a reader of World War II history, I'd always wanted to see the location where the United States was attacked by Japan, where the course of the war was altered. I wasn't disappointed.

The part that we visited today is actually a National Park called "World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument," which contains memorials for the U.S.S. Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah. There are other things you can see as well, including the battleship U.S.S. Missouri, the U.S.S. Bowfin submarine, and an air museum.

We started with the Arizona Memorial.

Meeting a Pearl Harbor Survivor

After watching a short film that explained why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, you're handed off from the National Park Rangers to the military to ride a Navy launch out to the Arizona Memorial.

On this particular day, a Pearl Harbor survivor joined us: 95-year old Staff Sergeant Herb Weatherwax. It was incredibly moving to see the respect paid to Mr. Weatherwax by the Navy. He was allowed to enter and exit the memorial first. He received salutes from the Navy personnel, applause from the civilians. He was like a rock star.

Herb Weatherwax was there when Oahu was attacked. He heard the explosions, saw the aircraft diving in, watched the destruction. Later on, I read that he went on to fight in the entire War -- both in Europe and the Pacific.

The Arizona Memorial

The memorial itself is built above the wreckage, but doesn't actually touch it. The architect Alfred Preis said of its design, "Wherein the structure sags in the center but stands strong and vigorous at the ends, expresses initial defeat and ultimate victory ... The overall effect is one of serenity. Overtones of sadness have been omitted to permit the individual to contemplate his own personal responses ... his innermost feelings."

Once at the memorial, we walked to the shrine room that honors the 1,771 men who died on the Arizona that Sunday morning in 1941. It's an overwhelming experience to see all those names.

In another section of the memorial, you look down into the wreckage of the Arizona.

Oil from the vessel still leaks steadily to the surface, sometimes referred to as "the tears of the Arizona." I was surprised how much oil leaked during the time I was there. I watched several drops rise to the surface and then expand into rainbows before adding to the oil slick.

Off to one side of the memorial, you see one of Arizona's rusty turrets above the surface.

On the other side, you see the Battleship Missouri -- almost as if it's standing watch over the the Arizona and her memory. And then it hits you: Here you have where World War II began for the United States and where it ended. 

After 15 minutes, it was time to get back aboard the Navy launch and head back to the park. This really wasn't enough time for me to reflect on what had happened here all those years ago. But I found the Arizona memorial stayed with me long after I left. 

Labels: Oahu 2012, Travels

For our 20th wedding anniversary, Brenda and I are taking a trip to Oahu, Hawaii. This is the first week-long trip we've taken without Cameron and Drew, who are enjoying a week with Grandma and Grandpa Olson. (Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the boys, and thanks Cameron and Drew for giving your Mom and Dad some time together.)

Adventures on the plane

Everything started off great. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Had a little extra time to get some breakfast.

Once in our seats on the plane, we were accosted by a woman who said Brenda was sitting in her aisle seat. So Brenda went to the window, and the woman sat in the aisle seat. But then Brenda got curious, because she knew she'd booked the aisle and the middle seat. She figured out that the woman was indeed wrong. So Brenda asked her to move. And the woman made some comment that she was fine on the aisle. But we made her move. She never even said sorry about the mix-up.

Amazing how grown people can act like children sometimes.

Two other interesting facts about our flight:

• The Seattle Pacific University (SPU) women's volleyball team was on the plane with us. (There were some seriously tall girls in that group!)
• There were two dogs on the flight. One of them was yapping at the beginning, but then shut up (tranquilizer?).

Other than that, the flight was smooth -- with some turbulence during the last hour. Flying into Hawaii can sometimes be pretty rough, so I was amazed that the pilots were able to set the plane down as smoothly as they did. Even the flight attendants commented on the great landing.

Honolulu

When I stepped out of the air conditioned airport, I felt the a wave of moist tropical heat was both shocking and comfortable. After picking up the rental car, our first stop was the awesome Snorkel Bob's in Honolulu to rent snorkel gear for the week. (Snorkel Bob's always has the most friendly, knowledgeable staff.)

Next, we experienced the legendary Honolulu traffic at 2:00 in the afternoon (although it was nothing compared to Seattle traffic).

The road to Kahuku (the North Shore)

We headed off on highways 63 and then 83 across the island, blasted periodically by tropical bursts of rain. Jagged, prehistoric peaks towered on one side and the ocean on the other.

After seeing a few places offering Island cuisine, Brenda found a place called Uncle Bobo's Smoked BBQ in our Oahu Revealed book.

The beef brisket and BBQ sauce was nothing short of heavenly (especially on an empty stomach). Brenda and I devoured it.

Back on the road, dozens of shrimp shacks beckoned us to pull over once again. We resisted. Around 4:15, we finally arrived at Turtle Bay Resort -- our hotel for the next four days.

We checked in, and went up to our room. There we were greeted with an amazing view:

The only problem was it was right next to the pool (and a bar) -- and just wasn't exactly what we were looking for (think rolling ocean waves). The hotel was able to move us to another room that was exactly what we were looking for. Thanks for doing that, Turtle Bay Resort!

Labels: Hawaii, Oahu 2012, Travels