Oahu, Hawaii, USA

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This photo is taken on Waikiki Beach, Oahu.
We took a day trip from Maui to Honolulu on Oahu. Famous for Pearl Harbour and Waikiki Beach and the most populated of all the islands, it's far more commercial than Maui where we stayed.

First stop from Honolulu airport is Pearl Harbour to beat the rush. Arriving at the museum there's already a bit of a queue but the ticket we get telling us the time we need to line up to take the boat accross to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial gives us plenty of time to take the audio tour through the museum. There is a really in depth and interesting exhibition detailing the lead-up to the attack, the decision of the base commander to line all the ships together and all planes wing-tip to wing-tip in the centre of the runway as this would avoid attack and the mistken decision to disregard the radar report of multiple incoming planes as they were assumed to be American, and also the attack itself and the terrible tragedy that transpired. One relic in particular, a clock recovered from the Arizona which is stopped exactly at the time of the first blast on the ship, is particualrly telling.

Over to the memorial itself and it's quite eary to actually be atop the ship and see the smoke stacks and other parts of the deck appearing above the surface of the water as well as the areas of rainbow water as the Arizona continues to leak fuel to this day. We are rightly asked to keep conversation to a minimum and to speak in low tones as a mark of respect to those underneath us in this mass grave and it feels almost uncomfortable to take too many pictures.

Before our flight back to Maui, we took a trip down to Waikiki beach as it's a touristy thing to do. It's exactly as you'd imagine with upmarket hotels on the beach front while the sands are packed with families and the seas teeming with wannabe surfer-dudes. This I think is your typical holiday resort if all you want to do is swim and surf and always have a quicksilver shop just round the corner, a great big American city with a beach on it's doorstep but maybe not a whole lot that you wouldn't necessarily find back in mainland America.

993 still to see

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