A brief overview of the place
Pearl Harbour is just outside Honolulu in Hawaii and during WW1 was a huge American naval base.
On December 7th 1941, two waves of Japanese kamikaze pilots bombed Pearl Harbour. 2,400 Americans died in this surprise attack. 20 USA naval vessels were destroyed, along with 8 battleships and 300 aeroplanes. The day after the attack, President Franklin declared war on Japan. At this point, the Americans hadn’t really got too involved in WW2 but this attack brought them up front and centre.
What I did there.
The cruise ship I worked on docked in Honolulu for one day, so whilst there were many things I wanted to do, a must was to go to pearl harbour. I love history, so for me, being able to visit such a monumental historical place was a real treat.
Having been to a lot of historic venues I expected this one to have a sombre feel to it, and while there were parts of it that did, for the most part, it wasn’t too sad. I was mostly shocked at the size of the living quarters. The beds were tiny and there weren’t enough beds for all the people on board, so you just slept on a bed that was free. There was nothing sacred about these ships.
There were a lot of things to see but we only had time to see a few of them. We went on board the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri, which served more than 50 years of war and conflicts.
After looking around these ships we watched footage of the attack which was heart-wrenching.
Unfortunately, after seeing just a few of the things, due to lack of time I had to leave, but I would love to go back one day and explore the rest of Pearl Harbour. It really can’t be done in a few hours. I’m not even sure a whole day would be enough as the place is so huge.
Entrance fee
While there wasn’t an entrance fee, there was a very long queue that took 45 minutes. Go as early as possible.
Travel time
I got a taxi from the cruise ship port to Pearl harbour memorial site and it took 1 hour to get there.
Costs
If you want to keep your things in a locker it will cost $5, and if you want a tour guide that will be extra as well, but it depends what tour you want as to how much it will cost,.
