Back to San Diego via Hawaii

1986 - Our lives in America
We arrive in Hawaii at 6pm on Saturday 27, 1986.   After checking in to a hotel we take a ferry to the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. The memorial is to the right of coconut tree. The Memorial straddles but does not touch the ship. There are 1100 dead seamen still inside the memorial. The US flag flies at full mast as the Arizona is still on active duty. The Bowfin. A US WWII submarine that is a tourist attraction at Pearl Harbour. The torpedo tubes. A torpedo, hopefully a dummy, is shown in the left-hand tube.
A volunteer on board. We did not realise how extremely cramped the sleeping quarters are. There were tiny sleeping quarters for the officers and the listed quarters slept in bunks above the torpedoes. Various navigational instruments and other controls. Looks like the steering wheel at the bottom left of the picture. One of the four diesel engines on board. They don't drive the propellers directly, the engines drive generators instead and store the energy in batteries. Sunset from Waikiki beach December 27, 1986.
Waikiki at night. The next day it rains. This is a beach on the northern side of Oahu. It rains all bloody day. Rain pours down over the mountains. It is very rough on the northern side of Oahu.
Rough seas but beautiful. These are the Wiamea falls. Jenni at the Waimea Falls. There is a beautiful park near the Falls.
Park is bordered by impatiens. A tropical plant which I know nothing. Hibiscus flowers in the park. A bee pollinates a hibiscus plant
This is anthurium. We used to have these at Normanhurst. This is the world-famous Waimea Bay on December 28, 1986. It's a bit stormy. From Diamond head looking north at the low lying cloud. Honolulu and Waikiki from Diamondhead.
It is quite a climb to get here through a dark tunnel, stairs, dark staircase and so forth. We drive to Kahe Beach on the western side of Oahu to watch the sun set until the ocean, framed by tropical palms. Sadly the photograph turns out awful but our intention is good. A small band of surfers ride the waves at the beach. This is also intended to be a great shot but it's let down by 1980s technology (yet again). It is now the next day December 29, 1986.
Here we are at Queen Emma's palace View from the lookout on Pali Highway very near Queen Emma's Summer Palace. Another view from the Pali highway. The Pali highway cuts across Oahu to the north eastern side. A frigate bird or (Man-o-war) at Sea life Park on the SE of Oahu.
Divers perform at sea life Park. They all hit the water at exactly the same time. 1987 OurLivesInAmerica2 0087 a Coconuts. The dolphin leaps 22 feet to claim it tidbit.
Part of the Dolphin show. A Laysan Albatross. The Laysan albatross is a large seabird that ranges across the North Pacific. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are home to 99.7% of the population. We travel in a NW direction from Sea life Park to the Biodo-In Temple. The Byodo-In Temple is a non-denominational Buddhist temple located on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi in Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. It was dedicated in August 1968 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii.
Koi carp fighting for food in the temple's pond. A statue of Bhudda sets majestically in the temple. We have to take our shoes off to get him. We drive around the coast road to Waianae Beach, on the western side of Oahau, to take more beach shots sunset 1987 OurLivesInAmerica2 0098 a
Once again our technology lets us down. From here we take a plane home to San Diego and arrive in time for New Year's eve. We leave Honolulu 10:30PM and arrive L.A. at 6:00am December 30, 1986. Get back to S.D. about 11:00am . The end of this segment Jump to "1987 - Our Lives in America"