Pearl Harbor - Missouri

Our first visit to Pearl Harbour was to tour the symbol of America's entry into WWII, the battleship Arizona. Yesterday we went for a second visit to tour the site of the formal end to WWII, the battleship Missouri.

I asked one of the volunteer guides about the wooden main deck of the Missouri. He replied that there were two reasons for the teak deck. Teak provided a good non-skid surface. Also, in the days before air conditioning an all-steel deck would have made conditions below extremely hot. However, the teak was laid on a layer of 3-inch steel. Farther down was a second layer of 9-inch steel. The idea was to avoid what happened to the Arizona: if an armor-piercing bomb found its target it would detonate before reaching the 9-inch layer.

She had 9 16-inch naval guns (6 forward, 3 aft) that could hurl 2,700 lb armor-piercing shells over 20 miles.

You can see a history of her at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Missouri_(BB-63)

The top photo shows the Arizona memorial half-way to the modern bridge connecting Oahu to Ford Island at the left.

The third photo is of the "surrender deck" where the document of unconditional surrender was signed by various representatives of the allies and Japan.

The circular plaque in the penultimate photo shows the actual spot of the surrender.

Pearl Harbor - USS Bowfin

Yesterday we visited the submarine USS Bowfin at Pearl Harbor. You can read her history at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bowfin_(SS-287)

If you enlarge the second photo you will see some of the principal instruments of the ship such as depth under the keel, bow plane angle, and angle of the rudder.

The third photo shows the men's mess area.

The fourth shows two of the four aft torpedo tubes.

The fifth shows the steel work at the stern designed to prevent mine cables from getting caught and dragging the mine to the hull.

The next photo shows a modern submarine heading out of the harbor. A closeup will show men on the deck.

After that is a photo of two of the Bowfin's four supercharged diesel engines. The two large stainless steel cylinders at the rear are the ship's fresh water distilleries.

The bottom is Captain Robert peering at the Missouri and Arizona through a periscope.

Visit to Aquarium

Two days ago Brenda and I took a bike ride along the length of Waikiki beach to the foot of Diamond head. We then doubled back and visited the aquarium. It was the best aquarium that either of us had ever visited, with its superbly designed displays, clear views, and good personal audio guides. We also located the zoo but reserved that for another day.

The top photo is a view of Waikiki Beach looking back toward the Ala Wai Boat Harbor. The bottom photo shows Hawaii's state fish, the so-called "Picasso fish" (Don't ask me to spell out the long Hawaiian name for the fish.) You can get a lot more out of the photos by enlarging them (2 left clicks of the mouse).

Beef Jerky for Princess TaiPing

One morning we found Lao Tang placing fresh meat on the surface of a an equipment storage box on the jetty. The crew had been given a large amount of beef and he was drying it in order to take it on the voyage as beef jerky.

The photos are of Brenda and myself watching Lao at work. The last photo is Pachuca's contribution to the project: a mosquito net intended for Costa Rica to keep the flies off the meat.

Chinese New Year Parade - 1

Brenda and I were graced with an invitation to participate in the Chinese New Year parade through Chinatown as Friends of the Princess TaiPing. We were going from the Year of the Rat to the Year of the Ox.

The first photo shows Brenda and myself in front of our group's parade banner.

The second photo shows the exotic cars lined up to carry important officials and beauty queens.

I had never seen a Chinese dragon in real life so during the preparations for the parade I took the precaution of seeking one out and making friends with him, as you can see in the third and fourth photos.

The bottom two photos show the dragons on the move.

Chinese New Year Parade - 2

The top photo shows Hugh holding one end of the banner at the head of our group.

The bottom two photos are of my favorite exotic cars in the parade, Chevy Corvettes.

Chinese New Year Parade - 3, Dragons and Drums

The top photo shows the laughing reactions to the antics of the playful dragons.

The second hand shows Brenda's hand deep in a dragon's mouth. It is considered good luck to feed the dragon money and this one found a $1 bill to be very tasty.

There is a delightful one further down of a child getting up close and personal with a dragon.

Below that is a photo of the percussion teams that were interspersed throughout the parade.

The last photo is of a sort of serpent dragon which could curl and gyrate at dizzying speed.

Sail of Two Boats

At a recent talk at the Honolulu Yacht Club Nelson Liu stated that his inspiration to build the Princess TaiPing came from the replica of a traditional Polynesian outrigger canoe named Hokule'a which became famous after voyages to the Western Pacific (e.g. Micronesia and Japan) in 2007. (See http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/ http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/specials/hokulea07/ http://pvs.kcc.hawaii.edu/designing.html and others.)

Yesterday there was a historic sail in company of the Princess TaiPing, a replica of a 15th century Chinese boat, and Hokule'a, a replica of an 17th or 18th century Polynesian boat. Brenda and I were privileged with an invitation to sail aboard the TaiPing. At the last moment I accepted a request to sail aboard Chris' Orisha, a McGregor 65 that has been rafted next to Princess TaiPing and would escort her on the sail along Waikiki Beach towards Diamond Head. The accompanying photos are a selection of many taken by Brenda aboard the Princess TaiPing and by me on Orisha.

The top photo is of Hugh and two guest crew hard at work hoisting Princess TaiPing's mainsail.

The fifth photo down shows Captain Nelson doing his thing.

The following two are of Hokule'a.

Below that is Hugh in front of the mainsail. Note the texture of the mainsail.

Below that is a photo of a hand on the tiller at the steering station with its sophisticated ship's clock.


The last four are of Orisha and her company: Chris, Kevin, having a laugh at the steering station, Gordon shown in the cockpit, and myself going on board.