Honolulu - 6/16/2016
The day began with a group meeting where various activities were outlined.
Our morning tour featured the city of Honolulu including the Eternal Flame
of the Pacific and various historical buildings. We also visited Pearl
Harbor and saw the site where the ship Arizona was sunk on December 7, 1941,
bringing the USA into World Was II. Oil is still leaking slowly from
the ship even after all these years. They call it "black tears." They
have built a memorial over the site where the ship still sits in the
harbor. Unfortunately we could not go to the memorial out in the
harbor itself because of repairs after an accident some months ago. A
launch took us as close as possible so we could see it and take pictures.
The reason they have not drained the oil is that it might
create a worse ecological situation.
We also visited Maui Divers - a company that turns coral from deep locations
into fine jewelry. Their craftsmanship is exquisite, and is priced
accordingly. We enjoyed seeing the beautiful black and rose-colored
pearls.
In the evening we attended a dinner and a "Legends" concert. The thing
we liked most at the concert was the fire dancer and the Hawaiian dancers in
their costumes.