Touring the Pearl Harbor Memorial
You are made to check out of your rental home at 10am which can often leave you at loose ends on your last day. In the past, Suzanne and I have not used these days very well — you basically kill time until you leave.
Since our flight back routed through Honolulu this year, we decided to leave Kauai early and tour the Pearl Harbor Memorial during the day and return to the airport for our 7:55pm flight.
We had some initial bad luck leaving Kauai as Hawaiian Airlines was uncharacteristically late taking off. Its only a 20 minute flight, but we were around 40 minutes late. This put us on the ground on Oahu after 11pm and we were worried we would not be able to get into the Memorial. You see, they only have a few tours a day and we were told that we probably needed to get there by noon in order to get into one of them.
As luck would have it, we were able to get in with no problem. Our previous research led us to believe we’d be standing in lines — at least, that’s how we interpreted what we were reading. Instead, what happens is you get a numbered ticket upon entry. The number is for the movie showing — for instance, ours was number 21. When we arrived, they were showing 17 — each movie is about 30 minutes in length. This meant we had a bit of a wait.
However, while you wait, you can tour the museum exhibits and the gift shop. We found that the exhibits were so interesting that the time flew by. Before we knew it, our movie showing was next up and so we actually stood briefly in a line to get into the theater.
The movie is really a documentary with a lot of black and white footage (obviously). I figure its the same documentary that I saw when I visited the Memorial back in 1986. Its quite a moving story and sets the scene for a somber visitation to the Memorial itself.
At the end of the movie, everyone is escorted directly to the ferry where you are taken directly to the Memorial. You can stay as long as you like since ferries come and go quite often. The Memorial itself is quite well done. You can see all the names of the fallen soldiers as well as those who have subsequently interred there. The Arizona itself is in shallow water and in partial view from the Memorial. Oil still seeps up to the surface and disperses quickly.
After touring the Memorial, Suzanne and I made the mistake of asking a cab driver’s advice on where to go for lunch. We mentioned our preference for a view, possibly eating outside, and yet close to the airport. We clearly had trouble communicating and in the end, we were delivered to a Chinese Buffet in a run-down strip center. It was far from what we had imagined, but it was fine. We did feel like the music stopped and heads turned as we walked in. Yes, we were the only two white people in the place. 
All in all, we were happy that we maximized the value of our last vacation day. It did make for a very long travel day, but since we are now back, that seems inconsequential to the experience.