Pearl Harbor???

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Messages
29
Reaction score
0
Location
Huntington, WV
Does anyone know anything about if anyone is able to dive in or around Pearl Harbor. I am a future history teacher, and what a story that would be to tell my students, that I dove in Pearl Harbor. I will also say that if I dive in Pearl Harbor, I will, and anyone else should have proper respect and reverence for what happened on that fateful Sunday December morning...
thanks...
 
MU_airtankhead:
Does anyone know anything about if anyone is able to dive in or around Pearl Harbor. I am a future history teacher, and what a story that would be to tell my students, that I dove in Pearl Harbor. I will also say that if I dive in Pearl Harbor, I will, and anyone else should have proper respect and reverence for what happened on that fateful Sunday December morning...
thanks...

Never gonna happen. It's considered a gravesite, and demands respect. God bless them, and let them rest in peace.
 
I'm pretty sure you have to have permission from the U.S. Navy in order to dive around Pearl Harbor, and they don't grant that privilege very often. I think you're best bet is to contact someone at Pearl Harbor for some details. Best of luck. You're right -- that would be both an amazing and sobering experience.
 
Growing up near Pearl Harbor we heard lots of rumors about people going swimming, boating etc.. and setting off all kinds of alarms and sensors the Navy had placed there for warning systems. I've always wondered if they were just rumors or if there was some truth to all the stories. Some of them were quite elaborate tales too . . .

Let us know what you discover.

Aloha, Tim
 
You might try contacting SCRU, Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, of the Nat'l Parks Service. They've done dives and surveys on the ships.
 
MU_airtankhead:
Does anyone know anything about if anyone is able to dive in or around Pearl Harbor. I am a future history teacher, and what a story that would be to tell my students, that I dove in Pearl Harbor. I will also say that if I dive in Pearl Harbor, I will, and anyone else should have proper respect and reverence for what happened on that fateful Sunday December morning...
thanks...

You could try contacting the National Parks Service but I'm sure that unless you're a credentialed researcher with a "valid" reason (i.e. survey contract with NPS or Navy), no dice on diving the USS Arizona or USS Utah. In fact, you can pretty much rule out diving in any major commercial harbor in the state; the clamps are down on any kind of swimming in these zones -- in fact, the authorities recently went bonkers over reports of divers being spotted in Honolulu Harbor.

You just missed out on this year's program in which teachers nationwide came to Pearl Harbor and met and interviewed veterans from the attack: http://education.eastwestcenter.org/asiapacificed/ph2004/
I don't know anything else about this program but it seems like something you're looking for.
 
In addition to the "war graves" sensitivities, Pearl Harbor is still an active naval base and thus off-limits to civilians in general. And with the current world situation, the Navy, like the other branches of the military, is a bit nervous about security.

When I visited there in late March, Al-Queda had just set off bombs in Spain as a lesson for joining us in Iraq. I saw this nervousness on my tour of the USS Missouri, which is docked at Ford Island next to the Arizona. While taking the shuttle bus from the Arizona Memorial parking lot to the Missouri, the bus driver warned us that the Navy was prohibiting anybody from taking pictures as we crossed the Admiral Clarey Bridge which connects Ford Island to Nimitz Hwy. She even had recent stories of MP's confiscating the cameras of those tourists who got caught doing so, and urged us to keep our cameras tucked away in bags or pockets until we got to the Missouri just to be on the safe side.

While I don't think the bridge itself is so top secret (you can easily and legally take pictures of it from the Arizona Visitor Center or especially the USS Bowfin which is docked next to it), I figure there's something nearby, that's only visible while on the bridge itself, that the Navy doesn't want people taking photos of.

If the Navy is that sensitive about letting you take photos from a certain bridge, I seriously doubt they'll let you dive in their harbor.
 
MU_airtankhead:
Does anyone know anything about if anyone is able to dive in or around Pearl Harbor. I am a future history teacher, and what a story that would be to tell my students, that I dove in Pearl Harbor. I will also say that if I dive in Pearl Harbor, I will, and anyone else should have proper respect and reverence for what happened on that fateful Sunday December morning...
thanks...
As Pearl Harbor is an active U.S. Navy base, I think the only story you'd be able to tell your students was how quickly they caught you and threw you in the brig...

I'm sure the exact restrictions are here somewhere if you'd like to look:

http://www.pearlharbor.navy.mil/sopa.html
 
I wish to thank you all for your advice, happy diving...
 

Back
Top Bottom