At the airport, seems like more than 2 and a half months since we said goodbye at the airport in Hartford!!
Walking the trails at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Fishing at the Tongan village.
Walking the trails at the Waimea Falls Botanical Garden.
Waimea Falls is more of a trickle with a lack of rain up the valley that feeds it. We did some swimming here and then went across the street to Waimea Bay and got knocked around by the waves!
It was a little cloudy the first day we went, so they moved the Canoe Pageant indoors. Performers representing each of the Polynesian Cultures from the Center (Hawai'i, Aotearoa, Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa, and Tonga) were dressed in different colors for each culture and performed traditional dances.
Each of the performances was unique, but we could see some similarities from one to another.
We also have learned a lot about the different styles of Polynesian dancing. The real hip shaking style is attributed to the Tahitians. Danielle is no longer looking for hula classes....
We practiced our spear throwing with the Tongans!
Tahitian dance lessons! The women move their knees forward and backward quickly to shake their hips. The men move their legs out and in from the knees like scissors. My dad really caught on and apparently has been showing off his moves in Massachusetts!
More Tahitian Dance
Hula is much more about hand motions. There is very little hip shaking. Your movements are designed to tell a story.
Jacqui went on stage with the Samoan to demonstrate the difference between coconut milk and coconut juice. His presentation is definitely one of the highlights of the day. We learned a very effective coconut cracking method from him that we have used successfully.
Don't try this at home.... he flew of the coconut tree and started tossing them down. Getting a coconut from the tree to edible is a fair amount of work. What you see on the shelves in the stores is the inner nut that had to be removed from the fibrous outer covering. Then you've got to deal with the hard shell of the nut....then, getting the meat out is a task in itself!
We tried our had at making fire by rubbing sticks together. We got smoke! but no fire.....
We were a little late to the luau, but Jacqui had a chance to hula on stage. Gabbi was on her way down to join her, but unfortunately it was a pretty quick song.
After the luau, heading for the evening show!
The evening show was pretty spectacular. Great performances, professional dancing, humor, fire. We had a great time on each trip!
Hiking Olomana
Olomana is a hike that we've done a couple of times. It's just a few miles from our house and has stunning views of Kaneohe Bay and some neat steep sections with ropes!
Hanging out at Bellows Beach. The sand here is like powder. Great boogie boarding. Dad had some great bodysurfing rides!
A day doing the downtown tourist thing. Here we are at the Aloha Tower, where the cruise ships dock.
Hiking Diamond Head. Lots and lots of steps.
After snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. (We found humuhumu....)
The swimming at Waimea Bay was really crazy. The shoreline is very steep and the waves break right on shore. We had a great time riding the surf in and out along the sand. We all ended up full of sand to the extreme! When we got back home, Grandma called the girls in to the bathroom to see how much sand was in the tub!!!
Back to Bellows for the last day of a great trip!! Thanks for everything Mom and Dad, We Love You!!!!
