We knew today was going to be a long, busy day. Cramming as much in as possible we started off at nearby Waimea Valley to see the falls. The clouds had been hanging low all morning and of course started leaking before we even made it to the ticket counter. It is, after all, a rain forest. And, of course, we left our rain jackets back at the condo. Good thing we won’t melt. The walk to the falls is through gorgeous manicured gardens where everything is labeled on a wide paved path. Easy peasy. Thankfully, the incredible trees provided pretty canopies for cover when having to dodge the raindrops.


The falls were full and flowing abundantly. They actually rent life jackets for entering the water and swimming. Why someone would want to swim there I have no idea. The water is reddish brown from all the oxide in the dirt and sure wasn’t  calling to us to take a dip. But lots of people just had to do it. To each his own. We just took a picture and checked the box. LOL On the way back (between raindrops) I enjoyed doing a little macro photography of all these tropical blooms.


On the way to the Polynesian Cultural Center we stopped at a recommended local dive, Ted’s Bakery, for lunch. (This was one of the places mentioned several times in the guestbook at the condo.) We almost passed it. We love local dives so this was perfect! Parking was packed. The line was almost out the door and seating was limited. We both decided on the garlic shrimp (needed something to compare to Giovanni’s). I managed to grab a vacant table while Bob was ordering.

It was good but it wasn’t Giovanni’s. A local man walked up while we were eating and asked if he could join us at the table. Through conversation we learned he lives on Maui but flew in to Oahu for the waves. The first waves of the season. He’s a surfer. Bob and I just looked at each other knowing we’re screwed for getting any more snorkeling in if this guy is here for surfing. He confirmed it. Even strongly recommended we don’t even get on a boat in Kauai. No really, he said, “don’t do it! Unless you want to double up on Dramamine. You can take a helicopter tour but don’t get on a boat.” Dude just crashed our dreams. I guess there’s some kind of weather forecast surfer dudes watch just like we watch normal weather. We’re hoping he was full of crap but he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He told us he was in the continuing education for those in the medical profession, so we nicknamed him The Doc. Bummed out, we left The Doc and headed to the Cultural Center.

The Polynesian Cultural Center represents six islands in the Pacific (Samoa, Aotearoa, Fiji, Hawaii, Tahiti and Tonga). Each island has an area that demonstrates some of the customs and displays of heritage through shows, buildings and small museums with artifacts.


Our tour guide today was Yi Ting (pronounced E-ting), a student at Brigham Young University from Taiwan. She was absolutely precious! We so loved her personality. She’s only been in Hawaii for a year and has quite a decent grip on the English language but is still learning. There were a number of times you could see her searching for the appropriate word. Towards the end of the tour I don’t know if her brain was getting tired or if we were more comfortable with her or what, but it became something like playing a game of charades trying to help her find the word she was searching for. She was quite entertaining escorting us from island to island. We even got beaded leis to wear! Cool!


We didn’t get started until about 1:30 so only had about 3 hours to do as much as we could cram in. We managed to see four of the six islands (Samoa, Hawaii, Tahiti and Tonga), the canoe pageant (in the rain no less – you can see everyone with ponchos and umbrellas), take a hula lesson (yeah, I’m so glad that’s not on video) and a canoe ride around the property.

All the islands have their own unique customs and strengths. But what they do have in common is that they learned to use their resources to the fullest. They don’t waste anything. And they teach each generation to do the same. I think it was Samoa who said somewhat in jest, “You teach your children to stay away from knives and fire. We teach ours to use them.” It’s the truth. I love how they teach each generation their heritage. It’s so refreshing and humbling. Our few hours with Yi-Ting quickly came to a close and it was time for the luau. And another show.

And another lei <grin> – a flower one this time. So pretty! The food was good and the show very entertaining. I took more video than pics just because it captured the moment so much better. Our luau hostess was amazing. I don’t remember her name but she thoroughly enjoyed her. I don’t know how those people do that every day, day after day. I know they have rotating performers but even so, there is so much enthusiasm and energy it just blows me away. Our hostess wanted to make sure she recognized any birthdays or anniversaries or any kind of celebration from those in the audience. She walked around the asking as many tables as she could if they were celebrating anything. Of course when she got to our table Bob made sure he told her it was my birthday last week, then I told her we were celebrating our 30th Anniversary. Oh she was all about that. After the break when she resumed hosting she asked for everyone celebrating something to come up on stage. O. M. G. Really? Yes really. We weren’t gonna. But when all these other people started filtering down to the stage, we ended up following suit. Then she started talking about anniversaries and love and … Dancing. O. M. G. Again. Bob muttered to me, “that ain’t gonna happen.” Ha! As we were swaying with the rest of the stage I asked him what happened to the “ain’t gonna happen?” “Well, didn’t look like we had much choice, did it?” Again, thankful there are no pictures or video – or if there are either one, we (or anyone we know) don’t know they people and will never see them again.


The show in the theater that evening was an experience. It was amazing. The performers are amazing. I just wish I knew what the hell they were saying. It was kind of like a Hawaiian opera. I didn’t even know Hawaii had its own language. I knew they had certain words (and we learned some of them at the luau) that were unique to their culture. I had no idea they had a whole freakin’ language. They do! And this show was in their native language. Some parts of it was narrated in English but not all of it. Some parts were kind of hokey because the music and speaking parts were recorded. Then other parts were live. Not sure why – just an observation. These people are extremely passionate about their heritage and sharing their stories. The show was really about a couple raising a son and the different stages he goes through to adulthood and starting his own family. It was a 90 minute production with a 10-15 min intermission. They served ice cream during this intermission. Bob and I were both still so full from the luau we couldn’t have eaten it if we were forced. Others however? Not so much. Good heavens those people scarfed that stuff down! Totally entertaining.

On the way out we passed a kiosk with some art that caught out attention. So we stopped. There were several pieces we really liked but in the end this Diamond Head piece won. There was one with some turtles that we really liked too but Diamond Head seemed to represent this trip better to me. The artist was Kap, the chief of Samoa. He told us at the end of his show he had an art booth but we had forgotten about that until we saw his work. He autographed the piece and held it for me to snap a photo. How cool is that?


We had about a 45 minutes drive back to the condo. It was a long day. Time to call it a night.