Hawaii – Day 3

Today was slower than yesterday which we needed. The highlight was the evening with Toa Luau, and their ticket included entrance to visit their botanical gardens and waterfall. We started the day more slowly and after driving the 10 minutes from the house to Waimea valley, arrived a bit after it opened at 9, after Janet fixed a scrumptious breakfast of egg, bacon, and bagels.

Having parked, it did not seem too busy but there were other people. At their visitor center, we saw posters of several movies that had been filmed here (e.g., Jurassic World, Hunger Games) but our main movie site tour is later. We started the ~1 mile walk along a paved road to the waterfall. The road was lined by beautiful flowers and we were torn between looking at them all now, and walking quickly to minimize waterfall crowds and enjoy them on the way back. We opted for the latter.

For us, the waterfall was a disappointment as it was all very controlled, which we should have expected but did not think about. You had to wear a life jacket in the water and there were 3 lifeguards supervising. It was crowded! There was a covered sitting area that was nice, but we heard it fills up. We hung out for a while.

The crowds continued to increase so we started walking back. We took plenty of time looking at the array of flowers. There were a lot of hibiscus with signs explaining how Hawai’i hibiscus breeders lead in creating new varieties and spreading them all over the world.

There were plenty of other types too. There were plaques with the plant names in Latin which sounded like Harry Potter spells! Here is a small sample.

It wasn’t just about the flowers.

We dropped the kids off at the beach right next to Waimea Valley. The limited adjacent parking was full, and many others walked a distance from other parking. Janet and I were happy to avoid the sun, so dropping them off was perfect! They snorkeled and saw a momma and baby turtle. It wasn’t too crowded and was the best beach they had been on. The photos do not do it justice, but here are a few.

Janet and I went to get lunch from a local fruit stand. The Sunrise Shack was certainly a shack, with a small garden and hungry chickens. It had been set up by surfers for money to travel to Australia.

Their açaí bowls did not disappoint.

Janet and I enjoyed them at the house, with its peaceful view.

After collecting the kids and cleaning up, it was Luau time. After the hosts greeted us with Leis, we made crowns with palm fronds and opened up a coconut.

The hosts then acted out a traditional welcome called kava, where the chiefs of the visiting tribe exchange gifts with the host tribe. While a tribe has one chief, it has several talking chiefs. This is because it is while talking that you are most likely to make mistakes. They don’t want the chief to make mistakes, and “talking chiefs” are replaceable. Wise. After the welcome, the host blessed the food with a Christian grace (in English).

Even though there were about two hundred guests, the food came quickly and it was a great selection of traditional foods with fruit and a cake.

Next was dancing from each of the Polynesian islands which are Hawai’i, Tonga, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Samoa. The host was from Tonga which is the last island still with a monarch. He told us how Queen Salote attended Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. All royalty were in horse drawn carriages in procession. When it started bucketing down with rain (what? In England?), all the carriages put up their rain cover except Queen Salote. She was so cold and wet she was hospitalized for pneumonia. After recovering, she explained that on Tonga, only the monarch stays dry in processions, so she got wet to show her respect. I guess it is colder in England than Tonga! Later that year, on Queen Elizabeth’s first commonwealth tour, on her way to the commonwealth nations of New Zealand and Australia, she had a 4-hour stopover on Tonga to return the respect. Cool.

Here are some of the photos of the dances. One of the last ones was a haka war dance from New Zealand that they explained and was a lot of fun. Again, photos fail to capture it but here goes!

New Zealand’s national rugby team performs a haka before international rugby games. Here is one from the Rugby World Cup final against France.

The finale was a fire dance in the courtyard we overlooked.

It was the end to a fantastic evening. A family has been staging this Luau for about five years. It struggled at first but now its eight weekly performances sell out. The size is perfect, making it feel homey and welcoming. We had noticed that the same people were greeting with Leis, waiting tables, teaching weaving and coconut splitting, playing instruments, and dancing. They never stopped smiling too. Nor did we.

The day was made even more memorable by Ashlynn and Brooke who treated Saydee to a fantastic first birthday.

Once again, we were all exhausted and slept very well!

This page is linked to from my Hawaii-Oahu home page.

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