unsystematic

05 Jan 2010

Holiday in Hawaii, Day 2

Previously I wrote about my very first day in Hawaii. After a rough nights’ sleep full of let-lagged tosses and turns, and even waking up a few times in the wee hours of the morning, I officially woke up around 5:30a to meet my parents and grandparents downstairs already drinking coffee and watching the news. I poured myself a cup and took a seat on the couch to watch the news with them.

My family was very excited (don’t get me wrong, I was pretty excited too) to show me Waimea Bay and the North Shore. I had never seen big waves before and the smaller waves at Myrtle Beach and other east coast beaches can be only sorta fun. I’ve always wanted to see and experience bigger and more exhilerating waves. Since Hawaii is such a huge tourist location and with consistent weather all year round, you have to get to the beach parking lots kinda early otherwise you won’t get a parking spot at all.

We got to Waimea Bay around 7:30a and got a decent parking spot. Then we found a nice spot on the beach. Unfortunately there were signs up saying the ocean was too dangerous to swim in so all I could do was get a tan and watch the surfers. The waves looked impressive and I really wanted to go in. Sucks that I couldn’t, but it was probably for the best.

The beaches on Hawaii are all public, even if someones house is right up on it. If you can find a place to park and find a way to the beach, you’re free to go. As a result, there are many “hidden” and empty beaches which are nice to find because you get the whole beach to yourself. Not all beaches have life guards, in fact, very few of them do, so with the current and the waves, care must be taken when getting in the water. I learned that waves that have nice “pipelines” mean there’s a very strong riptide. The strong riptide makes the wave curl over itself so when you see waves with nice form, it’ll likely mean the riptide is pretty intense.

After a few hours at the beach we left feeling super relaxed and headed for home to get ready for the luau which was later in the evening. The sand in Hawaii has several different textures that depend on which side of the island you’re on. The North and West shores have large grained sand that falls off easily, whereas the South and East shores have very find sand, like you’d find in Florida. This particular sand was the large grained type so it easily washed off in the shower.

We headed for the luau which was at Paradise Cove on the western coast of the island. It truly was a paradise with exceptionally well-kept greens, foliage and waters. The luau began and 5a-ish and went well into the night. I think we got home around 10p?

Hawaiians eat a lot of pork and rice. A custom in Hawaii is to cook pigs in the ground using palm leaves as a smoker. In this reenactment, the king and royal family comes out to watch as the ceremonial pig (our dinner) was raised up and then walked around for the views to see. It was then taken to the “kitchen” to be pulled and sliced for our dinner.

As a side note, Hawaiians also eat what’s called poi. Poi is a starchy “thing” that grows on trees and is made into a pulp. It’s gray in color, gritty, and fairly bland (from what I hear). I was too chicken to try some. I will next time though :)

During dinner, we got a show of different dances and customs from the various polynesian cultures. There were instruments made from local organic materials, attire from the same, a really cool band, and a guy who waved, threw and twirled firey poles.

Alcohol was pricey, but, how often am I in Hawaii, right? One downside to being on an isolated island thousands of miles off the coast of the mainland is a lack of good beer selection. Lagers are the brew of choice in Hawaii and I only found one place that had an IPA (and it was an American military Class Six). If you’ve never had anything from Kona Brewing Company before, you should try a few of them.

After the luau we all headed home and pretty much fell asleep. It was a day full of fun and memories. But there’s still more to do…!