Hula Lesson Video Update! Three Dreams at the Old Laihana Luau

At Old Lahaina Luau, most giving 'Shaka' hand signal, left to right
Jeffery, v. nice lady, Jordan and Jeannie

Every trip to Hawaii, by law, must include a Luau. OK, there is no such law, but there ought to be, especially since we already abide by it. This trip the error was made to let me make our luau reservations. I booked us at The Old Lahaina Luau. The gang was horrified I chose ground seating on cushions with a low table, instead of the usual table and chairs. I was so jazzed: ground seating just like on all those  '50s TV shows I watched before Hawaii was a state. Hurrah, a dream come true! After all, being the oldest I figured if I am willing to sit hours on this old tush, they can do it too.

Fresh Tuberoses

But let me back up a bit. As we arrived and picked up our tickets, we were immediately offered fragrant Tuberose flowers from a basket. Mine immediately went behind my right ear which in Hawaii means I'm 'available', though for what I'm not sure. If you're married you put your flower over the ear on the side you wear your wedding ring: easy peasy.

A miracle: as we entered the grounds a real flower lei was dropped upon each of our necks. GAK! Most luaus give out shell leis - shell leis are cool, but they can't hold a candle to a fresh & fragrant flower lei resting on your shoulders. Am totally awestruck by this 2nd dream come true. I wasn't quite recovered from my joy when a handsome sarong clad bit of man-candy smiled at our group. He offered us refreshment: Mai Tais (virgin for the kiddies), POG (Passion - Orange - Guava nectar) or water, & such, all with orchid flowers or wedges of pineapple floating in them. I had to have a Mai Tai if not for yet another flower to admire.

Ron took this great picture of 'the gang'

In the photo above, you see right to left, Jeannie, Jordan, Stephie in Blue dress with little Gracie, and behind her is her brother Jeffery. In the rear is Steve in white top & shorts and a v. happy 'moi'. The first table behind us with a pineapple and poofy cushions to sit upon, was all ours for the night.

Ron, Jeannie and grand-baby Gracie

Sipping our exotic drinks, we had about an hour before the meal. So we all wandered about and I discovered there were HULA LESSONS. I mean, dream three come true! Feeling I was in dreamland, I picked up a pair of the bamboo rhythm sticks from the little lawn, and I soon I swayed to island breezes. Always wanted a Hula lesson while actually in Hawaii, and although I endlessly searched on line, none were offered. Just as the lesson began, I'd looked around to see if Jeannie or someone could film my lesson but no one was in sight. Still, I was sooo happy, I had to fight back happy tears. You ever had to dance in public while stifling back tears of joy? At the dance's end, Ron tapped me on the shoulder.   "So... would you be upset if someone videoed your lesson?" He looked just guilty enough to confirm it was he who did the filming. Rampant joy ensued...

Teary & happy fat lady enjoying a Hula Lesson on freakn' Maui - YAHOO!

The dug out Kalua Pua'a from the Imu

So those were the 3 miracles of the Old Laihana Luau. Mind, the remainder of the Luau, was pretty great.

We watched the opening of the imu - the in ground oven - and the removal of the slow roasted pig.

The Luau food was... sorry I use this word so much, must make note-to-self to use thesaurus - awesome! I've been to three other luaus thus far and this one, in my opinion had the best food. I say that as it was, authentic and as tasty as one could hope for. OK, except for the poi which did reliably taste like wall paper paste, but I always eat it anyway, I mean, heck, I'm in Hawaii, right? There was Pork Laulau (pork in banana leaves), Lomi-Lomi Salmon, Ahi Pokie (spicy raw tuna salad), taro salad, Pohole Salad (ferns, Maui onions & tomatoes) and of course the Kalua Pua'a (the pork from the imu). Loads of other tasty dishes as well, followed by a plate of desserts just for our table shown on the right here.  The white cakes shown on the far left are pudding-ish coconut milk squares called Haupia while my favorite of the lot, on the opposite far right - almost too dark to see - are Hawaiian Chocolate Chili Pepper Brownies. The cookies and cakes in the middle were pretty yummy too.

When we were done filling our faces it was time for the show to begin. I held my iPhone up for the recording, making sure to kept my eyes on the dancers, not the screen - you know, live in the moment. I seem to have done better than I expected and this video below is the result. Starts out solemn Hula, then progresses to some of the best Tahitian dancing I've ever had the pleasure to view. Towards the end they use the bamboo dance sticks that I got to use in my Hula lesson, and it all ends with what else, but Aloha Oe, written by the great Queen Liliʻuokalani.

Hawaiian Super Men

When the hoopla, dancing and encouraging shrieks of joy ended, it was suddenly time for us to leave. No! Can't we stay?  *puppy eyes*

Before leaving there were lots of photos taken with stars from the shows. Jeffery and Jordan had a chance to show they were Hawaiian Superman ala Iggy.

 A fun ending to a fantastic evening.

Gracie gets her pose with the nice man

Home? Shoot... I'm staying! 

Oh, but before we were sent on our way, there was a small loaf of banana bread for each and every one of us, including the kids. Can you believe that? I mean, it was as if each of us suddenly knew the joy of having a sweet Hawaiian granny who wasn't sending us on the road home without a bit of sweet to remind us of our Maui evening of dreams come true.

Snorkle Sunday

Honolua Bay on Maui - the island of Lanai visible in the distance

We pulled up to Honolua Bay, and the island gods were with us, we got the last two possible parking spots. Now, Jeannie volunteered to stay on shore and watch baby Gracie. Hum... suspected Jeannie might have something up her sleeve. It was fun hiking through a jungle of tall trees, filled with the sound of exotic birds - that magically managed to stay completely out of view - to the beach.

Trail down to the beach

First thing I noticed on the beach is there were loads of chickens - and chicks. 

"So... like me and my peeps can't enjoy a nice beach, b*tch?"

This shameless rooster begged for some of the man's sandwich and got some

Soon we were hauling into the surf, which was ROUGH. There were loads of rocks and I no sooner got into the water than my upper feet began to ache - what the....?  I peeled off one swim fin and dislodged the sand that got in them on the shore. No difference in the pain level! So I pulled off the fins again and found - the plastic of the fins had a sharp nodule of plastic built in!  It was far too painful to use my right foot to paddle, so I was in effect a one legged snorkeler. Well... I wanted adventure, didn't I?

The water was churning and quite murky. Lots of reef  with coral and urchins to stare at and at first it seemed, not many fish.

School of little Bluestripe Snappers seen through rough waters

Close-up of a Blue-striped Snapper

Every once in a bit I'd raise my head up and check how far off I was from shore. It was when I got near the off shore tourist boats I decided I'd better head back to shore. With only one foot to paddle with I headed back, and although at first I thought I was going to be a drowning statistic, I made it back to shore, peeled off my stupid swim fins and flung them to shore. Now the most difficult part of snorkeling was at hand: getting-the-EFF out of the water. Every attempt to stand, was met with a buffeting from incoming waves. Over and over I was knocked down. Lying on my side with every fall, the ocean waves dragged me over the rough grit of the off shore substrate. Then for an added bit of humility, the strong pull of an outgoing wave, pulled my over-sized shorts down to my ankles! I was heartily glad for the underpants under my shorts, the only thing keeping 'the moon' from shining mid-day on this Maui beach. I scrambled to pull my shorts up while the Jeannie - and I now know why she decided on baby-sitting over snorkeling - kindly tossed my water slippers to me: Thank you Jeannie!

How much grit, polished volcanic glass and bark was buffeting along the shore? Check this out!

Hum... if only under normal circumstances I
could take off my shorts and shed ten pounds!

That grit rained in the shower when I doffed my shorts. And you ought to have seen the pile from my my shorts and t-shirt when I put them in the washing machine. Yikes!

Now the horrid news: post snorkeling, I could not open my underwater camera to access the flash disk or so I could recharge the battery - Aarrrggghhh! How can the latch of a camera that promises it is waterproof, shock proof from 6 ft and dust proof in a whirlwind, jam itself shut? I  passed the camera on to Ron and Steve and although Steve managed to get some grit out of the lock, none of us could get the camera open. No more underwater photos, and I'll have to depend on my iPhone for above the water shots, and no more underwater photos. ARRRRRRRRHHHHHH!   

Back to the Islands

Once again, with no provocation, rhyme or reason, my friends, Jeannie & Ron, invited me to accompany them and their family to Hawai'i. This trip, the isle visited is Maui: excited! To get to Maui we first flew to Oahu.

Flying by Pearl Harbor on Oahu

After a brief stopover at the Oahu airport we were off again.

Leaving Oahu, passing Diamond Head

Leaving Oahu the pilot pointed out the extinct volcano Diamond Head, long known to the Hawaiians as Lēʻahi. Soon we were winging east, over the long rectangular isle of Molokai.

The patch of land at the top is Maui, and
at the bottom is the island of Lanai

I arrived an entire day early - accidentally - so yesterday night I stayed the first night at a cute Bed and Breakfast called 'God's Peace of Maui'.  That first afternoon, I drove up to Haleakalā National Park but didn't go in as someone forgot her Senior National Park Pass. I figure I'll visit another time. Today - being Californian - I woke to the unfamiliar sound of rain pitter patting on the window, and the squawks of exotic birds. Once up and breakfasted with a friendly Maui local or two, I took off in the general direction of Haleakalā crater road and after a few minutes of being lost, I was on Road 37, headed to the southeastern bits of Maui.

Looking out over Wailea-Makena from hills along route 37

Lots of lava rock fencing along the so-called highway (a country road in any other state)

It was raining which is great as you get a good feel for all the weather the locals experience. There were volcanic rocks piled high for fences and rather like many walls in Ireland. The shoulder-less two lane road soon shrunk to a one lane road. I started feeling lost again, but on a small island, you can't get too lost, can you?  The paving and neat appearance of the road soon disappeared, and slipshod asphalt rather reminded me of the ropy lava I've seen on the 'Big Island'. It rained on and off as I drove along, with Izzy crooning away from my iPhone on the SUV's sound system.

Enjoyed tropical rains along the one-lane bits of the road

Eventually I found that a one lane road meant if another car approached from the opposite direction, either I had to pull over or one of us had to back up to a wide spot on the road.

As deserted as the area looked, there were little homes, farms and forest along the way.

I felt I had a lot of the road to myself, but by no means was the land unoccupied. I passed pastoral looking homes, tiny churches and plenty of farms. There were little fruit stands to pass every once in a bit, that operated on honesty and a tin can full of coins.

Enjoyed the Hawaiian signs, and even more appreciated the interesting translation.

 View of the same sign, from the opposite direction.

The road forded many streams and rivulets

Keyhole in seacoast cliffs

Figured I had to be on the right road... more or less?

Below you can see where the road curves around the hillside. Signs encourage honking the horn so someone coming from the opposite direction doesn't careen into you.

Finally I spotted the road into Kipahula - southern - entrance to
Haleakalā National Park, rather romantically covered over with jungle greenery.


After flashing my senior park pass at the Ranger Kiosk, I parked and hit the visitor's center. I wanted to do some birding on the path up to the Makahiku Falls. But being already warm and also because I had all my luggage and equipment in the car, I decided not to do the hike (stop laughing! I so could have walked uphill to the waterfall!).

Haleakalā Visitor Center

Enjoyed walking around the center and yakking with the Ranger. He told me that there was a Polynesian double rigged ship, making its way around the world. Just now, the ship and its current crew are in Af-ree-kaa!

No great deed goes unpunished rewarded. I was awarded this certificate at the Ranger Station.

Proof I made the drive on the Hana Highway

 When I was finished at Haleakalā I hoped to loop up the coast to the west, but alas, no roads there. Had to go back the way I came then travel northwest, up coast to meet up with Jeannie and her crew. There I took possession of my cute little room that overlooks the pool at Kahana Falls. In the early evening after dinner, Jeannie and I gave the boys  - Jordan and Jeffery, both 8 years old - snorkling lessons in the pool. Lessons were a complete flop, but maybe the boys will enjoy just romping in the surf? Oh well, am loving it here on Maui.

View from my room's patio