Haleiwa beach full of surfers on Veterans day.
Tuesday
Haleiwa Surfing
Tuesday's surfing group headed to Haleiwa. The big triple crown surfing competition was schedule to be there starting this week, but Suzy said the waves were small enough that they would wait for a better opportunity. What we had forgotten, or at least what I hadn't considered, is that veterans day would mean kids were out of school. The water was packed with people, mostly kids. Unfortunately as a novice surfer I don't have a lot of directional control, so if people are in the way my choices are run them over or fall of the board. Falling off doesn't necessarily mean the board won't hit them either.
The other thing that I don't like so much about Haleiwa is the current. It comes straight in towards shore and pushes out from the edges. The net result is that staying in the middle where the waves are requires constant paddling. This isn't such a big deal for surfers who are out in the water paddling every day, but for us Houlis it makes sore arms and shoulders. By the time a good wave was coming I hardly had the energy to catch it. Once I stole the wave of one of the locals and I thought he was going to pound on me. I think it was Anya out in the water with me that gave me pointers on the right of way rules in the ocean. I was getting pretty annoyed by the whole day. I think I'd spent nearly 2 hours in the water and only partially caught 1 wave. I decided to call it a day. Suzy said I could have a rain check because of the bad day so I planned to try again Wednesday.
On the way out I looked around and couldn't find my keys. I'm in a rental car, at the beach, and can't find my keys. I walked back and forth trying to figure out where they might have gone and was getting more frustrated by the moment. It may seem a small and simple thing, but I decided I should relax, say a prayer, and ask God where I should look. My first thought when I finished was to look in my camera case, which seemed like a silly idea, but I did it anyway. There were my keys. I grabbed my stuff and off I went, including another prayer of gratitude and feeling a little bit more humble about life in general.
One of the Polenisian Cultural Center employees puts on a show for the tourists by making fire.
Polenisian Cultural Center
After lunch I went to the Polynesian Cultural Center which is right next to BYU Hawaii's campus and staffed by students. The prices aren't cheap, but the show is great. It also goes to a worthy cause since the funds raised at the Center provide scholarships for students. I made it in during the boat processional where each floating raft represented a different culture. I walked between exhibits to look around and went to the Imax movie on the living ocean, which included original music by Sting. Outside the theater and back in the exhibits I went to the Samoan presentation, which was great. The narrator was great and his routine was funny and informative. He had especially good reactions from the Japanese visitors who he teased while discussing the similarities in pacific languages. He demonstrated climbing trees, starting fire by rubbing sticks together and husking coconut.
The lua stage with entertainment prior to the feast.
The authentic luau is one of the highlights of the PCC and was great. While the food was finishing there was entertainment on the stage and the live band played. The pig roasted in the spit was pulled out in front of the whole crowd and hauled off to be shredded for dinner. In addition to the pig there was poi, which tasted better when mixed with other food, and taro salad and taro rolls. The blue rolls were the strangest looking thing, but they tasted delicious. The taro is similar to a potato and provides a starchy heartiness to the bread that I liked. The meal included salmon sushi, veggies, salads, and of course fresh pineapple. By the time I finished my stomach felt like it was thanksgiving.
The Horizon show is the PCC main event and is well choreographed and danced. Go see it, or buy a copy of the DVD.
