Next day, Thursday, we had a kayaking trip scheduled. Chris and Lisa had gone on one of these while they were here previously and they recommended it to us. It was a four hour tour, yeah I know, just like the Giligan’s Island song. We had a great time. It was located in Kailua Bay.
We went out on a double kayak. It was tough though, with my high profile, my center of gravity sits out of the water pretty well. I was struggling with keeping the boat upright and we only flipped once. The trip went out to the Flat Island of the Mokulua Islands where we were given a tour by the guide and lunch. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t very good. The wind was howling and the swells were fairly significant. The whole trip out we were fighting the wind. We were given snorkeling gear to go snorkeling once we got to the island, but we didn’t use it.
There were 3 boats in our group that were all double kayaks plus the tour guide. One lady that was with us was trying to go solo, but she had to turn back as it was too much for her. The island was a sanctuary to some endangered birds that used it to nest. The trip back was much better as we had the wind to our backs. Our tour guide was very good. He was helpful and knew a lot about the surrounding area.
After the trip we had our first experience with Hawaii’s Shave Ice. I thought it was just going to be like a snow cone that you get in the mainland, but it’s not totally the same. Out there, its a big deal and really good. After our first one, we were hooked and got one at least every day. It is this really fine shaved ice (as the name implies) that they pour different flavors of syrup on. You can do variations like getting ice cream at the bottom of your cup or my favorite, condensed milk poured on top of it. There were lots of little shops all over the island that had these. Each one had a large variety of flavors to chose from. The people selling it must make a gold mine because its usually $4 or $5 and you know it doesn’t cost them a quarter for the cost.
For dinner that night we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center to experience a luau. Matt had told us earlier the previous day that this place was owned by LDS church. I had no idea, but we went anyway. It was a pretty big production, but I felt like I was in tropical Disneyworld. The food was pretty good, but everything was so fake. They showed a pig being taken off the fire that was going to be our kaula pork, but within minutes of that, dinner was served, buffet style. Hmmmm, something tells me that wasn’t the same pig. In fact, I don’t even think the pig they took off the fire was a real pig. Oh well, guess I have to look past all that.
Sitting at our dinner table, everyone there was a newlywed on their honeymoon except for one couple that was celebrating their 40th anniversary. Everywhere we went there seemed to be newlyweds on their honeymoon.
After supper, there was a show there that we went to. It was done well, I felt like I was at a Broadway play. I don’t do musicals well, so I fell asleep during it. Not saying they did a bad job, I just got bored. The fire dancing was impressive though. Everything was very well choreographed.