Wednesday August 3rd

After a late night of wedding mania, it was nice to sleep in a bit and recuperate. At least, so I thought. Apparently our initial plan of lounging by the pool was interrupted briefly by a plan to take off to the local waterfall and do some cliff jumping/diving as the water was much calmer as well as salt-free.

We packed up and met the herd and determined who was car-pooling with whom, as not everyone rented a vehicle for the week. We took Yvonne (Dan’s mom) and Rose (Dan’s Godmother) and headed East. It was a quick 15 minute drive and a 5 minute walk loaded up with towels, a cooler full of drinks and snacks as well as some swim gear and a camera bag. All in all, there were about 20 of us. The cliffs were quite good, and the clean water was a treat for us landlubbers.  Many people took turns jumping off the cliff waterfall into the water, then swimming over to the ladder and taking a turn on the rope swing.  Tim entertained us all with his veteran diving skills as he was doing flips and spins with perfect dives into the pool below every time.

 After a couple hours of watching everyone, we made our way back to the car and home to relax a while before heading off to the Luau at 4. Arrival times were anywhere from 5-530.  We took a ride on the little train tram around the park and got the tour of the thousands of plants and many animals that reside on the plantation.

At 6pm, the giant oven was dug up and the pig thrown on a huge rack to be carved up for the 250 or so people in attendance. We had 34 people attend which was great.  We had tables close to the stage for the early portion of the event.  We had open bar on Mai Tai’s, wine and beer so many partook as It was another very warm day. There was a trio of musicians on stage entertaining us while we ate.  The buffet was absolutely incredible. Many salads and breads, pulled pork from the bbq pig, teriyaki beef, roast chicken, fish in pineapple sauce, potatoes and many vegetables.  For dessert there was a couple coconut dishes as well as cheesecake and many bowls of fresh fruit. There were many people who went back for seconds and thirds.

Soon, it was time to make our way to the outdoor theatre down the way. We found great seats in the 5^th row on the right and saved a couple rows for everyone who was lined up for the washrooms.  The show began with a fiery volcano and a dancing girl while the speaker explained the spirit world of the Hawaiian people. A quick firework led to many other dancers from all the cultures from this side of the world. There were dances representing the Polynesians, Chinese, Japanese, Philipino, New Zealanders doing the Hakka and many more. The 75 minute show ended with an amazing display of fire stick twirling by one of the lead dancers who even spat fire now and again. We wrapped up at 915 and made our way back down the highway about 30 minutes and called it a night. Long days in the sun make for early evenings but another great day in Hawaii.