tour

“P” is for Polynesian Cultural Center-Our Hawaiian Adventures

Posted on by Debbie

The fully immersive Polynesian Cultural Center can best be described as part education, part museum,  part Disney Theme Park and part Broadway.   Wear your walking shoes, this full day of activity spans a full 42 acres!

Founded in 1865, this area was originally desolate and uninhabitable. Prior to the building of this amazing location, the lovely town of Laie hosted weekly hukilaus, a community fish fry meant to entertain, instruct and support the community to raise money for the constuction.  Through tender loving care and tenacity the area, also known as ‘The Gathering Place’,  grew into a beautiful center of spirituality, education and ethnic harmony. The Polynesian Cultural Center first opened its doors in 1963 as a way for students at the adjacent Church College of Hawaii (now Brigham Young University-Hawaii) to earn money for their education, while preserving and portraying the cultures, arts and crafts of the people of Polynesia.   We’ve come a long way since 1963.

Entrance

Upon entering the park you may assigned a guide or left to explore the park on your own.  Everything is dependent upon the type of ticket you have purchased and the inclusions they have.

Villages

The park is divided into various Polynesian villages: Aoteareo (New Zealand), Figi, Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, and Tonga.  Personally we chose this adventure specifically to get an overview of the various areas we would be seeing during the course of our 45 day Pacific Adventure.

Each village contains replicas of statues and buildings indicative of the actual location.    Each village also offers cultural activities such as dances, foods, games, stories, music and more.  The costumed “villagers” are mostly    students from the nearby Brigham Young University. With another nod to the authenticity,  these students often come from the islands they are representing.  Demonstrations take place at each village throughout the afternoon and visitors are invited to get hands on and participate in many of them.

Living Museum

Tucked away among the villages of the Polynesian Cultural Center is a halau (a place of learning) which holds an almost 60 foot long double-hulled canoe made of Fijian dakua wood.  Twice a day there is a presentation about how the Iosepa is used by BYU – Hawaii as a sailing classroom, where students learn about now the ancient Polynesians navigated across the Pacific Ocean.  When the Iosepa is not being used during the spring and summer months it is stored at the Center.  Visitors to the exhibit will also learn about how a celestial navigation compass is used, how the canoe is prepared and the activities the “crew” will perform during an ocean voyage.  This is just a single example of the many museum pieces scattered among the grounds.

Lagoon

Just as they are in real life, the villages positioned along a waterway.   A long river connects them and eventually leads to a lagoon.  Along the waterway is where you can paddle your own outrigger canoe, take a gentle float trip around the entire park or spend time in the afternoon watching the Parade of Long Canoes as it floats by with representative dancers and musicians from each village.

All tickets allow you to partake in each of the villages.  For an additional fee you may add one of two dining options.

Buffet

The Buffet at both lunch and dinner time.  Many traditional foods are served.  This is held in the

Evening Luau

A Traditional Luau is, complete with the lifting of the roasted pig from the imu (in ground oven), a buffet style feast and more entertainment including a royal procession, dancers and musicians.  The luau is held in the .

Following the meal all guests will make their way to the

Evening Show

Ha-The Breath of Life is a spectacular Broadway style story with over 100 performers.  There is no photography allowed at this venue, which leaves us limited only to the photos available online.  Trust me when I say this is a show you won’t want to miss.  In fact, many of the performers have been awarded the top awards for their dance skills.

This tour has earned the distinction of the  “Peoples Choice Award” and draws over 1 million visitors a year.

 

“F” is For Fern Grotto-Our Hawaiian Adventure

Posted on by Debbie

Today marks the 8th day of our 55 days of world exploration. Since leaving home on January 17, 2023, we have already played in Los Angeles and on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Alan and I would begin the day early again, so we started the morning with a breakfast on our balcony. The sunrise was beautiful as we arrived in our second port of Hawaii, the island of Kauai. We were Malahini, or newcomers to these lands and we were once again refreshed and ready to explore.

Kauai is a small island at just 33 miles wide by 55 miles long. There is only a single road which only accesses about 1/3 of the small island. After much studying I had learned that the best ways to view this island was by boat or plane, so I had booked tours for us to do both. Our first stop would be the Fern Grotto.

A grotto is a cave which occurs naturally or is man-made. The pictures which I had seen of the Fern Grotto were spectacular and I was very excited to see it. The tour was touted as a visit to a geological wonder of Kauai promising an ampitheater, where ferns grow upside down from the roof of a grotto, which had formed millions of years ago.

There is only one way to get to the Grotto and that is via boat! In fact, The Wailua River is known as “the only navigable river” in all Hawaii, which would make the adventure even more exciting. I felt as if we were discovering hidden places.

There are a couple companies which offer tours on the 22.5 mile long river. We would be traveling with the Smith family for just two of those miles. This family has been navigating the river since 1946. Our boat for the day was called the Whitney K. She was one of several on the river that day.

Besides the few boat companies, the only other way to get to the grotto (which is owned by the Smith family) is by kayak. These could be rented or one could take the half hour journey up the river in their own kayak. Except for the rain which was falling off and on, I think we would have preferred this mode of travel.

Instead we had chosen what I affectionately refer to as a cruise ship “Granny tour”. These are the kinds of trips which are sedate and slow. perfect for the elderly, which we are not yet quite there. This was a float trip down a winding river, while relaxing, it was boring. Don’t get me wrong, the river is pretty enough but the view doesn’t vary much and powering under our own efforts would have at least given us something to do.

The saving grace to our boredom was that we were treated to a pretty spectacular rainbow, which spread across the river as the sun peaked out for a moment after one of the many showers on this day. It was a short lived reprieve from the gloomy day and we soon found ourselves back in our soggy conditions. Thankfully we could remain under cover on our boat while being regaled with the history of the river, as we made our way to the Fern Grotto.

We learned that the water which feeds the river comes from Mt. Wai‘ale‘ale, one of the wettest spots on the planet receiving about 465″ of rain a year! Kauai is the forth oldest of the Hawaiian islands. I was interested to learn that lands along the river were the sacred capital of ancient Kauai and the birthplace of the island’s ali‘i, or royalty.

After about half an hour we reached the dock to disembark for the short walk to the grotto. Normally there would be a performance of The Wedding Song and a hula dancer at the Fern Grotto where they would perform The Wedding Song at the amphitheater, but the rains were preventing it on this day, so the musicians performed on the boat, as we waited out yet another shower.

I had seen spectacular images of the Fern Grotto, so it was disappointing once we finally arrived. There was a lot of greenery but I was very disappointed to realize much of the old grotto had collapsed leaving only a fraction of the original glory. A little creative photography and I was able to capture a piece of the former glory.

In fact, the decline of the Fern Grotto’s began when it was hit by Hurricane Iwa in 1982. It was then nearly destroyed as Kauai was hit by Hurricane Iniki in 1992. Most of the ferns hanging from the grotto were torn from the rocks, With nothing to hold the ground together, the roof of the spectacular amphitheater began collapsing. In 2006 a woman sued the Smith family after being injured by falling rocks. The grotto is no longer accessible by foot and may only be viewed from a distant wooden platform. Although much of the plant life has rebounded, the grotto has had a difficult time recovering as new plant life has sprung up with increased light which now floods the gully.

All was not lost on this tour. After viewing the gully we were able to return to the boat via a flower lined walking path. My camera clicked from one flower to the other, as I attempted to capture the beauty of the native Hawaiian plants which surrounded us. Walking among the colorful exotic tropical plants sproting from the floor of this rain forest I realize I am in my most perfect element of serene peace. It was in this way that I would come to continue recommending this tour for others to enjoy. Perhaps the float trip had been more fabulous than even I had imagined it could be. Perhaps “Granny trips” are exactly what my soul needs as I learn to relax into this sixth decade of my life.