I walked to the Kona harbor this morning just as Kai Opua Canoe Club was launching their canoes. They launched three six-place outriggers and one twelve place double-hulled canoe. Kai Opua bills itself as the oldest canoe club in the Islands. Twenty men and twelve woman organized the club in 1929, according to the earliest records. The club sponsors teh Queen Lili’uokalani Lon Distance Race on Labor Day and has won numerous championsihps, including the Wahine O Ke Kai 40.1 mile race from Molokai to Oahu three consecutive times. Check out their history here. The other pages on their website are also instructive.
On Monday, we visited Hilo for breakfast at Ken’s Pancakes. Ken’s is famous for their Sumos, which are gigantic servings, usually of pancakes, eggs and sausage. Grandson tried a Sumo when they were here last week. He ate what he could and took the rest home. It took him three days to finish it all. By the time we were seated, it was nearly noon, so we had lunch instead. Then we toured downtown Hilo and made a stop at the farmer’s market. A pop-up apparel seller across from the market was selling vintage aloha shirts at $20-$35 di=ollars a piece. Michael and I each bought two. After that we visited some waterfalls in the heart of town. This is Rainbow Falls.
Tuesday, we made another visit to Hapuna Beach. The sky was so clear, Maui was visible with Haleakala rising above the clouds.
It was Michael’s last day, so we visited Lava Lava Beach Club for late lunch. Here’s Michael at the big kiawe tree at the entrance to Lava Lava.
While at Lava Lava we learned that Henry Kapono will be performing on Friday at 7:30. Lava Lava takes no reservations. Their wait time for a table can be as long as two hours and they have a two-hour time limit. All of which makes it hard to plan to hear Kapono. Even if we got in, we could be so far away, behind people who don’t know who he is and who don’t appreciate him, that we might not enjoy the performance. However, we talked to the server who pointed out that the beach borders the club, which is open air, and the stage is close to the water. He said the best think is to bring our own chairs and just sit on the beach. We will see if Anne and Mike are interested.
Michael’s flight was supposed to leave at 9:05 last night, but because of mechanical problems and other delays, they didn’t get off until 12:30. He arrived in Houston at 10:30 this morning 3:30 pm CDT.
Last night’s sunset was gorgeous, of course, with spectacular colors.
Hawaiian Noir 