Polo by the Sea at Mokule'ia

Jonna has been hearing about the local polo matches since she moved here last year and we had mapped out today to see a chukker.  The Hawaii Polo Club has a beautiful site right along the North Shore off Farrington Highway. 
The club has been here since 1963 and every Sunday at 2 polo fans tailgate around the fields to watch the ponies run.
When we woke up this morning it was raining.  The rain here is not like in Kansas, where a storm blows through and leaves clear skies behind it.  In Hawaii the rain is a slow drip that can last for days, so we were not hopeful as we left for church that we would be able to see polo today.
During the service the skies lightened a bit so we decided to head down at noon to get a good spot.

Jonna's friend, Jill, along with her husband, Dusty, and his parents from Texas joined us for the day.
At 2 the JV group began the parade of ponies around the field.  For this match the field is cut in half.  Unfortunately it was the other half of the field from our end so we didn't get a close up experience.
After four chukkers (7 minutes each), there was a brief intermission before the senior players took to the field to vie for the Al Lopaka Trophy. 
In the meantime the skydivers from Dillingham Air Field (across the road) were dropping like flies...so we watched them twist and turn in the strong coastal wind.  Normally they land on the polo field during intermission, but not today.
When the senior teams (Equus and Rainbow Warriors) entered the field you could tell they were very good.
In no time the score was 1-1.  If you haven't been to a polo match, the teams switch ends with a score.  We were fortunate that they were using the entire field so I could get some good shots.

At around 4:30 or so Jonna and I decided to leave so we didn't see the last chukker.  We had planned on eating at Luibueno's in Hale'iwa, which is just up the highway from Mokule'ia. 
The chicken quesadillas were delicious as usual and the dinner was a great end to another fabulous day in Hawai'i

Score!!!

Rare birds make up the polo set

 

Score!!!

Swimmin' With the Fishies

By "swimming with the fishies" I'm not talking the mafia meaning...

Jonna and I headed down to the North Shore past Hale'iwa today.  We stopped in the little hamlet to do a little shopping and then headed down the coast to find a good spot to swim. 
As I told you before, some of the shops in Hale'iwa Town are...interesting.  We went back to one we had visited before and this time the man behind the counter (an old surf bum) was very friendly and talked with us about Kansas and tsunamis, tornadoes, and just about everything else.  A sign by the cash register reads, "This is a work free drug place." :)))  Need I say more? 

The sun was peeking in and out of the clouds, but it didn't stop the throngs from heading for the rays.
We finally found a spot near Pupukea Beach Park which is surrounded by Shark's Cove and Sunset Beach on one side and Three Tables Beach and Waimea Bay on the other side.
We chose Three Tables Beach, a small alcove tucked between giant volcanic rocks.  It's named for three flat table rocks that serve as mini wavebreaks.
The water isn't really deep but the best part is it has a reef below it which allows for great snorkeling.
After sunning ourselves for a bit, eating homemade guacamole and chips, and digging around us for cool shells and seaglass, we headed down to the water and the strong surf.
As I floated, Jonna snorkeled (we only had one snorkeling kit). 
When I took to the snorkel, I saw many brightly colored fishes meandering through the flat-topped reef.  Black fish with neon orange stripes near the gills, grey fish with bright blue heads and bright yellow fish with black tiger stripes down their bodies.

As the sun returned the crowd increased a bit so we got out of the water.  It's not that I dislike high-schoolers but they seem to be clueless when it comes to beach/water etiquette.  It took them no time to wander into my floating area.  The surf is so strong that it's hard to control yourself so I finally gave up and got out of the water, but not before Jonna and I picked up some neat seaglass for her collection. 

As I continued to dig around me for cool shells, I kept getting text messages from Wichita State and everyone I know in Wichita warning me of the tornado warnings in Sedgwick County.  What a difference a few thousand miles make!!!  We were sitting on the beach without a care in the world while my friends were hunkered down in their basements...
All is well I hear and the rain will bring them a much-needed respite from the horrible heat that has plagued the plains while I've been gone.
It's been hard to update my friends that the weather here is 75 with a cool sea breeze...and the views...well...I don't want to depress anyone further!!!
No AC is needed, as my open window, the fan above and the window across the hall acts as fresh, natural AC!....that is, until tonight, when my naughty godson Hobbes (Hobo Cat) decided to perform surgery on the screen in the hall window.  Jonna was in the bathroom next to it and screamed, "Hobbes!"  He had escaped on to the roof...so now that window is closed until further notice.  Hobo showed no remorse because...well...he runs the house.

As we made our way back down Kamehameha Highway into Hale'iwa we decided to stop at Matsumoto's for a Shave Ice...we both had our customaries; Jonna the "Hawaiian" and me the "Root Beer."  We arrived at the best time as there was amazingly no line!!  If you haven't been there before, the line is always 15-deep to the door...
I almost spilled my shave ice when a man walked behind our car in Matsumoto's parking lot.  He was dragging a big green trash can with rollers.  I wondered aloud what he was doing, and Jonna said, "you mean, Oscar?"  hahahahaha  I said that Oscar had obviously had an upgrade since I watched Sesame Street!!

A funny note:
The other day I thought I heard a tornado siren about 11:45 in the morning.  Ahem...now I know what a tsunami siren sounds like.  And no we didn't have a tsunami...merely a test like our weekly tornado siren tests.

Tomorrow night we are headed to Jonna's Bible Study group (Army Navigators) for "game night."
I'm not sure about Saturday, but we're excited to see some polo on Sunday.  Just imagine Jonna and me stomping the divets between Chukkers...sooo "Pretty Woman."

WARNING: PARADISE PHOTOS BELOW!!!! :)) ALOHA

Three Tables Beach...a nice little alcove for snorkeling

Jonna talking to her dad

My home...hahahaha (If it were I would instruct the servants to clear the riffraff from my beach!)

The three tables for which the beach is named

Some saucy tramp with red toenails...oh wait...that's Jonna's foot

The riffraff on my beach and a lone paddleboarder in the distance (he can stay since he's not in my cove)

Looking toward Shark's Cove and Sunset Beach

Yes, we are on an island! 

Wave breaking in the inlet

Aloha!

Pearl Harbor pt. 3 USS Missouri

The Mighty Mo is the greatest battleship in history.  It's story spans the end of World War II all the way to the Persian Gulf War.
When Battleship Row was devastated by Japanese bombers in Pearl Harbor, the Missouri was not even finished yet.  She was commissioned in 1944 and set out to avenge the losses suffered by the Pacific Fleet.
Her battles included the taking of Okinawa and sunk many vessels along the way.
Perhaps her most famous act was when representatives of the Japanese Empire boarded her to officially surrender to the United States.  It was important that the surrender occurred on one of our battleships to remind the Japanese that they may have sunk our boats but could never sink our spirit.

Aiding the now-preferred aircraft carriers, her mission was reinvented after Tomahawk Missiles were conceived.  Serving valiantly in the Persian Gulf she helped to defeat the Iraqi regime that overtook Kuwait.

Decommissioned in 1992, the Navy decided to moor her on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor so the public could marvel at her unique history.  No other battleship saw action in three wars (WWII, Korea, Persian Gulf).

Jonna and I took the audio tour, carrying around our giant phones!! hehe  The ship is massive and like a maze below deck.  The coolest site was the place where a kamikaze smashed into the boat, only leaving two small dents in the side.  A picture on deck shows theh kamikaze about to hit.  The bomb aboard the plane did not explode and instead the top half of the pilot's body landed on one of the big guns and the bottom half of his body fell into the sea.  The crew didn't know what to do and figured chucking his body overboard would be fitting, but the Captain said, "he is only doing for his country what we are doing for ours so he deserves to be treated respectfully."  So the ship's doctor put him together as best he could and they put him in a box and buried him at sea.  The attack on Pearl Harbor was dishonorable by the Japanese but the American military would not be drawn into that attitude.

The quarters below deck were tight and Jonna and I only spent about 30 minutes there.  The overwhelming smell of oil/WD-40 was too much toward the end. 
I'm glad we got to see her and experience her amazing history.

Her big guns were unmatched in the Pacific

The two dents made by the kamikaze

You can see the kamikaze in the upper-left-center of the photo

The crew burying the kamikaze pilot at sea

Jonna demonstrating the tight squeeze in the crew bunk area

Pearl Harbor pt. 2 USS Arizona Photos

Jonna pointing out Hawaii on the Pacific Map of 1941

We musn't forget that 68 civilians lost their lives

Jonna pointing to her home (PH in the forefront) and map of Pearl Harbor

I was impressed by our female naval officer who parallel parked our huge boat!

Approaching the Memorial

The oil from the Arizona stretching to the USS Missouri

Visitors dropping flowers

A rusting reminder

After 70 years, oil still seeps from the wreckage

The list of those who perished

The list of survivors whose ashes are now interred with their shipmates

One of the Tree of Life windows

A windy day provides for a great photo

A quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt on a bench back at the Circle of Remembrance

Valor in the Pacific National Monument

Pearl Harbor pt.1 USS Arizona

Jonna and I have had a wonderful time so far and our adventure took us to Pearl Harbor yesterday.
We were fortunate to walk up at the right time and the friendly park ranger told us he had two tickets left for the 11:30 USS Arizona tour.  Perfect timing, as it was only a 20 minute wait for us!  The tour to the Arizona is free to the public, and the monument asks for donations to keep it going.
We looked around a bit and took some pictures before entering the theatre and watching a 30-minute video on the reasons Japan attacked us, the actual attack, and the aftermath.
The video was very moving and both of us felt a little misty-eyed watching it.
As a history buff I know the history of WWII but the video did a wonderful job of tying together all of the aspects.
Narrated by Stockard Channing, it talked about the United States' ambivalence to entering the war in Europe and how our oil embargo against Japan stalled their aggression in Southeast Asia...a precursor to their aggression against us.
It's a story of greed and power. 
Despite the empire's grandiose plans to rule the world, Admiral Yamamoto (in charge of the Japanese Navy) did not want to wage war on the United States. He had been educated in the US and knew a war against us would end badly.  But while envoys from Japan were meeting in Washington to avoid war, he was planning the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The US had moved its Pacific fleet to Pearl strategically.  Yamamoto knew that if Japan wanted to succeed in Southeast Asia, crippling the American Pacific fleet at Pearl would be the only way.

The attack was precise and devastating.

The USS Arizona burns after a bomb pierced her ammunition magazine

Half of the US Pacific fleet (app. 150 vessels) were anchored in Pearl Harbor.  All but one battleship was moored off Ford Island...Battleship Row.
By 10 a.m. 21 vessels sunk or were badly damaged.  1/2 of the casualties occurred on the USS Arizona (1177).  Wheeler, Hickam, and Bellows AFBs lost 217 men and aircraft.  Naval Air Stations Kaneohe and Ford lost 19 men.
Pacific Fleet aircraft losses totaled 92.  Ewa Marine Corps Airbase lost 4 men and 33 aircraft.
Including civilian deaths, the toll was 2,403.

Every branch of the military was affected by the attack.

Two-thirds of the deaths occurred in the first fifteen minutes of the attack when the Oklahoma, Utah, and Arizona were bombed.

After the video was finished you can imagine the silence as people milled out to the boat to travel to the memorial site. 
On December 7 of this year it will be 70 years since that fateful Sunday morning.  The seeping oil that bubbles to the surface from the Arizona is a constant reminder that it was once a thriving ship, run by young sailors with promising futures.
The 1177 souls who perished are now joined by 33 of their boatmates who survived the attack.  The survivors are given the choice of having their ashes interred inside the Arizona (placed by Navy divers).

Jonna and I, as we stood on the memorial, remarked that it won't be long until the stories told by Pearl Harbor survivors and other WWII veterans will be written instead of oral.
Some visitors dropped leis and flowers into the water and there were a few hugging; possibly family members of those interred, or just overcome by the senselessness of the attack.
It's hard not to be moved by the monument.

The seamen who died were my father's age, as were most of the "boots on the ground" in WWII.  It's sad to think so many perished because of the maniacal greed of a few.
I think one should always look for the positives in any situation.  The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese truly awakened the sense of unity in our nation; the masses (young and old, male and female) working together to right the ship, so to speak.
The "Sleeping Giant," as Japan referred to us, would not be caught unaware until 60 years later when a new enemy emerged.

The irony of being with so many Japanese tourists on the memorial tour was not lost on me.  I wanted to ask them what they thought about the attack and the aftermath that claimed so many lives in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and on the warfront of the Pacific.  But the memorial is not a place for political debate, it's a graveyard for the innocence that war steals.
The fact that our nation, and the soldiers who fought in WWII, have forgiven Japan for its misguided aggression, is our most worthy badge.
For those who survived, the memory of the attack and carnage has most assuredly left deep emotional scars, and forgiveness was a daily struggle.
But without forgiveness the scars would have been much deeper.

Stay tuned for Pearl Harbor pt 2 USS Arizona photos

Duke Kahanamoku

On Tuesday our objective was to hike through Waimea Valley on the North Shore.  But Mother Nature decided to drop some rain on us (the cloud formation in the Pacific looked like a hurricane...but wasn't), so we headed to the North Shore town of Hale'iwa to eat lunch and look around. 
The difference from Friday and Tuesday was marked; just a few tourists but no weekenders.
We ate lunch at Luibueno's again and had another Matsumoto shave ice (root beer for me this time), and then looked through some shops we hadn't tried on Friday.
In one of those shops I found a book on Duke Kahanamoku, one of the most celebrated swimmers/surfers/Hawaiians in history.  Here is his incredible story:

Duke Kahanamoku statue on Waikiki (which he never wanted)

Waikiki in 1890 was very different from the hotel-strewn beaches of today.  A relatively unknown outpost in the Pacific, Hawaii was far from the hustle and bustle of world capitals like New York City, London and Paris.  Who knew that a young swimmer/surfrider would put the islands officially on the map.
Born August 24, 1890, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku was the eldest of 9 surviving children.  If "Duke" sounds decidedly un-Hawaiian, it's because the name was given to his father on the day of his birth in 1869...the same day that the Duke of Edinburgh (Queen Victoria's son, Albert) arrived in Hawaii to much fanfare. 
So the elder Duke passed the name on to his eldest son.  Duke Senior, who had royal connections to the Kamehamehas through his mother's lineage, moved his family to Kalia, Waikiki when the last of the male royal line died.  Political unrest was rampant so the Kahanamokus moved to a quieter locale.
The whaling industry was hit hard when women stopped wearing whale-bone corsets and jobs were scarce.  Hawai'i did not have the tourist industry to fall back on as it does now, so Duke Senior became a policeman.

Young Duke loved living near the ocean and said he learned to swim because "my father and uncle just threw me into the water from an outrigger canoe.  I had to swim or else."
Along with his many cousins Duke spent most of his childhood in the water...diving, fishing and surfing.
Children were not able to speak the mellifluous native Hawaiian language in school, as it was kapu, banned.  So Duke learned perfect English until he dropped out of high school.  His diving job helped pay the bills for the burgeoning Kahanamoku family (6 boys, 3 girls).

The peaceful Waikiki changed forever when the Moana Hotel opened in 1901.  Journalists began to arrive, political and economic stability led to an influx of new population, and the waterfront began to change from the idyllic village to a business center.
The Honolulu Promotion Committee announced that 1909 was its best tourism year, with an average of 300 visitors per month.  Doesn't seem like much as my airplane (which arrives each day) was carrying nearly that many visitors!!  But Hawai'i was still an unknown in the early 1900s and was not as easy to get to.  The arrival of the haoles (outsiders) also meant the natives had to adjust to racism as well.  Duke felt this when he was left off a haole outrigger, which led him to found the Hui Nalu, Club of the Waves.
1910 would be a huge year for Duke, when Hawai'i joined the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU).  He competed in swimming events and clipped 4.6 seconds off the world record in the 100 yd open water race.  But mainland officials doubted his time, citing faulty markers and ocean tides for his magnificent time.
Duke took the disqualification in stride and set out to prove the world wrong.
In 1912 he was gone for 9 months while he competed in the AAU National Swim Championships where he secured a place on the Olympic team headed for Stockholm.
In Stockholm he won gold in the 100m freestyle (setting a world record) and silver in the 4x200 freestyle relay.  The story of his gold medal is one of sportsmanship.  The Australian champion, Cecil Healy, was Duke's main competition.  When Duke did not show up for his semifinal due to a snafu, officials wanted to disqualify him.  Healy protested (even though he would have won the gold) so Duke could swim.  The officials declined so Healy refused to swim.  Facing a unique dilemma, the judges finally relented and Duke beat Healy by a whisker.
The name Duke Kahanamoku was now headlined in newspapers around the world, and Hawai'i became the focal point.  His competitors were awed by his "Kahanamoku Kick" and his quiet, respectful demeanor.
The 1916 games in Berlin were cancelled so Duke waited for the 1920 games in Antwerp to make a big splash!
He won 2 golds (100m freestyle, 4x200 freestyle relay) and played water polo as well, placing 4th.  He said the water was so cold that he turned purple!

With his gold-medal status and athletic good looks, Paramount Pictures in Hollywood (Haolewood as Duke called it) gave him a movie contract in 1922.  Even with his celebrity status he found it hard to find good parts being a dark-skinned man.  The one thing he was really good at was swimming, but because of his amateur status could not take money for swimming, much less be in a swimming movie. 
At the next Olympics in Paris (1924), Duke had new competition from a teenaged Johnny Weissmuller.  The future Tarzan won the 100m freestyle with Duke taking second and Duke's younger brother, Sam, finishing in third.  Duke was happy that three Americans had secured the top three spots on the podium and Weissmuller told the press, "I learned it all from him (Duke)."  The two became lifelong friends and competitors.

Duke (left) and Johnny Weissmuller (second from right) after training

Johnny and Duke in their later years

Duke and younger brother, Sam (silver and bronze in Paris)

The Olympics in Amsterdam (1928) did not find a Kahanamoku in them.  Duke was sick and didn't make the team.  He returned to Hawai'i, a much different place than he had left.
Being a celebrity you would think Duke would be treated as a king, but he wasn't.  Racism from white haoles grew more frequent as the Hawaiian Islands became popular with travelers.
Finding it hard to secure a good job, Duke and an 18-yr-old from Wisconsin set out to change the surfing industry.  Tom Blake's introduction to Duke secured his future:

"Duke shook my hand. He held out his big, soft paw, and gave me a firm, hearty handshake. I took it as my own personal invitation to Hawai'i."

Duke worked with Tom to innovate the olo (longboard), experimenting with ancient designs, modern compounds, fins, and sails.
Blake was in awe of Duke and said,

"To see Duke coming in at Waikiki on his olo board was to see surfriding at its best...to me, the Duke is...the man by which to measure the race, the surfrider by which to measure the surfriders of all time."

Despite his age (42), Duke still felt the pang of competition and was an alternate on the US Water Polo team at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932.  They won a bronze medal, which brought Duke's tally to 6.  His world record in the 50yd freestyle still held after 21 years.

Duke as a young surfer (top) and in his 60s (bottom)

Duke's life took another turn when he was elected to the City and County of Honolulu Sheriff's post, which he held for 26 years.
He married at age 50 to his lifelong admirer, Nadine. 
The two didn't have children but that wouldn't stop Duke from helping and inspiring kids in Waikiki.  He formed "Duke's Boys," a canoe group that never lost a race.  But Duke was more concerned with their character than their winning record.  He wanted all kids to learn respect and humility and to stay out of trouble on the beaches.
In 1959 Duke became the official Hawai'i Ambassador of Aloha.  Just three weeks before his death at age 77 in 1968 he welcomed the one-millionth visitor to the state, a state that this great Hawaiian/American/athlete/man helped to put on the map.

Aloha, Duke

The six Kahanamoku Brothers on Waikiki (Duke to the right)