Bullers Meet the Coast Guard

Lucky us...a rare opportunity for a ride on the fastest and loudest boat on the waters of Kauai. What are the Bullers up to now? You ask. Our family was treated to an early morning visit to the United States Coast Guard Kauai Station in the harbour port of Nawiliwili. We arrived with Jon, Sandra and Jackson at the Station where we had to sign in and meet with Senior Chief Kai. The senior chief gave us a quick tour of the station and his office, gave us a brief lesson of what the Coast Guards responsibilities are and technical terms of the boat itself. When asked how many emergencies they tend to in a day, his first response was at his last station in California...there were 2-3/day. Here in Kauai, Coast Guard rescues are quite infrequent if not rare. One of the reasons for this is that it seems the Hawaiian people take care of each other and the coast guards aren't made aware of any of their distress calls. They did have to rescue one tourist from getting caught in a current at Kalapaki Beach this week (nobody noticed her missing...her husband was out shopping) and a surfer, but other than those two incidents, things run pretty quietly and smoothly for them.
We boarded a smaller red boat that looked similar to a zodiak but with a steering wheel and some fairly fancy technology. Due to unusually high winds and rough waters, we weren't able to head outside of the port area. Senior Chief Kai had been preparing for us to head south down the coast to a secluded beach inaccessible by car and some whale watching. Unfortunately, neither were a possibility due to the swells. Still, rippin' some donuts in the port in a Coast Guard boat, blaring the siren and yelling "pull over" over the intercom was an experience not often entertained by the average joe and will not soon be forgotten. Jackson, Ben, Alyson, Ed, Jon and myself all had a run at driving the watercraft. Sandra opted not to drive but rather took the moment to soak in the sun on the starboard deck. For those of us now in the know regarding boating terminology, bow is front, stern is back. Port is left and starboard is right. That's about as educational as I can remember the lesson being. We also had very special guest drivers for our trip. Young and amateurish but eager to get in the driver's seat. Our drivers, ready for the Coast Guard are...

Ben, Jackson and Aly

Ed and "The Destroyer"

Okay first of all let me say that Ed is just fine. By the attached photo, you can probably guess what I am about to say next. Yesterday at lunchtime, while on his way to a meeting with a friend/church member in Waimea, Ed was involved in a motorcycle accident. Driving down the westbound highway through the sugar cane fields, two cars ahead of him suddenly came to a stop. Ed hit the brakes, but to his horror, hit the front brakes just a wee bit harder than the back. He knew he was going to be in alot of pain in just a few short seconds. Ed was launched up and over the front of his bike while he and his bike flew across the road and landed in the eastbound lane (oncoming traffic). They both skid to a stop and luckily so did the traffic. People were onsite immediately and called the ambulance. To my great relief, when I received the phone call, it was Ed on the other end calling from inside the ambulance. It would've been much worse to hear the voice of the EMT's or the police. Assuring me that he was fine (of course, I wouldn't believe it until I saw it) he asked me to meet him at the KVMH hospital where he was being taken for treatment and a good clean-up. Upon my arrival, I was relieved to see him in one piece with his coconut still in tact (physically at least)! One huge saving grace is that Ed is a stickler for wearing his helmet and a motorcycle jacket. What a complete godsend!! The gear saved his life! The one piece of protective gear he was missing was a pair of riding boots. Just an FYI... sneakers won't cut it in a crash. His helmet is surprisingly in not too bad condition, his jacket, jeans and sneakers ...shredded. Because of the lack of proper footwear, his right leg....also shredded. He sustained deep abrasions to the right leg all the way from above his knee to his ugly big right toe. He sustained the deepest abrasion under his big rt. toe because of the friction of hitting the road and the subsequent destruction of the shoe. He may require a graft there. Other minor abrasions were found on his right shoulder, elbow, hip and inner thighs. His ribs are also deeply bruised and VERY tender and painful. I suspect when he arises from his bed this morning, he will be in quite a bit of pain. The Vicodin is sure to help. Anyways, Praise God for huge mercies!! The accident and injuries were minor considering what the outcome could've been. An MRI showed all organs are intact and in the right places. No lacerations to the spleen or other organs!! Hooray!! X-rays on his lower extremities showed no breaks in his bones. Please pray for a speedy recovery and no unexpected internal bleeding. Ed is in relatively good spirits considering and is comfortable taking at least a month's break from "the Destroyer" as I like to call it. Heaven help the wife that has to pick up the pieces of her husband!! Oy!

My sincerest apologies go out to the woman who gave birth to this son and the man who helped raise him!

Smith Family Garden Luau

January 3, 2007: What a day!! We awoke to gorgeous weather....a perfect day for kayaking 4 hours down the Wailua River. Up and at 'em at 6 am for me. Our scheduled meeting time was 8 am at the boat ramp in Wailua. We rented kayaks and and were off to meet our personal river guides at the boat ramp...Jungle Joe and wife, Angela. What an awesome couple. We know them from church and they were more than happy to head out on the water with us. A BIG mahalo to Joe who took the day off from work to be with us!
We headed 3 miles down the glorious Wailua River which was calm and easy going on the way out but windy and hard paddling on the way in. We stopped at a rocky inlet where we tied 3 kayaks and 2 outriggers together and headed through the jungle on a slippery and rocky (but pretty level) 1 mile hike. A breeze, after the slick uphill 1 mile hike at the beginning of the 11 mile Kalalau Trail we attempted the day before. At our hiking destination was the spectacular "Secret Falls", so secret that everbody knows about them, but lucky for us, very few people were there to greet our arrival. At least, we beat them all there anyways. The pool at the base of the falls was quite nippy and only the bold, brave and beautiful made the attempt to go in. That being Jeremy, Megan and Tyler. Megan actually stood under the falls. What Canadian spirit! It was aptly described to have felt like a shower of hail from one Montrealer who stood under it for several minutes. Crazy Canucks! After a quick snack and a few minutes of picture taking, we hiked back to the kayaks on the way back to the boat ramp. It was hard work and exhausting and I (with my bum shoulder) was lucky enough to have Tyler as my paddling partner! Way to go MG!! (pictures to follow)

After a few hours of R&R at home, we headed back out to Wailua for the Smith Family Traditional Garden Luau. After meeting our native Okinawan hosts, Mamo and Joen Kaneshiro (the important local suppliers of the pig for the evening) and the rest of my family, we headed into the Luau Gardens for a group family photo and tram ride through the fabulous Polynesian floral, fruit and tree gardens native and imported to this Kauaian Island. Following a few minutes of free time, we headed to the "imu" pit for the traditional opening of the ceremony. A brief introduction of the Smith Family and explanation of the imu ceremony and then 2 young Hawaiian men blew their conch shells to the West, East, North and South to open the evening. They then picked up their 'garden hoes' and removed the sand from the opening of the pit to reveal the cooked pig beneath the grains. Hmmm....an aroma of grand proportions filled the gardens!!! The fresh smell of steamed pork. Yummy and well... it was later discovered to be certainly juicy!!! After a few snapshots of the pig, and me and the boys, we head over to the dining area for a fabulous buffet of Kalua Pig, Mahi mahi, lomi lomi salmon, chicken and a variety of salads and dessert. It was Ono-licious!! Following the meal, we headed to the Amphitheatre for a Traditional Story-telling of the Hawaiian people. It began with the fiery appearance of Pele, the Volcano Goddess atop a flaming volcano! Amazing!!! It was really hard to capture with my little camera the people and the dress of the different Polynesian cultures but I tried. There were colorful and fiery representations from the Samoan culture, Philippino, Chinese, Japanese as well as a few other islands. The show was absolutely spectacular, keeping us all entertained...even the stubborn and easily bored children in the family stayed focused and intrigued by the pyrotechnics in the production. Tyler on the other hand, was pretty much leaping out of his seat with excitement. This was everything he had heard about and seen on video from his grandparents previous visits to Hawaii. For him, this was the real Hawaii. The garden luau had something for everyone.

I would highly recommend this show to anyone interested in checking out traditional luaus on the island of Kauai. It certainly hit the "WOW" factor for us and all who attended that evening!