Exploring North Shore

Our first full day in Hawaii we had a full schedule of things we wanted to do, so we got up early and headed to the Dole Plantation. 

The self guided tour was rather short, and surprisingly not many pineapples to be seen.  The few that we did see were a tropical type and had a pink tint to them.  We did learn that it doesn't matter what color a pineapple is to tell if it is ripe or not, it's all about the feel.

We decided to take the train tour, which turned out to be the best way to find out about how they grow pineapple.  I had no idea it takes a full 18 months to grow a pineapple.

The grounds on the plantation are beautiful with lots of beautiful scenery.

I was surprised to see so many different types of trees that they grow here.  They have coconut trees, Macadamia trees, and Cacao trees to name a few.  Again though we saw lots of plants, including pineapple plants we did not see a single pineapple on the tour.

We had some fresh pineapple at the plantation which wasn't that great to be honest.  But we did have some pineapple ice cream that made up for it...it was delicious!  We left the plantation and headed to the the Polynesian Cultural Center.

We arrived just in time to see part of the Canoe Pageant which had already started.

It was cool to see all the different cultures represented through dress and dancing.

These Hawaiian's really know how to shake it!

My favorite performers were the Samoan's,

and the Tongan's.  I don't think either would be described as soft spoken if you know what I mean.

After the canoe pageant we were quickly realizing we didn't have enough time to visit all the islands and were wishing we had given this place a full day to explore.  But, we made the most of our time and visited as many as we could.  We headed to Fiji and joined in some music making, and watched some of the littlest performers.  This kid was so cute, I could have watched him perform all day.

We went to Tahiti and watched a traditional wedding ceremony.

We decided since we wouldn't have time to see all the islands we would take the canoe tour and at least get a glimpse of all of them.  We had just enough time after that before dinner to spend some time on Easter isle.

Then we headed to the Hale Kuai Luau dinner and show. 

The sound of dinner starting was the blowing of a conch shell.  You can see the pig roasting in the ground here.  It smelled amazing.

I was surprised when they pulled it out of the ground that it was all filleted and ready to eat.  I guess I was expecting to see a whole pig unveiled, with an apple in its mouth or something?

The Kahlua pork was good, but the teriyaki beef was even better.  I ventured out and tried everything they had, which Matt wasn't brave enough to do.  I tried the local Poi...not bad, but not great, purple sweet potato salad...yum, taro rolls...sooo good, Lomilomi salmon (tasted just like the smell of salmon eggs...bleh), and Poke which was basically raw tuna...yuck!  I could not spit that out fast enough.  I did try to be discreet as we were sitting with strangers.  They had a great show while we were eating dinner including more dancing, and some fire throwing.

We left the luau stuffed and had just over an hour to walk around before heading to the HA Breath of Life show.  Unfortunately there was no photography allowed in the show, but it was amazing.  It had a little bit of everything in it, dancing, singing, humor, and a great story...and of course some amazing dessert.

We got out late, and had about an hour drive back to our hotel which was on the other side of the island.  We drove all along the coast which I imagine was beautiful, but sadly the sun had set hours before and it was too dark to see.