Today we took a bus to the opposite side of the island to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center. The center is run by nearby the Brigham Young University campus where students from all across Polynesia attend classes and work at the center.
The first thing we did was catch a canoe that took us to the far side of the center. We spent the day gradually working our way back to the entrance.
There was much to see and do.
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| Liam fishing (did not catch anything) |
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| Chloe playing the Ukulele |
One of the highlights of the day is the Floating Parade where small flat boats are polled through the "river" waters while people from the various cultures perform their native dances. We had a bit of tropical rain during the parade but it didn’t last long and we dried out pretty fast.
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Video of Floating Parade
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We stopped at the Iosepa, a 57-foot long, double hulled, sailing canoe, an immense twin-hulled boat, similar to those used by the Polynesians to spread across the South Pacific. They also had a lot of information about how the ancient Hawaiians were able to navigate by the stars, the sun, wind, waves and clouds. They were master sailors and never needed the fancy navigation instruments that we need today.
Each culture has it's own "village" where they had authentic structures. Many also had various activities to try or performances to enjoy.
We visited Samoa (where the kids played a game and tried their hands with tossing fish nets),
Video of throwing the net
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Fiji (where we watched a performance and some handicraft work),
New Zealand (with it's fierce Maori welcome, dancing and a game of tossing sticks),
Hawaii (where we saw dancing),
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Video of Hawaiian Dancers
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Tahiti,
and Tonga (where Chloe tried her hand at spear throwing).
We had dinner at the buffet and then attended a wonderful pageant before catching the bus back to Honolulu. Great Day.
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