Memorial Day at Hukilau and Waimae Bay

At 7 a.m., our friend, Zeb Weeks texted to say that there was going to be a hukilau at Hukilau beach that morning. My reply back was- What the heck his a Hukilau? I thought it might me a dance. But I looked it up on wikipedia. Here is the definition below:

A hukilau is a way of fishing invented by the ancient Hawaiians. The word comes from huki, meaning pull, and lau, meaning leaves. A large number of people, usually family and friends, would work together in casting the net from shore and then pulling it back. The net was lined with ti leaves, which would help scare the fish into the center of the net.[1] Consistent with the Hawaiian subsistence economy, anybody who helped could share in the catch. Hukilau Beach, in Lā'ie, is named after the technique, which has been used there for centuries.




Ah Ha. A Hukilau. I get it. All the kids were awake except for Sleeping Beauty (Jayne), so we gave them some breakfast and hurried to Hukilau Beach. The group in charge, the community, were tying the ti leave rope together. Here is the boat used, full of the ti leaves and nets.

 Here we are not really knowing what is going on. 

They unravelled the ti rope.

Then they tied it to the nets. 

Here's Sam and Jake listening in on the instructions.

Not sure that either of these little people knew what was going on, but they were happy to be at the beach by 8 a.m. 

Here they are sending the boat out. It would go out leaving one side of the ti rope with us. Cast it nets and then make a giant loop out in the ocean and the bring the other rope on the other side. Then the nets would be pulled in by both sides as you can see below. Divers were sent out to make sure the nets didn't snag on the bottom of the ocean as they were pulled into shore. Micah and Eric couldn't resist and joined the snorkelers. The water was rough, so Micah said he mostly just tried to stay alive. Seen below is the line of people on the other side of the nets.  

Here is our group pulling in the nets.

Below is Sam, getting the fish out of the net. There weren't very many fish. They say that most of the fish are gone now. Sam's scout leader told them that as a 7 year old boy, he remember going to hukilau at Hukilau beach and clapping the water to keep all the fish in the nets. He said he was terrified as they pulled in fish bigger than him. A bit sad that we pulled out only a couple dozed fish. But really neat to be apart of this old tradition.

Here's Micah, Sam, and Eric showing off their fish. Pretty impressive.

After the beach we went by the Asian market for some morning musibi. I used wikipedia again so you can fully understand the awesome piece of culture we are sharing. 

Spam musubi is a popular snack and lunch food in Hawaii composed a slice of grilled Spam atop of a block of rice, wrapped together with nori in the tradition of Japanese omusubi.

Inexpensive and portable, spam musubi is commonly found near cash registers in convenience stores all over Hawaii.

 I am sure you laughing but Seth thinks its awesome. So we had our morning Spam roll, and we were set for the day. And right next to the Musibi is a giant tub of cheese balls. This picture is for Rose who was dying laughing at the tub of cheese balls in Jake's nursery on Sunday.

Then we went to this- sorry to make you all jealous. But Waimae Bay was gorgeous. We played in the water for a while and then were sitting out when Sam spotted some dolphins in the bay. There was a whole pod of them. They were too far out for us to swim and we were dying to have a paddle board or sea kayak to get out to them. But they put on a show for us anyway. They were jumping and flipping. It was so fun to see them just out there. 

That evening we went on a way to the park. A great ending to the day.

Here's how the little man rolls:

The picture with his head in hands makes me laugh because he is still rolling. Smooth little buddy. 

He's pretty fast on it, but usually rolls over his fingers daily.