Tuesday, November 2

Everything pineapple can be found here.

The North Shore, today waves were cresting at near 30 feet.

The Samoan coconut tree climber.

Posing with the Fiji village people. Check out the little ones in the front.

China Man's Hat.

Today is my sister's birthday. We had decided that we would visit the Polynesian Cultural Center. I took Matt to work so we could have a car and it was an amazing experience in itself. To see so many of the ships docked there on base with their lights twinkling in the early morning darkness was amazing. Once I was back home and we had lazily gotten ready for the day we headed up to the North Shore. We did make a quick stop at the Dole Pineapple Plantation that Judy really enjoyed. I found it interesting last time because I always thought that pineapples grew in trees but learned that they actually grow out of the ground. Who knew?? The most beautiful part of this trip is crossing from the pineapple fields, cresting the mountain and then seeing the ocean of the north shore spreading out in front of you. We pulled over at a beach where we have always been able to see green sea turtles hauled out onto the sand. I had heard that the waves this week were averaging 25-30 feet and we weren't disappointed. We weren't able to see any turtles hauled out because the water was too high with very little beach showing but we could see the turtles just off shore swimming in the surf. However, there was a surf competition going on so we saw many crazy surfers in these unbelievable waves. I can't even begin to explain and pictures just can't show the magnificence of these waves. We finally arrived at the Cultural Center and spent almost 4 hours immersing ourselves in the island cultures. On our way home we stopped at China Man's Hat for some quick pictures before heading back to Sara's house. We pretty much went completely around the island and were pooped! Sara had a great supper ready for us and flowers for Judy's birthday. Judy was sure this had been her best birthday ever! I'm so happy for her.