Monday 7/11/05 - Sunday 7/20/05

I did the Movie Tour as a Driver in Training Friday, today, and I will again on Monday.  That will be 4 days of training counting the one last week.  I do the driving to pick up and then the driving returning from pickup with no passengers aboard.  I have really enjoyed this.  I meet all kinds of people and am learning quite a bit about the island.  The tour is full of information about the plants and locations as well as movie trivia.  I won't list everywhere we went but here are some of the highlights. 

Today I traveled with Joe as the driver and Agatha who was the narrator.  I really enjoyed today's trip.  The first place we went this morning was Hanama`ulu (HAH-nah-MAH-OO-loo) Bay.  It is near the Lihue Airport.  Films made here include Donovan's Reef, Pagan Love Song, To End All Wars, Voodoo Island, Six Days, Seven Nights, etc.  All three tour guides have said it was a port but I have found nothing that says it was.  I did find that it was very famous for it's train trestle (I'll get a picture of it later, we didn't go that way today), it's low cost housing that was made available to the plantation workers, it's ditch system for water to the cane, but nothing about a port.  I'll look further.  There is a spit of land at the mouth of the sea that has a beacon on it.  In the movies it looks like a lighthouse as they painted it white.  Today and tomorrow there is a celebration for the community with a parade and other events.  One thing that interests me is that they are selling Hawaiian made crafts (only Hawaiian made) so I may go today.  The website is very interesting as it is full of the plantation history of this community.  Hanama`ulu Town Celebration.  I really encourage you to look at this link as it really describes the fabric of a plantation community.  After researching this location I did find a trip I want to do: TUBING THE DITCH EXPEDITION

We also went to the Coco Palms.  This is my favorite part of the whole trip.  Each time I have gone I've seen something new of interest.  Only Hawaiian Movie Tours and Larry Rivera (I've written about his music before when I went to the Radisson to see him) are allowed to be onsite at the location.  Larry manages and sings at weddings in the chapel and at the site where Elvis had his wedding on the lagoon.  Coco Palms was very famous for the movies Blue Hawaii, Sadie Thompson, etc.  Coco Palms Ventures, LLC. is planning to reopen the resort under a hotel/condo mixed-use facility.  The latest news is that they are rapidly moving forward on the renovations for this great site.  It's history and architecture are amazing and I can only hope they will build accordingly.  The area encompassing the Coco Palms Resort was the home of Kaua'i's last reigning queen, Queen Debora Kapule, a wife of King Kaumuali'i, in the mid-1800s.
I look forward to seeing what happens. First Set of Tour with Dawn Pictures

Click for old postcards, photos of menus, and other memorabilia

We also went to Moloa'a beach where they filmed the exterior scenes for Gilligan's Island.  I like going here too because even with the houses that have been built up around the beach it still looks like the show scenes.  I did some research and found that The S.S. Minnow is docked at Schooner's Cove Marina in Nanoose Bay, Vancouver Island.  Interesting story on how it ended up there.  The show has a huge following of fan clubs.  Some of the actors are active in promoting themselves.  Bob Denver has a radio show weekends that is pretty funny with guests from Gilligan's Island sometimes  I listened to one of the recorded shows and it was a hoot. 

We also passed Godzilla mountain and some interesting plants so I've added those.  We ate at Anini Beach.  I've learned the beach before that I called Anini, where I showed the small crescent beach, to the left of the lighthouse is not part of Anini.  I'm still working on finding what the name of that beach is. 

Agatha pointed out all kinds of plants, some I had seen and some I hadn't, and eventually I will photograph them. I realized I hardly ever mention what kind of plants I see but I am always looking for names of new things I see.  I often see, and saw on this trip: Banana, Papaya, Mango, Bird of Paradise, Plumeria, Ginger, Coffee, Macadamia trees, Bougainvillea, Heliconia (everywhere!), Lauhala fruit and Hala Tree that you have seen many times as mats, etc., Kukui tree (nuts are used for lamp oil), Sleeping Grass, Hau and other varieties of Hibiscus, and many many more.  I only listed what I saw this day in Four hours.  Just imagine!!!  I will try to get photos of some of these that I have not taken soon.  Most are in the forest around and behind my condo so it will be a nice diversion sometime. 

Some famous people tidbits:  The narrator mentioned that Pierce Brosnan lives on the North side of the island and the lady behind me said she had seen him the day before purchasing a surf board in Hanalei.  Bette Midler bought a large amount of land at the base of Sleeping Giant to protect it from being developed.  It is said that she plans to plant Koa, Teak, and other hard woods.  Also, part of it will be managed as a wetlands sanctuary.  She had a house here that she had built but it burned down.  I'm not sure if she ever bought another.  She is originally from Oahu.  Lloyd Bridges property is also north and his sons still visit often.  They own Guava Kai.  I have not visited it yet but I hear its a great place to stop and get jams, etc.  Mrs. Fields planted a huge grove of macadamia nuts.  It takes 7 years to produce the first crop.  Every tree was snapped off in Iniki at the 7th year.

Off the subject - I have been eating quite a bit of pineapple.  I just can't seem to get enough.  When I go to the beach I stop and get sliced sections at the stands.  I was telling Wendy, a tour guide who also works at the botanical gardens, that they just seemed to taste better than I ever remember as I hardly ever bought them on the mainland.  Well, turns out that's because they are!  Locally grown the low-acid white pineapple is called Sugarloaf.  This is what we get here and they do not export it.  It is grown specifically for the Kauai market and a small amount is shared with the other Hawaiian islands.  I thought they tasted better!

Tour Pictures with Dawn Continues