Synchronized What?

When you think of synchronized anything, you think of swimming or dance groups or marching bands or even military groups as they march across the landscape but yesterday I stumbled across a new type of synchronization.

When I was over at Ala Moana shopping center, by center stage I had the pleasure of watching Dragon Beat in action. They play Wah Taiko which are special Japanese drums. 

Each drum section is  played in a totally synchronized manner.  It was awesome watching people from like 5 or 6 all the way to middle age or older playing these drums.  Some of the the little ones were barely taller than the drums  they played.

It was really enjoyable listening to the different rhythms of the drums with the synchronized playing and hand movements.  Even when they had to move things around, there was usually one or two people playing so the show kept moving.  As people got the drums into position, people would join in without stopping the music.  

The music they produced made you want to move to the beat, its rhythm rumbled through the floor and up your legs into your body.  I loved every minute of the concert.

They are part of the 36th Pan Pacific Festival happening right now in Hawaii.  Friday night, they closed down several blocks of one of the streets in Waikiki and had a "block" party with 4 or 5 stages, lots of food places and venders.  It was such an awesome experience.

Later tonight, they will have a parade to celebrate the Pan Pacific festival.  It starts around 5PM or so.....LOL.  I have found so many different things happening during my visit that I"ll have material for another couple of weeks and I never got to some of the places I normally visit.  Well that will happen in November, when I return. 

More from under the sea

It turns out there are several artificial reefs in and  around Waikiki Beach such as the one to the right. This is one of the pyramid shapes that won a design contest and was built about 1990 or so.  Unfortunately just after it was built, it was damaged due to being run over by an airplane.

I bet you are wondering how the airplane ended up far enough under water to run over the pyramid.  Well its one of those weird stories.  The submarine company bought a couple airplanes from Mid-Pacific airlines when it went out of business.  They cleaned the airplanes up and sunk them to the bottom of the ocean for additional  artificial reefs.

Well not long after this was done, a hurricane came through the islands and the force of the ocean pushed the airplane so it bounced over and over until it ran over the pyramid and thus the damage to the pyramid  The airplane that did all the traveling now sits upside down under the sea and is a wonderful playground for many, many fish.

Finally, is the story on the other boat used as an artificial reef.  It has a history that spans World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Believe it or not, this ship was an oil ship that helped deliver oil to various places.  According to the guide, the ship was never damaged and was the only one allowed to carry a gun to protect its self.

Tomorrow is going to be on wildlife.  Ohhh if you are wondering why the photos are kind of blue and hard to see, it has to do with the depth they were taken at.  As you get deeper in the ocean, the red and orange disappear followed by the green so that after a certain depth, only the blue spectrum is visible and it looks kind of dark. 

Underwater Mysteries

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing the underwater mysteries by taking a submarine tour of the ocean.  As we made our way through the ocean, the guide gave out some really cool information.

Did you know that some species of fish are born female?  I'd heard something about it but hadn't really known which fish did it.  Turns out that Parrot fish are one species that does this.  There is one male parrot fish for all the females and instead of being referred to as a school of fish, this group is called a harem of fish.  I think that has something to do to having only one male.

Did you every wonder if all the fish are born female, how do they end up with a male alpha?  It turns out, if the male dies, the alpha female changes into a male and takes over.  That is really cool.

Teriyaki wreck

There are two ships that have been sunk in the area to create artificial reefs.  One of the ships, the San Marcos, caught fire a ways out from Hawaii.  During the process of trying to extinguish the fire, they used up all their fire extinguishers  so they used their cargo and successfully snuffed out the fire.

I know, I know, you are wondering what they used to finish the job!  Well it turns out they were transporting soy sauce.  Yes, you read that right!  Soy Sauce!

The problem with using this particular liquid is that when they hauled the ship into port, it stunk of soy sauce. The neighbors complained for 12 long years about it.  I'm told that if the wind was right, you could smell soy sauce all the way to the Honolulu International Airport!

Finally, the ship was given to the Navy to take away and use as a target but the submarine company heard about it and paid $1.00 for it.  Yes, $1.00 but they spent $300,000 to clean it up well enough to sink it into the ocean to make an artificial reef.  So now it is home to many of the corals and fish.  Some time along the line, it gained the nickname of the Teriyaki Wreck and if you call it that, all the locals know exactly what you are talking about.

More on the other artificial reefs and their stories tomorrow.  I hope you find these pieces of history as interesting as I do. 

Duke's Alley

Since I am only on the island of Oahu and I wanted to go to a place that made me feel as if I were going farther west to Asia, I headed over to Duke's alley.   Duke's alley was  named after Duke Kahanamoku who is famous for his athletic ability as a surfer and swimmer.

When they closed down the International Market place, many of the venders moved to the alley.  It is so filled with merchants that it has   very narrow pathways between all the stalls, it always feels quite bustling and exotic.  I love going because it makes me feel as if I've been transported to a small marketplace in the south pacific or perhaps in China or Vietnam. 

Occasionally, you run across someone who offers something different such as the man who makes tiki's but most sell either clothing or jewelry or little surfboards or other trinkets.  The nice thing is that pricing is rather standardized among all the merchants. It reminds me of a farmer's market where the prices are pretty consistent.

It is always filled with people wandering through, pricing the items that catch their eyes and sometimes they buy, sometimes they don't, it all depends on what they desire.  I've been there at 9 AM or 9 PM and its always busy.

Me?  I know what I'm going to get before I go.  Tonight, I went over to buy some sarongs but I might go back in a day or two to get some of those huge beach towels to take home with me.  They are so big, I can snuggle up in them and just enjoy them.....LOL

Thank you for joining me in my little trip down Duke's Alleyway.

Walk by the beach

Last night, I took a nice walk down by the beach, over to the aquarium and back.First thing we saw was a huge tree whose limbs grow down into the ground.  I think that tree was like 10 feet across.  It is right by the hula mound and people were getting ready to perform. 

I continued down the street towards the aquarium, enjoying a beautiful evening.  The breeze was gently blowing and kept everyone cool.  I enjoyed watching the ocean with all of the swimmers,  The beach has the open ocean so you can head all the way out either swimming, going by boat or surfing.  Another part has a barrier to create a protected swimming area for the kids and others who want calm. 

There was this beautiful area with two waterfalls, flowers and absolutely beautiful oasis in the middle of the crowded walkways. It had several different types of flowers planed around the water and it is soooo soothing. 

When I finally reached the aquarium,  it was closed but out front, it has some well painted rock like creations that are whimsical.  The blue apple looking structure was actually stripped in two colors even though it looks like one color while the other rectangular rock looks kind of like a piece of jewelry.  Whimsical as I said. 

Then I came back and within a block of the hotel, it started to gently rain and was lovely.

Fun and dance

Last night I had a wonderful time at the hotel.  Every Monday night, the sunset jammers play music for two fun filled hours.  I got back to the hotel just in time to attend the laid back concert and didn't have a chance to grab my camera so I didn't get pictures.

Back to the concert.  The group is composed of ukuleles, bass, guitars and one of those stringed boxes.  Anyway, the group plays lots of local music and intersperses hula numbers between danced by whoever knows the dance.  It is wonderful because it is not a professional show but more like a family gathering with your auntie or cousin dancing and playing.  

Everyone of the dancers might do the hula a little differently depending on who they learned the dance from.  The musicians even played some of Elvis Presley's music like blue suede shoe and nothing but a hound dog in Hawaiian.  It is an experience when you get to hear his music sung in the Hawaiian free.

This show has been going on every week for many, many years and the number of musicians and dancers vary every week.  They even have visitors who play or dance. Last night they had a group of ukulele players from Japan and they played and sang two numbers.

It was awesome, fun, and each and every audience member is part of the family.

Travels and ice.

I arrived safely last night at the Honolulu Airport.  I always have Roberts of Hawaii meet me at the airport because they meet me at the gate with a lei, escort me to the baggage claim area, and then to the hotel for about the same as the people who are authorized to make regular runs around the airport using a huge sight seeing bus.  I also book by tours through them because they have always been polite, on time and give me good value for my dollar.

I realize many of you are going to be turned off about the following part.  Its about ICE!  Yeah, I know ice is not interesting to most folks except to make sure you have enough to keep your drinks cold or if its on the road and makes driving more hazardous.

But there are people out there who study the different types of ice because each has different characteristics.  You know there are a few places that use frozen sea ice as a landing strip in the middle of winter because they do not have enough land for a proper landing strip.  Yes it makes their local air strip.


Now back to the Geophysical Institute,  right after you enter the building, you go down the hall a bit and just on your right is a upright freezer with a clear door filled with several types of ice from sea ice to icicle ice.  I didn't know there were so many different types of ice.

The permafrost core in the upper right is important to people in Alaska.  Before building your house, you need to take samples of the area to determine if there is permafrost under ground.  If you don't build right, the house will fall apart as the ice in the soil melts. 

There used to be one out on Farmers Loop Road that had three parts all leaning one against another sort of like toppled dominoes.  It happened because the builder didn't check for permafrost and built the house normally.

On the side of the freezer are explanations of all the types of ice they have. I think its cool and the tour guide did not give me enough time to stop and read everything.  I can go back again when I'm in Fairbanks to read up on it.

Now I am off to the beach to check out the waves and do a bit of walking, pick up some hair clips and enjoy the morning before I have to head off to the conference.  Enjoy your day.