Saturday 31st January 2009

Our plane was leaving Molokai at 9am so we were up early and out of the condo by 7.45 for the 15 minute drive to the airport. Again the flight was over in no time but we messed around getting a shuttle bus to the Holiday Inn when it really would have been much better to just take a taxi. We had booked a shuttle to the Polynesian Cultural Centre at noon and we needed to get there in time!

It was of course too early to check in to the Hotel so we got them to keep our bags and (fortunately) still had time to go and get brunch. Then we walked over to the Hilton Hawaiian Hotel to catch the bus to the PCC. While we were waiting we booked a 9am bus to go to Pearl Harbour tomorrow morning.

We had not paid for a guide because we had been before but we changed our minds when we got there and paid the little bi t extra and it was well worth it because he knew when shows would start and timed our arrivals just right. The first thing we watched was the canoe pageant and I took some videos. I have uploaded the New Zealand dancers which is the best one I have. Helen is not quite as good as this but almost! If I get a copy of the Tahitian dancers from Claire I will add that later.

After the luau buffet we went to the theatre for the show and as the sun went down the mosquitoes came out. Wearing shorts no longer seemed like a good idea! The show was amazing - I especially love the Tahitian dancers and the last act which is the fire dancers. Its understandable that when we were going to do a show in a school a couple of years ago the principal would not let the fire dancer perform even though the Polynesians all insisted it was quite safe. The children were all sitting on the gymnasium floor in a circle quite close around us - just where they would catch a dropped flaming torch!