Weblink: https://northhawaiihospice.org/2020-laulima-fundraiser/ Brochure: 2020 North Hawaii Hospice Laulima Fund Raiser Hight Tea Lissette attends the North Hawaii Hospice fundraiser yearly and enjoys meeting others and sharing a “High Tea” event at Waiki’i Ranch for a great cause. This year’s event is titled “Laulima”, Many hands working together in coordination to advance the growing needs and future dreams of North Hawaii Hospice. The island style luncheon and tea will be held Saturday, February 29th, 2020. Those gathered will enjoy the singing of Honolulu’s Paumana Trio, a silent auction and a three course luncheon prepared by Chef Martha Brahm. The silent auction will be conducted by guest auctioneer Kathy Kingston. Call 808-885-7547 for more information. From their website: NHH was established in 1986 and staffed by over 20 trained and caring professionals who cover the areas of Waikoloa, Kohala and waimea to Laupahoehoe. With growing patient numbers, needs and expenses our wish list grows. For o...

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Located within the grounds of the Mauna Lani Resort, Kalāhuipua'a is a fascinating area with petroglyphs, lava tube dwellings, and extensive fishponds. The word, Kalāhuipua'a, could be translated as 'a gathering of the pigs.' Since the Hawaiian language often contains allegorical terms and phrases, this word likely meant an 'abundance of food' or 'a gathering of large 'Ama' ama (mullet) or fish in the ponds themselves. 'Ama 'ama (mullet) and awa (milkfish) were the most common raised fish, but others such as Papio (jack), Kaku (barracuda), and puhi (eels) as well as 'opae (shrimp) are found in the ponds also. Most visitors and owners within the resort are familiar with the iconic Eva Parker Woods Cottage, which is located on a small sliver of land between the ocean and main pond. A monthly Twighlight at Kalāhuipua'a event takes place featuring local artists, hula, and plenty of "talk story" with long time residents and kapuna sharing their present and past experiences with 100 or more guests. The main pond contains seve...

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The 15th annual 2020 Parker School Kahiau fund raising event is being held on Saturday, February 8th this year at the Fairmont Orchid. The attendees will first enjoy drinks, conversation and perusal of the silent action offerings at the Kilohana Room followed by an incredible dinner on the lawn of the Plantation Estates of the Fairmont Orchid. We attended in 2018 and were serenaded by the Parker School choir and also enjoyed hearing from one of the students that expressed his thanks for being granted a scholarship to Parker which as he explained it, “changed his life forever” for many reasons. His sharing was humorous and did illustrate the direct relationship between scholarship gifts from our community and lives changed in a positive manner. The scholarship fund raising, live auction raised $120k from event attendees including several $20,000.00 donations. 50% of Parker School’s students are scholarship recipients illustrating the need for community fund raising involvement. If you are interested in more informa...

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Lissette and I attended the Waimea Ocean Film Festival again this year and were very happy to see a variety of wonderful films depicting ocean themes including exploration, sailing and whales. We also viewed Paniolo O Hawaii which features ranchers and their families from the Island of Hawaii. This film was created in the early 2000’s and includes a group of long time Hawaii Island Paniolo that I have met or recognize and includes areas of the islands Lissette and I have actually visited by horseback which made the movie extra special. The Life and Times of Mike deGruy was special as I recognized Mike from various ocean films I had seen in the past especially those featuring deep diving submarines and diving suites. He died in a helicopter crash as it lifted off from Jaspers Brush Aerodrome, New South Wales for aerial photography of the launching of a deep sea submarine in nearby Jervis Bay associated with James Cameron’s Deep Sea Cahallenge movie. On board the helicopter were the pilot and Mike deGruy. Mike was assisting J...

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Aloha Friends and Clients! The New Year in 2020 was greeted with a record number of arrivals to our island from visitors and owners alike.  The beaches and beach clubs are full and a large North West swell showed up just in time for the new year also.  This record swell started on Tuesday and blessed us surfers well through Thursday morning.  Where I typically surf, the swell height was sometimes well over 8’-10’ producing a dangerous, barreling wave when it hit the reef.  The Surfline report was accurate as far as swell height and timing giving us fair warning.  Kawaihae Harbor, Hapuna, Mauna Kea and Spencer Beach park were all closed and not able to be surfed due to the large waves that closed out against the shoreline. Fortunately for myself and a few others, we were able to find a few waves over the three day period that offered some big take offs and great rides that will definitely be logged in the “book of life”.  I was so excited to be in the water that I paddled out just after 6:00 am on all three days, ...

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Aloha Friends and Clients! The Holidays are upon us and Lissette and I are wishing everyone peace and prosperity no matter which ones you choose to celebrate!  If you are looking for a good cause to contribute to during these festive months, Project Hawaii is a 501(c)3 entity that purchases gifts for over 650 homeless children and distributes them directly to these needy youth on Hawaii island and Oahu.  Teens usually receive a gift certificate(s) and a backpack/sleeping bag.  Secret Santas provide younger kids a gift(s) that the children specifically request. If you would like to make a cash donation, Mary Spears will take care of the shopping for you!  You can make the donation to "Project Hawaii" and send your donation via USPS to Mary Spears, POB 847, Kamuela, HI 96743.  A big thanks to everyone that chooses to participate. Many Thanks For Giving! Happy Holidays!! Lissette and Rick Oliver

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Nine of us from the Mauna Lani Masters Swim Team showed up as early as 6:30 am for the Kukio Blue Water Swim on the morning of Saturday, September 28, 2019. The venue could not be better with a swim start from Kua Bay adjacent to the Pu’u Ku’illi cinder cone looming large in the background. Like last year, this early morning included a gentle rain that produced an incredible rainbow above the beautiful and majestic cinder cone reminding of how blessed we are to be able to take part in these fun events. The Kukio community itself is situated on the shoreline including the Manini’owali Beach. The beach itself is secluded and small and has plenty of white sand extending into the water which forms the shoreline at Kua Bay. The water in the bay is crystal clear and the beach is more difficult to reach than other nearby white sand beaches as it’s entrance is unmarked and only accessible by either asking for shoreline public access at the guarded and gated Kukio community entrance or entering from the Queen “K” high...

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The Mauna Lani Masters Swim Team decided to head over to the North Shore on Oahu this year for our summer get away swim from Laniakea to Pua’ena Point on July, 20th 2019. This race is part of the North Shore Swim Series which is a “5-race festival of progressively longer swim events giving swimmers the opportunity to swim the “7 mile miracle” of Oahu’s famous North Shore” according to the race sponsor’s website. The North Shore Soap Factory sponsored this race and provided great after race food, refreshments and awards. Our summer get away last year was on Labor Day 2018, members of our group participated in the Lana’i to Maui Channel Crossing relay race which was epic but we decided to create some different memories on our pursuit of all things swimming!! We all stayed at the Turtle Bay Resort which exceeded all expectations regarding quality of food, room size and amenities not to mention the beautiful location on the north shore of Oahu. The Turtle Bay Resort is far enough away from Honolulu to fe...

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The 25th annual King’s Swim was held on July 4th this year (2019) as it has been for the last 25 years. This particular swim race starts at the Kona Pier and ends at the adjacent Kamakahonu Beach, also know as King Kam Beach or Kids’ Beach. Kamakahonu Beach is a very small beach where locals and visitors alike snorkel, launch kayaks and sup’s as well as sunbathe in the heart of Kailua Kona. You can find Kamakahonu Beach just north of the Kailua pier and in front of the King Kamehameha (Marriott Courtyard) hotel right on Alii Drive. This year several of us and our spouses decided to avoid the long drive to Kona in the early AM of race day and stay at the King Kamehameha Hotel the night before. This turned out to be a fun change and allowed Susan, Noe and I to warm up on Wednesday afternoon on the course and scope out the start and finish sections where we were able to asses the water conditions including the current , swell direction etc. for some possible clues to the actual race conditions the following morning. ...

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Swimmers gathered on Saturday, June 8 th from around the island for the annual Hapuna Rough Water swim race sponsored by the Academy Swim Club in Waimea. This year’s race was coordinated with the Keep Puako Beautiful organization’s celebration of *World Oceans Day’s 10th Anniversary” which featured a Beach Cleanup and gathering including games and prizes (contact info-keeppuakobeautiful@gmail.com). It was breezy but the water conditions were perfect and fortunately Coach Dave had given us a head up at Friday’s swim practice to expect a very strong south to north current. He works as a Dive Master for Blue Wilderness and informed us that on his Friday morning dive, he had experienced one of the strongest currents he had ever experienced nearby to Hapuna Beach. Our Friday’s warm up session at practice prepared us to swim extra long and steady against the current and not let our strokes become choppy which would eventually wear us out! Great advice and training from Coach Dave as he was exactly right. During my...

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