Hukilau – catching fish as a community, Kauai-style. Photo courtesy Kauai Historical Society
Oh we’re going to the hukilau Huki huki huki huki hukilau Everybody loves the hukilau Where the laulau is the kaukau at the big luau Have you ever danced to this song while at Kauai luau? Donna Gomez, born and raised on Kauai, and her brother-in-law, Jay Furfaro, an unofficial North Shore Kauai historian, describe what hukilau were like, catching fish the Hawaiian way. (Excerpted from my forthcoming new book, Kauai Stories II.) Note: Hukilau, like all Hawaiian words, is the same both singular and plural. Donna Gomez: In a hukilau, you leave the ends of one side of a huge fishing net on the beach and take the rest of the net out on a boat. When they spot a pile of fish they throw the net out of the boat. When the net drops, divers surround it to be sure the fish are inside the net. Then everyone on the beach – 50 people on this side and 50 people on that side – start pulling the beach side of the net to bring it onto the sand. That’s what huki is, pull, pull. You can see all the fish in the net and they are jumping! The net is full. One the net is pulled onto the sand, everyone stands in a circle and joins their hands. The man who owns the boat stands in the middle and he throws you a fish. He throws them out like he is dealing cards! If you touched the net, you get a fish – nobody ever goes hungry.
We’re going to hukilau today
Furfaro: Hukuilau were taking place on Kauai’s North Shore, all the way up until the closure of Kilauea Sugar Plantation Company in 1971, whenever there was a good catch coming in. Word just went out. At the sugar mill they would actually blow the whistle to let people know. People knew an evening tide or high tide, “Hey we’re going to hukilau today.” When they did the portioning out of the fish, the mahele, usually it was directed at some level of equity for how much you brought and how much you participated. After the hukilau there was a paina, a celebration, where everybody ate fresh fish and had a nice time.
Summer is just around the corner and that means lots of Kauai activities island wide. What to do with our guest visiting Kauai? What to do on vacation on Kauai? Here is a list to get you started. For up to date events check out the Kauai Calendar.
The Banana Poka Round Up, that plucky mountain event that celebrates Kauai’snatural environment, steps into its third decade of forest fun for the whole family in Kōkeʻe State Park’s lush Kanaloahuluhulu Meadow.
Run or walk one of the world’s most beautiful courses, and enjoy a delicious pancake breakfast at the finish! The 8 mile course begins at the end of the road in Ha’ena at Ke’e Beach, then traverses the scenic stretch of road, and one-lane bridges, along the breathtaking North Shore towards Hanalei town, ending at the historic Hanalei Pier.
This fun day on Hanalei Bay is one of sand castle/sculpting contest and music festival each year on Kauai. The idea is to encourage amazing sand sculpture, relaxation, exercise and enjoying a fun day the beach.
Koloa Landing is one of the best spots on Kauai for beginning shore dives. Because there are no facilities here, there are rarely more than a few people in the water. Most of the local dive companies use this as their “shore” dive location due to the ease of entrance, deep water, and abundance of marine life, but anyone can access the beach.
Made famous by Elvis and Blue Hawaii, most of us who grew up on Kauai remember Coco Palms as a place where we went for brunch on Sundays after church with our family. We fished for Talapia with bamboo poles as our parents socialized with friends after lunch. We wandered through the maze of coconut groves to the tennis courts where we would spend hours being wildly entertained by the monkeys and peacocks, the residents of Kauai’s only zoo. The tennis courts, the little road that connected the Homesteads to the Wailua Houselots, the little church where Aunty was married, having lunch with the queen of hospitality, Grace Guslander and hearing her stories about running the resort and the history of the property. These are the memories to highlight and share with Kauai keiki. For anyone born after September 11, 1992, the only memories of Coco Palms is that of a deteriorating piece of history.
The mayor added, “I plan to arrange for a community discussion very soon so that we can all envision what the future could hold for this site of such historic and cultural significance. Let’s put our hopes and dreams on the table, and work toward a collective vision of Coco Palms that will do justice to this special place and will result in a community resource of which we can all be proud.”
The Kauai Performing Arts Center will be presenting “Anything Goes” a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Cole Porter at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall.
