Story by Terry Shimabukuro
Photos by Terry except as noted
April 11-13, 2025
Ruby and I pulled into a nearly empty parking lot at Kualoa Campground A to be greeted by a mama duck and her large brood of fluffy ducklings. We hoped that the sparse crowd meant that the large group campsite would be unoccupied for the weekend. Tim had arrived a little before us and he quickly dashed that hope as he told us that one of the park workers said it would be a full house with the Boy Scouts occupying the large group site. (They also told him that mama duck was named Aflac.) Oh well, at least the Boy Scouts would be quiet neighbors and we got a good parking spot.
We quickly setup club HQ under a small beachside ironwood grove. With the steady beach erosion, as evidenced by several ironwood stumps below the high tide mark, I wondered how much longer this little grove would survive. We’d enjoy it’s shade at least one more year. An unfortunate confluence of club members on travel, a few battling colds and those turned off by a not-so-rosy weekend weather forecast resulted in a sparse number of campers. The Hui’s petroman and I watched a beautiful Saturday sunrise in relative solitude.
On Saturday, after the main gate opened, people began to slowly arrive for the paddle to Kahana. While breezy, the wind had dropped below advisory levels and seven paddlers showed up for the journey. Stan Dalbec was able to get our new club banner printed just in time for camp and he delivered it before paddling off. Mahalo for taking care of this Stan! Unfortunately for Stan his paddle was cut short by a nasty wave that dumped him and cracked his hull. I won’t go over the details in this story, but his experience validates our advice to always paddle with a buddy.
One of the reasons we held camp the weekend before Easter Sunday was to take advantage of the full moon. Norm was going to lead us on a Saturday twilight paddle around Mokoliʻi under the magical light of the full moon. Pakaʻa, the Hawaiian god of the wind, had other plans, however, as he summoned a strong, steady wind along with a thick cloud cover that lasted most of the afternoon and into the early evening so we had to abort the paddle. Pakaʻa might have been hanging out with the trickster Maui as the wind calmed back down soon after we finished dinner and the mahina began to play peek-a-boo.
Conditions were just right for a nice campfire courtesy of Kelly and James. James, a Washington state transplant, had his first taste of fire-roasted papio that he caught right in front of camp an hour or so before. Ono!
While the campers were sparse, we had a good turnout for Sundayʻs activities. About a dozen people attended Kevin and Joeʻs “Introduction to Kayaking” clinic. The clinic ended with a good session of kayak reentry practice on the water.
One of the nice things about Easter Camp is that several of our long-time members who no longer attend regular club paddles show up for the Sunday festivities. One of those members is Susan Girard who created our kayak paddle wielding petroglyph man logo in crayon on a t-shirt silk screen in 1983. Susan still looks forward to pumping up her inflatable to chase down Easter eggs.
Around twenty boats scrambled on the water to hunt for floating Easter eggs. This was our inaugural hunt with decorated wooden eggs and there was a question of whether they would float high enough to be spotted from a kayak. The answer was a resounding, “Yes!”, as 119 or 120 eggs were recovered. As people filled their plates from the potluck buffet President Bill began awarding prizes. The club’s first president, Mark Rognstad, scooped up the golden egg and claimed a large dry bag for his prize. The silver and bronze eggs were found by my neighbor’s daughter and a friend. They received bonus chocolate Easter bunnies to go along with their kayak gear prizes.
Mahalo to Tim for leading the Kahana paddle and for scattering the eggs, Stan D. for getting our new banner made, bringing the paper goods and for providing a dramatic moment, Kelly and James for the warming campfire, Kevin and Joe for another excellent clinic, Bill for getting and distributing all the prizes, everyone who decorated wooden eggs, Sandy for signing in all the egg hunters, Ruby and Katrena for setting up the potluck, Katrena for bringing garbage bags and for storing the eggs for next year, everyone who brought tables and canopies and those who helped with cleanup and breakdown. A great team effort by all!