Story by Terry Shimabukuro
Photos by Ruby & Terry Shimabukuro
June 21, 2025
Technically the solstice was the day before, but we planned our Summer Solstice Celebration on a Saturday so that the working folks could attend. We didn’t think a one second shorter day would matter to anyone. I chose a new event location, the Kalanianaʻole Beach Park, because it had a good picnic area, a convenient restroom and shower, an easy beach launch and lots of parking. Unfortunately, that day coincided with a couple of large family events that brought hundreds of people to the park. The picnic grounds and beach were packed!
There was a bit of chaos unloading kayaks and gear in the full parking lot. We hastily unloaded while double parked and drivers scrambled into a spot if one opened up. Luckily, we did have lots of room at our picnic site to stage all the kayaks. Sixteen kayakers showed up and another half dozen guests came just to picnic. The beach was filled with afternoon swimmers forcing us to launch single-file to carefully dodge all the bobbing bodies in the water. We made it through the gauntlet without incident.
Norm led us to the Kahe power plant warm water outflow. The wind was a bit stronger than forecast, but the ocean was calm and everyone, including three beginners, made it without issue. Norm dropped an anchor and a few paddlers tied off to snorkel.
I stayed with tandem kayakers Mariah and first-timer Aiko. I tethered their kayak to mine so we could snorkel. Aiko, without warning, jumped into the water. Unfortunately, she must have gotten too high on her dismount and they hulied! We quickly righted the kayak and I helped Mariah get back on. She was fine, but soon noticed that the clip holding her waterproof phone case to its lanyard had released and her phone was gone. Her case didn’t float so down it went. The wind pushed us quite a distance from where they hulied so Aiko and I couldn’t find it by snorkeling. Mariah bid a sad farewell to her phone along with thousands of unbacked up photos and videos (more on her phone at the end of the story).
Most of the non-snorkelers just paddled around the outflow enjoying the scenery. Stan took the opportunity to practice reentry using a paddle float and somehow he got separated from his kayak. He called out to me for assistance as he was floating on his paddle float. By the time I reached him Marie was already paddling hard toward us towing Stan’s kayak. Marie gets credit for her first kayak rescue!
As we gathered just before heading back a small pod of naiʻa (spinner dolphin) gave us a brief show. I didn’t see any aerial acrobatics, they just swam in our vicinity surfacing now and then. We surmised that they were waking up from their daytime slumber getting ready for their nightly feed. Sorry, no dolphin pics you’ll have to take my word for it.
There were still a lot of swimmers in the water when we landed so we had to carefully paddle through them. We got a workout dragging our kayaks up the steep beach. Alan didn’t paddle, but he came down to the beach and provided some much appreciated muscle hauling boats. A young bystander volunteered to help carry my kayak and Monte’s back to the grass. Great to see the aloha spirit alive and well!
Hungry from our workout, our stomachs rumbled at the aroma of food on the grill as the grillmaster, my cousin Macky, got things cooking while we were paddling. The picnic table overflowed with a great variety of potluck dishes and everyone settled in as the sun began to set.
Low clouds and heavy vog led to an underwhelming sunset. The sun didn’t really set, it just disappeared. Still, it made a pleasant end to the second longest day of the year. Everyone went home with a full belly and memories of another great Hui paddle.
Back to Mariah’s phone…Aiko texted me on Monday asking for the approximate location where they hulied. She reached out to the local diving community to see if anyone would be willing to look for Mariah’s phone. Amazingly, a diver found it and Mariah had her phone back on Tuesday in perfect working condition! More aloha spirit in action. How’s that for a happy ending!