Aloha

"Pride of Aloha"

gets Boat Day treatment

              The Pride of Aloha was welcomed to the Honolulu Harbor for the first time this past Independence Day weekend with greeting and departure festivities reminiscent of the boat days before the advent of the jet.

              The Pride of Aloha is the first U.S.-flagged oceangoing passenger ship in nearly 50 years. The activities included a large Hawaiian music and hula performance featuring Moana Chang and the Aloha Boat Days Entertainers, free refreshments, and crowd-waving.  Similar festivities will be held with each sailing.

              Aloha Boat Days encourages residents and visitors to participate in the welcoming or bidding farewell festivities before or after dining at one of the Aloha Tower Marketplace restaurants or shopping in its many stores.
              Aloha Boat Days is a non-profit organization whose mission is to express the true spirit of Aloha by welcoming and bidding farewell to cruise ships as they arrive and depart from the port of Honolulu . The organization sponsors live Hawaiian music, hula dancing, lei-giving and more for the cruise ships' passengers and invokes the nostalgia of the old "boat days" when everyone and everything came to the Hawaiian Islands by ship.

Raku on the Beach

               Hawai`i Craftsmen presents the 28th Annual Raku Ho’olaulea with guest artists Dave & Boni Deal. This week long event celebrates the mystery of raku firing, a traditional Japanese style of pottery popular in Hawai`i and throughout the world. 

              Demonstrations on raku firing, teabowl making, and raku glazing precede the four day festival at Kualoa Regional Park, where groups of artists from Hawai`i and around the world fire up their kilns beach side, within the shadows of the Ko`olau mountains. Activities include: Hawai`i Craftsmen Presents

Slide Lecture by Raku Ho`olaule`a Guest Artists Dave & Boni Deal:
Mon. Aug. 2, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Reception:  5:30 pm, Theatre
Courtyard; Lecture:  6:30 pm, Academy Theatre, free;

Clay Demonstration and Potluck:  Tues. Aug. 3, 5 pm to 9 pm, potluck and
demonstrations, Ft. Shafter Arts & Crafts Center, free;

Raku Ho`olaule`a Weekend Event:  Camping and Beachside Firing, Thurs. Aug. 5
to Mon. Aug. 9, Kualoa Regional Park, Kamehameha Hwy between Waikane and
Kaaawa (registration required to fire with a group or to camp overnight);

Community Kiln for the Public (you glaze we fire tea bowls, $5.00 per tea
bowl):  Sat., Aug. 7, 9am to 1pm;

Floating Sculpture Contest, Ceramic Demos, Raffle, T-shirts and more:  Sat.,
Aug. 7, 9am to 5pm.

Raku Ho`olaule`a Exhibition:  Aug. 17, 2004 ­ Sept. 11, 2004 at The ARTS at
Marks Garage, 1159 Nuuanu Ave , Honolulu . Gallery hours will be 11am - 6pm
Tues.-Sat.

Opening Reception and Tea Ceremony Demonstration:  Wed. Aug. 18, 5:30pm -
7:30pm .

Maine Windjammer Cruises

Take a sail back into time... in Maine!

  By Alvin Koo

 Editor's note: We took a trip to Maine recently and thought we'd share a wonderful experience with you.

               Hi friends.  I’m writing to all of you a common letter about my recent trip sailing twice on the Grace Bailey in Penabscot Bay about midway along the coast of Maine .  It was a fantastic.

              It starts with a gangplank angling down about 45 degrees to a floating dock 12 feet below the wharf.  Maine has some mean tides.  The ramp is stepped with two inch high humps of wood that act like mini stairs.  Already this is not the Ritz.

              Eager crew members are waiting at the head of the wharf to help you with your bags. Otherwise, you might feel this is how it was to head out to sea with your duffel a hundred years ago.