Sharks Cove: A Tale of Two Seasons

Sharks Cove is a popular place for tide pool exploration. It is invitingly calm during the summer months when it is usually perfectly safe for families and kids. I’ve gone there myself many times to look at little fish, crabs and other sea life. I even saw a small eel one time.

But during the winter, Sharks Cove can be downright angry. Sometimes it’s hard to tell just how powerful and dangerous a wave is until you see it pound against a rock. You might see a wave and think that it looks like a decent size swell but nothing scary. Then when it hits the rocks you see the water explode tens of feet into the air. That’s when you know that you better stay out of the water.

But no matter the time of the year, Sharks Cove is a pretty cool place to check out. If you’re driving along the North Shore and have never been there before, it’s definitely worth a look. Chances are you’ll either see a calm and peaceful cove or an exciting and awesome display of nature’s power.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

“From Here to Eternity” Beach, 1953 and Today

Halona Cove, "From Here to Eternity" beach

This is how Halona Cove looks today. It seems smaller in person that it did in the movie, "From Here to Eternity".

One of the most recognizable movie scenes of all time is the kiss on the beach scene in “From Here to Eternity”. Despite growing up in Hawaii, I never knew that the scene was filmed on Oahu. Not only that, but it was filmed on a beach that I have driven past hundreds of times over the years. The beach in the movie scene is Halona Cove, which is a tiny cove tucked beneath the highway that snakes along the scenic Makapuu coast on the south shore of Oahu. It shares the same parking lot as the more famous “Blow Hole” which is always crowded with tourists. Few people bother to hike down the hill to the beach. But if you do, this is what it looks like from ground level.

And this is what it looked like in the movie over half a century ago. It’s funny how much bigger the beach looks in the movie. In real life, it’s a really small beach!

So next time you happen to be driving along the Makapuu coast on your way to Sandy Beach, the Makapuu Lighthouse Trail, Sea Life Park or anything on the south shore, be sure to check out Halona Cove. You’ll be standing on a piece of Hollywood history!

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Bruce Shimabukuro: Strumming Part 2

Ukulele instructor and recording artist, Bruce Shimabukuro, is back with his second lesson on strumming. In his first strumming lesson, he went over some of the basics including tips on technique. This time he goes over chords and hand placement.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

KoAloha Tenor Ukulele Prior to Shipping

We recently received an order for a KoAloha Ukulele through our parter, The Ukebox. Here, Issac shows us what the ukulele looks and sounds like prior to putting it in the case for shipping. Actually, it doesn’t ship from the store. It goes from the store to our fulfillment center where it is carefully packed for shipping. Part of that process includes loosening the strings as a precaution. Our shipping experts told us that the strings should be loosened for shipping in case the package gets bounced around during transit. If the strings are tight during an impact, the strings could put extra pressure and friction on the instrument. So for shipping, loose strings are better. Anyway, as this video says, this ukulele is on its way to a customer in Jersey City, which is about as far from Hawaii as it gets in the US. We hope the customer loves his shiny new ukulele!

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Magnum PI Summer Dresses

For years, Paradise Found’s Jungle Bird “Magnum PI” Aloha shirt has been a top seller. Besides Magnum PI fans, other people order the shirt around October, presumably for use as a Magnum PI costume. If you are one of those people, email us a pic! We’d love to see all you Halloween Magnum PIs out there! But the shirt is also available in several matching dresses. We already have one of them available online in our matching set section and we’ll add the two shown in the picture above in the coming days.

Magnum PI Jungle Bird print Hawaiian Summer Dresses

Tom Selleck's aloha shirt in Magnum PI is the Jungle Bird print by Paradise Found. This print is also available in a variety of Hawaiian dresses.

And while we’re on the topic of Magnum PI, what a great show! It had action. It had humor. It had scenery. It had it all. It even had a cool song and an exciting intro. At the very end of the show’s intro, you see Magnum wearing the Jungle Bird shirt.

 

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Hawaii Five-0 at Buckingham Palace

Well, another season of Hawaii Five-0 is in the books. In the spirit of that show, here’s a video taken by some fellow American tourists on vacation in London of the Buckingham Palace Band playing the famous Five-0 theme song. Sadly, they couldn’t name the TV show it was from. But at least they knew it was a TV show and seemed to enjoy the music and setting.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Bruce Shimabukuro: Strumming Part 1

If you’re trying to teach yourself the ukulele, Bruce’s intro lessons is a good place to start. In his first lesson he goes over the basics of strumming, including some technique pointers. Give us some feedback on this video so we can take that into consideration when doing future ukulele video lessons.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

Bruce Shimabukuro Intro to Ukulele Lessons

If you’re interested in learning how to play the ukulele but aren’t sure if you’re ready to invest the time and money in classes yet, check out our free video lessons featuring Bruce Shimabukuro. In this first intro video, Bruce explains what he plans to go over in his first few lessons.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS

2012 Beach House Photo Shoot

It’s been a very long time since our last real photo shoot and we were way overdue for a new one. Since we usually shoot at the beach, we thought we’d try something a little different this time around. When a friend told us he might be able to get a large beach house, we thought that would be perfect!

Except on thing. We had to use it in the near future and the weather was very windy and rainy.

messy beach after stormy weather

The beach was filled with debris from the recent and ongoing stormy weather a few days before the shoot.Since we had little choice in the scheduling of the beach house, we just had our contact book it and we also booked the photographer. Next up was to scout the beach house to get some ideas on how and where we'd shoot.

 

Laie beach house porch

Though the beach was messy, the beach house porch showed much potential as a shoot setting.

Since we needed a photo shoot and didn’t know when another opportunity to shoot a beach house would arise, we rolled the dice and booked the house through a friend and also booked the photographer. We figured that if the weather was bad, we could at least still shoot indoors and on the porch so the day wouldn’t be a total loss.

On the day of the shoot, the weather was perfect! Sunny with a slight breeze. Geralyn, our longtime photographer, set up her stuff and was ready to go. After unloading a carload of food and stuff from Costco, we were ready to shoot.

The porch proved to be a versatile setting for some of the scenes as it also blocked some of the wind from being a factor. But we also took advantage of other settings around the house like the beach, the front yard and patio, and even the living room.

Hawaiian beach wedding dress and shirt

What a different a few days make! This shot of Mika and Steve in wedding attire turned out better than we expected just a few days before.

 

Hawaiian wedding dress bridesmaids

Jaime, Mika and Nikki joke around before the next scene.

 

Models sitting on porch awaiting directions from photographer

Mika, Jaime, Steve and Nikki line up for the next shot as Geralyn gives them directions on where to sit.

 

indoor luau photo

The models celebrate the shoot with a toast. The cups were empty and the umbrellas were taped to the cups because our pineapples fell apart.

 

models playing with coconut

The front of the house had a huge lawn where the models tossed around a coconut and played horseshoe toss.

While Geralyn and the models did their thing, Robert and Dean were cooking up a storm at the grill, making steak, burgers and other stuff for lunch for everyone after the shoot.

Overall the shoot went better than expected. Just a few days before, the weather was unusually rainy and windy and had been for a several weeks. Lucky for us, the weather cleared up the morning of the shoot and was good just long enough for us to finish the shoot. It rained the next day. But at least we got to hang out at the beach house and relax and enjoy the soothing sights and sounds of beach afterwards. It wasn’t a bad way to spend a weekend.

beach Aloha wear photo shoot cast and crew

Special thanks to Geralyn and her assistant for taking the pictures, the models for being professional and fun, Chadwin the talent coordinator, and to Robert and Dean who cooked an awesome steak, hamburger and hotdog lunch for everyone!

So that’s pretty much the gist of what went into our beach house photo shoot. We also just had an indoor studio shoot which we’ll share with you in an upcoming post.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Delicious
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Add to favorites
  • Email
  • RSS
Plugin from the creators of Brindes :: More at Plulz Wordpress Plugins