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AN INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS POLYNESIAN POP?

PHOTO ALBUM

WEB TIKI!

an introduction

So, I said to myself, "Kev, you need your own Tiki site.

"You've been thinking about it for years, and you can get a free web page just about anywhere, so get off your duff and build it." Well, there was only one thing standing in the way at this point: time. That most precious of all comodities in our modern, technological society. Where would I find the time to do another web site?

As I started to seriously consider building this site it seemed appropriate that I should be in the right frame of mind. "This will be fun," I said to myself. "After all, that's what the Tiki and Polynesian Pop is all about, right? This isn't going to be work; it's going to be free time spent paying homage to the ultimate manifestation of leisure that this country has ever seen." And that's what I've set out to do. The whole Polynesian Pop experience is about forgeting one's cares and troubles in the hectic world of the late 20th century and escaping to a virtual, tropical paradise far away from work, traffic, polution, bills, media, and all those things that keep us stressed-out and moving at a frantic pace day in and day out.

I'm not sure when my fascination with things Polynesian began, but you can bet it was set in stone when our family went on vacation to Hawai'i when I was around 10 years old. I'll never forget leaving Seattle on a cold, rainy, Autumn day and arriving in Honolulu on a warm, humid day that felt unlike anything I had ever experienced. The whole airport was open to the elements and I was surprised to step out into a cloudburst that felt like a hot shower.

Later, we visited one of O'ahu's famous coves where I went snorkeling. Besides the unreal sensation of the warm sea I was awed by the clarity of the water that made me feel like I was flying rather than swimming. Far below was a coral reef and a Manta Ray swimming (flying?) by. As I moved toward the shore face down in the water, I couldn't believe the vast numbers of bright, colorful fish swimming within inches of me. I kept swimming forward watching schools of them moving to and fro in front of my face mask when suddenly I ran aground face first into the beach. How could there have been that many fish still swimming about in mere inches of water? That memory has etched itself indelibly on my brain and is the image foremost in my mind when I think about any kind of tropical paradise. It is that kind of sensation I wish to convey within these pages.