MARDI GRAS OF THE PACIFIC IN LAHAINA 2005

It was not a night for ghosts and goblins......but everything else was fair game. Front Street was filled with revelers from far and wide who came to enjoy the wild comraderie that is formed in a setting like this. Except for a few roudys, mostly young folks who really don't know how to have a good party, it was a funfilled evening with lots of people to play with.


We decided to take the good ship Ocean Odyssey (Ocean Oddusee for this night) to Lahaina rather than fight the traffic and parking woes in town as thousands - 35,000 + - braved the beautiful night to strut their stuff on Front Street in what has become the Mardi Gras of the Pacific.

The sail down with about one hundred other revelers was gorgeous with the last colors of the sunset being chased away by the darkness that makes Halloween Halloween.



The main cabin was filled with all sorts of beautiful to absurd costumes.....

Even some folks dressed as tourists.










We had our own Marilyn Monroe on the boat with assorted others choosing costumes from the sublimely beautful to the utterly rediculous.. Rumor has it that when Marilyn stolled up onto the bow of the boat, her dress blew up in classic MM style and she blushed appropriately......
Wayne missed it because he was off at the bar getting us drinks.

The trip was a little less than an hour.....about half the time it takes to drive and park on this special night. There were many great costumes on the boat, but the slight pitch and roll of the craft made getting in focus a little difficult.































Caren, all dressed in her Wonder Woman gear - look out Linda Evans - and Wayne sat in the bow under the stars and enjoyed the perfect night for sailing.






After landing at the harbor it was a short walk off the dock into the fray, with the old Pioneer Hotel providing the first of many balconies that lined old Front Street from which the party goers gawked at the party goers below.

Cleopatra was in this year.









Lots of cavemen and cavewomen.













And a host of men dressed like women and vise versa.















Some very fine Arabian Nights characters - perhaps influenced by the Iraq affair - like the guy on his magical flying carpet.



















Cowboys on horseback were pretty popular.






And the mixed bag group was out in force.













Ballarinas in tutus gave quite a bouncy performance and everone wisely kept their distance.











And the contemporary scene was well represented by the blockbuster iPod and the much-loved by Hawaiians can of Spam - Check out that shark attack on the left.



















There were some sweet faces.

And some grotesque ones.



Some took the easy way out. (Caren took this shot since Wayne was taking mostly pictures of scantily clad women...including Caren)









We hadn't seen any other Wonder Woman costumes on our promanade along Front Steet with thousands of others.






Then when we arrived back near the harbor we came upon this creature who was either Elvis in Wonder Woman garb, or Wonder Woman assuming an Elvis personae. A little taken aback, we looked around and found we were in a swarm of Wonder Woman wannabes of all genders.

This one was obviously a woman so she and Caren (aka Wonder Woman) joined the King for a little dance.












Everyone was getting a little tired....even the three blind mice who decided a good seat on the curb would provide all the excitement they could stand. So with cameras in hand that shot a lot of photos from the bottom up.



Wonder Woman decided her boots weren't made for much more walkin' so she sought a respite on th wall around the Pioneer Inn and decided on a good bottle of cold water as the perfect pick-me-up before heading back to the boat.


The lights began to blur and the feet were past hurting, especially Wonder Woman in her 5" heels, so ........

We decided that the boat would be a great refuge from the fray.



The boat looked great, if a little blurred, as we boarded her for the smooth and restful sail home to Maalaea Bay and the short drive in NO traffic back to Kihei.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2005