WAILUA — The sound of conch shells playing at Coco Palms Resort has not been heard for years. That was, until Sunday, when paddlers Nelson Kaai and Tom Fujimoto did a concert sounding at the resort as longtime Coco Palms
WAILUA — The sound of conch shells playing at Coco Palms Resort has not been heard for years.
That was, until Sunday, when paddlers Nelson Kaai and Tom Fujimoto did a concert sounding at the resort as longtime Coco Palms employees Charlie Pereira and Wayne Perreira pushed off the banks of the Coco Palms lagoon.
The pair manned a double-hulled canoe that was christened “Kamalani” in honor of Larry Rivera’s granddaughter of the same name. Green frogs in the lagoon echoed in the background as the veteran resort employees pushed off.
“We redid the whole canoe,” Perreira said. “In addition to repairing the damage from the years, we fiber-glassed the hulls so it should be more durable, and now it has a name.”
The repair work was done under the supervision of Francis Takasaki, who Rivera described as an expert on canoes and surf.
Joining Perreira, who now is employed by Movie Tours as a caretaker of the former resort that shut down after Hurricane Iniki ravaged the island in 1992, Francis Lopez spent hours working with Takasaki in restoring the canoe that was used in the Elvis Presley-style weddings and renewals done by Rivera and the Blue Hawai‘i Weddings.
Those weddings became popular following the release of the “Blue Hawai‘i” film directed by Norman Taurog and filmed on the grounds of the former resort in 1961 and featuring Elvis Presley.
This was the first of three Presley movies to be filmed in Hawai‘i and the Coco Palms’ popularity as a destination soared following the release of the movie. The resort drew special international tour groups arriving to celebrate Presley’s birthday at the Wailua property.
Rivera, a longtime entertainer at the resort, is the official wedding coordinator of the Coco Palms Hotel and the owner of Blue Hawai‘i Weddings.
Currently, there are no employees on the Coco Palms payroll. Perreira was the last employee on the rolls, being transferred to the payroll of Movie Tours in a special ceremony Jan. 16. His duties as the property’s security and maintenance supervisor continues.
“When he paddled, he had to wear a lava-lava,” the Pereira from Moloa‘a said. “I didn’t have to wear one, but Grace Guslander knew who we were.”
Those memories were jogged once the two veteran employees grasped onto the paddles for a cruise around the lagoon.
Pereira and Perreira were a longtime part of Rivera’s Blue Hawai‘i Weddings and attention is paid to keep the church and the landing area of the lagoons clear of nature’s push to try and obscure the former splendor of the resort located under the coconut palm forest.
“I only had to paddle once,” Pereira said. “One time, the canoe was adrift out in the middle of the lagoon and I had to go out and get it. But I still had to paddle this one, today.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
