Sunday morning, 8:30, Pokai Bay on the Leeward Coast. A car pulls up, then another. One by one and sometimes by two, women start arriving - these are the women of the Pokai Bay Recreational Paddling Club. It’s not an unusual scene in Hawaii, though what may be a little different about this club is that most of us are over 50. Oh, we do have a couple of youngsters. You know: under 50.

Our group represents a true cross section of the population of the islands. We have Native Hawaiians, permanent residents, recent transplants, snowbirds and even some real tourists. Just recently, one of the members brought a group from Quebec, Canada, and they really loved it. They thought they’d found the "real" paradise.

And, yes, we also have a couple of men, good guys. It takes a man with a lot of self-assurance about who he is to go paddling with a bunch of strong, opinionated "mature" women.

We sit in the clubhouse waiting for the others to arrive. In typical island style, there are always a few stragglers on Hawaiian time. We wait, we talk. We get our paddles. Marty, our leader who recently celebrated her 70th birthday, arrives; somebody calls out, "Hey Marty, got an extra paddle?" She does, of course. Marty always brings extras for newcomers and anyone else who does not yet have her own.

Auntie Bea, another one of our leaders who is a true Hawaiian royal (she has royal blood from both sides of her family), shows up. We are so honored to have her paddling with us today. Still we wait, chatting, getting introduced to new friends. We check out the bay and the water. Is it windy? How’s the current? Finally, there are enough of us and we need to decide how many canoes are needed. Today, the weather’s great. It's Easter Sunday and the sky and water are perfect. What a gift! About 15 women have shown up. We’ll need to take out three canoes. We start the arduous task of rolling them, one by one, to the water's edge (they weigh more than 400 pounds each).

Auntie Bea and Marty start giving commands: "Everyone to the canoes!" The canoes sit on car tires, which are arranged in a rough triangle - so that the body of the canoe sits on two tires and the ama rests on one. We get the rollers, place them under the first canoe - we're about 50 feet away from the water’s edge - and on the count of three start pushing it down the incline until we reach the water. Gathering momentum we roll, someone yelling, "Hold it, slow down!" Finally we get the thing set comfortably on the beach, not too far into the water - we don’t want it to float away! Now we repeat the exhausting process two more times.

We get all three canoes neatly set. Marty and Auntie Bea assign canoes and seats, making sure the newcomers and novices are placed with experienced paddlers. They carefully go over safety tips and paddling techniques. Marty demonstrates how to hold the paddle, how to move, how to switch from left to right. She lets the newcomers try out paddling while we’re still on the beach. She reminds us how to get in and out of the boat, always on the left side. Derriere in first, then swing those legs up and around, and you’re in. (Some of us have not gotten in fast enough or the right way and have been caught with our legs dangling in the water, trying to pull our bodies into the canoe and place our tush on the narrow seat.) “OK, ladies,” Auntie Bea yells, "okole in first and then swing your legs in!"

The canoes get under way one by one. It’s my turn, I’m in Marty's canoe - one, two, three, push - we jump in, one by one. The canoe is now in the water, the canoe is floating, we’re moving! Marty yells, "Paddles up, pull!" Here we go, we paddle for 13 counts, then she yells "Hut!" One more stroke and we switch the paddles to the other side. We’re gaining good speed. All the canoes are now in the water. We circle the bay a couple of times.

And we paddle a little further away from the beach. Someone yells, "Honu at 11 o'clock!" and there are two big turtles, just hanging out, floating, enjoying the gentle swells. We stop paddling for a minute or so to share the moment and the space with these wonderful creatures. And then we paddle onward.

This time instead of the magnificent turtles, we see some ugly rubbish (a plastic water bottle and what looks like a deflated party balloon, the worse kind of trash for marine life). We paddle fast to reach the trash before it is carried away by the current, out of our reach. We maneuver the canoe, left then right, we try to get close enough to be able to retrieve it without leaning too far out. We don’t want to tip over the canoe. Success! Part of our mission as recreational paddlers is to keep the bay clean and safe for all to enjoy.

The water is magnificent today, clear, gorgeous shades of blue. You can see the coral on the bottom of ocean. We see the tour boats going further out, we follow. We are pretty far out. Marty explains that this is where Hawaiians bring the ashes of their loved ones to scatter them. She blows the conch shell and you can't help but be transported to another time when Hawaii’s forefathers rowed across the Pacific to reach these marvelous islands.

And then out of nowhere a school of dolphins surrounds our canoes. What a sight! They're frolicking, jumping, diving and coming up again. We lose sight of them for a few seconds and then they pop up right next to our canoe! The oohs and aahs! Our friend Cynthia, who calls herself Dolphin Lady, starts making squeaky sounds, just like a dolphin. They respond to her call and surround us again, jumping for joy, or so it seems. We all say, "This is a true blessing. What a way to spend Easter!"

After about two hours of hard paddling, then relaxing and then paddling again, it is time to go back to shore. We are exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. Back on the sand comes the hard part, pushing all three canoes up the incline back to their resting place on the beach away from the water. Auntie Bea commands, “Everyone to the first canoe!” We get in position. Four on the ama (two in the front, two on the back, the ama has to be lifted slightly), the rest on both sides of the canoe. One, two, three, pushhh! With one big heave, we start moving forward, getting the momentum going until we reach the tires, then slightly lift the canoe to place it on top. Again we repeat this process two more times.

By now the sun is in its full glory, it’s hot and we’re sweating. Some of us are a little out of breath. But we have enough left to gather around one canoe and at the count of three yell "imua, imua Pokai" - forward, forward, Pokai Bay! With that, we proceed to rinse off our gear and paddles and leave the clubhouse as tidy as we found it. We hug, we kiss, we say aloha and start leaving, one by one.

What a morning! Great exercise, good fun and camaraderie, great teamwork! We look forward to doing it all again next Sunday. This is truly the good life after 50!