Pele Bar at Barefoot Bay - New 3D Tour

When I got married in June, I moved into town and left the Headhunter Harbor behind for my son to enjoy. Over the past 9 months, I have been working on my escape area here in town which we call Barefoot Bay. The TIPSI factor (TIkis Per Square Inch) isn’t very high but still Polynesian inspired.

We’ll start with the Tiki first. Carved sometime in the 60s or 70s by my father-in-law who owned a Tiki/Mexican restaurant and bar called El Tiki. Tiki is about 10 feet tall.

“Crossroads of the Pacific” inspired sign. All directions and distances are geographically correct. Note the sign for Maikapupu (Make a Poo Poo) points to the bathroom around the corner.

Due to it’s unique microclimate, Barefoot Bay is always 75 degrees even though it’s 120 in the summer and 30 in the winter just across the street

Wildlife abounds here at the Bay. This ceramic Reef Fish hanging was inspired by the fish we saw on our honeymoon in Hawaii and Catalina Island

7 inch ceramic Iguana head hides among the foliage

Sealife mosaic tables

Papier-mâché wind motion Hornbill

PNG Crocodile adorns this WillCarve mask acquired in an Art Swap

The water feature holds exotic goldfish from the far-away port of WalMart.

Concrete wild boar

Barefoot Bay also serves as a wildlife sanctuary. Here is a warming station of the local wild boars and jungle fowl.

Parrot watering station

That’s it for now, a quiet and relaxing place to enjoy a Margarita or Donga Punch :D

When you hurry through life, you just get to the end faster.
Pirate Ship Tree House

[ Edited by MadDogMike on 2023-11-27 10:58:44 ]

Mike, you have a gift for making people smile.

Mike- awesome bruddah
ATP- you can smile all you want, but no one has a bigger smile than MadDog

I LOVE IT!!! I agree...you are always surprising us with your sharp wit by way of your art and decor. The Bay is shaping up nicely!!!

ATP, Jon, & Marlene thank you very much. You know I do it to amuse myself and if I can amuse someone else too it's a bonus! :D

Add me to the list of those who Mad Dog makes smile! I love everything you do, mike! Barefoot Bay is off to a good start. I know you'll have fun adding to it.

On 2015-03-14 21:13, hang10tiki wrote:
Mike- awesome bruddah
ATP- you can smile all you want, but no one has a bigger smile than MadDog

Ditto, Jon! Mike, looks awesome. Congrats on the new digs- and the wildlife sanctuary cracked me up... :)

Hope to see you soon!

Lori and Dave, thank you.
This past weekend the Barefoot Bay served as host to a charity event garden tour for the local breast cancer group. Kinda like a Tiki Crawl without the alcohol :) About 150 people bought tickets, they were given addresses to the 7 gardens on the tour and they passed in and out between 9 am and 2 pm. Got to visit with lots of people and the event raised some much needed cash for the charity.

Anything new in the BB?

No, just in maintainance mode, trying to keep it clean and the plants alive :lol: Getting to be outdoor season here on the Anvil of the Sun so we will be spending more time out there. I did put up some misters this summer and keep adding more to the pond setting :D

Cheers Mike

Show sum mo Mike

So much fun to see your new habitat. You create and inspire us all. It looks great. Have you removed everything from your son's place now? I like seeing it all together. Wendy

Barefoot Bay is on the move! We bought a new house (well, new for us) so we'll relocate Barefoot Bay down the road a mile or two. The new place has a 12x50 foot patio facing north (very important here in the desert) so we'll have plenty of room to spread out. Looks pretty bleak right now

But I have plans :D We'll see how it looks in a year or two

Mike,
I'll carve that 8 ft. hairball Tiki
if you'll pay or shipping.

Looking forward to see the new escape area.

Will and Mauka, thanks for the encouragement. Will I have my eye on a couple of local Tikis to save shipping charges :lol:

I have a 10 foot Tiki in the back yard now but am looking to trade it for one of these. I had originally thought my 10 footer was carved by my father-in-law but it turns out it was carved by his son, my brother-in-law. The 10 footer is too tall for my new area and I'm hoping that one of these root ball Tikis was carved by my father-in-law

Closing time, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

The potted plants from the patio took up almost all of a 20 foot moving van :lol:

A homecoming of sorts. This Tiki was carved here 30+ years ago. After the restaurant closed, it was bought and stood guard at someone's driveway until I bought it 4 years ago and brought it to Barefoot Bay. Now it has gone back to it's place of origin.

Progress on the new Barefoot Bay will be slow; wives have their priorities and I think I will have to get the inside of the new house all set before I can do much to the patio :( But I have grand plans :D

All right
Looking forward to the build

And congratulations again on the new place

Cheers

Congrats on the new space. Looks like a great "blank slate" to play with. Can't wait to see what kind of spin you put on the new space and we will all wait patiently while you complete your Honey Do list first.

Thanks Jon and LG. That "blank slate" is the place I moved out of, the new place is already filled with stuff :lol:

I went down to the Tiki Trade-In Store today (what, you guys don't have one of those?). I was going to exchange my 10 foot Tiki for a smaller rootball Tiki and had planned to get this one. But when we stood it up, I realized it was almost 10 feet too.

So I decided on this 6 or 7 footer. I'm not saying its a little top-heavy but look where the balance point is (it's hanging balanced from that chain) :o

That guy's a BEAST.

Those are some monster tikis! So envious--wish I had something like those for the Lagoon. Very, very impressive.

Making some progress. Got the behemoth Tiki to the new house and unloaded it. The small utility trailer has a 6 inch rail all the way around and I knew they was no way to lift it over that rail. So I used a large pry bar to roll it to one side of the trailer then three of us got on the other side and tipped the whole trailer over and dumped the Tiki out on the ground, worked perfectly :lol:

Started staining the patio concrete, I like the way it's turning out. Got my wind block wall framed in

I did some experimentation with making my own lava landscaping blocks. There were a couple of things I didn't like about the ones at Lowe's/Home Depot; boring texture (I wanted lava) and boring color (I wanted black). So I made a mold from some metal and wood and cast a few. The mold worked fine but they weren't exactly what I was looking for; I added black concrete dye but they weren't anywhere near lava black. They were also pretty time consuming to make. So now I have a new plan. I'm ordering some black concrete acid stain and will see if the commercial blocks and my blocks can be stained black. Then I can use about half commercial blocks and half custom textured blocks. I'm got some lava textured rock stamps to experiment with and plan to incorporate some glazed ceramic "oozing hot lava" and some real lava rocks and/or obsidian into the concrete. Will keep you posted on outcome

Oooooooooo.....exciting Lava Rock Block project. I'm intrigued. Around my parts the only lava rock I'm able to get is the red chipped-up stuff. It might be good to use to make some molds, but like you said, it isn't very exciting.

Some progress - electrical and plumbing for the wall done

I haven't been on TC in a while but I'm happy to see that your project is starting! Come fall we'll be building a tiki bar at the beach house - I hope. We need storage as well so there's some negotiating going on between myself and the hubs! I wish there was a way for a rootball tiki or two to make their way to NJ! I'd have one at each location! I need someone to throw a pair in a truck and come visit. Jealous beyond words!!!

Lori, I wish I could pack up a rootball Tiki and send it to you. As it is, I'm not sure how I'm going to stand the beast I have :lol:

A little progress while I'm waiting for the clay on my Art Swap project to dry. Put up some plywood and stained it, some bamboo, a shelf, and framed a window. The window will have a large format vinyl tropical scene photo in it.

Wow, there must be many wonderful posts that I'm missing. I'm late getting here but now that I have I'll be sure to return. This is a MadDogMike story if there ever was one. You are always over the top fun. Wendy

Thanks Mike, me too! Maybe one day I can take a massive road trip and drive one up from Florida or something! Or bribe someone else to come visit and bring me some new friends. :wink: Hint, hint!

Lori, my wife wants to see the North East for her 60th in a few years. Maybe I can sneak a rootball Tiki in my luggage :lol:

I bought a plastic pond at Lowe's but did a little reading and found they are not really made for above ground use. They are intended to be buried into the ground so that the dirt supports it. The website says you can use them above ground if you support them halfway up by shoveling dirt around it. That wasn't going to work here so I went for plan B. I stacked bags of sand around it with some big chunks of styrofoam (strong and waterproof) then tightened a strap aound the whole mess. I filled it with water and it doesn't seem to be bulging anywhere.

Stacked some blocks around to see how it's going to look. Lots of work to do still

That looks great, Mike. I wish I had more space for an indoor water feature!

Cheers,

Jeff

It's actually outdoors Jeff. Its a covered patio that I enclosed on one end

On 2018-08-05 21:28, MadDogMike wrote:
It's actually outdoors Jeff. Its a covered patio that I enclosed on one end

I saw that in your earlier posts. Its coming along nicely...that window cutout is a great idea. My space is an enclosed screen porch, sorta indoors although subject to the outdoor temps. I'd love to have something with running water in there...just no room for it. One day, I'll finally finish my inside work and then I can start planning for exterior decor and landscaping and such...THEN I'll get my water feature! :)

Very clever!

Aloha Mike-
Lookin good
Lots of work going on over there
Keep those pics coming
Don’t forget to pause for an occasional cocktail
:)

Cheers Bruddah

Mike, love what you are doing so far, can't wait to see more.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I got the backside of the window cut out so I can see the waterfall on the other side of the wall. Not really! :lol: I had that waterfall printed on a vinyl banner and stuck it to the inside of the faux window. At $15 for the banner, I can easily replace it with a palm smitten sunset or moonlit Diamond Head if I want to change the mood.

Tiki Erection Fail. I placed the base of the Tiki against the bottom of the post and tried to lift it with the come-along. Moving on to Plan B :lol:

If your Tiki erection fail should last for more than four hours, please call your doctor immediately.

Hey Mike, Barefoot Bay is coming around. Can’t wait for an invite.
Btw, sent you an Rx for your erection failure.
Cheers

On 2018-08-21 16:43, MrBaliHai wrote:
If your Tiki erection fail should last for more than four hours, please call your doctor immediately.

:up: :lol: :P :D

Thanks for the great advice David. I'm about 4 hours from you but if you are ever traveling the I8 east, let me know. I'd love to have you stop by for a drink or even dinner

Alrighty then! I tried a come-along tied to my patio header to get that beast Tiki up. That didn't work so I got a one-ton hoist on a 10 foot gantry, that didn't work either. I tried a 4 foot lever and an 8 foot lever. In the end I was able to lift it with a tool 6.14 inches long - a $100 bill. I paid a guy to lift it with a backhoe :lol:

Outstanding Mike! A hundred dollar bill? Dats a lever of sorts.
Cheers

Looks good Mike
Now can u move it 3 inches to the right please
:)

Great looking tiki, love your decor.

Thanks for the encouragement guys :D It's getting closer to what I want. Got the pond about done, some art hung on the wall, the Beast Tiki stood up and lighted, another big section of the floor stained.