Polynesian family tries
to move on in Florida

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. » Ty Buendia has scars.

The physical ones are nothing.

"I have a couple from the knives, nothing from the fire," he said.

At the Super Bowl Star-Bulletin writer Dave Reardon will report on the festivities surrounding the big game, his first as a fan and a reporter

Ty then makes a move to show the scar on his abdomen, but he shyly smiles and decides it is inappropriate.

Besides, the emotional wounds are much more significant, much deeper and much more painful.

Buendia displays a courageous front, though, one worthy of a Polynesian dancer who has tossed knives since age 3 and braved flames since 10 in the name of entertaining tourists, perpetuating his Hawaiian and Tahitian heritage, and helping his parents make a living.

Buendia's 16-year life was close to perfect until last Mother's Day. That's when his best friend, who also happened to be his father, died suddenly at age 45 due to a freak complication while he was having a stress test done to his heart.

Delbert Buendia, a Pearl City High School graduate, was a popular dancer, musician and part-owner of one of three companies in the Jacksonville area that provide Pacific Island-style entertainment.

Ty, an outstanding football player at Ed White High School, doesn't care who wins today's Super Bowl at Alltel Stadium, just a few miles from his home.

He's just sad that he can't watch it with his father, who was also a big fan.

They had more in common than an interest in football, however.

"Every week we would go surfing together," said Ty, who also goes diving with his grandfather, Sonny Buendia, on the Big Island in the summer.

Delbert and Ty worked together. Delbert and Hina, who was Delbert's wife and Ty's mother, passed their passion and skill for Polynesian dance to Ty, who performed in shows with his parents.

Hina is a Kahuku High School graduate who was born in Tahiti and has traveled the world, spreading her love for dance as an entertainer and a teacher.

But Hina and Ty have performed rarely since Delbert's death. They will know when it's right to return to the stage, and their hiatus is partly emotional and partly practical.

"Delbert was a big part of the show, and it's difficult finding a replacement," says Chris Spear, who is a close friend and business partner of the Buendias'. "We don't have anyone to do what he did, now."

Someday, it might be Ty. But for now, he is more busy dealing with the normal teenage ordeals, squared by the loss of his father.

Sports help. He is so good at football that he was called up to the varsity as a freshman last fall, playing wingback and defensive end. Ty isn't very big, at 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds, but he is fast, aggressive and athletic.

Hina is adjusting, too.

She met Delbert in Japan when both were young dancers from Hawaii, and they soon fell in love and married. Ty was born in Pittsburgh, where the couple did Polynesian dance and luaus in the late 1980s and early '90s.

The Buendias visited Jacksonville and Hina liked Northeast Florida and felt it was ready for some Pacific Island culture. She persuaded Delbert to move here and go into business with Spear, who is the father of a hapa-haole daughter, and has an ecotourism business based in Hawaii.

"Our goal is to expose people to the real and authentic Hawaii," says Spear, who was born and raised in Jacksonville.

Ty Buendia is a Florida boy who was born in Pittsburgh. But he stays in touch with the real and authentic Hawaii, more than many who live in the islands.

He is scarred, by fire and knives.

But they are beautiful scars that remind him of his father every time he looks at them.