Aye, we need more aloha pirates.

I grew up thinking pirates were bad guys, but I might be wrong.

Although Matt “Tikiman” Willis is part land pirate, part collectibles dealer, and part heart-happy agent, he’s all aloha. As a self-described pirate, Matt’s relentless quest for tiki artifacts and Hawaiian collectibles has lasted decades. He’d literally leave his pirate ship (his houseboat docked in the harbor of San Diego), spend the day plundering estate sales and antique shops, and end up with a truckload of treasures. You’d think his chest was overflowing by now, but Matt is not like most pirates. Pirates are known to hoard their finds, yet Matt does the opposite. Matt matches treasures with Polynesiacs. He finds a home with heart. Why? It’s all about aloha.

“That’s what aloha is. You find something that makes your heart happy and release it to another,” asserts the Tikiman.

When Matt’s parents took him to Maui at age fourteen, he was fascinated with how men would use their knees like a vice to carve souvenir tikis. The images of those carvers gripped his soul, and a life-long tiki obsession held him tight. When he joined the Navy a few years later, he lucked into a four-month temporary assignment to Hawaii before being stationed in Guam. His return to Oahu was ideal, with lots of downtime to explore and soak up paradise. Later, in Guam, he scouted every inch of the small and then relatively untouched island on his dirt bike. Mid-tour, his soon to be father-in-law came for a visit to help him build a patio. As they began to dig the foundation, they unearthed an almost petrified but stunningly beautiful Guamanian Tiki in three feet of soil, and the treasure was nothing but kismet.

All along, Matt collected tiki mugs. His favorites were the Coco Joes from the shops of Waikiki. Once he was back home in Southern California, one mug became ten, which became one hundred, and when those started having little Coco Joes of their own, Matt decided it was time to flip some of his collection. He started attending the swaps at Kobey’s, a famous southern California swap shop. Matt would collect “in the wild” on Fridays and Saturdays, then flip on Sundays. Early swaps led to his own cabinets to fill at Tikiland, the largest vintage tiki shop in the US around the start of the revival. He’d stock those cabinets full of vintage tiki and Hawaiiana, but soon wanted more. Matt then opened his own booth, and within five years he had seven stalls covering the whole back wall. Tikiman was the guy to see for vintage Hawaiiana.

According to Matt, “Once you’ve been in paradise, paradise enters your soul.”

Matt and Lynette lived aboard their boat, Octopus’ Garden, for eight of those years. Docked on San Diego’s Shelter Island, the boat’s harbor was just a stone’s throw from the tiki-inspired Humphrey’s Half-Moon Inn and the iconic tiki supper club, Bali Hai. It was so close they could watch Humphrey’s evening shows from the boat’s deck. Octopus’ Garden was fully decked out, a complete treasure trove of tikis. Both loved to antique, so plundering was a way of life. Lynette also loved tending to her garden of sea kelp and visiting the aquatic life. She’d eventually befriended the sea lions, dolphins, seals, and herons. A pair of seagulls would perch on the boat’s bow to eat a daily ration of Cheerios.

These days, Matt and Lynette have traded their sea-faring days aboard the Octopus’ Garden for a land lover’s life in “Kentiki.” More than a year ago, they weighed anchor, loaded up the truck, and moved to Berea, Kentucky, to start a new chapter of their lives. Matt now has a successful tiki collectibles booth at a local antique shop. Lynette has her own BoHo chic stall as well. Matt is carving tikis, and Lynette has traded kelp for tropical cultivars in the land garden. Like most lifelong Polynesiacs, Matt has transformed his new basement into a home tiki bar. Aptly named the Below Decks, it’s a bit like stepping into a gentle pirate’s secret treasure room.

“Are you serious? You’re giving away a $1,000 mug?” asked Lynette.

Lynette knows it’s Matt’s nature to share aloha, so she helps provide the occasional rational question to balance out Matt’s abundant generosity. “He’s very generous,” Lynette reinforced. She’s seen him give away treasures. Matt’s been known to match collectibles to Polynesiacs without regard to value or cost, so Lynette is the Tikiman’s ideal shipmate.

As I climbed back into my truck, loaded with treasures from Tikiman’s bounty, I couldn’t help but think: Aye, we need more aloha pirates in this world.