And so it ends...
Well, my last day in Maui… the week has gone by pretty quick… though I did a lot, saw a lot… got tons of sun and water…
Today I slept in again… then got up, rented some snorkel gear and went down to the south end of Malu’aka beach, which is supposed to have lots of turtles around… I only went a few hundred meters out from the beach though cause the surf was pretty choppy… about 4 foot swells, which isn’t great for snorkeling… one second I’d be 5-6 feet above the coral, and the next I’d be almost on top of it… I spent a good deal of time trying to position myself down current from the taller coral…
I had my Aquapac and camera with me and took some pictures, but because the ocean was so rough, the pictures look pretty murky…. The video I took looked pretty good though:
I didn’t see any turtles, but did see tons of fish… even a puffer fish… but he wasn’t puffed… I followed it for a bit before a big wave came and stirred up the bottom again… it’s quite disorienting when that happens… visibility goes to zero and I couldn’t be sure if there was any coral around me, or how deep the water was….
Still, it was fun… I think the next time out I’ll try to get to Molokini to do some snorkelling… or maybe snuba… or maybe even get my PADI certificate…
well, I’m sitting in the airport now waiting for my plane to leave… by weird coincidence, Kevin Bretherick just came by… he was working the Vancouver to Maui flight tonight… he’s here till tomorrow night… I wouldn’t mind a job that had overnights in Maui…
Congratulations Jackie and Nori!
Hmm… the last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind…
Friday I drove up to the volcano here… Hakaekala … it has one of the biggest craters around… well, it’s more of an erosion… but it’s still cool non the less. I was planning to hike in it for a bit, but the weather at the top was very unstable… cold, and extremely windy (80 km/h+) one minute and calm and sunny the next… The drive up the volcano took a little longer than I thought too… there really weren’t too many reasons for me to hike in… perhaps in a future trip, when i might be better prepared…
That evening, most of the wedding guests for Jackie and Nori’s wedding went to the Old Lahaina Luau... I finally got to meet Nori, Jackie’s new husband… well, fiance at the time… I’ve met him before but never got to know him… I also got to see the ligher, albeit drunker side of Jackie’s parents…
I didn’t do much the day of the wedding… The wedding was awesome… I’ve never been to a beach wedding before… well, it wasn’t actually on the beach, but on a lawn overlooking the ocean… it was a very classy, but casual affair… there were only 22 guests plus the wedding party…so it was quite intimate… everyone sat around one long table…
Hmm… thoughts on Jackie’s marriage? Nori’s a good guy… I haven’t known him for long, but he’s a good caring guy with a good and genuine heart… I think he’ll take good care of Jackie…I’m really happy for her…
Congratulations Meester!
It's a tough life
I’ve been here 5 days now and boy is it tiring… It seems a bit of a blur… maybe because the sun, sand and ocean kinda blend… Maui is an incredibly beautiful island… the locals are laid back… quite old school in the way they respect their elders… and in that sense quite refreshing…
the beaches have their tourists and such… but there isn’t a big beach party scene like i’ve seen in other places… it’s definitely a place to relax
so to catch you up on the last few days… Monday we took a tour to Hana... an out of the way little town, that has kept it’s traditions and culture a bit more than the more accessible towns…. the road to Hana has 600+ turns and is quite nauseating if you get car sick. It kinda reminded me of the road from Kathmandu to Chefru Basi … except the roads here were paved… I think my favourite part of the day was exploring the tide pools with Mattea at one of the beaches we stopped at along the way… I remember doing that as a kid, and it was neat to see the wonder in Mattea as she did it…
Tuesday was pretty much an all beach day… John, Mattea and I took surf lessons… it’s not too hard to get standing on the board…. but controlling the thing is hard… it’s quite a bit more different from snowboarding than I thought it would be… still it was good to try it… I think i’ll rent a board and go out a few more times before I leave here…
After lunch, we hit the beach again… more swimming, sand castles, and exploring the shallows of the beach… before heading back to the condo where we swam a bit more and sat in the hot tub… by then I was all watered out… and tired… swimming takes a lot out of you… i can see how the surfers are all quite fit… I also learned the importance of a lot of the gear… rash guards have their purpose… as do board shorts… i’ve got a bit of board rash…
Yesterday we hung out at the beach again… Makena beach this time… it’s a bit nicer, but the waves were pretty crazy… Hannah was getting thrown around quite a bit by them… and it was hard for all the adults to even stand in the surf…
At night we went to the Old Lahaina Luau which was much better than the first one… the food was about the same, but the entertainment, costumes, and atmosphere was much better… If you ever come to Maui and want to go to a luau, go to that one…
today… was…well… more of the same… beach… then we hung out at the pool in the afternoon, before making our way back to Kahalui, which is on the other side of the island from Kihei, where we were staying… Sara, Chuck, John, Syl, Mattea, Hannah, and Leilani left tonight… It’s been an amazing week hanging out with them… playing with them… and just being around family… as they say around here…
well, I’ve checked into the Peace Of Maui guest house… it’s quiet, clean, and seems quite organized… I haven’t met the owners yet cause I checked in late, but I’m sure I’ll run into them in the morning… anyhow, I’m beat, and I get an actual bed to sleep in tonight… as they say here in Maui…”All riiiiight…”
Maui ... Finally...
Well, I got to Maui last night… 36 or so hours after I left Calgary. At least the weather in Vancouver was really nice.
As for Maui, well… I got in late last night so I couldn’t tell what it was really like. My eye was at it’s worst last night so that didn’t help. John and Syl put some antibiotic ointment on it and then proceeded to put on diaper patch on it. I kinda look like a pirate, but not quite…
This morning the eye was quite swollen but after some compressing, it was better. Tonight, it’s much better but I’ve put ointment on it again and it’s patched again… Arrrrr…..
As for the day, we spent the day sitting on the beach, swimming, and building sand castles. Tonight we went to a luau… I’ve never been to one before and it was quite fun… They had this pig cooking in a pit all day….mmm… cha seew… They also had the other 3 main food groups covered, teriaki steak, honey chicken, and turkey… and also fish, but that’s not one of the main food groups.
After dinner, there was some entertainment… dancers… in grass skirts and coconut bikinis… Syl picked out a girl for me… she has good taste… the fire dancers were cool too…
we have a tour of Hana tomorrow…gotta be ready by 6:40am… eesh… early…
A New Day
The debate in my head last night, and a bit on MSN was whether or not I should get up early and fly around the continent first class… I decided to set my alarm for 4am and decide then. It would all hinge on how I felt, and more importantly how my eye felt.
I woke up at 4:50am… my alarm didn’t go off… should have gotten the wake up call. Since I was supposed to be at the airport in 10 minutes, I decided I wasn’t going to make it. That was an easy choice.
So I slept till 9… amazing how much better an extra 4 hours of sleep makes you feel. My right eye was glued shut though this morning… a sign of infection I hear. After washing it, I was able to see out of it. Albeit barely… my eyelid was quite swollen. And there’s these little white spots on the inside of my eyes.
And what luck, my cousin’s in Maui… yes, the doctors were on MSN. So I send some pics of my eye over there… yep, I’ve got conjunctivitis, which according to Wikipedia “is an inflammation of the conjunctiva (the outermost layer of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelids)”
Gotta love the internet… i send a pic to some doctors, they come back with a diagnosis and I can look up some home remedies for it. Brilliant! This interweb thing might catch on after all…
So here I am killing time in Vancover. There’s not a lot to do around the hotel, and without a car, I’m pretty much stuck here. I got a late checkout at 1pm, and I managed to get a hold of my friend Melissa who I haven’t seen in a few years. So I’m still in Vancouver, but it’ll still be a pretty good day. For now, I’m going to take a nap and rest my eye some more…
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