| 2/28 -- 2008 is definitely off to a good start. I
will spend the entire winter in Maui, kiteboarding, kayaking,
surfing, jogging, biking.. comfortably. I have been wet, outside and
happy about it Yesterday, I ended up with icing on my cake. As I
tacked away from shore, I looked at the horizon and (I know this
sounds redundant) a gigantic whale breeched twice. I headed out to
sea or see, to whale watch; literally. Alas, he decided to stay put
for a little while longer. Two hours later, John is motioning that
he is heading back to land. I decide to do one more tack when lo and
behold, he breeched one more time. Yet again, I head out. I gave it
ten minutes before returning to shore.
I have learned a few things about whales in the past few months. Every winter, they come to Maui to breed and give birth in the warm waters. When males compete to breed with the female it is called a heat run. The female will hit the road with a slew of males in hot pursuit. The boys will bang into one another, try to suffocate the other by getting on top of a competitor, while running amok through the water. I think the whale I saw yesterday was called Big Daddy. A second thing I have learned, when a whale is near your boat, you aren't allowed to move the boat to ensure the whale's safety. It is called a mugging. This leads me to a short story. Joy, our upstairs neighbor, leads kayak tours on Maui. The other day, she excitedly approached. "We had the best day on the water. A female whale mugged us." Apparently, a bunch of boys were in pursuit and the female tried to hide under their kayaks. She hung out below them for 30 minutes. Sweet! |
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| John heads out on the Maalaea Bay Harbor just as a few whales "blew" past. |
| 2/27 -- LaPerouse Bay. If you want to get a feel for Maui and how it all began, I recommend a trip to the southeast corner of the island. Over here, one can see the last volcanic eruption on Maui. |
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| And who doesn't want to walk down a windy road along side beautiful blue water. |
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| I didn't promise a soft surface, |
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| nor a lot of shade |
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| but if you want to get a glimpse of how it all began, bring some sturdy shoes, water, snack and sunscreen. Also, I believe the earlier in the morning, the better. |
2/26 -- Driving from Kihei to Lahaina can be slow. It
is a two lane highway with a fair amount of traffic. As John and I
puttered up there, it reminded me of a story my co-worker told me a
few years back. I asked why he moved from LA to Virginia. He
said "My wife and I didn't want to raise our kids in the LA
environment." He then proceeded to describe some further
advantages of the move. "For starters, the traffic is much
better here. It used to take us over an hour to get home and we
didn't live that far away from our jobs. We carpooled to work to
save on gas, but it was still expensive." He said the worst
days would be driving home, going about 5 mph hour and then hearing
the dreaded 5 words from his wife. "Honey, we need to
talk." He said, he was always tempted to announce, I will walk
home.
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| 2/25 -- I believe this is Ukumehame Beach
Park. It's 10 to 15 minutes south of Lahaina and as you
can see, it is real unattractive. After a drive to
Lahaina to procure a used surf board, we decided to test
it out.
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| I felt like I was in in a glossy advertisement. |
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| I suited up, lathered up and capped up. It was just me, the water and the board. |
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| Time to conqueror the surf. Ride some curl. Hang ten! |
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| Well....... here is a photo of John riding a wave. I "caught" one and held on to the board for dear life. I tried again but I was too far forward on the board, tipped forwarded and did a serious tumble in the wave. The amount of water that went up my nose defies logic. Later, I made one last ditch effort. The wave was pretty much over, but I did stand up and the board did move forward a few inches. John insisted it counted. I am not so sure. |
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| John returns to shore. What a glorious way to wrap up a day of work. |
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