From East Maui

Short post as I'm using my Droid phone to type this. (Verizon data works..iPad / AT&T doesn't...what a shocker...) We're at a fun BnB with no power to speak of and only dialup modem. So we are out of touch until we get back to Kahului on Wed. I will type up the pages in advance and post them all at once. Until then...Aloha!

Saturday? A Week Gone Already?

So, today started like all others. Sleep in..delicious Russell breakfast. Computer work and games until the Trade Winds kicked in...then off to Little Beach.

Yep. It was still amazing.

The waves were even larger today than they had been during the week. Garry spent most of the time in his special spot getting sun. I wandered around. Russ played in the water. All too soon, 430pm rolled around and it was time to leave....for the last time on this trip...

Garry tried to bargain with Damian, "Look...if I just stay here, then I can save your spot for when you come back in a year or two..."

We said "Goodbye for now" to Big Beach...


We climbed down the cliff...


And ultimately arrived back at the resort. Sunset was not long away and so we had wine while watching the colors. Russ posed some pictures...


..and he made yet another fantastic Ahi dinner...


Then the show started....it was spectacular as always...

Dinner and sunset was over. We processed pictures, posted web pages, and packed luggage. Tomorrow we check out of the Schooner and head to Hana for a few days on the "wet side" (I think) and a nifty BnB there. I'm not sure how connected they are, so we may be "off the grid" for a few days...Time will tell.

Still, it was a sad ending to a week gone by too fast.

It's Aloha Friday; No Work 'Til Monday...

...or so the radio station said.

Russ said he had trouble sleeping, so got up and sat on the lania for a bit. He got this full moon "setting" picture over "our" water...

Otherwise, we slept in a bit. Had another wonderful Russell breakfast...

...then sat around and did various computer jobs while waiting for those Trade Winds...

And about high noon, the trees starting their show and it was time to go. We put on our sunscreen, grabbed our beach gear, and headed out. We stopped at a tattoo / piercing place to get a new set of body-jewelry for Garry and considered an addition for Damian. But we discovered that after getting work done, that I couldn't go in the water for a few days... ...hm..."work" or "water"? Water won. Off we went to the beach.

We got there and the weather, waves, beach, people were--as always--fantastic. Russ decided to work on his chest tan, while Garry...slept. Meanwhile, I worked on my chest tan for about 20 minutes, then couldn't take the heat any more and got up to walk in the brush and brambles.

After a time, we all got up and played in the water. I took my mask and waterproof camera out in hopes of getting video of some fish or Honu (turtle)...and did manage to get some footage of a fish. Not great..but there you go...

LittleFishie from Damian Hart on Vimeo.

More sunning and then it was time to go. Russ--now bright red from his sunning--wanted to get one last body surfing run in. So I taped him. He did good...right up to the time he scraped his newly sunburned belly along the sand! Here's the video...

RussBodySurfing from Damian Hart on Vimeo.

Then we headed back but decided to stop at one of the Wailea shops for some Lappert's ice cream. It's good stuff and Russ has been carrying around some "get a stamp on your card every time you buy a cone and after you get 10, you get a free cone" card. It's taken us 10 years, but we finally got enough stamps and he was determined to use it!

And..wouldn't you know it..they honored the thing! So we all got some delicious ice cream to wrap up the day.

Back at the room we rinsed off the sand and waited for sundown. This time we decided to enjoy sunset from our lania and it was very nice. Then Russ made another terrific dinner while Garry and I splashed in the pool and hot-tub.

Then we processed pictures, made the website, planned out the next leg of our journey....and ultimately collapsed in bed.

Thursday Already?

Wow, our first week is almost over? We only have another 5 days left in Maui?! Arrrg!

So today we hung around the room waiting for the trade winds and our cue to head to the beach. We updated the websites, looked for job openings, talked to the folk who run the BnB that we're going to stay in when we go to Hana, listened to our Hawaiian music (already ripped to the iPad).
Once the trees started doing their hulas, we piled in the car and headed to the beach.

At the top of the cliff we found a small camera case that had been abandoned. We checked it for ID and found 2 ID's, 1 credit card, and a wad of cash. But no phone numbers. So we called the credit card company to see if they could call and let them know that we had their stuff and they could contact us to get it. We climbed down the cliff to the Little Beach side and Russ thought to borrow a pen (from the naked people!) and leave a note in the case saying we'd found it and how to contact us. Then he'd put the case back where it was so if they came back for it they'd find it and get the note. Just as he was finishing the note, a frantic fellow came up and asked "Have you all just arrived? We lost a..." then he saw the camera bag and exclaimed "There it is!" So we gave it back and sent him on the way. Another good deed done. My $72 million lottery win is sure to happen next week now....

I found a YouTube video with a flyover of that part of Maui. Although it goes well beyond the Makena area, the first part is a nice overview of Little Beach (the little one on the left) and Big Beach (across the cliff...the "big" one on the right).



There, I decided to not put on the SPF 3200 and instead just put on SPF 4 so I could get some color. Garry, of course, immediately collapsed in the sand and started snoring. I laid down beside him and started my bake. After about 45 minutes (with a turn) I was done. I don't know how Garry can stay motionless (except for the snoring) for 2 hours on each side...but he does.

So we got up and went in the water. The waves were still nice and big (probably due to full moon action, but what do I know?) The Three of We (drink!) got in the water, splashed and played, visited with some other "fabulous" couples who were intrigued with the whole Boy Toy concept...and generally had a good time.

Then Russ decided to take movies of me doing the body surfing thing. Now I'm not by any means good at it, but occasionally I'll snag a good one and ride it on into shore. Russ with the camera, however, ....hmmm.

The only time I was in-frame was for the baby waves that moved me about 6-inches toward shore. The successful rides, suddenly found the camera pointed at a tree, or the sky, or someone on the beach. He says, "I was getting knocked down by the waves, too, you know!" Which may be true but since I was "out there" riding the wave that had not yet got to him to knock him down...I'm a bit suspicious of his excuse. hehe.

But I did find a cut with Garry and me in a couple of nice waves and very little overly-exposed flesh.

BoysInWaves from Damian Hart on Vimeo.

Then 4pm rolled around and we trudged back to the car, back to the room, quick shower, grab wine and glasses, then back to the car, and back toward Little Beach. Only this time we stopped at Wialea and walked along the paved walkway along the shore behind all super-rich resorts there. It's a lovely walk near the water, watching the sun go down, and observing all the spoiled people. We stopped for some pictures of plants, etc.

Garry found a tree that called out to his inner monkey:

And Russ found "his tree" that he loves and photographs every time we come this way:

We found a nice place to sit and watch the final moments of the sunset, only to discover that Russ was no longer with us. A bit of backtracking found him fascinated with some little sand crabs he'd spotted and he was camped out trying to get pictures of one...

(Look at how ripped he is! He's old-ish, but he still has it! Rawwwr!)

Then the show started to get pretty and we sat down to feel the breeze, watch the show, talk about our wonderful day together, and drink our wine.

Once the sun was down we hiked back to the car, to the room, to the pool and hot tub. Another fabulous Russell dinner on the lania. A few drinks while we processed pictures, and then to bed.

It Was A Wednesday

Today was an odd sort of day, but it ended well.

We woke up, got breakfast, then went for our walk-off-breakfast walk. This time instead of going to Long's Drugs, we walked the other way toward the Sunseeker, a "fabulous" rainbow resort that we stayed at on our last trip to Maui. Along the way, we all took pictures of flowers that were just growing alongside the road.

Then we got back to the room, showered, dressed, packed up, hopped in the car and headed back to Kahului, the city in the center of town. We needed to go to Costco again to get more Vodka (can you imagine?) and another 7 weeks of food. Garry wanted to stop at the Harley Davidson store and get Maui Biker gear for his folks.

Then we headed to WalMart where we picked up another 12 pairs of contact lenses for Garry. Now he has no excuse to not get into the water! Sadly that took about 2.5 hours so we naturally had to shop. I found a wild pair of "fabulous" board shorts, and Russ (of course) found a few things to buy, and Garry bought more souvenirs for his folks back home.

After the contacts, we dropped everything off at the room, grabbed a bottle of wine and some cups and headed off to....can you guess...?

Little Beach! Tonight was the first full moon and we decided to stay for sunset and then moonrise. It was worth it.

Of course we all got in the water and played. The waves were big again so we did our body surfing. Then after a while we got out and Garry sprawled out on his beach towel to soak in the sun. Russ and I watched the people, including a group of kids doing some boogie-boarding in the waves. One fellow--either poor or adventurous--was using only a cafeteria lunch tray. And doing a pretty good job with it!

We had a visitor..

Then, after another hike along the rocks and through the brambles, we returned to our towels, poured wine into the plastic tumblers and watched the sunset.

As always, it was pretty. The sun went down, the chilly breeze picked up, the beach emptied of people (except for the die-hard folk) and we waited for the moon. Knowing that the climb down the cliff would be deadly-treacherous in the pitch-black darkness, we climbed to the top of the cliff and TADA! There was the moon glowing over a deserted Big Beach.

We took lots of pictures of that! Then it was back to the room. Russ made a fantastic Filet Mignon dinner while Garry and I lounged in the pool and hottub. Then we pulled pictures off the cameras...I thought about doing the web-pages, but was too zonked to really do it.

So we just went to bed and slept.

Aloha!

Low Key Tuesday

Well, it was just another day in paradise... We got up around 7am and Russ made another amazing breakfast. We then packaged up all the trinkets into boxes, walked down to the post office, and paid an exorbitant amount of postage to get them all to the mainland in less than 6 weeks! But that's OK. Y'all are worth the expense. We then walked back to the room and did some computer work, then headed down to the pool for an early morning swim. Naturally, Garry beelined for the hot-tub. Back in the room again, we decided we needed to model our official Hawaiian leis for this trip.

Then Russ and I did some computer work while waiting for our signal that it was time to go to the beach. The morning is nice and calm, but right about high noon, the trade winds kick in and the trees right outside our lania suddenly have their fronds streaming almost horizontal. Time to go!

We grabbed flip-flops, towels, sunscreen, and headed out to...you guessed it...Little Beach! And wouldn't you know it---it was glorious again! We set up our umbrella, Garry dived onto his beach towel to "tan" (ie: sleep) and Russ and went to play in the water.

I took my camcorder with me. It's waterproof, so I recorded some footage of the waves rolling in. Here's a bit where a couple of big waves roll in and roll over me! I dunno about you, but I think it's cool. The water is so blue and clear. I'm ready to go back.

LittleBeachWaves from Damian Hart on Vimeo.

It was really windy out there today and at one point Russ and I were in the water and suddenly people started yelling as a big gust sent umbrellas a-flying! Fortunately, we had learned from yesterday and had filled the umbrella bag with sand and tied it to the umbrella. Still, it was in danger of getting turned inside-out, so we closed it up and moved to a shady spot under a tree. Garry went back to sleep. Russ hiked. Damian watched people. About 230, Russ and Damian went back into the water to play some more. Then it was 3pm and time to go. We trudged back to the car, drove to the resort, showered, then went out to eat. Yes, Russ has bought 7 weeks worth of food for our 10-day-stay, but he saw a coupon for half-priced tacos and Fred's....so we had to go! On the way back we stopped at an ABC store, picked up two Hawaiian music CD's and iTuned them while we got ready for sunset. Wine in hand, we walked down to our beach and watched the show. Not great...but good nonetheless. We visited with some other folks, watched little sand crabs build homes in the sand, then headed back in. Garry and Damian hit the hottub for a bit.

Then it was back to the room, dessert, pictures, sleep. Aloha!

First Full Day on Maui

What a great day!

We slept in a bit (7am) then Russ made a wonderful breakfast.  Since this trip is not about running madly around the island, we hung out in the room a bit before moving on.  We eventually walked up the street to Long's Drugs to buy souvenirs for family and friends (that's you, Fail Pod 5, etc!).  We also walked over to Radio Shack and bought a card reader for the pictures!

We sauntered back to the room and discovered it was on 10am...so we went to the pool!  Already the temperature was up to 84 degrees (with a daily high of 86...whew!) so--what with it being so amazingly cold--Garry got in the hottub, while Damian paddled around the pool.

Russ eventually joined us just long enough to dive in the pool, bash his nose on the bottom, get a nose-bleed, and have to run back to the room for first-aid.  That's my fella!

Finally, around 1230pm, we grabbed our goods and headed off to--you guessed it--Little Beach.  What a good time that was!

We planted our big, red umbrella in the sand and Russ and I jumped in the water while Garry flopped on his beach towel and went to sleep.  He (1) is a professional sleeper and (2) lost a contact in the water yesterday so is a little gun-shy about losing his only remaining spare today.

The waves were great and Russ and I spent a long time doing our own bizarre version of body surfing.  I came close to a snapped neck at one point but survived and carried on.  Eventually we both joined Garry under the umbrella....just before the wind grabbed it and flung it across the beach---eventually smacking some stranger in the back!  Great...

Back in the water, I took my waterproof camcorder and took pictures of the waves washing over me.  Sadly, I'm not yet used to the Mac filing system and deleted the pictures when I got back to the resort.  Bah!  I guess we'll just have to do it again tomorrow!

After about 3 hours in the sun and surf, we took a nice hike through the brambles and rocks next to Little Beach and took some pictures.

Finally, it was time to head back home.  We stopped for more supplies and then Russ made a fantastic Ahi, aparagus, rice dinner.  Then we grabbed our wine and headed out to the nearby beach to watch sunset.  It was not so fantastic as last night...but it was nice nonetheless.

Back in the room we listened to music, had coffee and ice cream, addressed postcards, etc., processed pcitures, and posted the web page.

***THE PICTURES***

 

This is taken on Big Beach walking toward the cliff that separates Big Beach from Little Beach.  You have to scale that wall to get to the other Beach.

 

Here's the actual ascent...

From the top of the cliff, you turn around and this is the view of Big Beach.  Notice (a) the absolutely beautiful beach, (b) the absolutely beautiful water, (c) the absolute near lack of people...  Really, now....can you imagine anything more amazing / tempting?

Turning to look forward again you see Little Beach.  Notice that today the beach is nearly deserted as compared to yesterday and the Drum Circle.

Part of the "back woods" hike.