Photos of East Maui

Hawaii Delivers

I think I got just what I wanted and needed from my trip to Maui -- a slow-down, walking at a relaxed pace, spending time just gazing, bobbing in perfect waters, napping in the sun. I read a couple of books, walked a lot, met some very nice people, and generally spun down. I bought my fruit (OMG the bananas!!) from roadside stands with "honor" cash boxes, wore plumeria flowers behind my ear every day, and breathed, in and out. Heavenly.

Since it's been three weeks since my sabbatical began, a good lesson is that taking three weeks of vacation is a really good thing. I should do it more often. But this feels different. Tim G. said that, at about three weeks into the sabbatical, you'll start to feel how different it is. He was right. In other vacations, it takes a few days to start to wind down, then there's a couple of weeks of relaxing. Then a few days before the end of vacation, I start thinking about work, what's awaiting me, starting to organize and boot up my energy. But not this time. After three weeks, i still have over two months left, and my biggest adventures are yet to come.

Sabbaticals ROCK.

I'll post some pictures with general impressions of Maui in a little bit. If you're looking for a sweet slice of Hawaii, without the massively euro-americanized golf courses, hotels, condos, and chlorinated pools, come to Hamoa in East Maui. It truly is a paradise.

Hana Canoe Club Regatta

waianapanapa to Hana

Hiking the ancient King's Highway to Hana

From my campsite in Waianapanapa, I walked the four miles of the old King's Highway to Hana. The foot trail follows the first path constructed around the island, hundreds of years ago, right along the lava cliffs' edges. I walked through lovely Hala forests, past the Ohala Heiau, old burial grounds, blowholes, and scary, sketchy bits of trail, all under the bright sun above truly pounding surf.

While most of the trail is on sharp lava (don't let Pele bite you!), some of the original surf-smoothed rocks are still in place. There were a couple of native Hawaiian fishermen climbing around barefoot on the lava, which would have torn my little city feet to shreds, but even I could walk the trail barefoot on these big smooth stones. I met no one else on the trail that day. It was a wonderful transportation back in time -- just surf, stones, and lava.

The trail ends abruptly at a big boulder beach -- where to go now?! I winded my way on a little road, past a burned-out BMW and other trashed areas, taking what felt like the right forks in the road, passing little homesteads with gardens and chickens, junkie cars and ATVs, until I got to the main road into Hana -- the same road Liz, Steve, Kenny and I stayed on a couple years ago. Phew!

Walking into Hana, I was greeted by one of those amazing, unexpected treats of travel, a big Party! This time, it was the Hana Canoe Club's annual weekend regatta -- dozens of brightly colored hawaiian ocean-going canoes, paddlers from all over the islands, families, vendors, music -- general festivities and celebration of native hawaiian culture. Treat! The diversity of the paddlers and the the community was beautiful, the energy was at once relaxed and powerful.

My hike back was fueled by the visions of those paddlers and of native Hawaiian culture continuing to thrive.

Soccer Practice, Maui Style

These kids played hard in the sand, then jumped in the surf to cool off. What could be more perfect?

Photos from Hamoa Beach

Hamoa Beach may be the most beautiful beach...

...in the very early dawn morning hours.  In my week in Hana, both in Hamoa and camping at Waianapanapa State Park, I spent every morning at Hamoa Beach, watching the sun rise, little crabs excavating, waves, birds, clouds... all while feeling those warm tradewinds I dreamed about.  

I spent hours just bobbing in the surf, feeling the pull of the ocean.  The currents from the waves are strong, and go in multiple directions, all the time.  I was a little worried about this at first, thinking I could get pulled out to sea, caught in a rip.  But there wasn't any danger -- I could just hang in the waves, in a spot just before they broke, feeling like I was weightless and on a roller coaster at the same time.  

It'll be good to know, when I'm back in Seattle, that Hamoa Beach is always there.  

One of the surprising things I'm finding in purposefully and intentionally removing my thoughts from day to day "work" is the diminishing chatter, a quieting of the constant stream of voices and conversations I usually live with.  The result, so far, is sleeping through the night, something I haven't experienced in a few years.  It is a gift.  I hope I can hold onto it. 

I got my camping permits at the state parks office in Wailuku this morning, aided by a lovely state DNR staffer whose gentle hawaiian energy and sweet humor was a salve.  So -- I'm on my way back to Hana.  Just the thought makes me breathe deeply!

I'm camping at Wainapanapa State Park, lovely black sand beach, a couple minutes from Hana town.  

The Best Laid Plans...

I'll post pictures soon, but my first sabbatical adventure has been a study in adaptation -- both for unexpected good and for unexpected challenges.  

The good:  The trip started off right, with an upgrade to first class for the 6 hour flight to Kahalui, Maui.  Yes!

The challenge:  First Class on Alaska provides you with one of their "digi-players," allowing you to watch movies the whole way.  That may seem good, but the movie I chose to watch was "Marley and Me."  I was crying so hard I made a spectacle of myself there in seat 1F.  I'm such a sap.

The good:  My little place in Hamoa - just past Hana  (seen only in pictures on the Interwebs) was surprisingly wonderful.  It was so quiet, very sweet, and only a little funky (tropics-affected bathroom fixtures, mostly).  I could hear the constant surf from my bed all night, and then was awakened by melodious birdsong in the morning.  It was also a 2 1/2 minute was to Hamoa Beach, where I went both mornings to watch the sunrise.  I had the place all to myself (save the crabs and birds and waves and plumeria flowers).  

The challenge:  I didn't know, until I was driving out to Oheo Gulch to camp at Haleakala NP that recent rains had washed out a bridge, closing the road completely, and totally preventing any access to the Park.  I then entered a vortex of Hawaiian State and County Park bureaucracy that ended up with me driving all the way back to Kahalui.  I thought I could camp at Hosmer Grove campground in the NP, but when I got there (it's at 7000 feet on the side of the volcano), it was cold and rainy.  I came to Hawaii to camp where it was warm!  I could have camped in the cold and rain at home.  So I ended up getting a room at the Maui Seaside Inn, owned by a native Hawaiian family.  

The good:  Because I'm staying in town, I got to have a fabulous Hot Pot at Fresh Mint in Paia.  YUM.  And now I'm sitting in the Green Banana Cafe drinking a Wild Coconut Chai, listening to an unbelievably good young flamenco guitarist -- self taught.  What a treat. 

The challenge:  I think I'm done with challenges for today.  

Cinco de Mayo!

I'm finding that I can get a lot of chores done, and at a relaxed pace, when I don't feel the pressure of an impending "back to work in a couple of days" deadline.  So I'm spending time doing things I've had on my list for a good long while:  going through old letters and postcards (I've saved every letter, card, or postcard I've received since I was 11), looking at old pictures, reading newspaper articles from the Greenpeace years.  

here's one taken after sailing across the Bering Sea in the 90s:

Day One -- May Day! Workers of the World Unite.

The garden's flowers are a lovely welcome on my first day of sabbatical.  It's so quiet, save the Cooper's hawks kik-kiking away in the cedar.  I think I can stand three months of this.

And then a spring wind came and blew my list of things to do......away.......