Rain, power outages and the smack down

The trip continues to be amazing; lots of relaxing, doing yoga, working out and surfing - well sort of surfing, to be explained later. But, there have been a few experiences over the past couple of days that have added an element of entertainment and excitement to the adventure.

For starters, a few days ago, five out of nine of us got the flu within hours of each other. The symptoms varied from person to person and I think the adults got the worst of it. Either that or we are much bigger wimps than the kids. It lasted about 24-hours and made the rock-hard foam mattresses feel like a concrete tomb. We seem to be past it and are hoping that no more fall victim to the bug.

Currently, we are in the midst of a storm. Last night, the nine of us left to walk about a mile and a half down the beach to the house of another family in from Colorado. The timing seemed perfect as the power had just gone out at our beach house and it was getting late enough in the afternoon where the sun was not incessantly beating down. We were enjoying a nice slow walk through the edge of the waves when a torrential downpour began. I mean seriously torrential. We were soaked within 15 seconds of the rain starting and it hasn't really stopped since. Thankfully, it was warm rain and there was only 20-minutes left of the walk. It pretty fun. I've always enjoyed the rain when I have nowhere to be requiring dry attire. This was perfect. The kids loved it too.

The power didn't come back on the rest of the night. We decided to get a taxi back home. This was a harder decision then it might seem from the story as we kept thinking the rain would stop. It has only stopped for a couple of hours since. On the way home we noticed all the restaurants were closed so we enjoyed a candlelit dinner at our hotel where they were able to cook out a fabulous sea bass on a gas stove.

And now for the smack down. This morning, Stephanie and I took a taxi up to north Santa Teresa to take a surf lesson. We had known there was a BIG swell coming in, but didn't know it had arrived. Needless to say, the waves were 8-10' on the face and it was a huge challenge just to paddle out. I was almost out when I saw Stephanie barely make it over the crest of a 10-wave and knew I didn't stand a chance being about 10 yards behind her. I am comfortable with the ocean. I've been in it my entire life and some of my earliest (and only, really) childhood memories involve being dragged on the ocean floor. Kind of makes me wonder where my parents were, but it all turned out fine. When this wave hit me, it took me down. And it took me down for a long time. It was, hands down, the craziest wave I have encountered in the ocean. When I surfaced for air it was merely a quick gulp through my hair, which was now covering my face, then bam! It was instantaneously followed by another equally big and powerful wave, which took me down again. I actually had conversations with myself underwater, trying to convince me that I should not panic because I was not going to drown. It worked. One more small gulp of hair-air and a third gigantic wave. By the end, all I could do was lay on my board. Once I regained my breath, I notice there were no more waves in sight and was able to paddle out past the break. While gratifying that I had made it to the holy grail, this posed a totally different problem. I was out there, unable to surf 10' waves and unsure of how I was going to get back. The surf instructor finally came and I attempted to take a couple smaller waves, but really just tumbled my way to shore. What doesn't kill you......

It was fun despite the near death experience and I look forward to tackling the waves again tomorrow.

Attacked by a bat

Yes, the title is accurate. A bat attached me. Let me start by saying that there are only a few animals that scare me: rats/mice (I consider them the same), snakes, common birds (I don't want them touching me) and bats. I can handle spiders, bugs, and now geckos thanks to my trip to Asia. Absolutely not bats. I was coming back from an evening surf, it was dusk and the bats were starting their day. Our patio was filled with dozens of bats circling around so I immediately striped off my white rash guard and went to the pool to avoid entering the bat-infested patio. When I returned to a seemingly empty area I was blind-sighted by a bat who landed on my shoulder, flew in the crease between my upper arm and the side of my body, down my forearm and launched back into the air from my hand. It was terrible and I screamed appropriately.

Traveling to Santa Teresa was great. Five adults and four kids made the trip from Denver to Santa Teresa and the kids were troopers. We had a five-hour overnight flight (to San Jose) followed by a thirty-minute ride in a 12-seater plane (to Tambor) followed by an hour van ride (to Santa Teresa). The

The small plane form San Jose to Tambor was the same one I took last fall, but much easier this time as we were not navigating through a thunderstorm. But, even in good weather, it's a crazy ride; the plane is so tiny you can touch the pilot from the second row and the runway is a small asphalt strip in the middle of the jungle.

The waves have not been great but we've been paddling out for a twice daily beat down. The sunsets are fabulous, as seen here.

The road to Hana and the bamboo forest

The road to Hana is famous for its 40-mile scenic drive along the eastern coast of Maui. It starts near the airport and ends in Hana. While curvy and dangerous, it is a piece of cake compared to Kaheliki Highway. Hana Highway is wide enough for a dividing line, at least most of the time. When the road gets too narrow the dividing line stops and when it gets wide enough for 2 lanes it starts up again. I guess that helps control people's speed?

My favorite spots along the trip were (from furthest south heading back towards the airport):

- Hiking through the bamboo forest. Located about 10 miles south of Hana in Haleakala National Park, Pipiwai Trail is an incredible 4-mile round trip hike. In the middle of the hike there is a bamboo forest reminiscent of scenes from The Blair Witch project. Although it was the middle of the day the dense bamboo would make it seem dark and the only sounds would be birds chirping and the bamboo knocking together from the wind. The hike ends at the Makahiku Falls, a tall beautiful waterfall. The entire trail is tattered with signs warning of impending death if you venture too far towards the edge or jump off a 50-bridge into a natural pool full of rocks. Only in America.

- Hamoa beach. This is hands down the best beach I've seen in Maui. It is a small cove beach surrounded by lush vegetation and a small, steep hill that looks like something out of Lost. Yes, I am referring to the television show that has gone on for far too many seasons. The surf was excellent. The water was deep and the bottom sandy. Thank goodness because I went to catch a wave and by the time I realized it was way overhead I was too far into it to bail. I went head over you-know-what right in front of all the local surfers.

- Kaihalulu red sand beach. It was a bit of a hike to get here, not far but a little hairy, but the pay off was good. The sand was bright red, the water blue and the landscape in the cove beautiful.

- Haipua'ena Falls. A wonderful small waterfall and natural pool surrounded by rock cliffs. It was very peaceful and relaxing.

Kahekili Highway in north Maui

Driving Kahekili Highway around the north tip of Maui was an amazing trip. I started in Ka'anapali and ended in Waihe'e, near the airport. The landscape is incredible varying from lush hillsides to blood red cliffs dropping vertically into the bright blue ocean. The landscape, while breathtaking, wasn't much of a surprise. The big surprise was the road. WOW! At one point I thought I had taken a wrong turn and ended up on someone's driveway but I soon realized that I was still on the road and it had narrowed to just enough space for one car. The hairpin turns kept my speed at no more than 15 mph, but mostly 10. This speed ensured I stayed between the steep upward cliffs dropping rocks to my right and the sheer drop into a deep valley on my left. Although rare, when I encountered an oncoming vehicle someone needed to back up and find a small turnout so the other car could pass. For the record I could not stomach the back up on this road, so I always pushed forward. It was like nothing I've ever seen and am certain that luck is the only thing that stopped me from encountering an oncoming vehicle with my front bumper on one of those curves.

Outside of the incredible views and adrenaline rush the driving provided, the highlights were:

- The sign that said "Slow down. Not AMERICA."

- The town of Kahakuloa which had a bright green steeple church, broken down school bus and the friendly guy selling fresh pineapples. He will politely stop you and try to sell you pineapples and/or just chat and make sure you were OK and knew how to get out of the mess of a road. I thought this was sweet until he told me I had 35 more minutes of road-hell before I go tout.

- The bridge that looked like it was put together by kids with backyard scraps. I actually think it might have been a school project, but a good one as I made it over.

The whole trip took a little over an hour and a half and upon completion I celebrated having my life by feasting on Hawaiian cuisine, which included a 'spam sampler.' I was surprised to find I kind of enjoyed it. I ended my day with a short trip to kite beach in Paia where there must have been 20 kite boarders in a small cove. It was fun to watch and I can't wait to do it again someday.

Tsunami

For those of you who don't know, it's a moment of truth. I have a strange fascination with natural disasters. I don't want to be in one, and I certainly don't wish them upon people, but if they are inevitable, I'd like to see them. Until yesterday, my main fascination was with seeing a tsunami. Yesterday I paddled out into waves that were 8'+ on the face. There were points where a wall of water was coming at me, sure to break before I could get over the hump, and I felt I was realizing my desire to see a tsunami. The only thoughts going through my mind were a long series of curse words.

Richard, my instructor, said this was a notch in my belt of surfing and if I could get out in these waves, I was already a better surfer. I think he was just trying to make me feel better. But I lived and I think he might be right when he said that next time I go out in medium surf it will seem like nothing. I did not catch a wave.

No Pantelones

When I came home the other day my neighbors asked me what was the highlight of my trip. Their sole purpose was to expose the highlight of their trip. The proceeded to tell me about a guy on the beach who was wearing a t-shirt and no pants. I immediately knew who they were talking about, as I had seen the same strange guy the day before.

Let me describe the painful scene. Two guys, in their early twneties, were laying on the beach, presumably sunbathing. One is fully dressed and the other has on a short t-shirt and no bathingsuit or any form of clothing on his bottom half. He was completely naked from the waist down and his friend didn't seem to think this was strange at all and they conversed normally like everyone was fully dressed. It might not have been abnormal, if not for the fact that as their girlfriends emerged from the ocean, boogie boards in hand, "no pantalones," as he was dubbed by my neighbors, quickly put his bathing suit back on as his fully clothed friend greeted the ladies. This happened two days in a row. I didn't go back and check on the third day.

More surfing stories

I have been eager to share my success stories of surfing, but thus far have kept my failures to myself. Today, that changes. Yesterday was a step backwards in the quest to learn how to surf. IN the morning, I did what every good surfer does, I grabbed a board and stood on the beach for 10-15 minutes doing some light stretches and checking out the waves. I was doing two things (1) deciding if the waves were the small enough for me to paddle out to; there has been a big swell here and the waves have been 8’, which are far too big for me and (2) looking for a channel to paddle out in; a channel is a path between wave’s peaks where the current isn’t as strong and it is easier to paddle out, you want to paddle out between the peaks and surf the peaks. The waves appeared surfable, so I took my giant green table and I paddled out.

Richard, my surf instructor, has taught me a bit about the basics of surfing. Starting at the beach, there are 3 zones:

- The impact zone or the inside where the waves have crashed, this is the white wash area;

- The catch zone or the outside, where the waves are cresting and breaking. This is where you go when you want to paddle into a wave and catch it; and

- The break zone, which is beyond both of these and where you go when you want to sit on your board, relax and take a break.

Paddling out can be a challenge and is very tiring, so I always go straight to he break zone and take a rest. When I reached this zone this morning I was breathing a little heavy from my excursion out and gladly sat up on my board to take a breather and enjoy the scenery. Just then a giant set came in. The waves started breaking in front of me and I was suddenly in the middle of mayhem. The surfers immediately started paddling out, trying to get in position to catch these monstrosities. I started paddling in and made it back to the impact zone quickly enough to prevent tears of panic. I surfed the white wash on the inside for a bit and noticed my giant green table needed some wax so I headed in.

Generally speaking, it is better to surf the inside (the whitewash) in low tide because the whitewash is further out to sea and generally deeper and safer for falls. I grabbed a smaller board and headed back out for round two an hour before low tide. I wouldn’t say I got pummeled, but it didn’t go great. I learned a lot of things: it’s harder to catch a wave on a smaller board, you need to paddle faster to get more speed; I have no idea where to place myself on a smaller board so I ended up dangling my feet off the edge which slowed me down and prevented me from actually popping up when I was actually going fast enough to catch a wave; and it’s easy to break a fin off the bottom of the board, I did it and didn’t even realize it.

I went home, rested up and went out for round three a couple hours after low tide. Third time’s a charm. My green table was almost 9’ long. The shorter board I tried early afternoon was about 7’. On my third round of the day I took out an 8’ fun shaped board and had a blast. I caught all sorts of waves on the inside and can officially ride the whitewash like a champ.

This morning I went out with Richard. The waves were about shoulder high and I caught two amazing waves, popping up, dropping in and surfing them all the way to the beach. It was an incredible feeling.