saturday, january 16; kihei, maui
7:30 rolls around far too early, and what had seemed like fun in theory is starting to sound a little scary. you see, today claire and i will be taking cathy and alex’s sea kayaks out for a spin. i’ve been ocean kayaking one whole time, about 10 years ago, with someone much more experienced in a two-person kayak. i think i can safely say that that experience has no useful bearing on the one i will have today. since then, i have also developed a bit of a phobia of deep water, especially the ocean. so we’ll say i am a bit apprehensive as we help cathy unload the kayaks, assemble the paddles and generally prepare things. she gives us a demo on paddling and we spend a long time looking at the surf (it seems so high to me. can we really get out if it’s that high? is this safe? aah!), counting the waves. supposedly waves come in groups of seven, i.e. every seventh wave is a whopper. we count for what seems like ages and i can’t seem to get this pattern straight, which leads me to the irrational fear that i will go out at the wrong moment and be totally capsized by a giant wave. my fears are only magnified when cathy explains that we have to run for all we’re worth into the surf then leap onto the kayak (without tipping it over!) and paddle like we’re on fire till we get out beyond the breakers. this sounds almost impossible to me and as i’m watching the waves crashing on the sand i nearly chicken out at least a dozen times. then suddenly claire is running toward the water with cathy pushing the kayak and then she’s on the kayak and what seems like mere seconds later she is out beyond the waves and it all looks far too easy. i must look a bit green because cathy assures me that it will be just as easy for me and that we can wait as long as i want to get the timing just right. it feels like only a second later, but i see an opening – completely calm seas – and then cathy and i are booking it into the water, splashing everywhere until i am up to my knees. at cathy’s signal i hurl myself onto the kayak, slipping around until i’m generally in the right position then fumbling to get hold of the paddle which is dragging behind me by its tether. with cathy shouting in my ear i start paddling with all i’ve got, but the kayak doesn’t want to go straight into the waves and claire seems so far off in the distance. what felt like only a few seconds when i watched her do it seems to stretch into hours as i fight my way out beyond the swells and by the time i reach claire i am panting and my shoulders are burning with the exertion. i’m feeling pretty shaky at this point and i’m still terrified that a rogue wave is going to come along and knock me out of my kayak. she tells me how proud she is while i sit and catch my breath, feeling foolish. when i’ve had time to calm down a bit, i see that it is remarkably calm out here, the water is impossibly clear and tourquoise, and the view is unbelievable. i can see the whole shoreline of this side of maui, as well as lana’i, molokini, and ka’oholawe spread out around us. we make a slow, leisurely track out around the nearby peninsula, and i feel as though i could stay out here forever. the shore that we pass along is steep and rocky and there doesn’t seem to be any access from the island itself; it is amazingly cool to know that we are seeing beaches and caves that are untouched by the influence of people. on the way back, i spot a rock that seems to be very close beneath my kayak and experience a small moment of panic before realizing that the “rock” is in fact a giant sea turtle cruising along below us. as we go, it gets closer and closer to the surface until it breaks the water just in front of the kayaks, takes a breath of air, and descends again. a few moments later a flying fish zips across our line of view right in front of the kayaks and i feel blessed to be in this beautiful place and able to see such extraordinary things.
the return journey is rougher; the wind has picked up, ruffling the waves and creating enough resistance that i know my muscles will be sore tomorrow. nevertheless, we make it in uneventfully, and return to wailea for lunch. perhaps the early morning sun has exhausted us more than we anticipated, because after lunch the three of us (cathy, claire and i) all crash for almost two hours. we finally drag ourselves from our siesta to go to another beach for the rest of the afternoon. on the way, we stop for a snack and i am exposed for the first time to something i really wish we had in ithaca: shave ice. it’s like a slushy but so very much better. for one thing, the ice still has enough of it’s shape to be edible with a spoon. for another, the flavor choices are truly amazing – passion fruit, root beer, guava, dreamsicle, you name it. as if that weren’t enough, you can also get all sorts of toppings like caramel or haupia (coconut cream) or bottoms like gummy bears or ice cream. and the sizes are ENORMOUS. the small is the size of a softball, the medium a whiffle ball. i get half pineapple, half passion fruit with gummy bears on the bottom and don’t take nearly enough insulin.
the beach is uneventful. the water is the warmest i’ve ever felt for an ocean, and the sand on the bottom is unbroken by shells or rocks. it makes for a lovely swimming experience and i ruefully wish i had more time to spend in the water here. when you dive down and hold your breath you can hear the whales talking to each other and suddenly i feel like watching finding nemo.
in the evening, claire and i drive into kihei to take care of some tourist-y shopping. i have gifts to buy and souvenirs for myself to select. our first stop is a palatial store called hilo hatties where they greet you with an “aloha” and a lei at the door and there is a “treasure chest” from which you can select an oyster which they will open to see if you got a pearl. it is all kitsch, but also some class, and they have absolutely everything a tourist here could ever want to buy. from aloha print clothing, to jewelry made of wood and shells to foods of all kinds (mac nuts, coffee, lilikoi butter), to tacky dashboard ornaments and keychains, they have the tourist shopping experience covered. we spend almost an hour looking at everything, trying to decide on gifts for friends and roommates. the next stop is crazy shirts (which is next door) to buy something to wear that says “hawaii” on it. for those who are unaware, this store is where the wealthy tourists buy t-shirts. they sell $35 pima cotton shirts dyed with real maui red dirt, or pineapple juice, etc. i end up choosing a grey sweatshirt with a tribal design of a manta ray on it and “maui dive co.” on the sleeve and a blue t-shirt with a gorgeous tribal floral design and the word “hawaii” worked into it. neither of these has been dyed with any special substance but i’m perfectly okay with that. my job as a tourist here is now complete.
