Sunday in Paradise, Monday in Greenland...
Jul. 5th, 2010 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osodecanelaWhen the hell did 70 degrees get so bloody cold?
We're home again, nestled in the redwoods and the fog. LJ is fast asleep, which if I had any sense would be true for me, but I did catch a few hours of shut eye on the plane (unlike my husband) and I did nap for 4 hours here on our arrival.
Yesterday seems almost a blur, but then the last day of a vacation often is, at least for me. We arose early, to make the drive to Lahaina again, this time to board a boat for snorkeling in Lana'i. We had booked with Hawai'i Ocean Rafting, based right in Lahaina Harbor.
I was a bit anxious about this trip. The boat was a small one, which for me has some major plusses and one potential major minus. There were only 9 people on this excursion, which meant a more personal interaction with the crew (of two), definitely a more intimate experience. The boat trip is often much more fun. Getting out of the water can be a major difficulty. I am a very big bear with not great strength in my upper arms. Great legs, which can get me just about anywhere I need to go, with a couple of glaring exceptions. You will not see me shimmying up a rope hand over hand. Last year in Belize the ladder back into the sailboat was impossible for me to navigate. It was short and angled backward, so that the bottom of the ladder was half a foot further away from you than the top. In essence you needed greaterupper body upper arm bicep and tricep strength than I have, to get back into the boat. In Belize, the two shipman pulled me back into the boat like a red-headed manatee, not particularly graceful or dignified, but it was the only way I was getting back into the boat. After that, we stuck to larger craft.
Yesterday's boat was a hard bottomed rubberized inflatable pontoon type raft. It's ladder was very short, but mercifully vertical. It was difficult, but not impossible for me to get myself back into the boat by myself. I actually surprised the skipper. He stood back warrily, and let me get into boat on my own steam, after I told him no, I could do it myself. Our first stop was on the reef just off the north coast of Lana'i in about 15 feet of water. It was thick with fish, just a feast for the eye. There were also a bunch of juvenile green sea turtles around, mostly 5-10 years old, these a bit shyer than the ones we saw two days earlier at turtle town. The first mate dove down, and brought an octopus to the surface for us to look at and touch. Watching it on release return to a crevase and return to camoflage colour was so striking. After an hour it was off to Maneli Bay on the western side of Lana'i. On the way there we passed a school of bottle nose dolfins, who came and swam along side of the raft, teasing us by jumping out of the water and passing us as we motored at a good clip. It was almost a cetacean, "Nya, nya; you can't catch us!" Shortly thereafter, we got to a community of Spinner dolfins, who compared to the Bottlenose are supposed to be the more social of the species when it comes to humans. They were clearly checking us out.
There were a fair number of calves with their mothers. Now among babies, kittens and puppies are cute and adorable, but baby dolfins? Cute and adorable doesn't begin to describe them! We dropped anchor, and all of us slipped into the water in a flash. It took a moment to orient, as the water here was not as clear, nor as shallow as what we had been in prior, probably 50 to 75". I didn't see them at first. I heard them!
I hadn't expected to actually hear anything underwater. Let me back track a bit. My ears had been giving me grief all week, after our first day at the beach. I had some wax that just plastered itself to my ear drums once I hit the water and despite a number of valient attempts to remove it, with Debrox, the shower head and finally some q-tips, nothing worked on my left ear. The right side yes, but not the left (at least not until we got home this morning and I resorted to the waterpic, which amen, did the trick). When I slipped into the water at Maneli, within 30 seconds I heard chirps. At first, I didn't recognize it, but it sounded familiar. Then again, this time coming from my right. I recognized it. So would anyone who saw American during the 60's. Think Flipper. That's exactly what it sounded like, only softer and more distant. I looked to my right. Some 15 yards away was a school os Spinners headed north, perhaps 40 or so. Then I heard another chirrup from below me and looked down. There were easily another 30, just fifteen feet below me. I followed, not that I had a prayer of keeping up with them, yet it seemed the only thing to do. They were majestic. Poetry in motion there in the water. I was rapt. After 10 minutes, I surfaced, looking for the boat. I was at least a football field away, thanks to my curiosity and the current. The captain called out to me to hang there, & they would come get me.
I didn't.
I paddled back. Good legs. Perhaps, if you averaged the strength in my upper arms, with my calves and thighs, you 'might' have an average person. My legs are used to hauling my bulk around. That and all the years of biking and elliptical steppers haven't hurt. The captain looked out the back of the boat, as the last snorkeler other than me was climbed back in, and saw me just 10 feet off the stern. I must say I found the surprise on his face satisfying. I got in on my own, tired, but invigorated.
The last stop of the morning was off the coast of Lahaina. Mala Pier was built by the army corp of engineers in the 1920's. It had train tracks on it for the Sugar Cane Express, which carted the cane from the fields on the slopes of Halemahena above Lahaina and Ka'anapali, right out to the ships in Lahaina Harbor. They sank heavy iron rebar into the seafloor and mixed cement using the plentiful sand on the beach. Sea sand that was full of sea salt. The rebar started to rust almost immediately and the cement began to crumble. It was condemned within a year. Most of the pier has collapsed in the 80+ years since it was built, with a section perhaps 30 to 40 feet closest to the shore still standing, at least for the moment. We saw locals fishing from the end of the pier, not that I would even have considered it. The end of the structure still standing looks pretty decrepit. The stuff on the ocean floor, well that's become reef fodder. It's also teeming with sea life, coral, fish and sea turtles, as well as the occassional reef shark. The water was a bit murky, from the rain earlier in the week, but it was still a treat for the eye, to snorkel there in about 30 feet of water. It all ended too soon.
We headed into Lahaina town. I had been Jonesing for a burger all week, and finally gave in to a patty melt with grilled onions and swiss on rye. We had coupons for freebee root beer floats courtesy of the activity hawkers on the Lahaina Front Street strip. Watching these places for deals and discounts was actually not a bad thing. It pays to ask.
We drove back to the condo, arriving mid afternoon. We'd done most of our packing the night before, so there was time for some afternoon marital time. Then we stripped the sheets and threw them and the towels in the laundry, cleaned out the fridge, intending to leave the place as we found it. Ben was so kind to just hand us the keys, I don't ever want him to have a sour taste in his mouth for doing so. Then it was a few last shots infront of the plumeria tree in the front yard and off to the airport in Kahului. We turned in the car, and got to the terminal with 45 minutes to spare after going thru first security and then the agricultural check. For the uninitiated, you are not permitted to take any fruit, flowers or vegetables back to the mainland unless they are professionally packed and inspected. Expect to pay high prices for the privilege of carrying back your own pinapple. I expect that's why they call them Maui Gold. Better to hit the market of the florist here for the goods. Or better yet, just visit the Islands more often.
We landed in Oakland at 5:45am, were at the car by 6:15 and while it took some firmness on my part, I did convince my husband to let me drive his car home. I figured a driver on 3 hours of sleep was a better choice than a driver with none. Reluctantly, he agreed. We got home at 8, to find Ticor and Bill just waking up in our bed. Bill decided to come up last night after the fireworks in Marin, saving a very tired me that job. I also suspect he had some ulterior motives here (at least I hope he did)! If my partner was house sitting for friends for 8 days, I'd certainly want some serious face time with hime, at least a couple of tikmes during said week.
Now once we landed we couldn't get some extra clothing on fast enough. We'd had the sense to each pack one pair of pants, which we wore on the flight over, but damn, after a week of 80-95 degrees all week, temps in 70's seem cool, 60's outright cold and the 50's? Absolutely frigid. To my shock, they were both asleep in the raw, with the door to the deck wide open!
Time to hit the sack for me. Tomorrow I'm back in the office.
We're home again, nestled in the redwoods and the fog. LJ is fast asleep, which if I had any sense would be true for me, but I did catch a few hours of shut eye on the plane (unlike my husband) and I did nap for 4 hours here on our arrival.
Yesterday seems almost a blur, but then the last day of a vacation often is, at least for me. We arose early, to make the drive to Lahaina again, this time to board a boat for snorkeling in Lana'i. We had booked with Hawai'i Ocean Rafting, based right in Lahaina Harbor.
I was a bit anxious about this trip. The boat was a small one, which for me has some major plusses and one potential major minus. There were only 9 people on this excursion, which meant a more personal interaction with the crew (of two), definitely a more intimate experience. The boat trip is often much more fun. Getting out of the water can be a major difficulty. I am a very big bear with not great strength in my upper arms. Great legs, which can get me just about anywhere I need to go, with a couple of glaring exceptions. You will not see me shimmying up a rope hand over hand. Last year in Belize the ladder back into the sailboat was impossible for me to navigate. It was short and angled backward, so that the bottom of the ladder was half a foot further away from you than the top. In essence you needed greater
Yesterday's boat was a hard bottomed rubberized inflatable pontoon type raft. It's ladder was very short, but mercifully vertical. It was difficult, but not impossible for me to get myself back into the boat by myself. I actually surprised the skipper. He stood back warrily, and let me get into boat on my own steam, after I told him no, I could do it myself. Our first stop was on the reef just off the north coast of Lana'i in about 15 feet of water. It was thick with fish, just a feast for the eye. There were also a bunch of juvenile green sea turtles around, mostly 5-10 years old, these a bit shyer than the ones we saw two days earlier at turtle town. The first mate dove down, and brought an octopus to the surface for us to look at and touch. Watching it on release return to a crevase and return to camoflage colour was so striking. After an hour it was off to Maneli Bay on the western side of Lana'i. On the way there we passed a school of bottle nose dolfins, who came and swam along side of the raft, teasing us by jumping out of the water and passing us as we motored at a good clip. It was almost a cetacean, "Nya, nya; you can't catch us!" Shortly thereafter, we got to a community of Spinner dolfins, who compared to the Bottlenose are supposed to be the more social of the species when it comes to humans. They were clearly checking us out.
There were a fair number of calves with their mothers. Now among babies, kittens and puppies are cute and adorable, but baby dolfins? Cute and adorable doesn't begin to describe them! We dropped anchor, and all of us slipped into the water in a flash. It took a moment to orient, as the water here was not as clear, nor as shallow as what we had been in prior, probably 50 to 75". I didn't see them at first. I heard them!
I hadn't expected to actually hear anything underwater. Let me back track a bit. My ears had been giving me grief all week, after our first day at the beach. I had some wax that just plastered itself to my ear drums once I hit the water and despite a number of valient attempts to remove it, with Debrox, the shower head and finally some q-tips, nothing worked on my left ear. The right side yes, but not the left (at least not until we got home this morning and I resorted to the waterpic, which amen, did the trick). When I slipped into the water at Maneli, within 30 seconds I heard chirps. At first, I didn't recognize it, but it sounded familiar. Then again, this time coming from my right. I recognized it. So would anyone who saw American during the 60's. Think Flipper. That's exactly what it sounded like, only softer and more distant. I looked to my right. Some 15 yards away was a school os Spinners headed north, perhaps 40 or so. Then I heard another chirrup from below me and looked down. There were easily another 30, just fifteen feet below me. I followed, not that I had a prayer of keeping up with them, yet it seemed the only thing to do. They were majestic. Poetry in motion there in the water. I was rapt. After 10 minutes, I surfaced, looking for the boat. I was at least a football field away, thanks to my curiosity and the current. The captain called out to me to hang there, & they would come get me.
I didn't.
I paddled back. Good legs. Perhaps, if you averaged the strength in my upper arms, with my calves and thighs, you 'might' have an average person. My legs are used to hauling my bulk around. That and all the years of biking and elliptical steppers haven't hurt. The captain looked out the back of the boat, as the last snorkeler other than me was climbed back in, and saw me just 10 feet off the stern. I must say I found the surprise on his face satisfying. I got in on my own, tired, but invigorated.
The last stop of the morning was off the coast of Lahaina. Mala Pier was built by the army corp of engineers in the 1920's. It had train tracks on it for the Sugar Cane Express, which carted the cane from the fields on the slopes of Halemahena above Lahaina and Ka'anapali, right out to the ships in Lahaina Harbor. They sank heavy iron rebar into the seafloor and mixed cement using the plentiful sand on the beach. Sea sand that was full of sea salt. The rebar started to rust almost immediately and the cement began to crumble. It was condemned within a year. Most of the pier has collapsed in the 80+ years since it was built, with a section perhaps 30 to 40 feet closest to the shore still standing, at least for the moment. We saw locals fishing from the end of the pier, not that I would even have considered it. The end of the structure still standing looks pretty decrepit. The stuff on the ocean floor, well that's become reef fodder. It's also teeming with sea life, coral, fish and sea turtles, as well as the occassional reef shark. The water was a bit murky, from the rain earlier in the week, but it was still a treat for the eye, to snorkel there in about 30 feet of water. It all ended too soon.
We headed into Lahaina town. I had been Jonesing for a burger all week, and finally gave in to a patty melt with grilled onions and swiss on rye. We had coupons for freebee root beer floats courtesy of the activity hawkers on the Lahaina Front Street strip. Watching these places for deals and discounts was actually not a bad thing. It pays to ask.
We drove back to the condo, arriving mid afternoon. We'd done most of our packing the night before, so there was time for some afternoon marital time. Then we stripped the sheets and threw them and the towels in the laundry, cleaned out the fridge, intending to leave the place as we found it. Ben was so kind to just hand us the keys, I don't ever want him to have a sour taste in his mouth for doing so. Then it was a few last shots infront of the plumeria tree in the front yard and off to the airport in Kahului. We turned in the car, and got to the terminal with 45 minutes to spare after going thru first security and then the agricultural check. For the uninitiated, you are not permitted to take any fruit, flowers or vegetables back to the mainland unless they are professionally packed and inspected. Expect to pay high prices for the privilege of carrying back your own pinapple. I expect that's why they call them Maui Gold. Better to hit the market of the florist here for the goods. Or better yet, just visit the Islands more often.
We landed in Oakland at 5:45am, were at the car by 6:15 and while it took some firmness on my part, I did convince my husband to let me drive his car home. I figured a driver on 3 hours of sleep was a better choice than a driver with none. Reluctantly, he agreed. We got home at 8, to find Ticor and Bill just waking up in our bed. Bill decided to come up last night after the fireworks in Marin, saving a very tired me that job. I also suspect he had some ulterior motives here (at least I hope he did)! If my partner was house sitting for friends for 8 days, I'd certainly want some serious face time with hime, at least a couple of tikmes during said week.
Now once we landed we couldn't get some extra clothing on fast enough. We'd had the sense to each pack one pair of pants, which we wore on the flight over, but damn, after a week of 80-95 degrees all week, temps in 70's seem cool, 60's outright cold and the 50's? Absolutely frigid. To my shock, they were both asleep in the raw, with the door to the deck wide open!
Time to hit the sack for me. Tomorrow I'm back in the office.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-07-06 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-07 12:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-07 03:37 am (UTC)Love Mel