Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

Over the past few days we've hung out with the humuhumu –Hawaii’s state fish– a number of times without even meaning to; although, I guess that would be more weird if we were in Vancouver. Anyway...

Humu Encounter 1
One highlight of our trip thus far was a little trek we took over lava fields to a snorkelling destination aptly named the ‘fish bowl.’ For those familiar with ahihi bay, we parked just past it and then walked along the narrow road until we reached ‘45 feet before telephone pole #18.’ There on the pavement was a faint "x" that someone had marked as the beginning of the one mile trail which would eventually take us to our exotic destination with an abundance of tropical fish.

Humu Encounter 2
As if we didn't see enough fish at the fish bowl, we snorkelled the next day at black rock in Ka'anapali. Since Kihei is pretty relaxed, we didn't realize it was American Spring Break, but we sure discovered this when we attempted to see the underwater sights of black rock. Other than seeing a few humuhumus, the scene was more like an underwater version of Disneyland on a national holiday. I think I saw more humans than fish.

Humu Encounter 3
Last night we dined at Humuhumunukunukuapua'a while enjoying the last bit of sunlight the day could offer. This lovely restaurant sits on stilts (I think) over a 40 000 gallon fish lagoon at the Grand Wailea. The setting alone is beautiful, not the mention the drinks and food.

Surfing
Surfing on actual waves is a lot different from the consistency of the man-made flowrider. I don't think that my highly limited and outdated flowriding skills helped me out much while taking my first surfing lesson in Lahaina. Honestly, the hardest part of surfing is paddling. The getting up part is much easier. Lucas our hilarious Brazilian surf instructor made the lesson –I will never forget the 5 steps to getting up on the board.

PS - today I had my first Jamba Juice of the trip --I wish we had these in Canada.

The Waves Ate My Shorts

Okay, at least the waves didn't swallow my shorts! Seriously though, the waves at DT Fleming beach (just north of Ka'anapali) ate me alive while boogie-boarding and I literally almost lost my shorts. Since I've only really boogie-boarded on the flowrider, my experience in real waves was much different --more exhilarating, tiring and a little scary. At one point I collided with a pretty big wave and did a few somersaults underwater, got disoriented and then the cord from my boogie-board went across my neck. I guess that's all part of "Maui 101."

Over the past few days here we've lounged, walked hung out with friends and relaxed. One morning I wanted to walk for about an hour and then our stroll turned into a Gilligan-style 3-hour-tour. For some reason I didn't think it would take a long time to reach the end of the Wailea walk from mid-Kihei. Oops. To cool down mid-trek we stopped at the Fairmont and had an overpriced yogurt parfait and iced-americano. Needless to say we got back a little tired and burnt, but better for it.