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September 29
Intro & Arriving in Maui
September 30
Beaches & A Lava Flow
October 1
Iao Valley
October 2
A Helicopter Ride
October 3 & 4
A Bird, A Dog, Work & Drinking
October 5
Haleakala & A Luau
October 6
Lahaina & Heading Home
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September 30, 2005
Beaches & A Lava Flow
Friday morning's view of West Maui
We had a fantastic and cheap breakfast at the Kihei Cafe, a place Paul called a "hippie joint." True, there was
some long hair and tattoos and tie dye, but there were tourists and locals and surfers as well. And us. I was
introduced to the Loco Moco.
It's a plateau of white rice topped with a hamburger patty topped with an egg covered in brown sauce. It's a
cholesterol volcano on a plate.
A couple mornings later, I saw a guy driving a pick-up truck. While rolling through a stop sign, he scooped
up a plastic forkful of Loco Moco from the styrofoam plate he was holding. If we on the mainland can drive while
eating donuts, Hawaiians can eat breakfast on the way to work too.
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Later, we drove south past the posh and exclusive resorts to where the road narrows to a single
lane. Signs that say "Limited Sight Distance" are replaced with signs that say "No Sight Distance" as the road curves
sharply and goes over small hills. The speed limit drops to 10 mph.
We pulled over a few times to explore and take pictures. This is where the road runs right along the shore. |
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It's all volcanic rock, of course, and it makes for difficult walking. The rocks are black
mostly, with a few white pebbles thrown in. |
| After bouncing down the road through the trees, we went through what I thought was a recently
plowed field. What I thought were clumps of turned up soil were actually rocks. We were driving through a lava flow. |
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This is the most recent lava flow on Maui, it happened sometime in the late 1700's. There's still
lava flowing on the Big Island. This is what it will look like in a couple hundred years. |
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I took this picture for my dad. My folks live in New England, where I grew up, and rock fences
are part of the landscape there. Here's one made out of volcanic rocks. |
| This is looking up the southern slope of the East Maui Volcano. The top is almost always hidden by
clouds. I don't think I saw the top at any point on the trip except when I was up there. |
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We lurched back up the narrow road, past where it widened to two lanes, past a woman selling shell
necklaces by the side of the road, to Big Beach. This is a beautiful sand beach with waves good for swimming but not
quite big enough for surfing. Not, at least, today. The water was an incredible blue that doesn't really show
in these pictures. |
| The beach is surrounded by cliffs, volcanic rock eroded through the eons. This
spot appeared to have caves, but they were really just huge holes scooped out by wind and water. |
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We climbed the path up the rocks at the west end of the beach. I turned around to take this
picture. It's now my wallpaper. |
I could have taken a very similar picture if I had turned to face west. That beach is called Little Beach, and it's
clothing optional. It's illegal to go nude, but I think the authorities have much more important things to worry about
than whether people want to go el buffo on a remote beach.
We found a good spot and spread out our towels (but not TOO close together). It was my first time on a nude beach,
but a few minutes after taking off my shorts I felt entirely comfortable. Well, maybe not entirely, but I realized I'm
in pretty good shape compared to most of the folks there. There were thin people and fat people, attractive people and
unattractive people, just like on a regular beach. It was easy to get used to, you just have to be sure to put sun block
everywhere.
Sorry folks, no pictures.
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We picked up Paul's dog Zeus, a 130-pound Labrador who thinks he's a puppy, and went back to his apartment. After
showering to get the sand out of certain crevices, we started going over the list of things he wanted to do on his
computer. He had bought some peripherals that weren't quite working and some software he hadn't installed yet.
There was a lot to do....
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