Last Whale Watch

The whale watching scene in Maui is growing a little thin since most of the whales that were swimming through are on their way back to Alaska.

I went on a whale watch last Monday and got a few good tail shots and one huge breach right in front of the boat (alas, no photo), but no crazy awesome action like my past few times on the Spirit of Lahaina.

I decided to give it one last shot, and went back out yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to run into a pretty fierce competition pod. I also got some gorgeous shots of the island!

A shot of Maui from the bow of the Spirit of Lahaina

Our first whale sighting of the day!

Curious!

A humpback whale is heading over to check out some whale watchers.

This competition pod we ran into started getting a little rowdy. The male whales were ramming into each other.

Another gorgeous shot of my home island, Maui.

This pod had about 6 or 7 whales at the surface.

It was really amazing running into this pod. This is the most whales I have seen all at one time in one place. They are so massive on their own as individuals that it's really insane to see them all massed together in a pod of six or seven whales.

The wind was pretty much nonexistent on the ocean yesterday so I could really hear the whales as they breathed at the surface. There would be a small puff of air as they exhaled, and then a strained, short whistle as they breathed in. Sometimes, they even trumpeted at the surface. It sounded a lot like the conch shell they carry on the boat.

The last whale tale of the season.

A view on Lanai from the stern.

Heading back to Maui

I love the guys and gals aboard the Spirit of Lahaina. The best boat crew in Lahaina harbor!

Gorgeous skies!

More Maui. You can see that it's raining in the valleys.

Another shot of Lanai.

A hotel on the Lahaina shore. I sometimes camp out on the beach in front.

505 Beach in front of Betty's Cafe. This is my #1 Beach in town.

Front Street from the water.

The Stack

Lahaina Harbor

Shipwreck! The owner of this boat couldn't afford to haul the boat off the reef, so he left it here.

Lahaina Harbor

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Kehau

This is my buddy Kehau, the African Grey parrot that lives at my new favorite deli Take Home Maui.

He recognizes my voice so when he hears me coming up to the store he walks to the edge of his cage, lowers his head and waits for a neck rub.

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Rainbow

Just a spot of color across the street from my house.

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Obsessed.

A few things that I've been mulling over and obsessing about lately:

• Decorating small spaces: I have big plans on moving into a tiny shoebox apartment sometime next month (my fingers and YOUR fingers are crossed that this is actually going to happen), and I've been having a blast researching on how best to decorate teeny, tiny spaces.
• Steve Martin: he's a great writer, outstanding comedian and a charmingly talented banjo player. This man can do no wrong.

• Neil Gaiman: I've been voraciously reading everything this man has written, including his online blog that he has maintained for ten years.

• Billy Collins: My favorite poet. Well, him and Shel Silverstein often duke it out in my imagination to make the number one spot in my heart reserved for poets.

• Zombies: Always, always, always thinking about zombies. It's hard not to. They are EVERYWHERE now! They were even on "House"

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Simple

I was surprised tonight by how good simple food can taste.

After wringing gallons of sweat out of my body in a Bikram Yoga class tonight, I made a post workout snack from some of the only food contents in my kitchen: fresh spinach, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I removed the stems from about two servings of fresh spinach, drizzled it extra virgin olive oil and finished it off with a splash of balsamic vinegar. It was delicious and surprisingly satisfying. It staved off my hunger until after I got out of the shower and my hair had dried enough for me to go out and purchase something more substantial.

Tomorrow I plan on returning to my poached egg experiment and eating two with sauteed spinach cooked with garlic, onion flakes (I don't have an actual real onion in my kitchen at the moment) and diced tomatoes from a can. And then I will probably go buy some real groceries.

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Buzz

Every time I wear my bumblebee necklace (shown above) or my bumblebee drop earrings from Fossil, generously given to me by my friend Ann, I always, always, always get compliments on them. One of my guests at the restaurant last night made me bend over the table so she could get a better look at the earrings. Another diner last month told me her husband had been admiring them all through lunch because he is a bee keeper. If I hadn't been so busy, I would love to have picked his brain about that.

I think bee keeping is amazing and mysterious! The more I hear about it, the more I would love to try it...except that I never, ever want to be stung by a bee again. I've been stung only once, and it wasn't a big deal, but I have a feeling that bee keeping involves getting stung--maybe not often, but enough to scare off most people like myself from taking up the hobby.

I have always loved the phrase "go tell the bees" but never knew what it really meant. Google to the rescue! "Bees were believed to be the souls of the dead returning to earth or on their way to the next world. This probably led to the widespread custom of "telling the bees" when the owner died. If the bees were not asked to stay with their new master or mistress, it was believed they would die or abscond" (Brain P. Dennis).

Some more bee folklore: If a bee flies into your house, it means that someone is coming to visit. If you kill the bee, the visitor will bring you bad news.

Through the writer Neil Gaiman's blog, I found this cool post with photos about a bee keeper who had his bees make a hive in a bell jar.

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Airport Beach

After work, my friend A. met me at the restaurant for drinks and dinner. We were joined by another friend and decided to watch the sunset and swim at Airport Beach.

The water was cold but the view was lovely, and even though it felt a little chilly to go plunging into the ocean, I had to get in. It seems wrong to go to the beach and not get wet.

I snapped on my swimming goggles, slowly walked in until the water was up to my calves and then dived in.

It was cold, but I swam hard and fast to shake the chill off. Even in the low light, there was a lot to see on the shallow reef. I saw a fish I had never seen before, and I wonder if it only comes out a little later in the day to feed.

I also swam into a small turtle. He startled me at first because from a distance, I couldn't figure out what it was, and my slightly paranoid brain instantly rang out "shark!" When it got closer, I realized it was only a small sea turtle, and we swam together for a little while and when he was close enough to touch, I reached out and brushed my fingers across his shell. Please, Turtle Police, don't find me and put me in jail!

I left the turtle and continued my swim parallel to the beach in the shallows--once again, it was near dark, and although I have never seen a shark in the open ocean out here, I know they are out there. I don't want to push my luck with the Man in the Grey Suit (what surfers call sharks--apparently it's bad juju to say "shark" when you are paddling out).

I only swam along the beach for a little ways before I turned and looped back. On my return, I swam into the same turtle. I watched him for a little while before hitting my spot on the beach. I quickly ran out of the water and wrapped myself up in a big towel and continued to watch the sun go down.

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Good Day

It's been a good day, and the best part is, the day's not even over!

I slept in, rolled out of bed, scoped out the studio apartment that I've been eyeballing for the past month, then went for a puny 1.5 mile run. I've realized that I've become much less ambitious about pounding the pavement. Not that I was ever a truly motivated runner beforehand, but I had managed to suck it up and crawl through 2.5 miles. I've now shortened my route to only 1.5 miles, and I'm still getting my butt kicked with the shorter mileage. If I continue to get the same fitness results from less time on the road, I don't see myself running a 5K anytime soon. Less is more, or so some say.

After my run, I hit the bank and deposited some major cash into my account. I always walk with my purse held a little tighter to my body when I'm headed to the bank. It makes me a little paranoid to be walking around with that much cash!

Once all the errands were done, I treated my friend to lunch after he so gallantly rescued me and my busted up bike last week. We went to Star Noodle, and I gobbled up the Ssam (Asian Burrito) of the Day: seared Ahi tuna wrapped in nori, served with brown rice, avocado, and a wasabi aioli. Delicious!

After lunch at Star Noodle, we cruised to Outback Steakhouse for dessert. We got a platter with a trio of the restaurant's most popular desserts: a decadent chocolate brownie, a slice of cheesecake and a slice of carrot cake.

I may have to rethink running only 1.5 miles.

My friend dropped me back at home where I grabbed some paperbacks that I had finished reading. I took them to the secondhand bookstore in Lahaina. The store is super tiny, very narrow and wedged into an alley way off Front Street. I traded my paperbacks for Kate Atkinson's "Case Histories" for a friend and Dorothy Allison's slim memoir "Two or Three Things I Know for Sure" for myself.

Then I went to my new favorite spot Take Home Maui. Take Home Maui is a deli and store that specializes in shipping Hawaiian specialities like fresh produce (pineapples and papayas), coffee and macadamia nut treats to yourself or friends on the mainland. Their mascot is an African Grey parrot, Kehau, who likes getting the back of his neck scratched. The store also has a small table stacked with books that they lend out. You leave a $5 deposit that will be refunded to you once you return their book. The folks at the store recognized me from the day before when I got lunch (their sandwiches are loaded and delicious), and waived the deposit for me. I borrowed "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen. I tried reading this in high school and never finished. I'm wondering if I'll like it now.

Delicious food and lots of new books makes for a very good day. I'm taking a break to write and read, then I'm off to dinner with another friend at the Pineapple Grill in Kapalua. I keep hearing great things about the food, but this will be my first visit! I wonder if I'll have any room in my stomach for anything bigger than a salad...

...to be continued, I guess...

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Snorkel Time

I went to Olowalu to snorkel at mile marker 14 with my friends. The snorkel spot is right off the highway where the beach is a thin strip of sand. The beach may be nothing to write home about, but the reef is vast and filled with fish.

Our favorite sighting was a small sea turtle we swam into as we were getting out of the water.

We laid out on the tiny beach in front of my friend's newly acquired truck and talked, slept and watched the whales.

The water was warm, and pockets of it burned deep turquoise blue where the water is shallow and just sand instead of reef.

On our way back into town we stopped behind this car. We admired the vanity plate before falling in love with the bumper sticker:

I had a wonderful long day, and I fell asleep early and slept hard until late this morning. It's been a lazy morning, but now I'm off to work after enjoying my "weekend" off.

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Flat

I got a flat tire on the way to Puamana Beach Park today. I rolled into the parking lot and instantly knew something was wrong.

I took a look at the tire and a chunk of bottle green glass was sticking out of it.

I asked a few of the surfers with trucks if they were headed back into town, but I was unable to hitch a ride with anyone.

Fortunately, my friend George from work was able to come to my rescue. We threw my bike into his car and had the awesome Jamie at West Maui Bike Shop replace the tubing on the front tire.

These photos are of my flat, the many stand up paddle boards that people were using and the little strip of beach at this popular easy surfing spot.

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My New Favorite Thing

I bought this jar of creamy natural peanut butter from Earth Balance at the Honokowai deli two weeks ago, and I love it!

Unlike other natural or organic peanut butters out there, there's no need to stir. I hate when you can see all the oil pooling at the top of the peanut butter jar. Yuck.

Earth Balance's peanut butter comes creamy or crunchy, and the best part--it's made with flaxseed so you can get your Omega-3s. A little agave syrup is a light and low glycemic sweetener.

I have been eating one to two tablespoons a day. I stir in a tablespoon into my plain oatmeal or spread some on top of Gala apple slices, and of course, I'll eat a small spoonful right out of the jar. Yum.

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Shuffle

I've been really bad about listening to music, especially anything new. I typically am only listening to exercise anthems on my iPod when I'm running or biking (and yes, I'm totally aware that this is kind of a dangerous practice, but I listen to my music at a low volume so I can keep my focus on the road), but I got in a little tune time today by putting my iTunes library on shuffle. Here are a few of my favorites that came up:

• "Hunter" by Dido
• "Skid Row (Downtown" from the musical Little Shop of Horrors
• "Untouchable Face" by Ani DiFranco
• "And Then There Were None" from the musical Spring Awakening
• "Everything" by Alanis Morissette
• "Anything" by Third Eye Blind
• "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkel

As much as I love rediscovering old favorites, I love acquiring new ones.

What's your new favorite song that you have on repeat right now?

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Tsunami Scare

A helicopter with search & rescue team assessing any shoreline damage

First and foremost, I have to thank everyone for reaching out to me by phone, email, text message and Facebook to make sure that me and my friends were okay during our tsunami scare.

I was at the tail end of my shift at the restaurant on Thursday night when we first heard the news. I came up to the bar to see what everyone was watching. A handful of employees were watching the local news featuring footage from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The amount of damage that we saw unfold was shocking. The wall of water that hit Japan was like a giant hand smearing the coastal town into smithereens.

Under the footage being shown was a red banner alerting Hawaii. At first it was a "Tsunami Watch" which was shortly upgraded to a "Tsunami Warning." We were told to expect the tsunami at 3 in the morning.

I let my last two tables know about the tsunami warning. I told them that their hotel would give them further instructions and evacuation details if necessary. They finished their food (not as quickly as I would have given the situation) and cashed out.

Since I live a block away from the ocean, I began making my own evacuation plans. My coworker who lives up at the highest point in town offered to let me stay with him and his roommates. I hurried home and threw essentials into my backpack. I threw together a change of clothes, my asthma medicine, soap and shampoo, and a book. As I was packing, I heard sirens from police cars as they raced around town to help evacuate everyone. And then there was a police officer on a bullhorn telling all residents to leave their homes as soon as possible and head to the high school on the top of Lahainaluna hill.

After my goods were packed, I headed out of the house and walked across the street and started walking up the very steep Lahainaluna hill to my coworker's home.

As I walked, I was passed by a long slow-moving snake of cars as Lahaina locals were fleeing to higher ground. There were other people on foot hauling suitcases.

On my way up the hill, I got a phone call from my friend who captains the Spirit of Lahaina who invited me aboard. He was taking the boat out of the harbor for safety. "Isn't the water the last place I want to be in a tsunami?" I asked him. He told me that being on the open water is a lot safer than being on land. "I've seen Poseidon. That's enough of a deterrent for me to going out on the boat," I said. "Besides, I'm about a mile up Lahainaluna, and I'm not prepared to stop now and walk back down." I wished him good luck and told him to call me in the morning.

I'm glad I ended up not going on the boat with my friend. The harbor was closed all Friday until Saturday morning. My friend was stuck on the boat until Saturday afternoon.

I was about halfway up to my friend's house before another coworker heading up the hill in her truck spotted me and had me leap in with her neighbor and their cats (they collectively had three).

When we reached my coworker's house, we unloaded newly purchased bottled water and canned food. We all cracked a few beers and began watching news footage. The expected time of impact was 3:27 in the morning for Maui. At about 11 pm, we heard the first warning sirens. We would hear the alarms every hour on the hour until about 3 in the morning. They sounded tinny and far away at my coworker's house, but I remember hearing them much closer at the beginning of the month when they do a test round to make sure they are working. They are eardrum shattering.

At about midnight we took a break from watching news footage and commentary, and I played Yahtzee for the first time. I lost by 3 points.

We continued to watch the news where there was live footage from Kauai. We could not believe how quickly the water receded from the shore revealing the craggy reef. The surge that ended up hitting the beach was minimal and uneventful, but I saw footage the next day of Oahu that was much more frightening (a English tourist was standing in the deluge watching the ocean come crashing over the embankments and flood into the street. From the footage he shot, it looks like he got stranded and lost his flip flops. If I was him, I would have stopped filming a long time ago and focused on running away).

Luckily for us in Maui, there seemed to be very little change. At about four in the morning it looked like the threat was over. The sirens hadn't sounded for about 2 hours. All of us began packing up our belongings to head back down the hill.

I got home a little before 5 and spent about half an hour emailing family, texting friends and updating Facebook to let everyone know that I hadn't drowned. I finally fell asleep. I woke up two hours later to a man shouting in the streets. I bolted awake, totally convinced that the tsunami wave had finally hit Lahaina--hours later than the original estimate, but real and destructive nonetheless.

But the yelling ceased and I could hear the birds singing outside the window like they always do. I rolled over onto my side and peeked out the window. The backyard was intact and dry. I rolled over again to move my face away from the sunshine and back into shadow. I was going to fall back asleep until I got a text from Nicole, my roommate who just left Maui and was spending some vacation time on Oahu before returning to her home in Arizona. Nicole wanted to know if I was OK. She had heard that Lahaina got hit hard by the tsunami.

I once again looked out at my window. The backyard was definitely still dry. I decided that if I wanted to see any tsunami damage, I was going to have to get up and walk to Front Street. I threw on a sweater over my pajamas, grabbed my camera and walked to the water.

The ocean along the shore was murky and dark with a few pieces of flotsam and jetsam bobbing along the surface. I walked towards the harbor. It was almost empty. Most captains took their boats out of the harbor late last night and anchored them in the open water. There were about two boats still anchored at their slips in the harbor. One of them had been pushed into the dock and took out a good chunk of it.

I asked around at the harbor, and it was reported that a 9 foot wave broke right at the harbor wall.

Later I heard that the other side of town got hit harder. People were clearing fish, octopi and two sea turtles out of the street.

I stayed at the harbor for another fifteen minutes or so watching the water churn disconcertingly. The water was swirling like a slow moving whirlpool before being sucked back out into the open ocean.

The (mostly) abandoned Lahaina harbor

I didn't have to work yesterday, but I was told that our beachfront property was undamaged, but everyone marveled at the shore. The water had been sucked out all the way to the anchored boats. They said they had never seen the reef so exposed before. The restaurant was closed until 1:30 pm since they had to wait for the gas to be turned back on.

I spent most of yesterday in a delirium. I ended up taking a 2 hour nap earlier on in the day, but after only 4 hours of sleep, I felt like a zombie. I met up with friends and coworkers for dinner at my new favorite restaurant (Amigo's for authentic Mexican food) where we traded tsunami stories. It sounds like we were all up hill partying and watching the news.

Today at work, the coworker that I stayed with on Thursday night said he was standing behind a tourist at Starbucks today who bitterly complained how his vacation had been ruined by the tsunami threat. The tourist was ragging the Starbucks employee about how he had been evacuated by his hotel and had to spend the night in his rental car at the top of a hill. He was livid that this had all been for nothing, and that there had been no wave at all. The Starbucks employee felt so badgered by this tourist she ended up giving him a complimentary pastry and apologized to the tourist that he had been so inconvenienced.

My coworker got so fed up by this man that he ended up confronting him. "What cause do you have to complain? You were safely evacuated with your belongings, and in the end, a catastrophe that could have caused a great deal of damage to your family, friends and residents here in Maui never happened. Would you have been happier if your hotel had been decimated by a tsunami wave or your family died in this disaster? Look at what happened to Japan. That could have happened to us Thursday night, and it didn't. Sure, you were slightly inconvenienced, but no one in Hawaii was hurt. That's a good thing."

The tourist blinked at him before saying, "I hadn't thought about it that way."

And it's important that this is what we focus on. There was a lot of grumbling the next day about the measures that Hawaii took to evacuate its residents and visitors when the threat was never met. We should be incredibly grateful that there was minimal property damage, that we are all safe and that we had jobs to go back to the next day. Our neighbors in Japan were not so lucky.

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Sunsets and Leis

The following photos off my cell phone barely do it justice, but we had a gorgeous sunset last night! I was working at my restaurant when I had a few moments to grab my phone and snap photos of the sun going down along with most of our guests.

Working isn't so bad when this is the view.

Today I lazed about town and stumbled upon these lovely ladies making leis to support the Historical Lahaina Restoration.

There was also live music.

Not a bad afternoon before heading to work.

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