Movie Rentals

Bryan and I have been trying to keep our evenings a little low key this week, and what better way to relax at night than kicking back with a movie?

I finally got to watch The Descendants, and it was very, very good.  I was taken aback by how much I liked the movie.  At times soaringly hilarious and other times deeply despairing, The Descendants is a bag of mixed emotions in the very best of ways.

George Clooney in The Descendants 

{via}

We also watched Carnage last night.  The movie is Roman Polanski's film version of the stage production God of Carnage.  After their children are involved in a schoolyard fight, two sets of parents meet in a New York City apartment to discuss the incident.  The civilized meeting quickly unravels as the parents become childish and petty.  The dialogue is whip smart and fast, although the pace of the movie doesn't really allow any of the characters to really develop.  Instead, you watch the characters quickly shed their good intentions, their good manners and watch them bicker and point fingers to hilarious effect.

Foster, Reilly, Waltz and Winslet in Carnage

{via google search}

What have all of you been watching lately?  Anything worth recommending?

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Beachy Wednesday

Bryan and I both had Wednesday off together, so after brunch at my all-time favorite Sunrise Cafe we headed to Airport Beach for the afternoon.

The ocean was calm and flat, the water was cool and refreshing, and there was lots of swimming to be had.

And of course, gorgeous sunsets!

In panaroma:

(the island of Lanai is on the left, Molokai on the right)


Looking towards Lanai:






My best beach buddy:



Looking towards Black Rock:



Gorgeous colors dancing off the ocean:



Not a bad way to spend the "weekend."

Bryan and I went up to Kimo's house last night for a BBQ.  There was char siu pork, teriyaki beef, grilled chicken and bratwursts and homemade crab wontons made by Amanda.  Delicious!

It's going to be hard to go back into work tonight.  The weekend was just too much fun.

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Sunday Happenings

Bryan and I met up with our friend Will at Mala for brunch!  Mala is right on the water on Front Street and has a gorgeous view.

Mala has choice eats and delicious drinks.  I ordered their version of an Arnold Palmer (they add guava juice to the lemonade and iced tea drink) as I decided on what to eat.

I am a huge fan of Mala's Huevos Rancheros as well as their Chilaquiles, but I opted for one of their specials instead: the Smoked Salmon Tartine.

Delicious!!

After brunch, I walked over to the library looking forward to picking up my new requested items.  It wasn't until I was right in front of the building that I realized that the library is closed on Sundays!  And Mondays!  I won't be able to get my grubby little hands on my new books until Tuesday.  I was crushed!

But I managed to perk up and take some photos of my neighbors' beautiful orchids instead:

They are teeny tiny with delicate, spiraling petals.  So pretty!

After lamenting the library's hours, I pulled myself together, slathered on sunscreen, packed my bag and headed out to Wahikuli Beach for a solo ocean swim.  It felt great to be in the water!  These past two weeks have been filled with lots of ocean swimming, and I couldn't be happier.  I'm really glad that I'm taking full advantage of living on Maui.

During my swim out, I tried (unsuccessfully) not to think of sharks.  One of my friends killed a wounded baby Tiger Shark at this very beach just two weeks ago.  Yikes!  Everyone tells me that it's super rare to see Tiger Sharks in such shallow waters, so hopefully I will never, ever encounter one.  Scary!

After my swim, I pedaled to Officemax and Foodland Farms to run some errands, pick up some things for the house and grab a small snack (avocado poke!!).

Now I'm off to Monsoon India for dinner with Amanda!  Not a bad way to spend a day off from work!

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Tako at Honolua Bay

endemic Hawaiian Day Octopus

{via}

Late this morning, BJ and I drove up north to snorkel Honolua Bay.  We parked along the side of the road and hiked in towards the bay.

The trail plunges down through the jungle towards the water.  The trees swayed in the wind above us, and as their trunks and branches rubbed against each other they squeaked.  "Like dolphins," said BJ.

Roosters of all shapes and colors ran along and across the trail as we walked.  There were even roosters down at the bay's entrance.  They scrambled across the rocky shore and crowed much to the delight or annoyance to the tourists.

BJ and I kicked our flip flops off on the rocks, snapped on our goggles and sat down on a rock by the water's edge to slip into our fins.  We gently tipped forward and swam out over the rocky shallows into slightly deeper water.

As we kicked out into the bay, we came up against a big cluster that I first thought was a big rock.  As I swam closer, I realized that the rock was actually a huge ball of fish.  The school had gathered together into a tightly wound "bait ball" as an Omilu or Bluefin Trevally prowled underneath them, waiting to snap up a weak or injured fish.

Omilu 

{via}

I watched BJ dive into the school of fish.  As he cut through the center of them, the fish parted in two big waves, circled behind him and knitted back together again after he was gone.

After some youtube research, I found this video taken at Honolua Bay of Omilu stalking a school of fish.  Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?



My friend Alfredo has told me that BJ is a "tako" or octopus whisperer, and today I got to see BJ's skills firsthand.

After we left the bait ball behind, I saw BJ motioning to me from under the water.  He pointed down towards the sandy bottom at a rock.  I looked.  I strained my eyes...but I didn't see what he was seeing.  BJ popped his head out of the water.

"You see the tako?"

I put my head back in and looked around.  I came back to the surface.  "No," I told him.  "Where are you looking?"

BJ told me that the two sea urchins I was looking at was actually one sea urchin and an octopus.  I looked again, but could not distinguish the octopus.

"I'm going to dive down," he told me.  "When I dive for it, the tako will move and you'll see it."

That's what you hope, I said in my head as BJ prepared himself and took a huge breath of air and plunged downwards.

As he swam down, I saw the octopus roll backwards into its hole in the rock.  After a few attempts to coax the octopus out of its hiding place and only getting a few wagging tentacles in his face, BJ gave up and we cruised to look at more fish.

The water at Honolua was chilly, and I never really warmed up as I swam around.  I just got colder.  After about forty minutes into our swim I was ready to head back out.  BJ and I started to swim back over to the shore.  Half way back, BJ pointed at the bottom.  A moray eel laid across a rock like a thick ribbon.  It's small head was turned up towards us, and his mouth opened and shut.  BJ dove down a little ways to him so the eel turned and swam away from us.  Along its way, it ran right into another moray.  BJ and I watched the two eels face one another.  I could imagine them hissing their great displeasure to one another as they continued their tiff over their underwater territory.  The second eel was the first to back off, and it swam away.

We left the eels behind and swam on.  Just a few yards away from the eels, BJ had spotted another tako.  He pointed it out to me, and I saw nothing but rock.

BJ dove down again, and all of a sudden I saw a small octopus shoot off like a torpedo, shooting small clouds of ink behind him.  BJ caught up to him and brought the octopus up to me.  As he swam up with the octopus, it continued to release billows of a dark brown ink.  And then it began to change colors and textures.  Huge splotches of deep, dark colors danced across his body while spikes seemingly thrust up from his skin although he still remained soft to touch.

The He'e Tako or Day Octopus is endemic to Hawaii.  It's natural coloration is a dark brown, and it's known as the "day" octopus, because it prowls the ocean floors during daylight hours for food.

The octopus that BJ found was very young, so he was still small.  His body was about the size of my small, balled up fist.  His tentacles were thin and tapered into small, looping ribbons.  After a moment, he calmed himself and hunkered down onto BJ's fist.  His whole body was soft and slippery, but the suckers on the underside of his tentacles were powerfully strong.  BJ draped one of the octopus' tentacles along my arm so I could see what it felt like.  Later, when I pried his tentacle away from my skin, the release of suction sounded like someone undoing very strong velcro.  On the car ride home, BJ told me that sometimes the octopus suckers leave little "hickies."

After a few more moments of examining the tako, we let him go and watched him torpedo back down to the rocks.

I found this short video of the He'e Tako in action.  This one is much larger than the one that BJ and I found:



After a successful snorkel at Honolua Bay, BJ and I hiked out shivering.  My teeth were chattering I was so cold!  We hopped back into the truck and drove to one of my favorite old haunts, the Honokowai Farmer's Market.

The Honokowai Farmer's Market is actually a brick and mortar store that sells all sorts of fresh and good for you foodstuffs.  On Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 7 to 11, the store does have a more traditional "market" with people setting up stalls in the parking lot to hawk their locally grown produce.

I hadn't been to the store in many, many months, so I'm glad that BJ suggested it.  We both got a cup of soup and a slice of the vegetarian "burrito bake."  Both were delicious, warm and filling.

I got home by 2 in the afternoon and had plenty of time to enjoy a deliciously hot shower and some reading time before having to head to work.

I have all day off tomorrow!  I'm planning on having a beach day at Black Rock.  I've got a LOT of reading to do!!

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Beach Day and Cabin Fever

I'm not so sure about this Instagram app, but it was what I used to take cameraphone snaps of my beach day with Bryan yesterday.  I'm still looking into getting my Panasonic fixed--but it looks like sending it away may not be my best option.  Le sigh.  My camera fixing adventures continue...

We had a slow start to the day since Bryan and company were recovering from their big night out (The Shins concert on Wednesday night).  I was able to rally the troops for lunch at Kimo's earlier in the day, then Bryan and I took the bus to the beach at Black Rock.



The water was like glass yesterday!  There was absolutely zero surf, but there was a good amount of wind that intermittently blasted sheets of sand all over me.  It felt safer to be in the water!

I took my Aquasphere goggles and swam like a fish to the peninsula point and beyond (featured in the photo above).  I did that swim twice followed by a run on the beach--Bryan joined me for the two laps I ran!!

Having fun with silhouettes on the sand:



(I didn't realize that my Reef flip flop managed to sneak into the picture above until much later)

Bryan doesn't like having his photo taken, but he humored me and posed for our silhouette snapshot:



Clouds gathered over the West Maui Mountains behind us an the mist from the rain created this gorgeous rainbow.  The rainbow's arc continued to arch higher and grow brighter over the next hour.



Leaving the beach:



After we bused home, we cleaned up and biked over to Fu Lin for some Chinese food.  It's not the best ever, but it was fairly satisfying.  I love their eggplant in Peking Sauce.  And their Egg Drop Soup is not to be missed.

After dinner Bryan and I went to see The Cabin in the Woods.  Writer/Producer Joss Whedon is one of my favorites.  He's famous for his work in television (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse), and I was interested in what he'd bring to the big screen (and for the ultimate fanboys, yes, I realize that Serenity was his first feature--but it's more of a continuation to his television series Firefly and not an original, standalone flick like Cabin).

The premise of the movie is original, clever, humorous and wry but it pivots on a premise that all of us is familiar with: five young, hot college kids go to a beat up, abandoned cabin in the middle of nowhere to have a fun weekend getaway but it all goes horribly wrong.

It's a great horror movie because it's plays off of all your expectations that been screwed into place by the horror genre.  After leaving the theater, I felt like I had just watched an extended, R-rated episode of a Joss Whedon television show.  If any of you are Joss Whedon fans then you know exactly what I'm talking about and are going to love the movie--especially with all the Whedon alumni featured in the movie, plus this guy:

Richard Jenkins is one of my favorite character actors and he is seemingly in everything.  I was incredibly delighted to see him in Cabin in the Woods, and he played one of my favorite characters.

If you can stomach a few good scares and some gore as well as the unexpected, get thee to a theater and see The Cabin in the Woods.

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Here Today...

Winter is long over.  Spring Break has ended.  The whales have trickled out of Maui and have headed to Alaska.  Mangoes are hanging heavy on their branches all over the island and are often exploding onto the pavement below.  It smells like sickly sweet rotting fruit when I go for my neighborhood runs, but I have a fresh, ripe mango chilling in my mini fridge.  I'm planning on having that for dessert tonight after work.

I met up my with my boys today (BJ, Alfredo and Jeff) and snorkeled Wahikuli Beach.  Alfredo and BJ each speared one fish.  While kicking around with BJ he pointed out a starfish and a flounder.  We were looking for tako (octopus).  BJ likes using tako as fishing bait.  I had the opportunity to see an octopus up close and personal on a snorkeling trip back in 2008 when I was vacationing in Maui with Ann.  I'd love to see one again!

I have to take a moment to absolutely gush about my new Aqua Sphere Kayenne Goggles.  I have now had the opportunity to test them out in the pool and out in the ocean.  They are super comfy on my face and they haven't fogged up at all.  I noticed that all the boys had to adjust and clean their masks several times when in the water today, and I didn't have to worry about my goggles at all.  I don't like using a real diving mask because I like having the least amount of stuff on my face in the water, but these Kayenne goggles give me the closest range of visibility that you get from a mask.  I bought my pair (which is a smaller fit for ladies) off of Amazon.com.

After an hour in the water we emerged covered in goosebumps.  The water felt cold today, even though the sun was hot and warm above us.  We cleaned off, piled into BJ's truck and headed to Genki Sushi for lunch.  I was freezing, so I got hot dishes: teriyaki chicken and an udon noodle bowl.

Once I got dropped off at home, I treated myself to a hot shower.  Now it's time for a little relaxation and reading before heading to work.

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Instagram Blossoms!

After enviously admiring iPhone friends and their Instagram photos, I was delighted that the filter-fun app became available for Android users.  However, now that it's on my phone, I barely use it.  I like the filters the app provides, but I'm not a huge fan of the "sharing" aspect of the gallery.  I just want to use Instagram to make my cameraphone snaps a little more alluring.  Until I figure out how much I actually like and use the app, here's a snap of some blossoms just down the street from me.  They smelled heavenly.  Too bad there's not an app that capture the scent!

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Geysers, Chutes and Ladders

My housemate had posted earlier this week on Facebook that she was looking for some fellow adventurers to find the infamous Chutes and Ladders hike on Monday.  

Chutes and Ladders is a locally known spot where you clamber down the sea cliff aided by ladders and ropes down to a pool formed from lava rock at the ocean's edge.  I have seen pictures of the place by friends on Facebook and I really wanted to go there myself.

I had the day off and volunteered to go with her.  Before we headed out, we both spoke to friends over the phone who had done the hike before and pretty much everyone told us we should go with someone who has gone before.  Not only is the trailhead hard to find, but also the hike itself can be pretty "sketchy."

I was a little put off at first, but my housemate and I decided that we should attempt to find the spot, and if we were at all concerned about doing the hike, we would turn back around.

The trailhead is hard to spot, and we ended up parking next to a whole bunch of other cars by mile marker 38.

We decided to explore the area and look for any signs of ladders or ropes.

The sea cliffs were majestic; the water a deep aquamarine blue.  The wind whipped our hair around as we followed worn paths along the overlook.

The lava rock looks like alien lifeforms growing up out of the stone.

My housemate surveying the coastline.

The trail down to the ocean is known as the Acid War Zone because of the way the landscape has been eroded by salt spray and wind.  Others say this area got its name because the landscape resembles a bad acid trip.

We decided that we had probably overshot the Chutes and Ladders trailhead and had made it to the Nakalele Blowhole instead.

We followed some tourists down to the waterline to check it out.

Over time, the ocean has worn away the shore underneath this lava shelf, so with each passing wave, the water rushes under the shelf and is forced through the hole in the lava rock.  The eruption of water resembles a geyser.

Depending on the tide, surf and other weather conditions, the blowhole can be quite dramatic.  We got a pretty good show today and left covered in salt spray.

Hand painted signs at the parking lot

After hiking around the coastline in the other direction for about thirty minutes or so, we decided to get back into the car and backtrack to where we saw a small gate after mile marker 37.

We parked the car on the side of the highway, passed through the fence and followed a red dirt red to the cliff's edge.

As we were walking along, the scenery and road matched with another friend's description of the hike, so we felt confident that we found the spot.

We came to the edge and saw the pools far, far below.

Shortly after I took the photo above, a huge ocean wave crashed over the lava rock and stirred up the pool so it looked like a washing machine.  Not a good idea to go down there for a dip!

We found the first ladder to start the descent:

It was a rickety, short ladder that was completely unnecessary.  We just stepped down over a few rocks to get to the next plateau to find the rope climb down.

Eep!  It's a LOT further down than it looks here in the photo.  After seeing that the pools were not going to be safe to swim in today, we decided not to make the climb down.  

I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous when I saw the descent.  I've heard that it's a fairly easy climb down since the rock has got great grip to it, and the cliffside itself has an incline to it so it's not a taxing or frightening climb (unless you have a fear of heights).

I hope that I'm brave enough to do it the next time I'm out there!  My housemate went down a few handholds to pose for a photo that I took for her on her camera, and she said the rope felt steady, but she felt more comfortable relying on the natural handholds in the rock.

Although we didn't make the full climb down to the pools, we felt satisfied that we had found the spot! On our way back up to the car, I was surprised to notice how tired and sore my legs already felt.  I hadn't realized how much hiking we had done over some fairly hairy terrain.  Today was the first time I've been that far north on the west side of the island.  It's sad to think that for as long as I've been here that today was the first time I've gone to the blowhole or driven this far north, but then again, it makes me excited to know that there is still so much to do!

I'm still doing some car shopping, and it makes me so much more motivated to get a set of wheels when I know that there is so much great stuff to see that it still so close to home.  I could do a lot of daytime exploring before I even have to go into work!

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Goggles!

I am pumped!  I bought myself a new pair of swimming goggles online.  I should get them later next week, and I can't wait to try them out.  

The Aqua Sphere Kayenne Goggle is highly rated for open water and pool swimming.  The 180 degree visibility of the goggle makes it similar to a diving mask, and I hear that it creates a great seal without pressing too firmly into the face.

I bought my pair off of Amazon for about $20.  I'll tell you all about their performance once I get my hands on mine!

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Twisty

This is how I wore my hair to work last night:

It took about ten bobby pins and it held up all night.  It didn't look as chic as the photo tutorial that I used for inspiration, but I was pretty happy with it.

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