LAST DAY ON MAUI

 Nothing beats having your coffee on the patio watching the sun rise and the moon disappear.  The moon was late this morning, hanging out in the sky until almost 7:00.  That's unheard of!!

And every morning this little bird and I watch it together.  There are dozens of small dove around here, looking for morning tidbits.

Three of the four girls went diving this morning to Molokini.  The volcano crater is a great spot to dive when the ocean is smooth.  They spotted a few white tip sharks here and there, but they sleep during the day, so no big scare.  Their original destination was very mucky water due to the storm surge that came in last night.  Visibility makes for a bad dive, so they rescheduled that one for Wednesday.  It too has now been cancelled.  There's no guarantee with diving.

This is the hurricane's path, ducking right around the islands.  Still, we have had weird currents and wave action going the complete opposite direction.  Paddle boarding and even snorkeling was all terrible.  Better luck next time.

Turn up your sound.  This section of the beach is usually flat as can be with NO waves.

This action swirls sand and mud around, making for zero visibility and a rough time getting in and out.  It should be good for them the rest of the week however, at least on the beach.

So what do you do when the water is bad?  You go SHOPPING of course.  Three of us headed out to downtown to see what damage we could do.  This is one entrance to the "market", a pond filled with koi fish.

Then walk between the palms and trees to get to the booths.  Every souvenir you could ever ask for can be found here ... for a price.  Some cheap, some not so much. I got a couple of shirts, but I'll post them later.  

Since I'm leaving this morning, all my stuff is packed up, except one swimsuit.  Yup ... we went to the pool to cool off.  Nothing like having the place to yourself!!

I'll be flying out at noon and arriving at 8:25 YOUR time.  Unfortunately, I have to get an UBER ride back to the house.  I'm not looking forward to that at all, but I have no choice.  If you don't hear from me the next day, send out the marines!!!

HURRICANE GONE!

WOOHOO!!!  The hurricane has disassembled itself enough that all we got on this day was some crazy ocean wave dancing.  Two gals went out on paddle boards, but came back 20 minutes later.  The hurricane was angry it didn't get its DUE.  The wind came up and the water went crazy.  There would be no swimming or snorkeling on this day.

Instead I enjoyed my lovely cup-o-joe while watching the sun come up.

That little dot in the middle is the moon going down.  It was over an hour late on this day and disappeared into the clouds.  You don't need much more than sunrises like this.
 

Though I really wanted to pass on breakfast, it was required to hit up 808 Deli for a breakfast panini.  This my friends is a weird one.  It's egg salad with chunks of perfectly cooked bacon some cheese and smothered in tomatoes.  I'm here to tell you it was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had.  Whoever thought of this is genius!!  I could only eat half.  The rest is in the fridge for later.  MUCH later.

We discussed Stand Up Paddle boards for awhile because Nancy doesn't have one.  This is not the one she wants ... it's just to show you the possibility.  Why this one?  Because it has a SEAT and foot pedals to make it go.  No paddle required.  No standing up required either.  MY kind of board.

Since the weather and the water were not communicating today, we headed up country to pick up a package Cyndae had delivered.  It was raining up the side of the volcano in spite of the blue sky, with winds gusts in the 40-50 mile range.  

From there we headed off to Costco for surf and turf.  It was the birthday girl's birthday dinner.  Fillet, blue marlin, salads and a FABULOUS guava cheesecake.  We got back just in time to start the barbecue.  That was a no-go due to the wind, so we moved out to the sidewalk by the parking lot where another barbecue was in perfectly calm air.  

I know, I should have had pictures.  When I discovered everyone had disappeared and the barbecue was smoking like everything was on fire, I ran for help and forgot my camera!!  Luckily the fillets were not overcooked (too badly) and the fish was just rare enough.  

We had a visitor, an old friend of Beccas who is also a pilot of just about every plane there is, but now sticks to helicopters.  If you want an overhead Maui tour ... or a whale watching tour on his boat ... or a free dive to 100 feet (YIKES), he's your guy.  

We ate, we laughed, we talked and laughed some more.  So much so that we almost ..... ALMOST ..... forgot the cheesecake.  It was AMAZING!  The Costco here has MUCH better food than ours.

And so ended the night, agreeing we should meet here every year for her birthday.   I was full to the brim and exhausted.  I think today's schedule includes shopping, because tomorrow I will be on a plane headed back home.

BTW .... I'm rather sad because I see Kitters on the cameras every day, looking for me.  I think she will be happy when I get back!

HURRICANE UPDATE

UPDATE:  Here's a picture of the hurricane that we have been watching as it comes our direction.  We are the blue dot.  Lucky for us, it is turning west and falling apart.  Though we will get some rain and winds today, it won't be anything like what we were told to expect.  I get it ... better to say the sky is falling than have it fall when everyone is just looking up.

It has made for some gorgeous morning sunrises and moonsets.  

 

The moon went down shortly after the above image was taken .. about 5:20 I think ... but there was no color this time.  Overcast followed us through most of the day, which was a good thing.  It kept the temps a tad bit cooler ... like 85 instead of 89.

We finally ran into the maintenance man and told him our upstairs AC was NOT working.  I for one have been decimated by the heat.  He took one look and brought us another unit, so the upstairs isn't quite as bad as it has been.  September is NOT the best month of be here, other than there are less people.

After all that snorkeling we did over the last two days, everyone was exhausted.  That meant a day of doing nothing ... sort of.  You know me, I went shopping!!  First to the dive shop for this towel/blanket ... the neatest thing for beach use.  That was followed up by two turtle mugs from the ABC store.  FREE.  You save your receipts and get free stuff.

I hit Tiffanys, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Gucci.  No I didn't.  I hit up Tommy Bahama instead and picked up this perfect backpack for the plane ride home.  It will carry the cups and towel, along with the t-shirts that won't fit in my bag.  Oh ... and snacks for the plane.

Once back home, we all hit the pool.  There's rarely anyone in it and it's MUCH cooler than the condo.  

While laying on the lounge, I spotted this guy sipping the water beads off my bottle.  He is maybe 2" long.  They grow them small over here.

Dinner was a birthday party for two of four gals.  We went to the Maui Coast bar where they serve fabulous drinks and have live music.

Yessiree ... y'all know I don't drink hardly at all, so I ordered this Mai Tai with half a shot.  No use impressing the new folks by my staggering.  Though I didn't get a picture, I had fish with rice and a caesar salad.  Best meal ever for $23.00.  I was shocked at their cheap prices and how great the food was!!

Here's the girls we ate with ... family as it were ... the best time I've had in quite some time.  They just got in and will be staying a week while I check out and head back home in two days.  Sorry, no pictures of the wonderful meal.

Second best part ... Becca with the long hair went on to my return trip reservation where I had the dreaded MIDDLE seat.  She got it changed to a window seat.  YAY for window seats!  By the way, Becca is a pilot for Southwest.  Not a co-pilot ... THE PILOT.  Yes, she flies those crazy huge planes full of people.  That just amazes me every time I think about it.  Kind of like me on a D-10 cat ... only TEN times better.

That was it ... we came home to a somewhat cooler upper floor.  It's 77 right now, so may actually be conducive to sleep.  It's been a tough week, but that's what Advil PM is for.

I think we are going paddle boarding this morning.  At least THEY are.  I'll just snorkel the beach.

STILL WAITING ON THE HURRICANE

 If you're going to be stuck somewhere for hurricane season, Maui is the place to go.  Is this not a gorgeous sunset?

Actually it is a MOONSET.  This is the full moon setting over the ocean.

It's about 5:00 in the morning and WELL worth getting up early for.  This is the first time I have EVER caught a moonset like this.  

Shortly following that was the sunrise.  As you can tell, I'm parked on the patio watching all of this while sipping my cup-o-joe.  As the hurricane heads this way, so do the clouds.  It didn't really rain, but it spit on us a couple of times this morning.  We are patiently waiting on the swirling dervish, though it seems to be moving VERY slowly.  I expected lots of wind and rain last night, but it did not happen.

Left and right or even overhead and behind you, the sky was spectacular.

This was the last of it as I headed on over to the ABC store for some breakfast,  I was totally distracted with the purchase of another T-shirt ... that only makes two ... because they are so much lighter weight and cooler than the shirts I brought.  I ditched the Levi shorts and capris for my running shorts.  It's just too hot.

In no time, Cyndae's daughter Becca and her two friends showed up.  We took them snorkeling in Kapalua bay.  The water was not as nice as the day before, once again the results of the hurricane heading our way.  The winds were pretty strong and the currents even worse.  

We went WAY out this time, to find sea cucumbers, more parrot fish, lots of anemones and one lone turtle trying hard to stay in one spot so he could eat.  He flipped over twice before heading out to deeper water.

We were earlier this time and got the perfect spot to hang out under this tree.  Within a couple of hours, the rollers were hitting strong and the tide came in with a bang.  We had to be quick on our feet to keep from getting washed away.

That's when one of the girls ran into this baby just hanging out waiting for dinner to arrive.  I've no idea what kind it is, nor do I want to know.  She almost got it stuck in her face before coming to a screaming halt.  You'll be happy to know we left it to it's web.  No spiders lost their life on this day.

After a couple more runs, we were all snorkeled out.  Plans for barbecued chicken were made and we headed back home.  THIS joined us for dinner.

If you want to see fabulous sunsets ... no color enhancement at all ... come to Maui in September.

They keep saying the hurricane will turn west, but we are not seeing that yet.  Worst case they say we are looking at 25-30 mph winds with 50 mph gusts.  It's a wait and see game.

ALOHA from the sunny warm ocean shores!!

HURRICANE WEATHER

 Waking up once again VERY early in the morning.  There were three huge trees here, but they fell over in the last storm.

Breakfast was simple ...  a breakfast bowl from the ABC store.  No kidding  ....  this stuff is delicious.  Rice, scrambled eggs and fried corn beef with peppers.  

Our plans for the day were to drive up to Lahaina.  When you stay in our condo for two weeks, you have to leave on cleaning day.  So off we went, looking for a place on the beach to snorkel since the water in Kihei was too rough for paddle boarding due to the hurricane heading our way.  Oh yeah ... hurricane!!

We arrived in Lahaina just in time to drive the main road through town.  Oh so sadly, this is all that is left.  I mean if you were ever here before, you would not even think you were in the same place.  There is nothing but tall weeds and very few skeleton buildings.  It's just not recognizable at all.  Every single building is gone.

This is what remains of the old Jail/Library/Art center.  We spent many hours in the basement of this building in the old days.  It's all gone except the concrete side walls.

At least what remained of the old fort is still in tact.

This was the busy downtown section, full of art shops, souvenir shops, clothing stores and restaurants.

It's just awful ... you can't even visualize where anything once stood.  The only thing left untouched was the Cannery and the Safeway store.  If you ever went to the Luau behind the Safeway, it is still in one piece too.  

Thank the Good Lord, THIS is the banyon tree.  Everything around it is gone.  The parrots who posed for pictures now live in Kehei.  The big wooden building/hotel is completely gone.  The two story across the street with a restaurant upstairs is also gone.  So sad.

At the very end there are still two tiny restaurants open.  We lucked out and got a seat at the bar.  The bartender said they were closed down for 6 months before they were allowed to reopen.

I ordered three malasadas.  HUGE they are.  They come on a wooden plate with a syringe full of caramel sauce.  The sauce on the plate is lilikoi vanilla.  You take the syringe, stick it in a malasada (kind of like a HUGE fried donut hole) and fill it up.  Not too much or it will explode.  They were amazing!!

Cyndae had eggs Benedict with bacon and hash browns.  Also delicious!!!  At least we donated a bit to the locals for breakfast.

Right outside was the Hula Girl.  She's been moored here for as long as I've been coming to Maui.

We finally landed in Kapalua bay.  It looked crowded, but the water was perfect for snorkeling.  This is a big sheltered bay where fish and turtles hang out.  Too bad I forgot my camera.  No kidding .... this place had some of the best snorkeling ever ... and we were practically alone in our endeavor.

Just to the right next to those rocks was a baby turtle eating up a storm.  What a cutie he was.  I spotted silver knife fish, parrot fish, angelfish and dozens of tangs, along with my favorite Humuhumunukunukuapuaa fish.  I was surprised to see so many in spite of the rough ocean.

We could have sat under that tree all day, but alas, the tide came in and washed us out.  

We skipped dinner since we were late getting back, so we walked across the street to the Gelato store.  Peanut butter Oreo cookie if you please!!!  There was a fabulous sunset ... probably the best I have ever seen here.  

It is of course because of the hurricane heading straight for us.  The good news is that it will hit the island of Hawaii first, and according to the weather guessers .... it will turn West and miss us, with the exception of some good winds and ocean rollers.  We are close enough to get a little wet, but hopefully no damage will occur.  No, I'm not to thrilled about that and I'm watching the weather constantly.

Wish us luck!!!  And if I don't return someone please take care of Kitters!!!  Just kidding .. we should be fine.

Update:  It rained very hard three times last night.  There will be flooding here and there, but hopefully not where we are.

SNORKELING AND GREAT FOOD

ALOHA once again!  My cup of Joe was on the patio well before sunrise.  There was a party of women last night who made a horrible racket until 2:30 in the morning.  I think I got 3 hours of sleep.  No worries, there is always another day to sleep.

I sat and listened to the birds chirping and the waves crashing.

The sunrise was worth getting up early for.

That's when the excavator went to work.  I know ... I'm weird.  I love operating heavy equipment.  These guys are trying to shore up the damage on the seawall from the last storm that took out several feet of the bank, along with all the sand.  The beach is now VERY rocky.

Just a quick shot of the flowers that line our huge grassy front yard.

And the lizards.  OH so many lizards.  It's a good thing Kitters isn't here.  This one was a tad over 1" long, head to tail.  Very dinosaur like.

By 8:00 we were off to snorkel a cove East of us.  We found a tiny beach without too many big waves.  What was bad however, was a VERY rocky bottom with big holes dug out by the storm.  That makes it difficult to get your fins on.  

Too bad the visibility wasn't the greatest.  There was only one small pod of fish very far out.  Cyndy and I figured out we are not in the shape we used to be!!  Sorry no pictures.  I left my phone in the car.  Back to the pool we went.  We call it Saltwater Therapy, followed by Chlorine Therapy.

From the pool,  Cyndy and I headed off to her house up country.  Her daughter and some friends are landing today for a weeks stay, and they require more snorkeling gear.  

We got back just in time for dinner at the Monkey Pod.  This is a restaurant with bar, but mostly bar on this night.  Appetizers were half price, as were the drinks. It was a packed house.  My dinner was three fish tacos for $23.00.  The fish "plate" was about $45.00 and the only steak they serve, $58.00.  

They also had pizza ... which I might have ordered until I saw their oven.  Yes it's a pizza oven with a turntable, but there's no fire.  It's a strobe light.  Thus the tacos.

I would go back ten times over just for this.  Strawberry cream pie ... homemade.  This was to die for.

Back home once again, we watched the sunset from our lawn.  Yup we are right across the street from the best beach on Maui.

This picture is from 2014 and this is where we snorkeled every year, sometimes several times a year, to see Big Momma and her baby.   Hopefully the beaches and shore areas recover from the tropical storms quickly.  

Last picture of the day ... the sun had set and the moon rose up high.  The last little bit of lavender and pink covered the sky.  If you come here, you can look forward to seeing this every single night.

Nope ... haven't forgotten my boy.  I still think of him every minute of the day.