Day 4 in Maui – Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Black Rock – at Ka'anapali Beach – B says this is his favorite beach. I've set myself up at the foot of the black lava rock, at the furthest north point of the sand. There are lots of families here, and kids are running all over the place with little mini masks and snorkels. The sand here is a salt & pepper looking mixture of white, black and orange. The black lava rock is really impressive up close; as it juts out into the water it is narrow and craggy and shows the wear of constant tidal splashes – the bottom is jet black, with a ribbon of rusty brown above it, slowly fading into darker black-red that characterizes the rest of the formation. There are torches mounted at regular intervals along the top of the rock, and they look from here like primitive spears used by wild people. My guide book says that this jetty called Pu'u Keka'a, was the place on Maui where recently deceased peoples' souls jumped off from their earthbound coil to eternal life with their ancestors. If there was no one there to greet them, the spirits would wander around the rocks and cause mischief for the living.
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Just got back from snorkeling. The water was just like it was at Molokini – cold to the touch upon entry, but as soon as your body is submersed it's sublime. Swimming in the waters of Maui is an awesome experience. The water temperature is so perfectly alighed with your own sense of self-temperature that the ocean feels like just an extension of yourself. You swim in the water feeling as if the water is a part of you. The waters of the Pacific in California are too cold, and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico (though quite comfortable for me) are still warmer than my own 'self-temperature'. Here in Maui, there is no sense of boundary between my skin and the water. It's quite a feeling.

The craggy rock of the jetty extends outward much more under the water than above. I thought it was an optical illusion at first! There were two main kinds of fish here – medium sized fish with white, yellow and black stripes (I think these were butterfly fish) and larger fish that were kind of a pearlescent blue. The blue fish stayed much closer to the bottom of the ocean, which dropped off very quickly from the shore, but the yellow and black fish preferred to stay close to the snorkelers. Maybe they were looking for food, but I got the sense that they liked to ride in the gentle wake of the snorkelers' fin kicks.

I swam all the way out past the jetty, where the book said I was much more likely to see more fish and maybe some turtles, but I saw very few things swimming about. Maybe next time I go out I'll round the corner of the rock and head a bit north.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the panoramic view from the sand includes a bird's eye view of Molokai off the coast? It's beautiful! I'd describe how the clouds are hovered over the isle, but a large family just decided to setup camp *right in front* of me. Drat. Guess it's time to move on….

I spent the afternoon on a mission to see the rest of the West Maui Beaches (well, the good ones) that were featured in my guide book. During the journey I found:

A memorial site at the northernmost end of Lower Honoapiilani Road – it dead-ends into a Kapalua community and just to the right of a golf course was the site. Here's what my guide book says about the site:

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel was supposed to be an oceanfront hotel. The lawn
was to be its location. The only things standing in their way were approximately
2,000 ancient Hawaiians buried in the area. The developers began digging up the
graves and, when the Hawaiian community learned of it, they began a series of
emotional protests. Nearly 900 remains were dug up before common sense
prevailed, and the hotel decided to relocate the buildings and reinter the bones
in 1990. A state law was enacted after this to prevent such a thing from ever
happening again.

Imagine, stirring up 900 ancient Hawaiian spirits and incurring their wrath! If there's one thing I've learned about Hawaiian culture, it's that they don't mess around! It is still a very savage culture underneath the surface. I wonder if there are any stories of hauntings or mischief that occurred on or around the site as a result…

Upon turning around, I found Oneloa Beach. It was deserted, just like the book promised, with about 10 other people scattered on the sand, but windy as hell! They say that the best time to go to the beach on West Maui is between 8:00 and noon. After that the afternoon trade winds start kicking up, making it uncomfortable to relax on the sand. Well, it was only 10:30 am, and the wind had already arrived! The wind was so strong the sand was blasting my legs. Some surfers were up in the water trying to make the most of the swells, which looked to be about 5 feet, but they were pretty difficult to wrangle. Here, the sands were a beautiful creamy white color.

Next stop on the guide book – Kapalua Bay. I found the access points as described but it was incredibly crowded. Apparently, I'm not the only one who heard it was a "gem". Parked cars snaking alongside the road told me I'd better accept defeat and move on.

And so it was that I got to Napili Beach. This looks like a little cove, and the shoreline is very steep. To the left is a really large lava rock reef poking out into the water, but I didn't have the right kind of shoes to explore. Instead, I decided to stake a claim on the sand and watch the families body surfing.

Tuesday Night, The Feast at Lele Luau

Tonight we went to the luau that Alberto had reserved for us, called the Feast at Lele. We got a beautiful lei around our necks and a potent mai tai placed in our hands upon entry. What a nice welcome!In purposely booking a luau that didn't have a buffet line, I overlooked the most obvious drawback to this – they have total control over how much food the guests get. The food was delicious but Alberto and I felt that, for a "feast", the servings were a bit skimpy. That said, they made very interesting use of things like sweet potatoes, taro root/taro leaf and coconut milk. We had four courses, each from a different area – Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and Samoa. I did NOT like the Samoan dishes, which surprised me because I generally like everything!

Speaking of not liking something, I decided officially that I don't like Mai Tais. It must be the dark rum. Instead, I had a Blue Hawaiian which counteracted the rum flavor more effectively.

The dancers were beautiful, and there were lots of different types of dances done. Boy, can those girls shake! They have elasticity in their hips that I never would have thought possible if I hadn't seen it for myself. Anyone care to take some luau dancing lessons?

We also got a sneak peek at some of the competitors in this summer's 'best Polynesian dancer' competition. The dancers were all clearly proud of their routines and have been practicing had to win.

But the best part about the feast was the view onto the horizon. We got great seats first row on the second level, so our view of the dancers and the sunset behind was completely unobstructed. The use of the beach line below was beautiful with bright orange colors and, later, firesticks being thrown below. Yellows, oranges, pinks and purples streaked the sky, and two cruise ships anchored at sea made for an interesting landscape. As the sun continued to go down they each turned on their twinkly lights from front to back. It was very picturesque. I liked doing luau, but I think it's definitely a one-time only thing for me. One of those must-do's as a tourist, but I am happy to go back to the more down-home personal exploration of culture and food around the island.