"Aloha"

The first leg of my trip is not too far from home. I am still on American soil, dealing with higher than American prices. My saving grace is staying with someone who lives here which definitely cuts down the cost for 10 days in Hawaii. I am staying in the town of Lahaina, on the west side of the Island of Maui. I've been here before and came back to visit a friend Alex who I met the last time I was here a little ofer a year ago.



We hiked up to and swam in Twin Falls...the water levels were very low due to lack of rain. Alex wanted to jump in from above the waterfall, about 25 feet up, but the pool was only about 8 feet deep. We also went to the Old Lahaina Luau which was amazing! the food was great and the dancers were beautiful. I had my photo taken with George, the chanter from the ceremonies. Alex works for the company that manages the Luau so we were able to get in for free and drink Mai Tai's to our hearts content!


I've also spent some time alone while Alex works in the afternoon/evenings. He lives right across the street from the ocean so I try and grab a beer just before sunset and stroll across to watch sea turtles poking their heads above water. It's my favorite time of day and I feel so peaceful watching them, or whatever else happend to float by as I watch the sun go down.




On the way to the beach from Alex's house there is a small buddhist temple. The Buddha statue that sits on the ground is about 20 feet tall. Its a beautiful sight.



I've been trying lots of fun new things to eat and drink which is one of my favorite parts of traveling. We purchased a HUGE fruit that Alex thought was a bread fruit but it turned out to be an unripened jack fruit. We had fun cutting it open but were sad to have to throw the entire thing away because it was hard inside and tasted like paste.



I also did get a chance to take a scuba refresher course. It was my 15th dive, and my first ever beach dive. We dived right off of an old broken fishing pier in Lahaina. We saw a HUGE sea turtle, and my first ever white tipped reef shark. he must have been about 5 feet long and swam within just a few feet of us. It was exhilerating and exciting to be so close to such a feared animal. I maintained composure, but I really sucked in a lot of air because my tank ended at 500 PSI! I have two more days to enjoy the island before I move on to the next. I couldn't be happier.