blog

Water Water Everywhere

Perry Kundert — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 08:08:16 -0700

Well here we are. It's 3:45 in the wee early hours of the morning. I was woken by a loud humming sound and at first I didn't think it was anything important. So I fell back asleep. Then a little while later I woke again and there were water drops involved. I thought "oh oh..." So I got out of bed and went to investigate where the sound was coming from. The water sounded odd, so I felt around (in the dark) and felt water splashing down from the ceiling (this is INSIDE the flat, mind you!). Oh no!! We are in a quadraplex and the unit above us is the office/work area of the people who own the building. We have a key to that unit because there is a phone up there that we can use (Perry's cell phone doesn't have coverage here). So Perry grabbed the keys and headed up there to a) call the owners and b) see if there was anything he could do to start fixing whatever was broken. But he found that the key didn't work. Aagh! (We obviously haven't used it yet!) So Perry hopped in the car so he could drive somewhere to call the owners. Luckily he only had to go to the end of the driveway. So he called them, and the owner actually just arrived. Apparently they have a whirlpool up in the unit kity-corner to us, and the people up there apparently felt the need to have an early morning whirlpool... So the owner came back down and told us that it must be the overflow drain that was leaking and that he would fix it in the morning. So that's the scoop.

So it's now 4:15am, and we catch our plane tonight at 10:00pm. Oh, it's going to be a very looong day... I'm going to go back to bed and try to sleep some more... Au revoir all, and see you soon!

Cool Change

Perry Kundert — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:30:31 -0700

It's kind of a special feeling... When you're out on the sea alone... Staring at the full moon - oh! ok, I'll stop singing now and start writing. Ok, I'm a full day behind because I was just too tired yesterday. Here's the skinny -- I've been fighting a cold for about the past 5 days; waking up at night coughing, plugged nose, plugged lungs, plus the fact that since we got here I just haven't had one good night's sleep. I don't know why -- I usually sleep great anywhere, but not here. I'm starting to get over the stupid cold today though -- at least I didn't feel half dead when I woke up this morning! That's why I've been so tired, just in case any of you were getting any ideas!

Ok, yesterday we did the catamaran trip! It was a lot of fun. It was super windy yesterday still (though not as bad as the day before), so we couldn't go to Molokini because the wind was just too bad and the waves too big. (Molokini is a little horse-shoe shaped island just west of Maui where a bunch of turtles hang out). We were quite disappointed at first, but we went to a place called Coral Sands, which is on the southern part of West Maui and it was actually really great. There was lots of beautiful coral, lots of different varieties of fish (we even saw a foot-long trumpet fish), and we found another sea turtle and followed it for a little while again. Unfortunately, I was utterly freezing the whole time in the water (I even had a half-body wet suit on). Especially my head -- I would swim along and my head was freezing along the water line because it would get wet in the water and then even colder when the cold wind hit it! So we didn't stay snorkeling for very long. We got back on the boat and had lunch! And it was great! If anyone is reading this and wondering which boat to Molokini is a good one, the Trade Winds II was awesome. The captain and staff were all really friendly and obviously enjoyed their jobs, they were really well organized and had everyone ready to snorkel as soon as we got there, and the food was great and lots of it! And someone's ball cap blew away in the ferocious winds and they even turned around to rescue it from the ocean! And then on the way home we stopped at a little turtle haven right by the harbor and saw a couple of quite large sea turtles come up for some air. All in all it was really fun! We ate so much lunch that we came home and just had healthy snacks for supper... You know, oranges, fresh peas, popcorn, chocolate, chocolate ice cream...

Today was another awesome day. We took a sail on the America II, which is a 12-meter sailboat that came in 2nd place in the 1987 America's Cup (although it's been so retro-fitted that it barely resembles the original). It was really awesome. Unfortunately, we had to motor out to the trade winds (which was about half an hour), and then we sailed for about an hour and then motored back. We got quite wet, but the sail was just fantastic! I only wished it could have been longer. We met a great couple on the boat - Sara & Chris McLean from Calgary. We started talking and found out that Chris grew up at the church we currently attend! Small world...

When we got back to Lahaina we decided to just enjoy the beautiful weather (today was the first truly beautiful day we've had - all the other days have been cloudy or windy or cool or rainy -- not that I'm complaining, mind you -- it's still been a wonderful trip and beautiful weather!) but today was absolutely perfect weather. So we went out for supper in Lahaina (and remembered half-way through that we have frozen chicken and hamburger at our flat that has to get eaten before Monday morning!) and then we sat on the warf and watched the sunset. There were lava rocks below us and we noticed a crab, and then the more we looked, the more crabs we saw! They were black crabs so they were totally camouflaged against the black lava rock. And then we noticed that they were actually climbing the wall we were sitting on! Aagh! But none of them climbed very high - the highest one came up to about a foot below us.

And then, because it was such a warm beautiful night, we came home with - you guessed it - the car top down!! heehee! Only two more days to enjoy that convertible... gotta take advantage of it while we can!!

Beaches Again

Perry Kundert — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 12:26:13 -0700

Yesterday I was too tired to write, so I'm writing this morning. Yesterday we were supposed to take a catamaran over to a little island (Molokini) and snorkel around in the coral and turtles, but it got canceled due to wind. And it was windy!! Usually on this island, if it's raining where we are, it's sunny on the other side, but yesterday it was cloudy pretty much everywhere. Nevertheless, we drove to a beach that had less clouds than everywhere else, and relaxed and read our books. The ocean right there had absolutely PERFECT waves for boogie boarding, but sadly, we had already returned the boogie board. Wah!! So we swam a little bit in the fun waves. The current was amazing. It swept us to the south along the beach with an amazing speed. Perry and I both can understand now how easy it would be to get swept out to sea in an offshore current. We swam for a little while, but there were hidden lava rocks under the water. One bit Perry on the leg and caused him pain and distress, so he left. Wah. I kept swimming -- I tried to go out deeper into the water to the bigger, funner waves, but I bashed my knee on one of the evil rocks. Grrr! So I stayed in the shallow part (which was still up to my neck, but only about 10 feet from shore). We had a great time, until the wind really started whipping up, and blowing sand in our faces, hair, books, etc. and I said enough! So we left.

Even though it was quite bitterly cold with a wind chill factor of great magnitude, (around 25 degrees :) -- Perry made me add that -- my hubby really really really wanted to drive with the car top down. Me, being the willing, compliant little wife that I am, let him. While I sat there and shivered (although the car heater was on at full blast and pointed at me), he enjoyed the fresh cold air. :) Not really. Actually, I enjoyed it too -- the air really was fairly warm. But it did get to a point where we did eventually have to put the top up. So that was our day. Nice and relaxing. I didn't take any pictures since we didn't really do anything. Oh, and we watched "Gattaca" last night - actually quite a good movie.

Just to add an adendum to the Hana Highway entry -- the Hana Highway was utterly gorgeous. Twisty windey roads through thick luscious greenery and beautiful waterfalls with awesome ocean views of blue water crashing over black lava rock. I think it was the highlight of this trip for me...

Hana Highway

Perry Kundert — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 23:38:49 -0700

Today Laverne and I drove the wild and crazy Hana Highway -- 40 miles of crazily twisty one and a half lane road full of two way traffic! The flora and waterfalls were fantastic, and we didn't crash. All in all, a fun day! (Very fun driving the twisty turny road in the Mustang!)

The most interesting sights were the two quite unique volcanic stone beaches. One was pretty well pitch black, and one was a nice mixture of red and black volcanic sand/gravel (from a distance, it looked completely red). Due to the high tide and surf, we couldn't snorkel at either one, and swimming at the second was only possible due to a hedge of volcanic stone which broke the surf (mostly). We were able to swim at the red beach, and it was sort of like swimming in a washing machine or toilet -- huge waves of broken surf would sweep over the lava breakwater, and swirl you around. Laverne went in a big circle, and almost got rubbed against the lava one time. The red beach was pretty well hidden -- you had to go around a big point that pushed out into the ocean and it was a bit treacherous in places. But well worth it. Almost no one was there (except for a few families and a naked guy laying on the beach), and it was quite beautiful.

We went to the "Seven Sacred Pools". Not seven. Not sacred. And not very much fun, truth be told. But, good marketing! They were somewhat pretty, but the multitude of free waterfalls along the highway were prettier.

The trip back was exciting. I was quite tired by the time we left at about 5, so I had a cup of Kona coffee, and was humming along quite well a few minutes later. When the sun went down at 6 pm, we were following a good driver in a jeep. We (and the car behind us) followed him the entire 40 miles in the dark, and it was a hoot!

(Pictures will be coming tomorrow, and if anyone wants to see all of our pictures so far, you can see them here: http://gallery.sunflowergraphics.ca -- we've been uploading them every night).

Jaws!!

Perry Kundert — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:31:47 -0700

Greetings! Well yesterday I was too tired to write, so I'll catch up today. Yesterday we drove to the Olivine Pools. There is a place on the north side of the island where the lava shelf pokes out just a meter or so above sea level. This lava shelf has been water battered for years so that there are pool areas carved into it. When the surf is high or when it rains, these pools get filled with water. The result is a crystal clear water oasis right beside a pounding surf. Apparently these pools can get quite warm when the sun shines on them and they're not being filled with fresh sea water. But when we went, it was cloudy and the surf was quite large, so ocean water kept spilling into them. It was the coolest thing -- there we are, swimming in these deep pools of clear utterly peaceful water right beside a raging surf. (The surf was downright scary -- I would NOT have wanted to be swept into it!) Some of the pools had fish in them, and little hermit crabs, and we even saw a sea urchin. A couple of the pools were really quite deep -- we couldn't touch the bottom, and some people were snorkeling in one of them. We were very glad we decided to find them and check them out!

Today we had big plans of going down the road to Hana and visiting the rain forest and swimming in some of the waterfalls along the way. We saw the news this morning and there were cautions about the high surf. So we thought it might be a great day to visit Jaws - the well-known surfing area for humongous waves (and here you thought that the title "Jaws" referred to a shark thinking I was a turtle on my boogie board and coming to taste me!! Sorry for the let-down... :) ). Well, we found the way to Jaws and it was through a pineapple field. So we left the car where the paved road ended (oh, I forgot to mention that we traded the Jeep last night for a different vehicle -- a convertible Mustang! If Perry was writing this, that would have been the first thing he mentioned!), and we started walking down a MUDDY road. And walking.... and walking. We walked past a dump, and then a few more dumps. It rained a couple of times. We came to a 'Y' in the road and went left, and walked some more. We were about to get discouraged when we heard voices somewhere way behind us and we looked and saw a truck that obviously took the right side of the 'Y'... We decided that we must have taken the wrong way, and turned around. We walked and walked through the MUD! Did I mention that it was muddy? So muddy that it was sticking to our shoes and we had to stop and scrape them off every few hundred feet. I only had flip-flops on too, so the mud was flipping up onto the back of my legs. And the weight of each sandle was so heavy that I had to walk weird to keep them from falling off my feet! Anyway, we found a short-cut that looked like it got onto the road that the people were on, but by the time that we got onto the road they were on, they had turned around and were headed back to their truck. We finally caught up to them and they told us that Jaws was back the way we had came! Argh! But they said it was only 1/2 mile or so down the road. So we decided to turn around and go there -- we had come this far already, why give up?!? So we turned around, and it rained again, some more. Ok, to make a long story short, we got there! The hill getting down to the ocean was very steep and there was a big rope that you could hold onto as you went down. It helped very much.

Once we got down to ocean level, the waves looked pretty big. But they weren't THAT big. Until some guys started surfing on them -- then you could tell they were pretty big. These guys, who were probably anywhere from 5.5 to over 6 feet tall, were probably 1/4 or 1/5 the height of some of the waves -- which meant the waves were anywhere from 15 - 27 feet. Wow! A guy and his grandson came down and we started talking to him and he said that the waves can get huge when the surf is big - he said 30-40 feet, but the book we have said they can get up to 70 feet. Scary!! The surfers have a buddy pull them in on a sea-doo and they ride the wave and then their buddy comes and gets them. The guy with us said that when the waves are really huge the sea-doos have a hard time getting in there to pick them up. The waves roll and pound and the surfers can get continually pounded into the ocean, so they actually have little oxygen containers with 3-4 minutes of air in case their buddy on the sea-doos can't pick them up right away. He also said that when the waves are big, the sea-doos can crash right into the beach (which was all big boulders). Anyway, he said that there was a big wave coming in that had apparently hit Owahu around 9am, so we waited around for it. We waited for 2 hours and it never came, so we left, and walked back through the muck, scraping our feet every few hundred meters. Did I mention that it was muddy?

So anyway, by the time we got out of there, it was nearly 2pm and we were filthy, and it was raining. So we came home, had a shower, and went shopping. Hana will have to wait for another day!

Beaches

Perry Kundert — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 22:37:47 -0700

Today was very nice. We decided to take it easy and not drive too much, like the last two days have been. So we picked a beach and went there for its great snorkeling, great boogie boarding and great swimming. All that stuff was really great -- there just wasn't any sun! Yep, it's true. As we sat on the beach, we looked around us, and there was a circular cloud above us that pretty much covered ONLY our beach. We kept thinking it would go away, but when we finally left around 3:00pm, it was still there! But actually, it was a blessing because it kept us from getting burnt. We are both just slightly pink tonite, and not hurting from the sun. The boogie boarding was MUCH tamer -- the waves, instead of being about 6 feet tall, were about 1 1/2 feet tall... Almost boring. But after the other day, we completely enjoyed the relaxing waves! And both of us rode a few waves all the way into the sand. I was out deeper, just lying on my board enjoying the rocking waves, but I suddenly remembered a program I watched where the sharks thought people on boogie boards looked like turtles and took a taste. I got sort of freaked out as I remembered that, so I didn't stay out there very long. We also went snorkeling. There was a great coral reef at the south end of the beach with live coral of many different varieties and colors, and lots of fish. It was really neat! Unfortunately, I was still a little bit freaked out about sharks (I have no idea why) so I didn't want to go out too far where more coral was. We were just about to quit when we saw a sea turtle! It wasn't very far away, so we followed it for a few minutes, and actually got so close I thought we'd be able to touch it. But we didn't. Then we saw a second sea turtle cavorting with the first one. It was the coolest thing!

We went to another beach so we could get some sun and warm up a little bit, and stayed there for an hour or so. Then we came home to cook supper. We stopped on the way at a surfing beach that's just a few minutes from where we're staying and watched the surfers. The waves were fairly big -- bigger than I'd want to take on -- and it was quite cool watching all the surfers! It looks like such a fun sport, but I think you'd have to be a pretty strong swimmer or you could get pretty exhausted and drown pretty easy...

When we got home, Perry came into the kitchen and found a tiny little tail-less gecko on our fridge! We took some pictures, and then he carried it outside. Perry was so cute -- as he was carrying it out he said (in a cute little high voice) "Ok, I'm going to take you outside now, little lizard-guy..." It was the cutest thing ever!!

And for New Years, we are staying here in our cute little flat, watching a movie. I know we're sort of boring, but neither of us are party animals, and we don't know anyone here. And the other thing is that we don't really want to be somewhere where we have to drive back and risk getting hit by a drunk driver... So here we are.

Happy New Years to all of you, our wonderful family and friends!! We hope your year of 2007 will be the best one yet!

Kaleakala (kal-ee-A-ka-la)

Perry Kundert — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 21:50:04 -0700

Well today started off a bit cloudy. We had already decided we were going to go check out the Maui crater anyway, so we headed off at 8:30am. We drove and drove, switch-back after switch-back. Until, an hour and a half later, we had gone from sea level to 10,000 feet. We passed above the cloud level at about 4,000 feet, and so we were looking down on the clouds for most of the trip. It was amazing to see how they changed in the small time we were up there -- from a few, to a lot and back to a few. The Kaleakala crater is simply amazing to see -- amazingly beautiful in a completely different way than the rest of the island. Officially, it's not really a crater. It's true enough that it was formed by a volcano, and because that volcano went off the last time in 1790, it's still considered an active volcano. But the truth is that the crater is actually formed by erosion, and thus is not a crater at all, but an erosional depression. Regardless of what it is, it's stunning. Black lava looks like it just flowed down the side of the mountain last year, and red rock and dust makes it look like something from Mars. There are cinder cones that formed from smaller eruptions that add to the out-of-this-world impression. Perry and I were duly impressed. Given that this crater is at the 10,000 foot mark and the winds from the ocean whistle up the side of the erosional depression, it was cold and windy up there! So we didn't stay too long. By 11:30am we were headed back down the mountain. I forgot to mention that about half way up, we passed through a forest of Melaluka trees and the fragrance was amazing.

Another cool thing that was up there was the Silverswords. They are a plant that is like a silver spikey bush. They grow for anywhere from 20 to 50 years, and then they produce one huge blooming stalk, and then they die. They're really neat looking plants, and they only grow on Maui and the big island. We saw some that had just bloomed (the bloom was past it's prime) and I just couldn't resist taking a picture.

We decided to drive around the farm area on the side of the volcano, since a local lady told us the scenery was beautiful. There was another road that went up the west side of the volcano and ended up in Palipali State Park, so we decided to check that out. We passed by a Lavender farm that was amazing. It had a little store where you could buy lavender products (which we did) and take a little walk through the farm. They had landscaped a large portion of the farm so that the lavendar was interspersed with all kinds of other flowering plants and cactuses, so that the final result was beautiful. Perry took a few pictures.

We continued on up the hill and passed by some hang-gliders and some RC plane hobbyists flying their planes. Quite cool. Above us it looked completely cloudy, so we thought it might not be worth it if it was all foggy. But we drove up, and in a matter of minutes, punched through the clouds and were back in beautiful sunlight and blue skies again. It was amazing! So again we were above the clouds. The road ended up in a Redwood forest! Maui just has such a wide diversity of scenery and topography!

We were both quite tired by this time, so we headed back down. Have I mentioned the fragrance and the flowers in Maui? It's utterly astounding. There are flowers everywhere -- even the trees are flowering trees. And there are beautiful fragrances everywhere you go. I just love it!

Lahaina Boogy-boarding!

Perry Kundert — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 01:48:58 -0700

Well here we are, first day in Maui. The weather is beautiful -- around 80 degrees. We rented a jeep for the first few days here, so we took off all the windows and traveled in style! We thought that while we had the jeep, we would go all the places that it will be tougher to get to in a smaller vehicle. So today, we decided to go into the main city, get some food and some cash, and then head toward Lahaina and travel around the northern peninsula of the island. We stopped in Lahaina and rented snorkeling gear and a boogy board for a pretty good price (and Perry got Rx googles so he can actually SEE underwater! Yay!). We headed north on the hiway, and with our handy "Maui Revealed" book, looked for a great beach. Well we stopped at a place called "Dragon's Teeth" which is where the waves somehow formed the lava into an upthrust, so it looks like viscious sharp teeth poking out of the ground. It ended up being all blocked off, but we got close enough to see it and take a picture anyway. There was a beach right there, so we decided to get out of the car and hit the waves (considering it was 2:30 and we hadn't really DONE anything yet!). So with boogy board attached to wrist, we ventured into the pounding surf... at first, it was quite fun (although we had just eaten so it made me [Laverne] feel a little sick). The waves were huge and even when we weren't very far out, they could knock you over backwards. But we didn't really think they were THAT bad... until a few of them rolled over us and pounded us into the sand. Then a few more. Then Perry got bashed in the head with his bogey board, and decided to quit. So I decided to do it again. I was out there and rolled over a couple big waves until a HUGE one came in. I was laying on the board, looking behind me thinking "oh crap". It was HUGE. It hit me just as it crested, and instead of riding the wave all the way into the sand, the way I had planned, I was litterally crushed under the wave - it pounded me into the sand tipped me over backwards, almost ripped my bikini top off, and kept going. I finally popped above the water, but trying to stay under enough to fix my bathing suit, when another wave hit, and then a couple more. Help! Finally I got close enough to shore, and Perry (who came out to rescue me) took the bogey board, and I fixed my bathing suit. Then we left. That was enough for one day. Or one lifetime. :) As we're driving down the highway, I read my other trusty book, "Hidden Maui", and saw the following about the beach we were at: "...the (beach) is plagued by rough and dangerous surf during the winter. Use caution!" Great. Guess I should have read that before almost drowning!

We continued north and saw some incredibly magnificent scenery from above the ocean. The surf was just amazing. We stopped at Nakalele Blowhole (see the cool photo!), which was really cool. Continuing on, the road becomes a one-lane road. Note, it's still a TWO-WAY road, it's just one LANE. So etiquette is that the uphill car backs up to a passing spot if another car comes along. We were both thinking it would be this way for a few hundred meters or so. We were amazed when, EIGHT MILES LATER, it became two lane again. So that was a really unique and fun experience. And the scenery along this road was utterly beautiful. Pounding blue ocean surf on one side (down steep hills and cliffs bordering the road), and luscious rain forest, and green flora-covered lava hills on the other side. There were a couple of little villages nestled in the inward bays of this road that we just had to take pictures of.

All in all, a great day. Tiring, but very full with lots of variety!