Today we flew to Maui!
We'd done a bunch of packing the night before, but the morning before was still a frantic scramble to pack last minute things and to pack or eat all we could of our leftover food. Elly's breakfast was the last bowl of Cheerios, chased with a tall glass of OJ, a tall glass of milk, an apple, and 1/4 pineapple. My breakfast was a mozzarella braid dipped in hummus, 2 tall glasses of OJ, and 1/4 pineapple. Then we stopped at the post office to mail home our accumulation of souvenirs as well as a large portion of our clothes... Who needs socks in Hawaii? Or a second pair of long pants?
We dropped off the rental car (stay strong, Zack Fusion!) and then checking in to the flight was quick and painless. This flight was pretty funny. From runway to runway was a bit over 20 minutes. We took off, got to cruising altitude, they served everyone a juice box (12% juice, oh boy!) and then we were descending again before they'd even collected the garbage. They never even turned off the seatbelt sign.
Initially the transition to Maui was pretty shocking. The airport was a regular, boring, indoor airport, situated in a busy, congested city. As we drove our new rental car (Chevy Sonic: RRF-202. Any suggestions for names?) to the condo we passed massive smokestacks spewing something into the air. At first we'd felt like we'd make a mistake coming here. But after a couple minutes drive it began to look a lot more like the Hawaii we'd come to expect.
The condo wouldn't be ready for another hour and a half, so we consulted our guidebook for a lunch recommendation and wound up eating at Cafe O'lei. The cafe was situated in a strip mall, but was decorated so nicely that it was pretty easy to forget that fact. I think neither of us was feeling particularly adventurous after our disappointment: Elly got a pulled pork sandwich and I'd been craving a burger for days, so I got the Cafe O'lei's burger topped with grilled Maui onions. It was pretty damn good. We still had a bit of time to kill so we stopped by the store for milk and cereal, as well as some pesto and ravioli for dinner that night.
When we checked in to our new condo we were a bit disappointed again. While our Kona condo felt immediately like our island home away from home, the new condo (on the fifth floor!) was a cross between a budget hotel room and a cheap studio apartment. It threw Elly into a bit of a funk, and though I was doing my best to keep both our spirits up I was getting a bit down as well. We both had a short bout of laying around feeling sorry for ourselves. We never should have left Kona.
Eventually we snapped out of our funk enough to decide to check out the beach across the street from our condo. We were still a bit gloomy, but Elly donned her new bikini for the first time, and we both slumped out of the condo, sandals flip-flop-stomping against the sidewalk.
The beaches in Kona weren't very good. The coastline was great for cafes and short walks, but the best beach we visited was the one we snorkeled at, and I don't think it had more than maybe 200 square feet of sand. The beach outside the condo would be considered tiny by west-coast standards, but for us it was like a vast expanse of perfect sand. Unlike the course, volcanic sand on Kona beaches this was perfect, infinitesimally fine, white sand that spread far to either side and gradually sloped down into the ocean. It was then that I remembered that we went to Maui because it has the best beaches in Hawaii. The whole point of this leg of our vacation is to spend as much of it on the beach as possible. Who cares if the condo is bit crappy, we don't intend to spend any time there!
We kicked off our sandals and ran into the ocean. It was chilly at first, but we quickly grew accustomed to it. We spent quite a while just splashing around out past standing depth. Eventually we grew tired and Elly decided she'd just relax and let the waves take her back to the beach. As I frolicked in neck-deep water, she was eventually beached on the sand, where she continued to submit to the whimsy of the waves. The wave would come in, pushing her up the beach a few inches, then as the wave went back out she'd allow it to roller her back down the beach. She rolled up and down the beach for another 5-10 minutes, giggling and splashing. She said later that she was worried that she looked like a person with a mental disability, and I can't in good conscience say she didn't. I found her uninhibited enjoyment quite endearing, though.
From the beach you could clearly see the nearby islands of Kaho'Olawe and Lanai. I took a pano photo of the view from the beach. They seem close enough to swim to, but I'm pretty sure if I attempted it the funeral would ruin Elly's vacation.
By the time the sun was touching the water we decided we'd had enough, at least for today. As we walked back we were excitedly debating whether we should go snorkeling the next day, or if we should do the scenic Hana drive the guidebook raved about. We got back to the condo and, though the quality of the accommodations hadn't changed at all (it turns out that 2 of the 7 lightbulbs in the place needed changing) it felt a lot more like home upon our return. It really was just a place to shower off and sleep. A place we could kick off our sandals, and never have to worry about cleaning the sand up afterward. Maui was very different from The Big Island, but as long as we kept our perspective and focused on the good parts we'd have a great time. How spoiled we'd become! We were still in an island paradise, just a slightly more populated one. We could still see a beautiful ocean view from our condo balcony. Elly and I realized how on day 1 of Kona we were frustrated at how slow everyone drove, but here in Maui she was getting a bit stressed about how fast and reckless everyone around us was driving. At some point while we weren't paying attention Island Time had taken root deep into our bones. I have a feeling we're in for another shock when we get back home and find out that Maui was also on Island Time, just keeping a slightly faster tempo. Maybe this gradual easing through Maui would turn out to be a good thing.
We enjoyed a dinner of pesto ravioli and watched a couple episodes of the original Law and Order before bed. The condo has no Wi-Fi, so we had to watch on Elly's phone. The next day we'd need to go to a Starbucks to post photos and write the blog. Wah, wah.
Photos
https://plus.google.com/photos/105719328153023565846/albums/5942896710570592097
No comments:
Post a Comment