FLASHBACK: Maui 2015 Part 2

Howdy!  It's time to return to Maui for Part 2 of our flashback adventure.

We got up early that 2nd day--but not as early as we had intended. (Erich and I were originally going to get up and get on the road by 5 a.m.---8 a.m. California Time--to get to the top of the volcano, Haleakala, to see the sunrise from the crater. That is a popular thing to do on Maui...but that morning, it didn't happen.) That was fine. I went out onto the terrace to write postcards...and that's when I saw the sea turtles. At first, no one believed me. I'd see this small, dark shape pop up out of the water for a moment, a small head or a flipper-like leg...then disappear. It was like seeing short, squat, mini-Loch Ness monsters rising quickly from the waves, then disappearing. No one else saw them or believed me. Then, as the sun came out more and the water near the shore was fully illuminated, you could actually SEE the turtles swimming about--and they were HUGE!

I took pictures, but even though the water was crystal clear in full daylight, the camera didn't catch it like that and the photos are somewhat hard to see. Look below. There are three, possible 4 in the picture.

I've outlined in red below what you are looking for. The nearer turtle is swimming at me. His head is in front and I've outlined his curved flippers as well.

Can you make him and his flippers out below?

Here you can see the shell (not segmented into little squares, but smooth instead) out of the water.

Here is one peeking his head up to catch his breath.

​ And just to kind of give you an idea of size, if you can spot this with his fin things on the rocks (and those are big rocks)--follow the shadow of the tree on the left into the water, it passes just to the right of the turtle). The trees are in the foreground and the turtle, which is a lot further away, is clearly thicker than the trees. The turtles ranged in size, but some were as big as boulders. It was really quite amazing to see them out in the wild like that--not in a zoo or an aquarium, but out in nature. People would go out snorkeling a little further out away from the rocks just to watch them. They were there every morning and returned in the evenings. During the bulk of the day they were gone. I don't know where they went, but it was always so awesome to see them in the mornings.

Anyway, that morning after discovering the sea turtles, I also discovered the "Guest Book". Ever since the time we went to Kauai (15 years prior) and had such an amazing time (and found a guest book there to write in it for future travelers), I have always looked for guest books in vacation rentals. Anticipating that the Maui adventure would be equally as memorable, I could envision myself writing in it as the vacation came to a close. I wondered what tales I'd have to record in it. Flipping through pages, one entry did catch my eye. It was back in 2011 when the then-current guests apparently had to be evacuated after the earthquake in Japan and there was a tsunami warning. Zowie!  They'd had to camp out overnight in a hotel lobby elsewhere. Scary!

I had noticed a tsunami alarm tower right near the hotel (In Part 1, you can see it if you look at the picture from the roof looking out towards the parking lot/volcano. It is just to the right of the end of the building. That's how close it was.)

Swell, I thought. Something else to worry about. EEK!

Ricki, Ted and Erich wanted to go to the beach to lay in the sun and to swim. Swimming was out with my knee and I didn't feel like doing the beach thing either. For one thing, I didn't want to be laying there and have the people from Green Peace show up and try to drag me back into the ocean in a mistaken attempt to rescue a beached whale. Also, I'm not 20 any more. I remember the time I went to Kauai 15 years earlier. I had slathered up my front and back with sunscreen, only to have my unprotected sides (who remembers to sunblock their sides?) get incinerated by the sun. OUCH! Besides, I already have enough bumps and lumps and growths going on at my age, I don't need skin cancer on top of everything else. So, I walked with them to the beach and then decided to go a little further, back to the tiki bar which was supposed to re-open that day. (It was not the brightest idea ever with my knee issues, but I was NOT going to miss that tiki bar, darn it all!). I walked the full length of the beach and took this shot looking back to the condo. It was just a gorgeous place.

​

Anyway, for better or worse, I gimped along towards the shops and tiki bar.  I stopped at this one outdoor (but covered) tourist stand with all sorts of groovy souvenirs, before finally getting back to the shopping area with the tiki bar. I walked up to the door, hot and tired and ready for something cool to drink. "Are you open? Are you open?," I asked anxiously. "We will be," was the reply. "But not until this evening." Oh man!

​

According to the sign on the tiki lounge, it was voted BEST BAR in Maui and BEST PIZZA too. Zowie! That intrigued me. Even though I could not go in, I tried to get a shot of the tiki bar's "Jungle Lanai" patio area. I hit another cool souvenir place and saw a feral chicken out and about...then went across the street to the Foodland to buy some more postcards.

​I was standing at the register, paying for my postcards, when all of a sudden I heard this horribly loud siren go off! The clerk had a momentary look of "OMG!" on her face...and then calmed down. I asked what it was. She said it was nothing. The alarm lasted a full minute and I knew what it was, what it had to be...the tsunami alarm! YIKES!

So there I was, with a bag of postcards and an indifferent cashier waiting for me to leave--and the tsunami alarm had just sounded. Erich, Ricki, and Ted were at the beach and didn't know where I was. What was I going to do? I was dazed. What does one do when there's a tsunami? Run for the hills? All of this was whirring through my head, when the manager (or someone) came over and said, "Don't worry folks. They always test it on the first of the month at noon."

Just a test. Phew! Thank goodness. I didn't sign up for 5 hours of flight horror in a plane AND then a tsunami.

While at the market, I did see some unusual things, such as Spam-flavored macadamia nuts and Tiki Bars (chocolate bars), which I bought a bunch of to take back to work.

I hobbled back to the condo. Ricki, Ted, and Erich had been oblivious to the whole tsunami alarm thing.

We went to lunch at some restaurant across the street. I had a cocktail called a Maui Wowie! (Ricki had a Mai Tai. I can't remember what everyone else had, but Erich's looked yummy. I think his was a mango something...)

After lunch, I found myself alone again. I can't remember if everyone went back to the beach or maybe they were taking naps. Something happened. So I decided to drive myself down to Wailea, the next town down. It was surreal. Wailea is this amazing resort town. There are no grocery stores or convenience store, hardware stores or things like Target, WalMart, or Kohls. None of that. Aside from high-end resorts, the only shopping was high end retailors (clothes, jewels, baubles) and high end restaurants (not a McDonald's or Taco Bell in sight). It was all so incredibly manicured--even the streets and foliage. It was just so "perfect". WEIRD. I didn't stay long at all. I really felt far more comfortable in the casual, relaxed vibe of Kihei instead.

When I got back, it was time for sunset. I opted to go up on the roof to try to get a good shot. Erich went up with me and I got Ricki and Ted to come out on the patio (I called them) to see the sunset as well--and to get pictures of them.

When dinner time rolled around, we were wondering what to do. I suggested the tiki bar, as it was voted BEST BAR and BEST PIZZA on Maui (I never did learn who voted them that though...). Ricki wasn't feeling well or something, so she bowed out. That left Erich, Ted and I. And off we went.

We got to the tiki bar. It had been closed the day we arrived and it had been closed earlier in the afternoon. It had to be open now, right? Third time is the charm, right? Well, right AND wrong. We got there and the bar was open. However, they would NOT be serving food until the next day. ARGH!

So we went in and found a place on the "Jungle Lanai" patio and each had a drink.  I don't remember what we had. Mine was the pink one in the picture. Erich's was the one with lemon on the side. Ted's was the one decked out with pineapple and an umbrella in the fancy tiki glass. I asked if they had tiki mugs for sale and they were going to sell me one of the glasses like Ted had for $10. I thought about it, but no where on it it did it say South Shore Tiki Lounge. And then I saw the beer glasses that had the bar's name printed on them. Would they sell those? Yes--for $5 each. So Ted and I each got one.

After drinks, we walked to some fish restaurant Erich had seen from the road (also in the same funky complex). I had something boring (pasta maybe?), because I don't like fish. As we were eating, Ted decided he wanted to steal his beer glass. It was just a plain, ordinary glass--nothing on it. We think the waitress overheard him. She kept checking on us and would clear dishes and glasses as soon as we were finished. Of course, Ted nursed his glass of beer as long as he could. When we were leaving, we both told him not to do it... He hesitated, looking around to see if he'd be caught or not--then took the glass anyway.

After that, it was back home for more postcards and another restless night. But the Maui adventures were still to come. We really hadn't done or seen anything yet.

Stay tuned for the next installment. Eventually we will go up to the top of a volcano, take a journey in a submarine, travel the beautiful--yet scary--Road to Hana, and encounter a blow hole!

CHEERS!