Hawaii Part Two

As promised, the remainder of the Hawaii trip. It's been quite a change coming home to rain and chilly weather, but so much is coming I can't help but be excited...

May 30
Slack key guitar concert performed by a couple--the male half had been playing this traditional style since he was six. I wasn't sure I'd like it at first, but the stories the couple told throughout made it special. Sandy, the woman, called everything "beautiful"--I understood why. There is no stronger word. She would close her eyes whenever her husband played and after, she'd smile and look at him with a mix of admiration, adoration, and pure love. It was, well, beautiful.

June 2
A "nothing" day--brunch, lots of reading, rummy, lunch, reading, town, rummy, dinner, sunset, rummy. I'll admit concern--I don't do "nothing" well. I thrive on plans and packed schedules. The prospect of a day with nothing but the resort's weekly continental breakfast and laundry? Daunting, but I enjoyed it, the sleeping in, the relaxation, the ample time to read, and now, nearing bedtime, I'm still tired. Maybe it's the sea breeze.
It was windy till mid-afternoon. I loved it, sitting out reading with the wind in my face, watching whitecaps in the water and palm fronds do the hula.

June 4
I love the way the waves come in at angles to form a v right below the balcony. I love the deep aquamarine of the sea. I love the wind off the water, in my face; I feel it lightens me. I love the currents and choppy waves while snorkeling. It reminds me of the truly awesome power of the sea, that it can suck you in and is much more powerful than you. Yet its reminders are nothing you can't swim through, nothing that truly hurts you, only leaves you with a lingering (and humbling) sense of wonder and awe.

June 7
On the Kalalau trail: At times, the trail wouldn't be visible on the next bump, and you'd ask aloud, how the hell do we get around that? or you'd see the trail and ask how do you climb that?. The cliff parts, inches away from a slow down where the sea crashed into the rocks, were often loose scree and at times, seemingly impossibly angled. At parts it took your breath away, walking along cliffs straight down to the crystal clear ocean (so clear you could see the reef underneath it). Sometimes it took away your powers of speech.
God bless the maintainers of this trail (I can't imagine doing anything to it...), those natives who cut it, and the inventors of trekking poles and ibuprofen (I wouldn't have made it without those two things...)

June 9
I wish I could have transformed into a dolphin today. They have such fun playing with one another and with the boats. While hiking, we watched them--some just kept leaping out of the water and leaping and leaping....Pop and Matt essentially had to drag me away.

June 11
Queen's Bath. I loved climbing lava rocks, but the fish were nothing too spectacular. With some, their silver glinted in the sun, and a few looked genuinely bug-eyed terrified when they seemed stuck as I hovered above. The sea turtles made it all worthwhile. The baby was the size of the snapping turtles at home. They were jostled by the waves, but not too much, and when they surfaced, they were so close you could really see them--breathtaking!
It rained after dinner--beautiful, especially watching all the places it was raining and not raining. And before the sun set, a rainbow.

That may or may not be everything (I like the ambiguous endings lol).
I realized after I'd sent it out that my link to the pictures was wrong. This is the real link: http://picasaweb.google.com/nickiboisvert.
Thanks for listening :)