Finally back to the sea! For me — part mermaid, part otter — it’s all about the snorkeling.
After many delays and trip cancellations due to health issues in the last few years, I had finally told Thor in the spring that we WERE going to take at least an easy tropic trip so we could return to the sea before I withered away. (I relate to the mythical Greek giant Antaeus, who was finally killed by Hercules once his life-sustaining connection to the earth was broken. With me, it’s immersion in the sea.) Anyway, we had scheduled a trip to Maui (easy flight from the Pacific Northwest) in October. Then in the summer I underwent back surgery for a painfully pinched nerve due to an unusual (of course, for me) cyst. Then I learned that my never-smoker lung cancer had recurred for the second time. This time, they caught it early, so narrow-targeted radiation therapy in August seems to have done the trick to zap that nasty tumor.
Carpe diem! Off to Maui in early October!
Thor and I are not fans of luxury mega-resorts, preferring more low-key neighborhoods and accommodations when possible. Nothing in Hawaii is exactly budget-friendly, but we’ve enjoyed many reasonably-priced trips to Maui when staying in the funky-but-friendly area of Kihei. We rent a condo at Sugar Beach on the north end of “the Strip,” at the start of the nearly-deserted Sugar Beach, for a front-row view of sunsets from the lanai. And we prefer to do our own cooking over needing to go to restaurants.
But, as I said, it’s all about the snorkeling. Every morning for nine days, we drove our rental car to different beaches or coves to find the best snorkeling, depending on the weather/wind/wave-chop that day. Over the years, we’ve found many good sites, usually avoiding crowds by swimming some distance from shore along lava promontories to the coral formations that host fish and our favorites: the sweet Honu sea turtles.
The Honu are so calm, and often curious to check us out, that we sometimes have trouble keeping the mandated distance to protect them from contact. They inspire us to “go with the flow” and mellow out. Just being in the sea, weightless and soaking up the healing elements, lets me expand to be a part of the life among the corals.
Here’s another Honu munching on seaweed in the corals:
I love these gorgeous orange urchins tucked into the coral:
It’s been a few years since we were back, and we did notice that there seemed to be fewer fish and more damage to the corals than we had seen previously. Erosion and the warming ocean might be an explanation. Or it could be seasonal variation. We did enjoy seeing some old friends like striped sergeant-majors and “Kona gold” yellow tangs…
… and the Humuhumunukunukuapa’a (triggerfish), with the longest Hawaiian-language name! This pair entertained us with a round-and-round chase through coral nooks and crannies:
(All underwater photos and videos are from Thor’s camera.)
I just couldn’t get enough! Though my breathing capacity has been somewhat compromised, I was happy to have energy back, and was able to do some fairly long swims of half a mile or so out to the reefs and back. (Our pandemic investment of a “swim-spa” at home has been a life-saver to keep us moving throughout the year.) For a couple of geezers with challenges, we did okay!
After snorkeling in the mornings, we regrouped for lunch and then gathered the condo’s Tommy Bahama beach chairs with knapsack straps and pockets for towels and gear. Then off to trek a path over the lava and sand to our favorite secluded beach cove to sunbathe, swim, and play in the waves.
Sometimes the best thing in life is just to float weightless out beyond the surf break, rocking in the swell and watching the sunlight shimmer patterns on the sandy bottom.
Aloha!
Next week: More explorations of the island and sea.
*****
You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s Caribbean suspense novel from Book View Café is ISLANDS, which draws on her experiences working as a scuba divemaster on various islands, and also her research into petroglyphs. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
