The day began with a run. We found a few cool small, local stores, then ran into Kapalua, where we found two interesting things besides gorgeous, sweeping views of Molokai‘i and the Pailolo channel, as well as impossibly green golf courses surrounding five-star resort hotels. One was Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment; the other was the Honokahua preservation site, which contains over 900 ancient Hawaiian burial sites dating between 610 and 1800. That prompted a web search for Honokahua, turning up interesting history of this beautiful area. Turns out the Honokahua Bay was Maui’s most important port, and King Pi‘ilani's favorite playground. Lahaina came much later.
In case you have noticed "hono" shows up a lot in Hawaiian place names, it's a term meaning lowing-lying land fronted by a bay that has a point on either side. Surfed Honolua? It means "two bays." And inside Keiki bowls, is ... low lying land.
After returning to our condo, I spotted a momma whale and her calf. She was playing “Can you do this?” I watched her giant white pectoral fin slowly arc over the water as she rotated her entire body, until, after a few times, the calf’s little white pectoral fin imitated mom’s in perfect synch. Spectacular, nature’s way of passing on life and knowledge in playful ways.
While the day started sunny and showed promise, Maui, the Trickster, had other things in mind. The Northeast trades turned northwest, a shroud of haze all but completely obscured both Molokai‘i and Lana‘i, the cloud cover came in, and I wound up trading my shorts for jeans. So we spent the day reading, stocking our kitchen, I practiced guitar, and made a few calls to friends.
Before the sun set, the weather changed yet again. The trades returned, and the clouds broke just enough to let in some glorious filtered light. Our neighbor islands once again appeared.
Oh, and I posted a note on Facebook: Anyone know any prone paddlers on Molokai I could contact? You know where to find me, if you do.
Notice: No promises I'll do a blog every day ...
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