And I wonder why I gained seven pounds in six days!
We were thinking of going snorkeling so we drove back down to South Maui, passing the Ahini Kinau Reserve area when there was no parking and a lot of people. We knew we probably wouldn't be able to snorkel at La Perouse Bay but we decided to drive down there anyhow to see what it looked like. We both remember taking our Jeep offroad 10 years ago, but now there's a paved road that dead ends into a parking lot. We got out and decided to walk over to a beach we saw off in the distance. Unfortunately it was windy as heck so after making it to the first beach area we turned around and walked back.
Since we went through the trouble of buying a cooler and beach chairs we decided to make use of them again by hanging out for awhile at Makena Cova. Couples that have planned a wedding in Maui will likely recognize this area as Secret Cove as you'd likely drive right past it if you didn't know it was there, making it a good location for a public beach wedding ceremony. In fact, as we were getting ready to leave the bride, groom, friends & family for a wedding were just showing up.
The water here was a bit scary and choppy so we really couldn't get in the water. That said, we got some excellent turtle viewing in as there were a couple swimming in the shallow waters, munching on some algae. You can see the people in the picture above trying to catch another glimpse of the honu. After about an hour or so the winds kicked up something fierce, throwing sand in our drinks and in our faces. We decided to pack up and head back to the resort where at least we'd have the protection of an umbrella.
Rather than going out we had dinner at the resort at Koi - it was phenomenal! So glad we decided to stick close to "home" for this trip instead of traipsing all over Maui trying to find some food.
As we were sitting in a hammock after dinner these two little boys ran up to the hammock and ... well ... I'm not sure. I think the one kid was going to jump on it, but didn't because the other kid actually ran into it. I swear he could have decapitated himself. And strangely, they kind of hung around afterwards. I'm not sure if they expected us to get off the hammock or what, but they were just walking around us jabbering about who knows what. Their parents came down the path behind them and I think the dad was slightly embarrassed to see that there were people in the hammock that his kids were hovering around, but the kids had no shame. I have nieces and nephews - and obviously I was a kid once upon a time - so I'm somewhat familiar with how children behave and these kids just seemed ... weird. We tried to tell them goodbye, and give them verbal clues that their hovering wasn't all that cool, but they totally didn't pick up on the signals. Their dad finally called them away and they kept on walking. The whole time I was wondering how long they would have hung around.
Interestingly enough, for the rest of the trip we saw a bunch of little boys using the hammock as some sort of swing contraption. They'd hold on as tight as they could while others swung them in the hopes of flipping them over. The goal was to be able to hold on while upside down, facing the ground. I'm going to guess these two little boys were part of that group because they clearly wanted that damn hammock. Kids are so weird. A full resort with a glorious pool and beautiful ocean, and they spend hours obsessed with a hammock. Huh.
Before going to sleep we watched our wedding DVD that I remembered to grab as we were walking out the door to our flight. I don't know who those two people were - they were babies! Alan says I look exactly the same. To me he looks exactly the same. And yet, not. It was so awesome to see my college best friend recite e.e. cummings' "i carry your heart" nearly from memory, laugh when the officiant tried to make me cry, huff a bit when said officiant went off script and started talking about rose gardens, repeatedly. Good times. Good times indeed.
