Maui 2011, day 24

Another calm morning, the sea all glassy with small waves breaking on the reef off Camp One and birds singing in the trees. According to windguru.com the day should not be very windy so we're thinking maybe take a trip up to Haleakala Crater. Karin believes in wind though so we decided to go to Kanaha first and then perhaps Haleakala later in the afternoon. When we got to Kanaha there were not many cars there and the wind was light. The old ladies were there of course. Frannie and her friends, all 60+, are here most everyday and the sail good too. Is this where we will end up in twenty years? Could be worse...

After a while the wind picked up though and Karin went out with 5.3 while I went out to snorkle with the kids. Not much to see unfortunately. Since there is almost always some waves here the water gets a bit sand-mixed and not that clear close to the beach. We could have gone outside of the reef where the water is clearer but one of the SUP-boarders saw two sharks out there yesterday so we didn't.

The wind was a bit on and off but the water was fairly flat and Karin was on a full plane most of the time.

At about 2PM the wind seemed to drop and we decided to give Haleakala a try but when we got out on the road we could see that the volcano was all covered in clouds. We agreed to give it an new try early tomorrow morning and went to Hookipa instead.

At Hookipa there were both wind and waves. A bit surprising. I rigged up in a hurry and went out on 5.3. The waves were small - with occasional shoulder high sets - but pretty long and glassy and the place was not very crowded. I had several good rides and even got a couple of aireals. Karin was on the camcorder so hopefully some of the action is on tape :-)

At five I went in and we went to Paia for some bread and board-shorts. Paia is really a special town that seem to attract a special kind of people. This part of the island is so different to Lahaina and Kehei. Yesterday we drove through Lahaina and there was the usual tourist atmosphere; neon signs, people trying to get you into their resturant and so on. Paia is so much friendlier and real life and you sort of feel like you're home, like you're part of the community.

Soon we have to go back home - but we all want to come back, and it'd better be sooner than later...