View of Molokai from the beach on Lahaina. 100 m from the front door.
The dark blue waves of the Pacific crashed across a rocky beach in Lahaina as we watched humpback whales breach the water in the shadow of Molokai island. You remember Molokai, the island that had a leper colony from the mid-1800s through the late 1960’s? It’s pretty from a distance, but not a destination for this trip.
Lahaina is a tiny little nothing of a town on the western-facing coast of Maui. It boasts rows of tourist-laden hangouts amid seemingly-endless beaches plagued with pale-skinned tourists from across the globe. It’s quaint like Santa Barbara, CA, but with the hustling businesses of Roatan’s West Beach. We walk everywhere. Everyone is in swim-suits and flip-flops and move at a slow pace under the bright tropical sun. Dinner last night was tuna poké, freshly caught from the ocean that morning that we picked up at a local market. This morning for breakfast, a fresh-fruit acai bowl from the local farmer’s market.
This is easy travel. But not for long. A night dive tonight, followed by an excursion to the top of the largest mountain on the island for a few days.
But for now, I am going to go lay in the hammock and read “Shantaram” under the shade of a few trees on the beach as I slowly drift off to the crashing of waves.