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:: Saturday, March 12, 2005 ::

Maui
Day 6
03.11.05

This morning Bruce picked me up at the condo after renting a surf board from a friend with a rash guard (surf shirt) and reef walkers (booties). We got the whole combo for $20 a day...a real deal!

We drive to Puamana Park where there is grass right up to the rocks and not much real beach. Nothing but coral beneath the water (that's where the waves are) but most of the coral is worn smooth from years of surfers and bathers. Still, I'm glad for the reef walkers, even dull coral can tear your feet up!

surfs up!

We step into the water, throw the boards ahead of us, and velcro the rubber surfboard tether to our posterier positioned foot (my right). We paddle out just a bit, and Bruce gives me a couple of shoves ahead of the oncoming waves, giving me the speed I need to "catch" the wave and try to get up on the board. I get up twice, but don't get too much of a ride. We're too close for a real ride.

We both paddle much further out, and I try to give it a go myself. My arms are already tired from paddling out and trying to turn around and ready myself for the oncoming waves, trying to pick one that is actually going to be large enough for a good ride (they are generally about 2 feet, which is plenty for learning!). When the wave is about 30' away you have to start paddling like mad, and as the wave breaks and you feel the board surge forward, you push up with your arms, get your left foot forward and stand up. I stand up many times, but too late as the wave passes under me. I fall. Again and again. I never get a real ride, and after 30-40 minutes I'm bushed, and my left forearm is feeling a little rashy from jumping on and off this foam topped board.

Bruce has left me a while ago, out another 50 yards or so for the larger waves...he rides them well with his smaller board, a 8'6".

I retire to the beach for a beach chair and a book. I run into a 61 year old lady that was in the water with us when we started. She said she only rode 4 waves, and wonders if she'll ever catch on. I explain Bruce's success at 58, and assure her it's worth it. She says she saw me get up a few times, and thought I did okay for my first time out. Bruce tells me later that when he first started in California years ago, it took a week of trial and error to ride his first wave.

After another 45 minutes of Bruce surfing, he comes in. We pack up and head for Lahaina town for lunch. There is a Maui Taco nearby, so we stop. I get a Maui Taco, a double layered soft taco with black bean and chicken, that has been flavorfully grilled. I also get a side of beans and rice which I slather in hot sauce and rinse with coke.

Next we go to the Lahaina Cannery Mall again, so I can pick up more cigars, coffee, and a rash guard of my own! I figure it would make a good bike riding shirt, or for any water activities one might do on a lake in Maine (in the summertime, of course!).

After lunch we decide to head further south past Puamana to Launiupoko Beach, where the waves might be a little larger (they definitely change from place to place). I spend another hour trying to figure it all out, and being still tired from the morning round, I don't make much more headway. I get close, and can now see the attraction: like golf, you keep coming back for more! I kept wanting to head back out, one more time...maybe this time I'd catch that wave! I head in before I get tired enough to hurt myself, and wait for Bruce, not long this time, as we have some errands to run.

We wash off ourselves and the boards, and drive south along the West Maui Mountains, East along the plains of Ma'alaea, and North again towards Kahului (the largest town here, as big as a section of Portland). We stop at Bad-Ass Coffee for some Kona Dark Roast, and then off to the UPS by the airport for a package for Jill. We return to Kihei to get a condo pool key made for Shawn and Morgan (Jill's daughter and her boyfriend) and stop at Longs for sundries.

Shawn is waiting at the condo and we talk for a while and have a drink. Bruce is having single-malt, and Shawn hasn't tried it before. He's not impressed. I make a banana-mango-papaya rum smoothie. Mmmmm!

I shower and change and we say our goodbyes. Bruce and I head to meet Jill at her frien Elaine's house. Her place is very open, and boasts a multitude of pastel colored walls, and a hanging neon piece of art at one end of the living room....very Miami Vice. I told her it looked like a cool restaurant. Her backyard ends with a fence covered in flowering vines, and is bordered on the back by a nature conservancy for egrets. I have a Steinlager while we visit for a short while, then off for Jill's so everyone else can shower up. While waiting I make a dark rum mohito.

At 7:45 we take a half hour trip past Pa'ia to Mama's Fish House. This is "the" restaurant to hit on the island. It's tres expensive, but supposed to be well worth it. I saw a commercial for it on the local 7 channel this morning, and knew I had to go.

It looks innocuous enough from the road...a painted boat with the name across the bow, stuck half out of the woods, but as we drive in and park, we see a carefully designed path patterned in intertwining gecko shapes out of cement. We are surrounded by bamboo and palms as we see the open porch of the restaurant, all in dark woods. It looks very Hawaiian. I am annoyed at myself for forgetting my camera, but wonder if pictures are even allowed...I see no one else taking pictures. We give our names to the hostess, and as we are a few minutes early, she aims us to the bar. The bar is packed, with only one barstool remaining, and Jill mentions that she remembers a second bar, further in the depths of this large building. We find the second bar almost empty, a long wooden bar, made from Koa wood. Above the bar is Monkey Pod, Mango wood, and below the bar the cabinets are made from bookmarked Mango. Each dining table to our left is housed by it's own arched roof span decorated with more exotic woods.

I opt for a Johnny Walker rocks, while Bruce and Jill each get white wine. We talk to the bartender for a spell about the various woods...he's very well informed...and we soon get the call for our table. The hostess carries our drinks, and leads us to a far corner table...one I claim to be the best seat in the house. There are full windows on both sides, and my view towards the corner and to the left is of a white (tan actually) sand beach strewn with the occasional palm tree, the surf just out of site in the dark.

We are given a plate that contains a small loaf of homemade wheat bread, and three demitasse cups filled with a delectable broth: chicken stock, coconut milk and spices, a great compliment to the bread, either sipped or dipped.

Jill's asparagus creamed soup comes next, and is amazingly delicate and rich.

I order one of the last remaining dishes of Ono (delicate sweet white fish) lightly grilled and covered with carmelized and spiced onions. There is a side of sauteed vegetables (mostly exotics I don't know and can't tell you) and sweet jasmine rice. I am given two decanters, one with a spicy clear red chili sauce (great on the rice) and the other with shoyu (organic soy). This could well be on the best meals I've ever had! Each bite makes me shake my head.

Another loaf of bread comes, and I try Bruce's dish...a coconut curry over I don't usually do dessert, but after seeing the commercial this morning, I had to indulge! I get the house special Black Chocolate Pearl: A thin cookie shell shaped like a clam shell, riged with chocolate stripes, open to reveal a dense chocolate pearl about the size of a small lemon, with a glistening black surface, a small tuck of heavy whipped cream beneath and in the hinge area, on a plate with a magnificent pattern of a sweet syrup. It went quite well with an espresso with lemon peel, and a chunk of cane sugar, and a glass of port. Everyone shared in my dessert, which was fine for me, and Bruce had a cup of french pressed Hana coffee that was musky and dark and amazing.

After paying the bill ($70 each...owww!) we retire to the beach where the sand was so fine it just carresses the feet and watch the surf while we share our cigars, smoking a Padron corona like the one I had a few nights ago and a small Arturo Fuente demitasse. I'm feeling the buzz about now, as we head home for the evening...just another day in Paradise!

DC

:: David 3/12/2005 02:26:00 PM [+] ::
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