Lazy days

I'm currently sitting in a neat little restaurant in Lahaina, drinking a mai tai. Notice the sunny beach and ocean in the background.



I'm not that big a fan of rum, but this is pretty good!

It's crazy hot and the sun is as bright as it is at home in late July. The buildings in Hawai'i often have no windows and are permanently open to the outside cuz, well, it's ridiculously warm all the time.



I rode into town early this morning to go on a whale watching cruise for 2 hours. We saw at least a dozen humpbacks, some so close that we could hear them blow. One of them was slapping it's flukes on the water. We saw several competition groups, which are two or more males battling it out to impress a female. They were diving, blowing bubbles, and head butting each other. I got some great photos with my new, nice camera. Here is what I got with my phone. Too bad there is no zoom on the iPhone.



I've spent the rest of the day wandering the shops, waiting for the evening ferry to Moloka'i. I bought some souvenirs including a pretty turtle sarong to wear over my bike shorts like a skirt to reduce my otherwise freaky bike tourist appearance.

When I rode through the Navajo Rez back in '99, I met a Navajo elder,who was a shaman, on the way to Canyon de Chelly. He spent quite a bit of time talking to me, telling me his life story. He told me that I deserved his respect because I had worked hard to see his home. I wasn't a tourist, I was a traveller. He told me that since I travel carrying my home and posessions strapped to my bike, the turtle must be my spirit totem. He told me to always wear a turtle when I travel to acknowledge my totem animal, which I have done on every trip both biking and backpacking since then. I currently wear a sea turtle necklace that I bought on the Big Island last Christmas break that I also wore all last summer on the ride to Inuvik. I also have a soapstone turtle that I bought in Minnesota during my cross country bike ride in '96 (before I travelled the Rez) in a leather pouch that is tied to Sam's handlebar with other little travel mementoes.





Sam posed with the biggest Banyan tree in the world. This thing is huge with long aerial roots that have dropped down and established new trunks. Sam is posing in front of one of the newer trunks. The original trunk is back by the couple sitting on the bench.





The ferry is about to load! Off to Moloka'i.
-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Front St,Lahaina,United States