The Rains Did Not Come to Maui--Yet

 As I write this, I am sitting on the lanai of the condo we are staying in.  It is Paula's condo, my daughter in law Lindsey's mother, who is renting it to us for our last week before we head home to Michigan. The thought of going to Hawaii was almost an afterthought, after 9 weeks away from home.
But oh, it is nice! The waves are coming in, though it's low tide, and a woman is taking pictures of her husband, who is on a standup surf board, paddling around in the water.  I know Ruth got into this in Florida, and it does look fun, safer than I would have thought.
We woke up very early today, around 5:30, as we had gone to sleep around 8:30 last night!  We were exhausted, having had very little sleep the night before, plus there is a 3 hour time difference between here and Ca. We came out on the lanai, had our coffee in the early morning light, listening to the incomparable sound of the waves, and the unique call of the birds .   (actually, instead of the morning calls of the turkeys we heard daily in Novato, we hear several roosters) We could see a group of outriggers on the water, weaving their way back and forth between the course,  rhythmically padding on the still water.

We decided to take a walk on the beach before ate breakfast, as it was still very early.  We walked down to where the outriggers leave from and return to, wondering if it was a club, tourists, a high school team or what. It was a lovely walk and we could see the sun rising over Haleakala in the distance. We saw the outriggers come in, and it was a varied group of people.  Don't know if they are locals or tourists, but they seemed to be all ages.
Yesterday, the flight was easy, and we got into the condo quickly. We took a quick trip down to the beach and I dipped into the salt water, hoping it will ease the terrible eczema I have been suffering from for the past few weeks.  I hope it subsides in this climate, it has been awful!   I had actually gone to the ER in Novato, got some cream I was so miserable. We went to Paia later to shop for supplies and to have lunch. We ate a big lunch, went to Costco, turned around and left, we couldn't deal with it and didn't need that quantity of stuff.   Found the nearby Safeway and bought food, etc.  The prices are outrageous!   We will try to eat in as much as possible, eating big breakfasts, maybe going out for lunches, and having dinner here.   Everyone does that here, as there are grills downstairs ---everyone at the condo complex grills their food, brings it back to their places, but visits and has cocktails with everyone else while cooking.    Very nice.
I remembered this morning why I love Hawaii.   It is hard to explain, it just has magic.    Yes, it is touristy, but I think has retained it's own charm. Pat