Maui — the first hours.
After leaving my home locale where it was a lovely 24 degrees, several hours and two planes later I find myself approaching Maui just as the sun begins to set [around 6:30 local time]. The flight came in through silky clouds; wraith-like in the way they snaked about the wings of the plane during descent. Hypnotic. A soft rain was falling; making rainbow curtains to pass through which were pierced by the setting sun and balanced by the sliver shimmer of the ocean below.
We passed the airport, and wheeled about sharply in-between the two volcanoes that comprise the prominent features of the island. We coasted in gently over fields of sugar cane, landing without event in the humid evening air. A soft tropical rain put a fine mist over everything – not drenching, but still like being near the over-spray of a waterfall that’s somewhere just out of sight.
My place of residence for the duration of my stay is located in Kula, some 3,500 feet up the more eastern [and larger] volcano. I can see the narrow waist of the island in a plain below me; one bay with the Kahului airport to my right, another bay [Maalaea] to my left. Another volcano is directly ahead, smaller, but still shrouded in a lovely belt of bright clouds.
The air smells of ferns, jasmine, plumeria, and hibiscus – a little heady, yet clean and refreshing. Java finches frolic in between lemon and lime trees and great stands of bamboo. A male pheasant landed on the well-trimmed lawn below my cottage, creeping majestically amongst the black pumice and the oversized, amazingly striped wild bromeliads. I saw a male chameleon creeping along on the potted plants on the deck, and managed to snap a few shots of him without seeming to trouble him too much.
The evening in the ohana [that's Hawaiian for guesthouse, I think] was cool; probably in the low 60s; just chilly enough to sleep curled up comfortably in the blankets. The stars were amazing. The morning saw the sunrise around 6:30. It crept over the back of the cottage, striking the far volcano and its garland of clouds first, before creeping steadily over the sugar cane fields down in the valley below, finally crawling up the front lawn of my volcano. Sipping fine Kona coffee on the deck here, I greatly enjoyed watching the shift of colors in the landscape as the sun spread its warm arms across the island. A cacophony of small, hidden, solar powered birds greeted their daytime deity with astounding tropical enthusiasm.
***thus endeth my first jotted notes about Maui. I’ll work on more entries based on the trip later; I’m still too jetlagged and generally exhausted to make a more coherent entry. I also hafta sort through a bazillion photos. Ugh. ***
