The Land of the Car

I had to show you this. This is my friend's car. No joke. If there is a small car behind it, you can't see it in the review mirror. And what is worse is that I find it amazing and kind of want one.

Location:Kihei

White House & Black Market

My favorite store on Maui is WhiteHouse&BlackMarket, or as I call it White & Black. You walk in there feeling not so awesome, put on their clothes and heels, and then you feel great. That's how every store should be. Se here is some Maui fashion:


Shoes $95


Dress $150


Shoes &40, shorts $50 and blouse $90


Blouse $50


Blouse $40 and shorts $60


Corset top $60

So it is kind of expensive (for Maui) and I'm not planning to buy all of it but the designs and materials are top notch. Ah, I love this store!

Farmer's Market

The car we've been borrowing to go grocery shopping broke down. We're not getting a new one so now I take the bike to the store whenever I need something. Or to the farmer's market, which is the best place to get fresh produce in Kihei. I love going there. Lots of good stuff to buy as well as exotic stuff that I have no idea what it is or how to use.

Location:Kihei, Maui

Lana'i Boat Trip

Had the day off and took a snorkeling tour around the island of Lana'i. It was indescribable. Doesn't mean I won't try. Although not right now. After seven hours on the water, three snorkeling spots, amazing scenery, turtles, dolphins, whales and tropic birds I am mentally and physically exhausted. It was, and is, pure happiness. So at least for now, here's a picture. I might have more in a few days.

End of Whale Season

The last whales are now leaving Maui for their annual 3000 mile migration to the North Pacific. Captain Doug had his annual End of the Whale Season Party, which was also a good bye part for Monica and Gentry Copelin, a married couple that have been working with us for almost two years. Here are some pictures.


Mike, George, Captain Drew, Flora, and Captain Gabe.



Dav, Gentry, Captain Anna and Emily.



Dana, Tyler, Heidi and Captain Dai Mar.



Dana, Anna, Chelsea, Chelsea's mom and me.



Kittens. Cute, but the last thing we need in this world is more pets, or pests which they become without owners.



Although.... They're really cute!

I just passed my course to become a Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG). It is a course paid for by my work since they want us naturalists to excel at the skill of connecting people to what you want to show them or teach them and making it relevant on a personal level; the skill we call interpretation.

The final test was a presentation to be held in front of my teachers, who are also my bosses, and my fellow students, who are also my colleagues. They are intelligent, educated, knowledgeable people with so much ambition and charisma that it is shooting out their ears. Even though they are some of the nicest people I know, I couldn't help but to be nervous.

Last time I held a presentation in front if my colleagues, that time about the song of humpback whales, I choked and failed miserably. That experience has haunted me in public speaking situations ever since.

It was time to clear out my closet from old skeletons. And I did. I was better prepared than ever before, probably about ten times as prepared as I should need to be. Better to be on the safe side. And I rocked it. I haven't felt this happy about a presentation since junior high.

I feel as if I got revenge although I am not sure on what. Revenge on fear, the one thing that should never hold me down? Yes, revenge on fear!

Now for celebration lunch!

Night Dive

Imagine that you are floating in mid-water. It is chilly but your wetsuit is keeping you warm. All you hear is the bubbles leaving your regulator. All you see is the faint moonlight on the surface above you. When you move your hand in front of your mask, the water lights up with hundreds of tiny bioluminescent algae; like fireflies in a pitch black forest. You suck in another breath of decompressed air from the tank on your back. Before you let it back out, the singing of a distant humpback whale reaches your ear. What would that feel like to you?

For me, it feels like I am truly a part of mother nature. When I dive, nothing is on my mind. I am fully submerged in what I experience. There is no room for thoughts. Maybe that is why I like it so much.

Until today, I had never been on a night dive. Anna picked me up at my place about half an hour before sunset and we drove down to Ulua beach in her SUV with all the dive gear in the back. If you are going to live Maui, and not just live in Maui, you need a truck or an SUV to haul around all your fun stuff, whether it be dive gear, camping gear, surfboards, a bike, or dogs. We walked from the beach and into the water at dusk, right after a beautiful sunset. The water was darker than I am used to but still light enough that we could see the reef beside us. It slowly got darker until we could see nothing without our flashlight.

Have you ever witnessed a city's transition from daytime buzz to nighttime flare? Have you ever considered how the colors, the pace and the composition of people gradually change into a whole new atmosphere? Maybe it is one of nature's unwritten laws, that there be a crepuscular transition from daytime to nighttime. The coral reef certainly changes as he light of day fades away.

Millions of tiny coral animals stretch out their tentacles in search for food and transform the coral surface from looking hard and rugged to fluffy and soft. The parrotfish wraps itself in a cocoon of mucus and goes to sleep. The butterflyfish and the triggerfish tucks into crevices in the coral reef to hide. The red and purple potter angelfish, on the other hand, is out and about for reasons only it knows. The sea stars come out from their hiding spots to look for food, as do different types of crustaceans such as banded cleaner shrimp and mantis shrimp. We even saw a slipper lobster, or as they would call it here, a "slippa lobsta." It is still lobster season so we could have picked it but we chose to leave it for other divers to see tomorrow.

This is the time of sharks. They hunt at dusk when the vision of their prey is impaired. Unfortunately we didn't see one but that doesn't mean that they didn't see us. Anna and I both know that sharks is one of the most harmless things in the world (except maybe for North Korea). Nevertheless, the thought that a 15 foot tiger shark might be lurking right outside of the flashlight beam, does create some excitement.

We visited our animal friends on the reef for over an hour before we were back where we first dove in. As I broke the surface of the water I was taken aback by the beauty of the scene that met me. Orion welcomed me back from his place high on the starry sky, and the moon was new right next to him. The beach was dark and deserted. The only sound came from the calm sea as slow waves accompanied me the last few steps back to the beach and out of the water.