Angry Mutant Lobster

Still in Maui and I will be for the next 5 days. One can easily get used to this place. I came here last year at this same time and was invited by my dad to come again this year.

I ran 5.4 miles at sunrise through an abandoned golf course that had some wild orchids growing on some trees.

My swim today is a close repeat of yesterday. The “route” was the same but there was more light today. I swam a bit earlier and there was less cloud cover so the water was just lovely (not that it wasn’t yesterday).

There is a trail that runs along the coast from the shore just below our condominium and leads to the Montage hotel at Kapalua where I start the swim. The views along this trail are really great and the day is beautiful. The air temperature is in the high 70’s - oh so nice.

As I swim out past the reef that guards Kapalua Bay, I feel more confident than yesterday.

It is just a little unsettling swimming in unfamiliar waters. Especially beyond the reef in open ocean, you can feel pretty isolated. These islands are just specs in this huge body of water and here you are an even smaller spec. This seems like a pretty safe place but currents can change and things can always go from good to not so good in the ocean pretty fast. When did this for the first time last year I really was not sure going out past the reef would be a good idea. Well sometimes the only way to tell the difference between a bad idea and a good idea is to follow the idea itself. Turns out it was a good idea I think.

There is something special past the reef. The water is deeper and on the one side of you - the side facing the open ocean - is just sand and sand and sand for for as far as one can see. On the other side is this pile of rock and coral. As the reef gets closer to the surface, waves break over it for as far as the water is shallow.

So you see these waves super close up that looked far from on shore. It is easy to avoid the waves. Just stay away from the shallow area. The waves are smaller today - just a couple feet. As the waves pass, I enjoy watching just below the water’s surface and you can see the under side of the wave like a white furry carpet unrolling itself.

The other magical thing I notice while watching these waves is the sound of whale song. I know right?! This is the height of humpback whale migration season. If you watch the ocean between Maui and Molokai, it will not be long before you see a breaching whale. Last year I noticed that when I would dive under water, I could here the sound of a baby crying which I learned was the sound of wales. As I hold my head under water and hold my breath to watch these waves, I can hear the whales in this silence.

Opposite the waves, as I look above the water, sits the island of Molokai. It’s about 12 miles away. Much closer than Catalina is from Dana Point. Also Molokai has a 5000 feet peak compared to Catalina’s 2000 foot Mt. Orizaba. I never see Catalina while swimming at the Strand but as I am swimming back from Napili, I can easily see Molokai on every breath. It looks awesome with puffy clouds floating above it.

I see a Sea Turtle while I am out here. Like I mentioned yesterday, Sea Turtles are my favorite. Seeing them past the reef just seems to magnify their awesomeness. The turtle is free floating about 20 feet below me in water that is probably about 40 feet deep. The turtle is about 6 feet long and 4 feet wide I am guessing. So on the one hand it looks huge because it is huge but it also looks dwarfed by the vastness of this water. I feel like we are two lone beings out on a space walk together.

I follow the turtle and it eventually surfaces for air. I hope this means I can get a good look while it is above the water but it is only up for a second before diving again and continuing its slow and graceful paddling and gliding.

All morning today we have been noticing a Coast Guard helicopter flying up and down the local coastline. It flies right over me at one point.

After returning along the reef I keep swimming past Kapalua Bay and into the next bay north, Namalu Bay. I see this red thing bobbing up on the surface just about 100 feet out past me. I can’t tell what it is. It has to be man made however my imagination gets the best of me and I have already been out over an hour and I decide to retreat. I mean the last thing I need is to be eaten by some red sea monster. It could be a lobster exposed to some radioactive debris causing it to grow to unnatural proportions. Now it is angry and seeking revenge on any human it can find. Well I’ll be damned if I am going to be that human!

I head to shore. As I get closer the water seems like it is getting incredibly warm. Like over 80. I’m gonna need to take an ice bath to bring down my core temperature if this keeps up.

I hang out for a bit on the shore visiting with my lovely relatives. Eventually I decide to head back to make myself lunch. As I am leaving, I see two divers with this large, red inflatable contraption. Welp, I can file this away for the next time I see a red unidentifiable object out in the ocean.

I walk back along the same trail I came and it is the same spectacular as it was on the way here.