photo thursday: memories of west maui...

During the years we worked at the botanical gardens at Kapalua, the Honolua Store was one of our regular stopping places. Plate lunch for maybe $5. And so ono too! I don't know if it's gone now or just turned into a tourist shop.

This shows a surprisingly quiet moment out front. Possibly on a Sunday....

March, 1983

It's odd now to think that we ever lived on the west side (this, in spite of the fact that my parents spent several months in Lahaina while during the HC&S intern program).

I think of myself as such an East Maui kind of guy. I have never been much for the nightlife or the crowds of the tourist areas, but for a few years there while I was taking time off from college, the West Side was my home. I did a fair amount of bodysurfing at the old Stable Beach (now David Fleming Park). And a lot of snorkeling off Kapalua.

I saw the spinner dolphins moving along the coast in their large group, and regularly watched as a couple of windsurfers tore out across the channel, heading to Molokai and back over the afternoon-metal ocean. They had long thin banners streaming off the tops of their masts like medieval jousters (I imagine) and I've speculated that they might have been Jenna Severson and her husband. I'm not sure when he was lost at sea, but I think the timing is about right for these to be them. Or perhaps it was her father, John. These were good, experienced sailors, fast and unfazed by the regularly bumpy conditions of the tradewind-swept water.

We worked early at the garden, starting at 6.30a and then at 6, finishing by 2.30 or 3p, thus making it easy to get in a session of bodysurfing afterwards. It was only by the kindness and generosity of Colin/Margaret that we were able to live in their condo (21v-2 I think was the number... curious that it pops into my brain). They pretty much underwrote our life there, the biggest expense being food and utilities.

After I traveled in Europe and came home again, I worked in Lahaina on a noon-9pm shift, which meant I could spend my mornings snorkeling and taking pictures while the tourist world was still waking up (one of the things I've always loved about agricultural Maui is the early start to the day -- by 6.30a there were people out and about, working, heading to work, busy in the cool part of the day).

And though it feels like a divergence from the norm, it was a good time living with Kim and working outside in the tropical climate, free to spend time in the water, listening to music, being in our early 20s.