Sunrise Illuminating Maui

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Approaching harbor in Kahului, clouds rest on the vibrant green mountain sides. This side of Maui has about 130 inches of rain annually near the shore and over 200 inches of rain in the mountains.

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This side of the Maui is very green, also guaranteed to be wet and rainy much of the time. (The western, dry side of the island gets less than 20 inches of rain per year.)

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Pulling into the harbor just before sunrise. As the sun crests the peak on the opposite side of the harbor, the greens are bathed in sunlight, the mountain’s shape and texture become visible.

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Approaching Maui

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The sea, the skies, the clouds, awaiting sunrise…

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A view to cherish.

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Approaching Maui.

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Haleakala Volcano shrouded in clouds.

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Haleakala National Park is an hour’s drive southwest of Kahului and is home of Haleakala Volcano. Amazing place, sacred place to generations of native Hawaiians.

Haleakala National Park stretches along the southern and eastern coast of Maui. As the tallest peak on the island, Haleakala rises over 10,000 feet and it can be seen from almost anywhere on the island. The Hawaiian legend of Maui the Demigod, one of the greatest cultural gods of Hawaii, tells of him standing on the peak of Haleakala and lassoing the sun as it crossed the sky so that the sun would slow its descent and make the day last longer.

The sunrise did peek through the clouds that shrouded Haleakala as we pulled towards port. That evening, we saw the sunset from the summit of the volcano, the clouds parted just in time to let the light stream through (in a post soon to come…)

Coconuts for Sale

Palm Trees © 2008 Bo Mackison

Palm trees offer such a magnificence of wonder: the horizontally striped bark; the giant fronds, dipping towards the earth; a peek-through of the sapphire sky through deep green slivers of windows; a shady spot to sip coconut milk from the real thing, if you’re lucky enough to find a guy willing to haggle a bit over the price of the coconut.

“Twenty bucks for a coconut? What? No way?” That’s more than half my spending money for the day, and I’m feeding two kids plus me. Then I feel guilty; I have so much. But at the same time, I sure didn’t have that much in my pocket. I found a boy selling his fruit for eight bucks which still seemed expensive, but a better deal nonetheless. I couldn’t resist the experience. And even if I did overpay, I still go home to luxury and money enough for what I need plus a lot more. Handing those dollars to this sweaty kid sure seemed like a good enough reason to drink the luscious milk of a just-picked coconut at least once in your life. Ah, the real thing was quite grand.

Photograph taken and coconut eaten at Tulum, Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. January 1, 2008.

Sunrise at Sea

Sunrise at Sea © 2008 Bo Mackison

Sailing off the Florida Keys, the sun’s rays light the skies above the ocean,

Days later, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, the sun disappeared. Diagonal winds crossed the ship’s deck at 45 mph and the ship sailed through 12-18 foot waves. After all day turbulence (as in staggering while walking,) the formal dining rooms were quite empty for dinner. No surprise.