Maui Christmas

Had a great time with friends in Maui, for the holiday. Here are a few pics from our adventures.

Makawao forest

Christmas day we went for a hike in the Makawao forest.

Merry Christmas from Maui

Wednesday.

After some fine tuning in dreamweaver, all morning, I went out for a drive and took a few pics.

On the hunt.

Today, I was on the hunt for the Banzai Rock Skatepark. I saw clips of it on tv and thought it looked real cool. So I headed to the North Shore and stopped at all the usual places on the way. Haliewa, Waimea Bay, which was like a lake, Pipeline, which still has the Pipe Masters stuff up, Sunset Beach, quick stop at the sunset beach elementary school for a local fair and all while trying to keep an eye out for the skatepark. I asked one guy at Sunset Beach if he knew where the skatepark was and he was helpful and told me it was right before the foodland on the left/South side of the road and that it was hard to see. Then I asked some other kids at the elementary school and they said it was across from the beach... as you can tell I passed a few beaches.

Finally...

Finally found the Banzai Rock Skatepark. It was a pretty cool location. Off the main road in a field behind some trees and bushes... if you didn't know it was there, you would pass right by it. Got stared down pretty hard as I walked in, but still snapped a few shots. There was a girl with her little brother and both of them were ripping. Finished off the trip with a Matsumoto's shave ice. Grape and cherry with Vanilla ice cream at the bottom. I think this is the girl I saw.

Today

Here are a few pics from my day. I was at Sandys and a helicopter was practicing rescues in the water and then dropping them on land. Then the dock down the road was jammin. A few boats, canoes and a stand up paddle boarder.

More Pics.

Night Snorkeling

So last night I was asked to go night snorkeling. Sounded like a good idea at 4:30pm. Once we got there at 7:30 I thought differently. First off the beach isn't the best place to be at night. Shady people about. We went in to the left of Sandy's which is very rocky and just as rough as the normal part of the beach. We had to walk over the lava rocks to get in and then get passed the breaking waves. We then got out there for about 15 minutes and my snorkel detached from my mask. My friend was very helpful and was trying to fix it for me but it just wasn't working. We were in about 25 ft of water out in the ocean, and I was feeling a little sketched out. I was getting nauseous from the water surges and then getting out was even harder then getting in. Waves crashing on you and I was trying my hardest not to lose my footing on the rocks or getting smashed up against one. I was extremely thankful I got out with minor cuts on my feet. Could have been a lot worse. I think I was a little out of my element. Here are a few pictures of where we went in during the day. The first picture is pretty much how it was last night.

China Walls

I went to the china walls today, which is a spot at the end of a neighborhood, with rock cliffs. You can jump in the water and then you have to climb up a rope attached to the rock to get out. You have to time it right with the waves on your way out, otherwise you will be stuck half way up the slimy rock, clinging to dear life. Little wild.... I have only done it once and dont feel the need to do it again. I took this picture of the house that over looks the china walls. Imagine that was your view every night.

2010 Honolulu Marathon

Today was the 2010 Honolulu Marathon and it was right down the road from me. It actually blocked me in all morning. I live right at mile marker 14. I put a red star on the map. Here are a few pictures of the runners.

Got to love the rain

Yesterday it rained all day so I didn't go to work. Instead, I got a lot of stuff done that I have been holding off on for a while. Updated my portfolio site, went to the gym, went to the movies, and of course went to Sandys. Today was supposed to rain, but turned out to be great. Here are a few pics from the day.

Man of Wars

Man of Wars swam into Hanauma Bay today and 15 people were stung. I was surprised they didn't close the beach down. They did, however, have an ambulance on the scene. It rained a little in the afternoon and made for some cool pictures. The first three are from Sandys and the last one is from the lookout at Hanauma Bay. I guess the news of the Man of Wars spread quick because no one was in the water at Sandys.

Hawaii Kai Shopping Center

Im not sure of the actual name of the shopping center, but it is in Hawaii Kai and about a 5 minute drive from where I am staying. It has a lot of good stores like Jamba Juice, Koko Marina 8 movie theatre, Local Motion, Teddy's burgers and the gym I go to. It must be a popular center because I have seen two "famous" people there so far. Tim "Youngblood" Chapman from Dog the bounty hunter, and "Jin-Soo Kwon" Daniel Dae Kim from Lost and the new Hawaii Five-O. I didnt want to bother either of them with a picture, so here are some I found online.

Sandy's

After a ruff day at "The Bay" I went to the Sandy Beach or Sandy's, for an afternoon swim. It was a nice end to a wild day. It was super clear today and you could see Maui in the distance. Little hard to see in the picture, plus I took it late in the day, but its right in the center on the horizon, almost looks like a cloud.

Cutthroat island

This weekend we were out in full force at Hanauma Bay, or better known as Cutthroat Island. My table is second from the right.

Bettah

Well, today was a lot better then yesterday. I fine tuned my bungee cord situation and got some shirt cover so the sun doesn't damage my shirts. Still too windy to put up my umbrella though. I have to say my table was looking a lot bettah. The tour buses, snorkelers, rooster and chickens were in full force today. I even got a late swim in at Sandy Beach, which might have to become a regular thing.