Kona Winds and The SuperBlueBlood Moon!

Maui!
We are just thrilled to be here and walk outside and look over to Molokai and eat fresh pineapple.
We don't care that bad weather is blowing in.
Except.
The Scuba Dive.
Yesterday, I attempted to initiate Cresty to scuba, amid a deck stacked against us. The Kona winds had begun blowing from the south and that is never good for dive conditions. There was surf, choppy surface and wind, although the last one doesn't matter to divers. Poor Cresty was a trooper and got the good sportsmanship award.
Here's our dive in point form because that is all it deserves:

Found a relatively quiet beach with small surf.
Walking in, the waves hit us
Cresty panicked a bit
I lost a fin
Found it
My regulator malfunctioned and leaked air like nobody's business
Got tossed around on the surface practicing breathing in the regulator
Went down to 8 feet
Went back up to calm down
I ran low on leaking air
On the way in to the beach, we got pummeled by surf
Cresty lost a fin
We were tossed on all fours onto the beach
Made it out to stand on the beach
So now, what we're saying is that I called it because I ran out of air but truthfully, it was terrible conditions for an entry and my poor student was freaked out, understandably.
The rest of the day was hanging around Lynn's, talking, then out to dinner at The SeaHouse Restaurant for fresh Opakapaka!

I woke up to see the moon at 1 a.m. and when it was just an eclipsed sliver, woke the others to see the blood moon. We got lots of views of it over the deck in the Maui sky, then the wind started up again, clouds rolled in and we went to bed. Cool!!!!!!
Getting ready to head off to Hana now....

Just before the eclipse. This doesn't do it justice.

Day 3 on Maui, Baby!

Woke up worrying that no one would come to my book signing event in Lahaina, Maui. Trying to push that horrid thought to the back of my mostly empty mind, I drank two cups of coffee and made a distraction plan for the morning.
We'd talked of doing a dive early then returning the rental gear but opted for a quick snorkel at Airport Beach, (now called something entirely different.)

Snorkeled off beach above Black Rock

Apres snorkel in the parking lot

The day was shaping up to be glorious at 9 AM and that fact was only accentuated by the fact that we got a parking spot near the beach and slipped in to the water effortlessly. The swell (big, long rolling expanses of water) had stirred up the visibility close to shore so we snorkeled out to where we could see the coral but that made it so far away that for this scuba diver who likes to glide only two feet off the reef, it was frustrating. Although Airport Beach is a great place to do beginner dives, I'd forgotten how far away the coral reef is from the surface. We saw a large school of enormous yellow tangs, something I don't remember ever having seen before. I did not know they were a fish that hung out in schools! The coral didn't look as bad as two years earlier. So much depends on whether last summer's water temp was really warm.

Having a big laugh with Ray!

Back at Lynn's we hung out with our hostess, talked, then put on the Seahawks game only to be taunted into thinking we were going for the championship and then being cut off at the knees.
I busied myself making chocolate covered strawberries for the book signing.

Driving in to Barnes & Noble, I tried to remember Nancy's last name to tell Eliza that Bessie and Nancy would be there, only to notice the van in front said LYNCH. How's that for the universe delivering an immediate answer? -Nancy Lynch had arrived all the way from Kihei.

The book signing was great fun. I grabbed most of the store's chairs, made an audience area and when everyone was seated, started talking. People said it was entertaining so I guess I'll have to take their words for it. I sold most of the store's copies of my book, signed them, passed out strawberries and had a fabulous time. Is it any wonder when I get in a social situation and can't get a word in edgewise, I feel unloved and unfulfilled. I must have a great need to be noticed as the baby in the family. Psychology 101. Note to self: I inherited the Morgan arms. Oh well. I frickin had a B&N book signing!

Me and David, author of Kapuu

David Schoonover, who is one of my fellow Lei Crime KW authors, drove all the way from Kihei to say hello and lend support and many other people arrived simply because they thought it might be an interesting talk. I hope they felt it was.

Me and Lynn goofing around

Eliza and Lynn

Sunset was approaching so we got out of our fancy clothes, gathered up the doggie, Spencer, who'd just been told he DOESN'T have cancer but has a heart condition, and took him for a celebratory walk north of the Kapalua Golf Course on the trails. He chugged along like the 13 year old trooper he is while Lynn, Eliza and I talked politics. This topic has become our obsession, like most of the nation.




Dinner at the Napili Kai Beach Club - The sea House Restaurant was absolutely magical! The sunset involved streaks of peachy pink and lavender across the mostly clear sky and the food was to die for.
The three of us shared snocchi in cream sauce, beet and goat cheese salad, mahi mahi in coconut/mac nut crust, onaga (red snapper) in basil pesto crust and mushroom risotta and spent 20 minutes humming to ourselves eating in ecstasy. New fav restaurant on Maui!

Back at Lynn's, the house across the street had 37 children over to play in the dark outside, and the party included a bounce house and scads of drunk parents, motorized play trucks and music. The fun didn't allow for us to go to sleep until 11 but that was okay because I'm reading Toby Neal's new book SCORCHED and couldn't put it down!
More later...