Aloha oukou,

After work today I raced down to the beach to see if the waves were still breaking. I decided against Pe'ahi because I thought that it probably looked the way it did this morning and I didn't see the point in going back. Turns out the tides shifted and the waves were HUGE at around 4-5pm. FML. Anyways, they're supposed to be giant tomorrow morning so I am driving Corine, Sergey and Cindy down with me at 8am. I am SO excited! Seriously, I feel like the luckiest girl in the entire world right now. This was the one thing I really wanted to see in Maui and it was pretty much the only thing that was out of my control because I didn't know if it would happen or they would break. When I was looking out at the waves today,  I was thinking of my good friend Jordan from home. Sending a little love your way. Thinking of you J.  We'll have to come back here so that I can see you hit the super surf. 

Anyways, I decided to go to Ho'okipa Lookout again because this morning was absolutely incredible. This afternoon was no exception- the waves were spectacular. They were coming in huge sets, looked absolutely beautiful, had a glassy characteristic about them and were SO powerful. I decided to hop the fence and scale my way down the rocks so that I could get as close as possible to the water. I had seen some other people down there so I thought that it would be okay. Once I got down there, I bumped into Corine and Sergey! What a surprise! The Vog was super thick and you couldn't even tell that there were mountains or a volcano on the island. The best way to describe Vog is like being inside of a cloud...very white, all encompassing, thick and it feels very still. Many of the residents here say that the Vog gives them headaches and I'm sure that it can't be good for you being that the amount of haze coming from The Big Island can cover another entire island in a fog for a couple of days. Anyways, this afternoon at Ho'okipa wasn't really about any of the surfers. There wasn't anyone out in the water surfing this afternoon. The waves were incredibly strong and were breaking really fast. They would climb way up high and then drop immediately in quick succession of their sets. For any surfer to do that would be dangerous and for that reason the waves were considered un-surfable. After chilling out at the Lookout for about an hour, I went to Colleen's to meet up with Cindy and Jason. During my short drive from Ho'okipa to Colleens I had a "house music epiphany" similar to my Hawai'ian reggae epiphany- weird, don't ask. Regardless of that, tomorrow Cindy and I have plans to paddle and snorkel (YAY!) and I convinced her to come early so that she could come down to Jaws with Corine, Sergey and I in the morning. It should be unbelievable. I can't wait. I really can't sleep and that's the honest to goodness reason that I am posting right now.

WATCH THIS. IT IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!

 Corine and Sergey. You can see the waves in this picture. I thought it did them justice so I put this one up here...

I was trying to do the "gun show" thing and I completely failed. Seriously, what is that? Does anyone know? 

 Couldn't miss the waves

Water, Water, Everywhere!

Cindy got a swimsuit and this is the bag they put it in. Compare it to the size of a ketchup bottle. SERIOUSLY? She is going to the beach naked obviously in true Maui Mermaid style.

After dinner I met up with Situs (the guy who is renting me a car) and his housemates to kick it after dinner. I love the atmosphere in their house. It is so welcoming and they are all such great people. They had dinner and afterwards we had tea, chocolates and other desserts. I didn't eat dinner because Cindy, Jason and I decided we could eat an entire pizza...I guess some things don't change LOL. Situs and I talked for a bit and sat outside where I came to a crazy realization that you could HEAR the ocean from his house. Take a minute and let that sink in. I was sitting on top of a hill in Pa'ia and I could hear the ocean pounding at the rocks. It sounded as if I was sitting on a boat or on the edge of a bunch of rocks by a cliff. Unfreakingbelivable. Situs must have thought I was crazy because every time he said something, I either interrupted or right after said "Wait, can you hear the ocean too?". It was unreal. The star was littered with millions of stars and you could hear every wave crashing into the rocks. I've never experienced that. Sylvia said that you can hear Jaws go off from the Mill when it breaks hard which is absolutely insane. Apparently for the people who live closer, it can shake their house or some of their belongings sometimes. WOW. Situs also told me that today while he was watching surf, he saw a whale at Ho'okipa! WHALES AT HO'OKIPA! I am going to be on the lookout for whales from now on. The winter seems to be coming especially hard and especially early in Maui. I'm excited because that means I get to see everything transition but sheeeeesh. It's only October 9th! Last year Jaws didn't break until January 4th. Uncanny good fortune, I tell ya. The good news is that even though I thought I had only seen "baby Jaws", the truth of the matter is that Jaws only breaks when it is big. The waves don't break at all in the bay unless they are a minimum of 15 feet...and the surfers measure that from the back so they look like they are 25 feet. HUGE WAVES! 

I'm sure I'll have a good story from parading around with Cindy tomorrow, but in the meantime I'll leave you with another one of Clarissa's teasers...

With warmest aloha,

MJ