After my four month long journey in Maui, I left for NY in early November. Tickets were cheaper for a round trip flight than just a one way so I booked an arbitrary return date of 11/28/12. Turns out from my initial ticket had an original return to NY date of 12/4/12 which meant I had an extra week in Hawai'i if I wanted to return with a paid for ticket. I ended up returning and having one of the most incredible weeks of my entire life. 

I landed on the 28th, had Cindy pick me up with a bernie ready to go. I arrived in the evening and it was a full moon; supposedly was going to be a lunar eclipse. The most beautiful sight to drive down Hana Highway from the airport and see the BOOMING winter waves from the moon's super bright glow. Bethany was off on the mainland with her grandmother and offered to let me stay in her place and left her car. When I got to her place, she had a super thoughtful spread for me. She left half a bottle of rum, fancy hippie incense and a lighter, a puka shell bracelet!, a pair of shell earrings, her car keys and a 2 page note. I had my own place for the week and a car and rum and it was all free! I woke up the next day and went into Pa'ia for lunch at Cafe Des Amies. The mozzarella crepe was just as I remembered and absolutely delicious. 

I went to the beach everyday and met a really interesting man on Baldwin named Ollie Olofson. He is a painter/artist and was visiting from LA. Turns out we both loved the same hippie dippie mermaid part of Baldwin Beach Park. I had the most fantastic time by myself in Maui. Maui is my island and it is one of the first places I started to discover myself. Having the privilege of coming back, expenses paid and with a free lavish crib and car was more than I could have even imagined. It is as if the stars aligned and welcomed me back to the island. The next day I went to hang out with Maddie and Matt. They were house sitting at this dope house and offered to grill out a dinner for me...which I happily accepted! We had steaks, fish, corn on the cob and tons of Bikini Blonde Lager. We ended the night with nude hottubbing and pool jumping in Haiku, overlooking the most GORGEOUS gulch, underneath my first ever moonbow! UNBELIEVABLE. We were some pretty lazy bernies and had some awesome existential hippie talk. Really awesome. So comfortable being naked. It's really the greatest. Anyways...

The waves were booming all week as it was winter and that is when the waves get big. I scaled the entirety of Ho'okipa to get as close to the water as possible and really chilled out with the world and myself. Super serene, super perfect. 

The following night, I went over to Cindy and Jason's place where we got absolutely knocked by the bernie and Jason took incriminating pictures of us passed out with Koa Bear. Kind of adorable. I'm sure when I look back at this I am going to die of laughter. 

The next day, I hung out with Kirsty from Colleen's and went over to the south side of the island. We went to Secret Beach and tanned before going back to her place to kick it in the pool...not too bad for December 1st! After Kirsty's place, I drove over to Nicole and Janus' spot in Maui Meadows. She got a new baby boxer named Meli who is absolutely the most adorable dog ever...besides Indi of course. I ended up spending the night there and we went fishing the next day ,where I helped to catch a fish! It was little, but still we caught it. While we were out there totally relaxed and chillin' out, I saw a splash waaaay out in the ocean (There are no waves in the middle of the ocean, there needs to be a reef to break which causes the waves just an FYI everyone). I excitedly stood up and went "NICOLE! IS THAT A WHALE JUMPING?!". We literally watched for 45 minutes while the ocean waaay in the distance created these little splashes. UNBELIEVABLE. REAL WHALES. IVE SEEN REAL WHALES AND REAL WHALES JUMPING BACK AND FORTH. It was unbelievable! Check. That was something on my list!

The next day was my last full day on the island and I woke up with a start at 5:30 am from a  NYC area code phone number. I got a job offer with David Monn LLC!!!!!!!!! What an unbelievable start to my last day. I literally screamed and changed right into my bikini, packed my bag and called Shayma to make sure she was ready for the day. I took Armin from Hang Gliding Maui up on the offer to fly to Hana in his private Cessna. That was definitely the first private plane and the smallest plane I have ever been on.  We drove over to Kahului to meet in Starbucks where the ever charming and oh so handsome Armin was waiting to collect us. We drove right into the private jet lot and entered a code where we walked right to the plane and got on. Thank GOODNESS as us bernie's were a little nervous. The Cessna was a 4 seater and Armin let me sit in front with him!! Once he lifted the plane, he let me fly EIGHT minutes until it was time to land. The flight is only 13 minutes so I was legitimately flying the plane. UNBELIEVABLE. The view is absolutely breathtaking. So beautiful. Armin took my phone and started snapping pictures of me flying. So cool. He is such a kind soul. Anyways, we landed in Hana and he gave us the keys to his pick up truck and told us to be back by 4pm. Seriously, the man is a gem. The car was stick shift so Shayma drove. We stopped first at the general store to pick up some beers and snacks for our day. Our first adventure was hiking 2 miles up to the top of Waimouku Falls which is a 400 foot waterfall. SO INCREDIBLE. After that we hiked back down, through the path and bamboo forest where we continued down to 7 sacred pools. There were a ton of tourists and no one really knew that you can jump into the pools if you knew the right spot where the water was deep enough. Shayma showed me and we jumped into the pool with a couple dozen people watching us. So amazing. After that we drove over to Hamoa Beach where I caught the sickest waves body surfing. I'm actually pretty damn good at it. So unreal. The last adventure for us was hiking to Red Sand Beach. That was actually a pretty agressive hike. You have to scale the rocks and lock your feet in the right places so you wont slip. It's a nude beach and most people don't go out of their way to hike over there so we were only among maybe 7-8 people. On each part of our journey we bernie-d out a bit and just took in how amazing our lives were and how incredibly blessed we were to have been experiencing Hana this way. Once we got to Red Sand Beach, we jumped into the water and cleansed ourselves with the magic that is Maui. As corny as that sounds, I promise that was the exact experience. Truly cleansing. Anyways, it was about 4 by that time and we headed back to Hang Gliding Maui to meet up with Armin. Jans (the glider pilot) was flying back with us so Shayma and I were in the back together. I counted over 40 waterfalls. SO AMAZING. Absolutely incredible. When we got back, I went into Pa'ia where  I had fresh Ono at Pa'ia Fish Market and met Cindy at Des Amies for a drink. I went back with Cindy to her spot and finalized our plans for my departure day. Cindy picked me up from Bethany's spot and we headed right to Baldwin Beach. We went to the not so hippie side and it looked like something out of a movie. Cindy made a joke that we were in St Barths! Anyways, that was my day. I almost jumped ship when I landed in Oahu and didn't return but turns out they couldnt accomodate me in Waikiki if I gave my flight up because no one was trying to get on the flight (seriously, I tried). Anyways, turns out from my initial flight from NYC-Maui in August was with the same airflight attendant named Tia. She recognized me and brought over 3 little bottles of rum, a package of nuts, some cheese and crackers and fresh POG. A gem. I promise you I must have done something amazing in my past life to be treated this well. 

WHAT A PERFECT DAY AND PERFECT ENDING TO MY TIME IN MAUI! I can't even believe that is my life. 

With warmest aloha,

MJ