Aloha!
It's wedding day at the Mill! It's my first experience with a "cutesy" wedding date (aka 10.11.12) and I can't wait to see how they incorporate all the little details into their wedding. Anywho, we just got internet back today so I am going to blog about my Jaws experience yesterday.
As I said earlier, Tuesday morning I went down to see Jaws and it wasn't breaking too hard which was kind of disappointing considering I was expecting giant 400 foot waves. Jaws has the biggest surf and waves in the entire world so when it breaks, its huge! They aren't the most dangerous waves but they are the biggest which means they aren't the most difficult to surf. That being said, believe that there are no amateurs or beginners out there. The bay in which people surf Jaws is called Pe'ahi, which is just something to keep in mind as you read my blog. From what I understand, the reason the waves get so big is because of the underwater topography. Basically in order for there to be any surf there has to be a reef that the water is being pushed against. If the waves are 15 feet, that means that the reef is at least 15 feet underwater. There is a trench and valley that meet the reef which is what creates the massive surf at Jaws. It's a perfect storm. The way the valley and trench meet, it creates these perfect, predictable, massive waves every time as long as there is a swell coming in. Because the reef is so deep at Pe'ahi, I've learnt that you can't have a "small Jaws". Jaws only breaks when it is big, so anytime there are waves at Pe'ahi the surf is huge. There can be bigger (upwards of 70 feet) waves, but I'll tell you from experience...seeing 40 foot waves are no joke. Apparently the big break was at around 4-5pm Tuesday and kept going until yesterday at around 11am before the Kona winds left and the trade winds started to come in (might be wrong about that, but I think I got it right). Anyways, yesterday was my day off and I had plans on taking Cindy with Corine, Sergey and I to Jaws at 8am because Pe'ahi was supposed to break hard! I woke up PUMPED. Seriously, out of this world pumped. Anyways, it turned into a house gathering because Sergey, Corine and even Sylvia came! Cindy wasn't feeling too hot in the morning so she slept in. WOMP. Anyways, we got down to Pe'ahi and there were tons of cars everywhere. We even saw a Jeep flipped over into a gully. It was a massive gridlock and it was horribly hot so the dirt roads were throwing dirt everywhere. It was like the Dustbowl of 1930.
Anyways, I've titled my Subaru "the boo" (say Subaru and Boo out loud and you'll understand why I nicknamed it that) and trekked on down to the water. Once you enter the sugar cane, there is about a three or four mile dirt road that everyone has to drive down to get to Jaws. It was out of control as the road is really only wide enough for one car but you have to drive into the cane to let other cars pass you by. I had gone down by myself on Tuesday so I knew exactly where I was going. Even Sylvia and Corine didn't know exactly how to get there. I get some local points right here! Anyways, I was working my way down the hill in the Boo and finally maybe 3 miles down I parked right into the grass because I didn't want to get stuck in that horrible gridlock down there. We walked on down, Sylvia more or less ran with her giant strides, and slowly approached the surf. You could hear the water pounding against the rocks even before you saw the waves. It was like massive rumbling. It was unbelievable. I had no idea water could sound so loud. When we got down there it looked SO much different than Tuesday morning. There were tents up, people were everywhere, the entire place smelled like "the good stuff", and people had binoculars/telescopes/whatnots. It was the place to be. Anyways, We all kind of went to do our own thing and I decided to wonder into the hill down towards the water. When you are watching Jaws go off, you are maybe 500 feet above the water. The surfers scale this giant hill all the way down and because the waves weren't so big, they were able to paddle out. You have to be crazy to paddle out even if the waves are "only" 40 feet. Anyways, I wanted to get closer to the water so I scaled down the hill a bit and worked my way into some shrubbery and shade. I realized I had an awesome spot not totally packed with people so I found Corine, Sergey and Sylvia and brought them to my secret spot. There was only one other guy in there so we all were just watching in complete admiration of the giant waves. It truly was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. The waves were HUUUUUGE. The best way to see Jaws is on a boat, but even on the hill it was out of control impressive. I probably would of thought I was dying or something if I was on the boat and in the water as that was going off. In retrospect I guess I'm glad I was on land. There was about 20 surfers in the water (aka 20 crazy people) who were riding the waves until they got a good wave and hit the surf. I saw so many things happen. I saw waves crash early and swallow the surfers (which was horrifying as you have to hold your breath at least a minute and a half as the wave pounds over you), I saw boards break, I saw the jetskiis save people, and things I can't even begin to explain. After maybe an hour, we drove the Boo back to the Mill so that I could drop off Sylvia, Corine and Sergey. Cindy was feeling much better so she came over and we decided on a plan of attack. We decided to to Ho'okipa and check out the waves there. MASSIVE WAVES. They were unbelievable. At that point, we knew we were going to Jaws. First off, I couldn't get enough. Secondly, Cindy is from Haiku and had never seen Jaws. And I knew how to get there! LOCAL POINTS AGAIN! The Boo is everything. Really, the Boo was being worked yesterday. MVP of the day for certain. Anywho, we got some gas and trekked on back to Pe'ahi. It was about 10:30 by now and I remember Situs had told me that at around 12-1 there was supposed to be some crazy kite surfers trying to hit Jaws.
Anyways, I've titled my Subaru "the boo" (say Subaru and Boo out loud and you'll understand why I nicknamed it that) and trekked on down to the water. Once you enter the sugar cane, there is about a three or four mile dirt road that everyone has to drive down to get to Jaws. It was out of control as the road is really only wide enough for one car but you have to drive into the cane to let other cars pass you by. I had gone down by myself on Tuesday so I knew exactly where I was going. Even Sylvia and Corine didn't know exactly how to get there. I get some local points right here! Anyways, I was working my way down the hill in the Boo and finally maybe 3 miles down I parked right into the grass because I didn't want to get stuck in that horrible gridlock down there. We walked on down, Sylvia more or less ran with her giant strides, and slowly approached the surf. You could hear the water pounding against the rocks even before you saw the waves. It was like massive rumbling. It was unbelievable. I had no idea water could sound so loud. When we got down there it looked SO much different than Tuesday morning. There were tents up, people were everywhere, the entire place smelled like "the good stuff", and people had binoculars/telescopes/whatnots. It was the place to be. Anyways, We all kind of went to do our own thing and I decided to wonder into the hill down towards the water. When you are watching Jaws go off, you are maybe 500 feet above the water. The surfers scale this giant hill all the way down and because the waves weren't so big, they were able to paddle out. You have to be crazy to paddle out even if the waves are "only" 40 feet. Anyways, I wanted to get closer to the water so I scaled down the hill a bit and worked my way into some shrubbery and shade. I realized I had an awesome spot not totally packed with people so I found Corine, Sergey and Sylvia and brought them to my secret spot. There was only one other guy in there so we all were just watching in complete admiration of the giant waves. It truly was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. The waves were HUUUUUGE. The best way to see Jaws is on a boat, but even on the hill it was out of control impressive. I probably would of thought I was dying or something if I was on the boat and in the water as that was going off. In retrospect I guess I'm glad I was on land. There was about 20 surfers in the water (aka 20 crazy people) who were riding the waves until they got a good wave and hit the surf. I saw so many things happen. I saw waves crash early and swallow the surfers (which was horrifying as you have to hold your breath at least a minute and a half as the wave pounds over you), I saw boards break, I saw the jetskiis save people, and things I can't even begin to explain. After maybe an hour, we drove the Boo back to the Mill so that I could drop off Sylvia, Corine and Sergey. Cindy was feeling much better so she came over and we decided on a plan of attack. We decided to to Ho'okipa and check out the waves there. MASSIVE WAVES. They were unbelievable. At that point, we knew we were going to Jaws. First off, I couldn't get enough. Secondly, Cindy is from Haiku and had never seen Jaws. And I knew how to get there! LOCAL POINTS AGAIN! The Boo is everything. Really, the Boo was being worked yesterday. MVP of the day for certain. Anywho, we got some gas and trekked on back to Pe'ahi. It was about 10:30 by now and I remember Situs had told me that at around 12-1 there was supposed to be some crazy kite surfers trying to hit Jaws.
As we got closer to Pe'ahi, you could see cars lining streets and parked on grass all over...before you even entered the 4 mile drive in the cane field! People were hitchhiking with people who had AWD, 4WD, any car that could make it down, etc. Once we entered the cane field again, Cindy was taking pictures of everything. We got down, off roaded into the cane and finished our walk to Jaws. So many more people in the afternoon! The surf wasn't hitting as well, but it was still amazingly impressive. I saw a couple of people "rip the tube" or "curl the tube" as I was calling it. Apparently that is called "barreling" and I am surf language illiterate. I obviously spoke to no surfers because they would have looked at me like I was an idiot. Even with the crazy skilled surfers out there, the most memorable was the lone kite surfer. At around 12, there was one kite surfer behind where the waves were breaking. As I have no clue how kitesurfing works, I thought he was just hitting the big bumps before the wave break. Next thing you know, this kiter is the only man on Jaws flying down with his kite and then the wave swallowed him whole. The entire section of specters let out a group "OOOOHH". Even as the wave swallowed him, he managed to keep his kite surfing and came out flying maybe 15 feet in the air. His board had detached from him and the jetskiis were already speeding their way over to the rocks to get it. I thought he was going to die. The whole time I heard other people hiding out in the shade going, "the man's a nut...is he crazy? He's a nut!"... My sentiments exactly. He got ROCKED out there. In our secret spot, there was only one other gentleman who was watching the surf. His name was Brian and he's from Vancouver, like Sylvia and Corine. I mentioned in an earlier post that Cindy is a one woman show. Brian is just as funny and so the two of them had me in stitches the entire time we were chillin' out watching the surf. Of the most memorable bits of conversation, they tried to outdo each other in centipede bites, they spoke about the trust funders/"sperm donors", and creating alliances like Survivor. I was dying. Holyhell, if you've never heard two people go back and forth over who had the worst centipede bite experience, you haven't lived. Cindy got bit super close to her eye, which would have potentially left her blind and Brian got bit reeeallllyyy close to his you know. AHAHA, literally I might have cried as they tried to outdo each other. He was super sweet and we ended up taking him back up the dirt road when we all decided to leave. Anyways, later that afternoon Cindy and I hit Milagros for some mid day happy hour margaritas (helllooooo 2 dollar drinks), and told Brian to meet up with us. Really sweet guy...and not bad looking at all LOL.We had a couple of drinks, some food and he came shopping with us. I guess for shopping, he just came in the store and sat down while we tried on things and walked around. Either he didn't have anything to do, or we were the most awesome people he had met and in true Maui Style, he wanted to chill out with us. I mean Cindy's hilarious, why wouldn't you want to hang out with us? We went into Maui Girl and they had my L Space bikini I've been wanting forever and I obviously had to try it on, so I guess at least he got a little show out of it? Turns out I'm fake modest in a Brasilian bikini...who would have thought? While we were shopping, Cindy made a joke and said "We walked out into the jungle and met a man named Brian"....I mean that's pretty much the truth. Whatever! I'm going to Whistler next winter. He's an instructor there so I expect the passes! The last time I went skiing/boarding I was at Stratton so I'd like to see what the West Coast is like. EXPECT ME AND CINDY NEXT WINTER BRIAN!
Broken board in the background!
JAWS.
Crazy cars lined on the dirt road....Makin' our way down to Pe'ahi
Cindy and I
HAY.
So you know what kind of comedian I was with: Cindy's text to her friend Suzi.... "Beyond packed. It's like survivor out here...people making alliances fighting through cane, coughing up dirt"
Seriously, she's hilarious.
MORE JAWS. HOLY GOODNESS.
"A dusty car is a sign of Jaws"
MVP: "The Boo"
I LOVE THE TOP. They have it in a bandeau, and I tried it on in purple (in February lol), but Brian and Cindy liked the mango (bottom color). I actually liked the top color, and I loved the white. They had every color ever! Obviously there isn't fringe on the bottom, I'm just holding the entire swimsuit on bottom to choose a color. Can you imagine a fringed top and bottom bikini? ...sounds awful to me.
Not even a real brazilian bottom and I was modest! Who knew. Seriously, Sarah...who knew?
Also, why is this swimsuit nearly $200?! I can't afford life. Actually, I don't think a $200 bikini is real life.
and the best thing ever... A VIDEO OF JAWS GOING OFF!!!!
Unbelievable! Now imagine that in person. I feel so lucky that Jaws went off while I was here. Truly something I'll remember forever.
And one of the surfers I saw yesterday has a youtube link of him hitting the surf: Check it out.... This one is way close so you can see how big the wave is. I'd suggest watching the vid above (its around a minute), and then clicking the link here which is short as well. Seriously, you'll understand once you watch.
Anyways, wedding time over here!
With warmest aloha,
MJ
No comments:
Post a Comment