We woke up to light rain today. Walking onto the balcony the rain wasn’t so much falling down as floating around in all directions like it hadn’t made up it’s mid yet if falling was a good plan. It was warm and sunny even with the rain. This meant we had all kinds of rainbows out over the ocean. They were seriously bright, and we had a double rainbow for a bit as well. When the rain let up we went for a walk down the beach.
The beach at our unit had a rebuilt seawall – whatever storm hit this area a few years ago really tore things apart. One of the condos further down hadn’t rebuilt as much, and you could see how their shoreline was torn up. a grassy overhand stuck out with about 2 feet of exposed rock below. We talked to an older couple there and they came to the same place every few years. The beach access used to be a long smooth beach with a nice grassy dune just a few years before. now the tides were coming right up to the property.
This place lost a lot of land. It was going to need some serious work or it would get too close to the building itself. I could see why our place put in the concrete seawall.
I wasn’t paying attention and a big wave rolled in, catching me on the sand and soaking my sandals and shorts. Fortunately my phone wasn’t in my pocket. So much for not turning your back on the ocean – forgotten already. I headed back with Yulia and she stayed at our seawall to watch the local turtles feed while I went up to change. Then a light rain started again.
We had an appointment at noon to tour a local Dragonfruit farm. Same place we went to last time, but now they do full tours with a sample tasting. You really can’t beat fresh tropical fruit – and I don’t even like fruit that much. But I haven’t seen a Cattle ranch that does a tasting plate yet – and fruit trees smell better than cows – so Fruit Farm it is.
As soon as we hit the farm, the weather was clear. As it turns out – it’s in upper Lahaina and Lahaina is in a big rain shadow, technically desert. I never knew that. So the misty rain was continuing at our condo but it was dry here. We could look over to the mountain valley just a few miles away, and there was rain there too. Total rain shadow.
The place was pretty much as we remembered, but according to the guide they got hit bad in a fire in 2018 – that’s when the hurricane hit and did the damage to our shoreline as well. The storm started an electrical fire and burned up most of their farm. They are still recovering. We took a long walk in the hot sun and got a pretty good education on the types of fruit they have. This included how they hand-pollinate dragonfruit (it’s a climbing cactus-vine), how to manage and harvest bananas (you cut the flower from the bunch, and once developed, you pick the bunch to ripen indoors so it isn’t eaten by birds), and that Cocao is grown as a natural insect prevention (insects attack that plant instead of the fruit trees because the leaves taste better).
There was a great view here and we snacked on farm fruit and coconut water after the tour. We also picked up a lot of fruit from their stand when we were headed out. it was cheaper than last time, and a pretty good value. The whole farm is run by young volunteers as part of an organic farm education program – which sounds like a pretty good time. It also looked like they may have been taking a minor in education on Organic Grown Recreational Pharmaceuticals, because the back of the stand smelled like Seattle. Not a bad gig if you can get it I guess.
We were hungry for real food at this point, and had made a lunch reservation at the Yacht Club again. They were going to be closed for the 4th of July – but they had a special menu for the 3rd, so we thought that would be fun to try – and they are a bit cheaper than the other places on the waterfront. We walked into the club, and I chatted a bit with a couple locals we met the day before. They are always interested in who is coming to visit, so we talked boats for a bit and I gave the rundown of our club and the boats we use. Most of the folks here sail. It makes sense on the ocean like this. We are still just Power boaters, but that’s pretty easy in Seattle’s protected waters.
The rest of the crew grabbed a table by the water. The club has a great view – the main restaurant/bar/meeting room is open ended with a view of Lanaii. This i right in the middle of all the shops on the Lahaina waterfront, so it’s a pretty choice location. Upstairs is a deck with an even better view, and that is filled with their small sail gear. We have a similar setup of gear on our dock at our club – it’s used for Youth sailing activities and events like that. I could see a hatch in the floor at the bottom of the stairs, so I assume they lower the skiffs straight down through the floor and into the water below the club to launch. A pretty cool setup.
Lunch was great. A lot of fish of course, I had an Ono Sandwich, we got some Calamari and Ahi as starters. Yulia had a slightly strange Ahi salad – kind of a Mediterranean mix that was not perfect flavors with the ahi – but all fresh. Sasha and Petru had Ribs and a French dip. Again, all great food. We relaxed with a few drinks and just ate and watched the view. It was pretty hot so we were happy for the shade.
After that we just spent the evening in the condo again. The rain didn’t return, and we were tired from the day’s walking. We had an attempt to make Pina Colada’s that weren’t too sweet, but it just wouldn’t work. as a cocktail it’s more of a desert than a drink, and you lose the flavor if you don’t’ make it so sweet.
We will keep working on that drink. Or I might just stick to Mai Tai’s. Tough choices.
Cognitive Dissonance 