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Pronounce: HO-Oh-KEEP-Ah.
One of the Hawaiian/local things was that people were always correcting my pronunciation of all the spots,
street names, hotel names, products, etc. I didn't mind at all, but sometimes it was hard to keep track
of! In Waikiki, for instance, I mean, all the street names are all Hawaiian, of course, and it was just
impossible to pronounce them all, or even remember them, because they all looked "the same" to me! I'd ask for
directions and it was like, well, you take walawala to waianne and take a right on hoohookawa and then
take that to wishikaba and then go over the alawai bridge onto mahimahi...you get the point! I got lost
every time I came back from the North Shore to Waikiki. Like, every time. But that was kinda fun. One time
I ended up at the Honolulu Zoo! But it was already closed. The only street name I remember is Kuhio. That's the
one I took to get to the hotel. So that worked.
Also, you know, I was so amped from surfing and from my travel and accomplishments and stuff, that I had a very
hard time sleeping on both islands. I really was looking FORWARD to nice nights with the tropical breeze coming
in the sliding glass doors in both my hotel rooms, but you know, if I got five hours a night it was a lot.
In Waikiki, I was on the second floor facing Kuhio, and the noise from all the partying and nearby nightclubs
and busses and traffic was almost like being in New York City. I left the door open for the most part because
it wasn't really all that noise outside that was keeping me awake, it was the thunder in my head from riding
the day's waves echoing that kept me awake. And of course, the thoughts of the next day's thrills.
Which made it very EASY for me to wake up and dawn patrol on both islands. Which is so highly unusual for me,
that it was shocking even to me. I thought I'd be sleeping in and through the alarm clock and 6 a.m. wakeup calls
because of the sheer number of hours I was putting in the water and the level of exhausion that set in after about
the first three days,
but when the alarm and phone went off, I would just bolt out of bed like a kid on Christmas morning
and get on the move immediately. It was a complete reversal of my normal habits.
Which, as it turns out, was very beneficial, especially in Maui. With the swell down for two days and the winds
up early, it was best to get it as early as possible. Maui must be the "wind capital of the islands."
Hookipa was an early morning break. It is the world's capital of windsurfing, reportedly the best place in the
known universe to do that. And because of the declining surf, I knew that Hookipa would be one of the only
places that might have some rideable surf on Maui because of it's more northerly exposure. I really wanted to surf
on the eastern side, but like I said in my last report, that drive was a real time buster. It was a correct
assumption about the wind. Also, only after one day of not driving around, quite honestly I missed it very much, and after
coming back from Windmills I plotted out my plan to hit Hookipa very early in the morning (today). It was a
two-fold surfari. The first was to get up before dawn and surf it before the wind ruined it, and the second
was to plot out surfing there a second time, for my last day. Because as far as I knew, it was the break
closest to the airport, and I definitely wanted to get in the water one last time before I fly home (tomorrow). So today's
mission was very important as a surf day AND a scouting day.
It is interesting to note for fellow surfers, that the ease in which I've been able to find these spots and just
driving up to them is based on geography. On both Oahu and Maui, as I'm sure with the other islands as well,
you know, the roads are only like 50 yards off the beaches, and most places are pretty well-marked. Finding Honolua
was kind of like that, but not marked, however, that was just gut instinct that took me there. So if you know
in a general way where a spot might be located, you really could drive and watch for the towns and watch the
mile markers and make a good educated guess, and then stumble upon paradise. I got a lot of satisfaction
from finding EVERY break on both islands that I had targeted to surf.
So it was a very beautiful morning, where I saw the sun start to rise and illuminate the island of Lanai (LAN-Eye).
I took some very early morning photos as the sun started to shine on Lanai from my balcony (which was an incredible
ocean view), gathered my stuff, and then hit the road, and it felt really good. Especially
since I was going against the nightmare traffic that seemed like it went all the way from Kahului (Kah-HA-Loo-Eee)
(where the airport is), to Lahaina (LA-Hi-Nah). The traffic is just a nightmare on the islands. One lane each way in most
instances, and on Oahu, Kam (CAM) Highway and Ala (Al-ah) Moana (Moe-ON-Ahh) Blvd, as well as 30, 310 and 380 on Maui
reminded me of how brutal it is on a Sunday going from Montauk (MON-Talk) back into New York City (Neu-Yawlk Cit-ee) (ha). But luckily for me, most mornings my surf spots were against the traffic, thank gawd. I was always going in the opposite direction. And I kind of like that most of the time, if you don't already know that about me. In some respects, anyway.
So yes, confirmation, as the sun rose above majestically from behind the 10,500 foot Haleakala (Hal-ee-ah-Cal-Ah) Crater,
I passed the airport and into the throwback, quaint town of Paia (Pah-EEEE-Ah), and I knew I was close to Hookipa. Pass
through town, go a couple, five miles or so, and there it was with a nice, marked off ramp and generous parking lot
with showers, grassy area and plenty of open spaces to park. It was a very nice thing to drive up to in the morning,
especially with the volcano (my second one!) in the background. While not even comparitive to the beauty of
Honolua, it was pretty spectacular with Haleakala in the background and what looked to be a nice right point
to the east of the area. Upon doing my safety and awareness check, the place revealed a beach break type setup
that had four distinct peaks, except it was seriously shallow reef break and not sand. I chatted up a local after
checking it out and asked him what the names of the breaks were. To the furthest west was Hookipa Point, followed
in the middle by a place called Needles (I dared not ask why!), and I forget the names of the other places! Funny.
For the first time on my trip, the local said that maybe I didn't want to paddle out to the right point break
looking area. This was actually the place that I wanted to surf of all the reefs I saw. He said that it was dominated
by some pretty heavy locals who tend to vibe people they don't know, and he was pretty serious about it in his tone
and the way he talked about it. It was not intimidating to me, but I took it as a hint nonetheless, and since my
track record this far had been zero hassles, no arguments, I never dropped in on anyone, etc., I was willing to
concede the fact that I might want to surf somewhere else, even though there were plenty of "normal" looking people
out there, and girls on longboards, etc., paddling out. I wanted to go out there, but also noticed that Point had a
nice natural lava rock jetty, and rights and lefts coming off of it, despite being pretty small. It was only about two
to three foot (Hawaiian), maybe chest high or so, and that size was consistent at all the reefs. So I went all the way
down there to surf, the point furthest from any type of "vibe." It's not that I was intimidated away, not by any
means. It was more of a personal choice to avoid anything negative, real or not.
If you look in the photos you'll see a rock/reef ledge. And all the way down at the end of the beach is a sandy,
10 yard area. That's where you get in and out of the water for Point. It was really gnarly getting out there,
you had to time it just right because of a pretty mean shorebreak. I think I waited about five minutes standing
there waiting for the right opening. Afterall, it was a new spot and I was being very cautious, but then again,
every spot I was going to was new!
I was instantly aware of how shallow the place is, holy moley. It was shallow at Laniakea (LAN-EE-ah-Kay-Uh),
and the shallowest at Ala Moana (see above). Hookipa was only about four to six feet deep the entire paddle out,
and sitting on the outside maybe six feet. The reef, and the water, as usual for Maui, was glass crystal clear
(compared to turquoise and green and white on Oahu). The first thing that struck me, of course, was
Haleakala completely dominating the skyline, and from road signs, it said it was about 40 miles from Hookipa,
and it was so huge and dominant in the morning light. I mean, here I was sitting out in six feet of crystal
clear water, live reef, and surfing in the shadow of my second volcano of the trip! So the drive and the planning
was already paying off big time. Plus, you could see the planes going into the air from the airport, which was
only a mere 30 minute drive away. So everything fell into place the moment I sat up on my board. Good conditions,
no wind, rideable but small surf, and a view to die for.
I saw my first sea turtle at Lanis. I saw a second one and paddled up to it at Sunset Beach and touched
it's back. And then one swam underneath me at Hookipa before I caught a wave. I also saw a couple when I was
swimming on the off day at Honolua. They are very shy creatures. They stick their heads up and kind of float on
the surface, and if you make one move toward them and they see it, they immediately disappear, and even if you paddle
and go look for them, they just are gone, even in the clear water. You can't ever find them if they go
under. It was a nice little comparison to California, where at Black's Beach and other places, it's always
great to see and surf when there are dolphin pods around. The sea turtles were really wonderful to see while
I was in the water. They are very large, like if you held your arms out and hook your fingers together in a circle
in front of you, that's the diameter of their big shells. I liked seeing them stick their heads up and look around
and just hang out, then they would move around on the surface a bit, and then disappear.
There were no real challenges to the waves, really. I was so tuned in, fit, ready to ride anything that came
though, that, as one of my surfboard shapers here in San Diego said to me as I described my trip to him
after coming home, he stated, "Maui must have been a let down coming off the North Shore." And he was pretty
much right, except of course for Honolua.
You CAN NOT fall down and go deep at Hookipa. No WAY. The reef was way too close for that. You had to kick out
of the beach break type of waves and stay on your board. There were a couple of times I did not, but I made sure
to do a "lifeguard" pose, where you spread your hands and legs out really far and try to stay as shallow as possible
because it was...shallow. Since it was a small day whenever that happened I tended to stay with and in the whitewater
and used the whitewater as sort of a "pillow" to cushion me from any contact with the bottom. I was able to string a
couple of waves from outside across the jetty and down the beach a couple of times. And it was pretty crowded
as well. All the locals (and me as well I guess) know about the wind. I was speaking to one person out in the water
and they confirmed it and said that if you didn't get your waves before about 10:30 a.m., then you were in for
a real hurricane of wind. And slowly but surely, over the course of about 10 playful waves and three hours
in the water, the sun got brighter, the tide filled in a bit and made it more inconsistent, and that wind was on
the rise.
You could see it starting as whitecaps outside, then it very quickly, right after 10 a.m., moved in to shore,
and was blowing at over 25 mph within minutes. By 10:45 there was no point whatsoever in being out in the water
because it was just a hurricane! Another confirmation. I caught a last wave, a left, and paddled over the
shallow reef back into the sandy landing area and was very happy. Added another spot to the list of those
already surfed, and added the north side of the island to the west side I had already surfed twice. It was
a relaxing and peaceful surf.
There was one guy out who was going crazy chasing and riding waves. Totally local. Hawaiian. Had this huge
tatoo across his back. "PABLO." So I guess, maybe, that was his name. He was just pinwheeling paddling, going
for everything that moved, he caught at least double the waves that I did. Make note. Pablo. Catches lots
of waves. Give him space.
I didn't really see much potential at Hookipa for epic surf. The four breaks kind of melted into one another
so to speak, and even when it was small it was pretty close out and sectiony. I wondered, walking back to the
car after rinsing off under a shower looking at Haleakala, if the place would hold swell if it got bigger. That question
might be answered tomorrow, I thought, because the forecasts, after two days of really small surf, looked
to see an increase of N/NE swell this afternoon and into my fly home day. I looked at the reef for a long time
when I was out, and kind of surmised that the depth of the water was nearly the same all over the entire
beach, with no variations in depth or contour. It was very flat with no coral heads or anything, and there weren't
very many deep spots or well-defined channels. Whether I was right or wrong about holding swell I don't really
know, but I just got the feeling that after surfing it small that I didn't really know what it would be like
on a bigger day.
I REALLY enjoyed duck diving Hookipa. I enjoyed it everywhere, but the water was so clear I was actually making
it a point to duck dive as often as possible and keep my eyes open and look at the water streching above me and
the reef close below. I think this is what Indonesia might look like. I got some great underwater views in Oahu, but
not much of the bottom, more of just the beautiful water, because I was surfing mostly deep water breaks like Lanis
and Sunset. It's wonderully amazing the variety I saw at all the breaks, in and out of the water. But personal
note: Duck dive as much as possible in trunks and a rashguard and reef walkers at Hookipa.
I hung out and enjoyed the wind blow drying my rash guard and trunks dry and I didn't have to change. I never had
to change, really. I wore my trunks and a tank top every day, everywhere, and just hung out and drip dried
or wind dried. When I was dry, I left, but before then, it gave me a nice rest and break to take photos, walk around,
hydrate, check stuff out and talk to people, who were all really willing to carry on a conversation. But, I had a few things to
go and take care off, so it was time to "time" the drive to the airport and get back to the Kaanapali (Kah-anah-Pali)
coast to prepare for my departure day tomorrow.
And of course the torrid traffic was all gone and it was so nice to be mobile on surfari again, returning home.
I relished the lush green drive back to the Lahaina area. Where I had two stops. One was to go to the pharmacy
and get some antibiotics. I can't remember if I wrote about that, but at a tide pool on Saturday a wave
swept across some lava rocks where I was, and I didn't have my reef walkers with me. And as I held on to a rock
formation, the water pushed back my left foot and cut it open against a rock like it was a razor
blade. It didn't bother me much until Sunday (yesterday) but then it was really hurting pretty badly and was pretty
red. So I took a trip to the little "Drs on Call" office. I've heard plenty of horror stories of guys getting
staph and having swollen limbs and coral growing in them for years, so I wasn't willing to take that chance.
So I paid for the Dr. On Call to stick a needle into my big toe and numb it, then they scraaaaaaped all the sand
and debris out of my toe, bandaged me up, gave me a scriptand told me that I needed to take the antibiotic
immediately to avoid infection, but that was like at 9 p.m., and 24 hours wasn't going to kill me. So I headed to Long's
to get the prescripion today. Then I went to my second UPS store on two islands to mail myself a box of dead coral
that I collected at Honolua Bay as momentos. I didn't think that the agricultural inspection people at the
airport would take too kindly of me bringing that kind of thing back, and I wanted to guarantee that
I had some of it when I got home.
At which time, for the FIRST time, of my entire trip, upon returning to my hotel at about 2 p.m., I became...BORED!
I mean, it was only 2 p.m. So I packed and organized things for leaving tomorrow. And then I was BORED, and it was only
like 3 p.m. And for the first time in two islands and two hotels, I was like, dude, you haven't stopped moving
for 10 days, 12 to 15 hours a day. I could not update the website, I was packed and ready to leave...and what was there to
do? I mean, I was kind of dumbfounded about it. I went out on my balcony and saw the pool. And I was like,
"The pool! You haven't been to a pool at ALL. You need to relax finally and go hang at the pool." So I went there,
but that only lasted an hour. That's when these three teenage boys came and started doing cannon balls and flips
and bellyflops incessantly. I was sound asleep in the sun for that hour, just happy as a cat. Then these
morons woke me up and would not stop completely disturbing everyone at the pool. Virtually everyone, seeing that
the boys were just not going to stop, just got up and left. I tried to last it out, but it was, like, really
rude. One of those times where I had to just keep my mouth shut and be quiet and just say nothing because I was
on the verge of busting out on them and telling them that they just chased 20 people away from a very enjoyable
afternoon of relaxing by the pool. So I just up and left too.
And then I was BORED. Again.
But as I walked to the elevators, Expedia.com had an entertainment desk. And there was one thing that I did not
do on Oahu that I wanted to do, and that was go to a Luau. I also entertained, the entire time I was on Maui,
about going on a one hour helicopter tour of the entire island. She tried to sell that to me immediately,
of course, for $200. Which I didn't think was bad, but...I was hungry! So it was the "Drums of the Pacific" Luau
at the Hilton in 1.5 hours for $60. Sold. And then I went and got ready and I wasn't bored anymore. It was only
10 minutes away from the hotel in Kahana, and started at 5 p.m. So I actually put on some CLEAN clothes for
once and "went out on the town."
You know, the thing lasted from 5 p.m. to about 9 p.m. And I really enjoyed going out and doing the Luau, it was
well done with dancing and the fire twirling guy and you know, I kind of regret not taking my camera with me
to the Luau, but also, I swear to god, the time between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Maui, it was like the ONLY
time I actually felt like I was on vacation. Like totally relaxed or something, even limping from the cut
on my foot, even with the painful sores and Goon Rash on my chest and what felt like broken ribs and a cracked
sternum from the huge six hour sessions at Sunset Beach. I shopped for about two hours in Waikiki, and felt
like a tourist on vacation, and also relaxed for about two hours on a longboard at Canoes (CAN-ewww-EEEES)
which was actually really painful on the chest! I felt fleeting feelings of being on vacation during
some spectacular meals, but these things were only like, say, an hour or two on Oahu. The four hour Luau
was the longest period of time I actually sat still and chilled out. No video camera, no digital camera,
no documentation, nothing to worry about like getting tossed on the reef or concentrating or
working out or sweating or taking the boards in and out of elevators and parking garages or putting fins
on a board or finding a new spot or hanging up all my stuff to dry for the next day or furiously
doing the web updates...nada.
So I sat and watched and listened to the show and ate four plates of food, had like five pineapple non-alcholic
types of fruit punch drinks (everyone else was getting completely drunk on free drinks), was kind of bummed
I didn't bring my camera, but you know, by this time I had hit the 12 hour day mark again, and I started thinking
that this was really my last nite to do anything relaxing, so it all played out pretty well, especially the
pulled pork with terriaki sauce and the coconut pudding squares for dessert.
Reality set in when I returned to my room, which was really, really nice. My bags were packed and ready to go,
and the plan for tomorrow played in my head. I was getting up at 6 a.m. (still dark), and taking the Rocket
with me (which I rode exclusively on Maui) to Honolua to check it in the dark and make sure it was not
breaking. If it was flat, then I would rush back to the hotel, grab my bags, check out, grab DP from the
hotel store room, shove it all into the car, then HAUL ASS back to Hookipa so that I could surf one last
time before I got on the plane at 1:45 p.m. to come back home. Again, it was tough trying to get to sleep
with all that playing out, but it was going to be the last blast and I really, really wanted to surf and fly
on the same day again, and be all salty and stoked when I got off the plane in San Diego,
- Cliff
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