LAHAINA CHILLIN

I’ve mentioned that I grew up in the city. Up until recently, I didn’t care too much for the outdoors. Growing up, my friends and I would always spend our Saturdays at the beach. Honestly, we went to have fun but a big part of our day was spent looking for girls. =) Since moving to Maui, I’ve never really spent too much time at the beach. I’ve probably spent a total of 7 days at the beach in the last decade. However, since I’ve been reanimating my life, I’m making a conscience effort to broaden my horizons and just get off my rump and enjoy my day.

And that is where this day happened. It was totally unexpected. My mom and girlfriend were invited to their friend’s house for a little get together. I know my girlfriend didn’t want to go so I went just to keep her company and support her and my mom. The house we ended up at was on one of Maui’s most recognized streets, Front Street. The house was literally a dozen steps from the water. We could clearly hear the waves crashing and the birds were chirping. 

We started playing an old Hawaiian game called konane. It's almost like Chinese Checkers. Back in old Hawaii, they'd dig holes in the dirt or sand and use that as their board, but as you can see here, the boards nowadays are a bit more modernized. I quickly grasped the concept of the game and my only loss game to the girlfriend, who was on cloud 9 because she finally was able to beat me in something. I didn't feel too bad though because as the day progressed, she ended up beating everyone, some more than once. 

Then the tarps came off. Being that we were right on the water, the house we were at was well equipped with beach toys. You name it, they had it; paddle boards, surfboards, short boards, long boards, boogie boards, and even kayaks and canoes. They started to ask if anyone wanted to go out on the water and paddle canoe. I've wanted to try but being that I was dressed rather different than the rest of the party goers, I opted to keep my envy to myself. Then the first crew went. About 1 hour later, they came back and the steersman asked if anyone else wanted to go. I thought to myself, "if i don't go now, what other time would I be able to do this, just go." So I did.


We all jumped in and were off. The water was like you'd imagine it to be. It was crystal clear and you could see the fist swimming around the coral. The winds were just right and we were able to get a few short spurts of sheer relaxation when they carried us along. The waves also helped us as we skimmed along its surface. We got to see a turtle peek its head out go back under. Paddling a canoe, if never done before, can be excruciating. It takes a lot of strength to move a canoe. You'd be surprised how sore you become after a long 5 minutes of paddling. That's why we were fortunate for good wind and good waves. Nearly the entire way time I was on a secretive high considering I was probably the only local never to have paddled a canoe.


This was a day full of some old fashioned aloha. As said, this day was 100% unexpected but 1000% memorable. It's true that you never know what the day has in store for you. Upon arriving to the party, I was counting down the minutes to when we'd be leaving. And prior to leaving, in a way I wanted to stay a bit longer. And this is how we finished the day.