Sunday, December 06, 2009

Calm before the storm.

Today saw the first nudge of the massive swell that will hit Maui tomorrow and when I say massive, I mean wave faces of 30-50 feet.....faces! Even NOAA says the Islands will have an extended period of 'giant surf' and is comparing the models to a 1969 swell. Jaws will be a bloody zoo tomorrow and I'd love to be a part of it but I have to f*@rking work.

Meanwhile, it was breathless today opposite Hookipa as the sugar cane ferns attest.

Back on the calm West side I had one of my best SUP sessions yet. Glassy waist to shoulder high waves with friendly encoraging surfers and plenty of sunshine. In SUPing years I reckon I'm a year old. I can walk with varying degrees of directional success, sit down (be it ungainly), I fall off less and less and what doesn't hurt or scare me is really, really exciting!

The BBC's theme this week for 'Your pictures' is trees. I might send this one in just for the heck of it.

Or maybe this one, as the the Kiawe tree has an interesting past. The original seed was brought over from Paris by a Catholic priest in 1828. It's been said this tree was further planted by missionaries to discourage the Hawaiian people from going barefoot, but their feet were so tough even these thorns didn't bother them.

Trust me....even with slippers on, those thorns bother me by going straight through the rubber and giving my delicate haole feet a nasty poke. On the upside though, kiawe wood is abundant and great for a BBQ.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are delightful pictures - it could be Mother's pride but I'm sure you're getting better and better :-)

Mater x

Sharon said...

awwww, fanks Mummy!