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From Depths of Ocean's "End of World"...

WAILEA, Maui, HAWAII, Dec 4 - Three years ago, I came to Maui to lick my wounds, shed my past (a failed marriage), and start over again on a new path (see "Christmas, New Year in Hawaii" (Jan 2006).  A result was a life-changing essay about importance of finding optimal balance between two polarities ("Between Two Volcanoes", Dec 2005).  The piece even led to creation of this web site (YinYangBob.com).  In the story, I saw the 10,000-ft high and dry Haleakala volcano as exuding male energies.  And I sensed female qualities within the womb of the smaller and wet (5,800 ft) Puu Kukui volcano.  But the most fertile part of Maui led in the valley between the two volcanoes.  Thus the title of the 2005 story.

As you know, on Wednesday, we went into Upcountry (Haleakala, male volcano - see Chapter 9).  So on Thursday, all things we did had female attributes. 

Unlike the previous two days, Thur (Dec 4) awoke in glorious sunshine.  The winds had changed overnight from "Kona wids" to the more prevalent "trade winds."  So all the "vog" was gone and nature breathed a sigh of relief, as did the humans.  I used the chance to take some pictures of a wonderful lily pond at our hotel.

After that, we went snorkeling on a little raft boat to Molokini, a small crescent shaped island just off the coast of Wailea (left).  Most the pictures that follow were taken with a cheap underwater camera, and are thus not very good.  But with the help of a couple shots I borrowed from travel brochures, hopefully you will be able to discern enough of the ocean underwater scenery from them...

As it turns out, the snorkeling experience was a big milestone for Elizabeth. She is not a strong swimmer and has always had a fear of water.  Yet here she was...

... for the first time in her life swimming and snorkeling alone over the part of the ocean that drops down vertically from these cliffs to a depth of 400 ft (left).  At times, she was surrounded by schools of fish (middle left).

Captain Mark, who navigated the 30-ft raft boat, told us that the local divers refer to the 400-ft vertical underwater wall as "the end of the world," kind of like an entrance to Mother Earth, for those of you who watched the "Journey to the Center of the World," or have read the Jules Verne's book by the same title.  Needless to say that both made Elizabeth's eyes widen in fear, and also made her individual diving accomplishment that much greater.

Our only souvenirs from this snorkeling trip were the two owies (right) - mine a rope burn, and Elizabeth's a slight collision with the boat's ladder. :-)

...to Mother Earth's Womb

Fearing that the "vog" may return again on the wings of the Kona winds, we decided on a spur of the moment to go to the "female volcano," Puu Kukui (see the above map).  At its heart is Iao Needle (left), a rain forested peak so wet that it gets 400 inches of rain per year.  It could be sunny only a few miles away in Wailuku and pouring rain at that point.  Since today was a sunny day, we decided to act opportunistically and head to the womb of Mother Earth.  As we were leaving the hotel, I snapped the photo on the right.  Christmas has already arrived here even if the climate continues to be tropical.

As we were walking toward Iao Needle, a native Hawaiian was conducting some sort of a ceremony around that pond full of lilies.  I have found it interesting we should come upon that on the very day on which I had taken those morning pictures of the lily pond myself. The shape of the pond also reminded me of something I had seen in Peru - the womb of Pachamama (Mother Earth) at Moray (see "At Womb of Mother Earth", July 1).

It was the first time in several visits to this "female volcano" that I have seen it so bright and sunny.  In fact, parts of it were glistening in afternoon sunlight as a result of earlier rain.  And within an hour or so after our departure, we saw that the clouds had closed in again and the rain had resumed.

You can see some of those clouds already gathering around the Iao Needle even while we were there.

We descended through the jungle all the way down to a mountain creek.  That's where we played Tarzan and Jane - with "Jane" posing under a huge "bao-bao" tree (two middle shots).

This is where I also made a short video to give you a chance to listen to the lovely sounds of the jungle and the rushing creek... (click on the image or title to play).

Creek at Iao Needle in Puu Kukui Crater Maui Hawaii (Dec 4, 2008)

After we climbed up from the creek, "Jane" quickly transformed herself from a "Me Tarzan - you Jane"-jungle girl to a glamour model, posing in a see-through net beach dress.  She had some competition from these two blonde "commando girls" who were parading in front of the two wide-eyed boys on motorcycles.

Since we still had some daylight left, we headed back up to Upcountry, ending up in a charming old town of Makawao.  This is where we found yoga studios, health food stores, a gourmet Italian restaurant, several crystal shops... all which reminded us of Sedona.  But the highlight was this giant centry plant (cactus) next to which Elizabeth is looking like a little girl.

To be continued...

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