Maui

Been out here on Oahu for about two months now. I stopped here last year for a week on my way to Japan, so I had seen many of the tourist sites. This time I've actually only left the base maybe a dozen times in two months. But with one of the best military golf courses in the country on base I really don't need to. That and the marina on base (one of my good friends has several Sunfish sailboats and has taught me how to sail), keep my free time occupied. I've been sailing around Kaneohe Bay a bit. Learned that sailing is much more fun when the wind is blowing...we normally have pretty consistent trade winds here, but the past week has seen them die off for the most part, making sailing and life generally a bit less pleasant, while at the same time improving my golf.

I did get to take a trip over to the Maui, the 17th largest island in the US. A few buddies and I took the Superferry over...it was scheduled to leave at 6:30 AM, but stepped off just after 6...most of us barely made it and one of our group didn't so he had to fly over and meet us. The ferry arrived about 15 minutes late...leave early, arrive late - Hawaii punctuality. If you're not taking a car with you, you're definitely better off flying as the prices are comparable. Maui is different from Oahu...bigger, less craggy mountains, with more wide-open views. Not much doing on Maui as far as nightlife is concerned. Mostly couples.

We drove up to the top of Haleakala, which was around 10,000 feet up. The Haleakala crater is 21miles in circumference...Haleakala is so massive it essentially is the island of Maui, though the western part of the island is made up of another volcano which overlaps and connects with Haleakala. Luckily the clouds cleared up while we were up top allowing us to see most of the crater. The view brought back memories of Ometepe in Nicaragua as the two islands are geologically similar in that they're made up of two overlapping volcanoes connected by an isthmus. I had to work much harder for that view of Ometepe though.

After spending a month or two in any one place I tend to be ready to move on to somewhere else...but I haven't felt compelled to leave Hawaii since arriving here. I could certainly live out here...only bad thing being the 6 hour time difference with the East Coast makes it tough to keep up with friends and family, especially during the week. That window of opportunity to call home after work is in the middle of my golf time.