All Contents of this Page Copyright(2012) of Randolph Kashino

Maui Christmas 2012
"Tropical Escape to Wind and Waves"







North shore of Maui over Haiku



South shore of Maui looking toward Ukumehame


Dec 18th to 27th, 2012
I've been on Maui since December 18th, leaving Victoria, B.C. weather which was a mix of rain and snow. It was nice to get back to Maui. This was the first time in a long while that I actually had a flight that landed during the day. However, I had to pay for it by getting up at 3 am to catch the 5:30 flight. The flight in was highlighted by a first glimpse of the north shore of Maui near Haiku and then the south shore view of the thousand peaks area near Ukumehame. After landing, I picked up my car at No Kai Oi Motors and then headed up to Pu'u Koa where I usually stay. The next day I had to arrange some insurance for my car and then went to Hawaiian Island Surf and Sport for a visit. I then spent the rest of the afternoon, unpacking and setting up my surfing and windsurfing gear. Later that night, I drove to Kahului airport to pick up Joe McBride, who had arrived on a late night flight. Back at Puu Koa some beers and rum were consumed. It has been windy, so we were forced to go windsurfing. Kanaha was the choice beach. The first sail I rigged a 5.5 Sailworks for the first session, but found that was pretty big and rigged down to my 5.0 Eclipse. That was much better. The next 2 days were the same, basically perfect 5.0 to 4.5 sailing days. December 22nd was a big surf day on the north shore with some 20 to 30 foot waves coming in at Hookipa. There was only a couple of windsurfers and surfers out which put everything to scale. Big Waves! We decided to go over to the south shore a Stand Up Paddle surf on some smaller more peacefull waves. After a few more days of Windsurfing and Paddle Surfing, Joe headed back to the Victoria on the 24th to be with his daughter for Christmas. I've had a couple more days of excellent 5.0 windsurfing at Kanaha.



Da Car



Pu'u Koa Morning Breakfast of Bacon and Eggs



Windsurfing at Kanaha



Big day at Ho'okipa



Joe surfing with his Santa hat



WindSUP-ing the Quattro Nine-six SUP



December 28, 2012
The Trade winds have pretty well shutdown. The sky was clear this morning. After breakfast I headed up to Pauwela and took the Nine-six Quattro back to the shop. Talked with Pascal for awhile and talked about Keith building me a custom SUP. I was a bit torn where to surf today. On my way past Hookipa it was crowded with surf in the overhead size. I drove to Kanaha and checked things out there. Waves were a bit smaller, but again lots of Stand Up surfers out today. I decided to head to the west side above Kahana to one of my favourite breaks at Ka'opala beach. A lot of times this is a difficult break because the trade wind blasts offshore here. Today it was perfectly calm and there was some nice north swell making it into the reef. This made for some nice 3 to 6 foot faces to surf on. I basically surfed right to 5 pm and only came in once for a beer break. On the way back to Puu Koa I stopped at the Times market and picked up some Tako Poke Limu for pupu's on the drive back to Puu Koa. Made it back just in time to watch the old Hawaii Five-O on TV and had some cold shrimp with rice for dinner. I then picked up the Ukulele and strummed on that for awhile. I then decided to finally get to work on my blog, which I've been negligent making for this trip. A couple of rums later I crashed, very tired from a day of perfect surfing...



Ka'Opala Beach


December 29, 2012
Trade winds are still very light and the sky is again very clear. I spent the morning catching up with my blog and doing some finishing work on my wood paddle. At lunch time I drove over to Makena Landing and spent the afternoon there snorkelling and a bit of Stand Up paddling. Trying out my new GoPro housing with the underwater lens. Saw a couple of turtles, and the fish here seem pretty tame. Nobody spearfishes here so that would explain why. Moorish Idols, and Triggerfish all seem approachable. Also, really cool is that if you dive down and just sit for a minute you can most often hear a Humpback Whale singing. All in all a pretty restful day at the beach. When I got back to Pu'u Koa I cooked up a stir fry with some Ahi Tuna and served with rice and a Big Swell IPA. After dinner I did some practice on the Ukulele and then a rum before going to bed.



Makena Landing Turtle



A pair of approachable Moorish Idols



Shaka from my board looking down into the sea

Makena Marine Life


December 30, 2012
Very cloudy and rainy this morning and also no trade winds. For breakfast I made my usual bacon and eggs. I did some editing of pictures and then headed out. I drove past Hookipa and it was still raining hard, although there was surf it seemed only a few were out. In Kahului, I did a bit of shopping before heading over to the south side to Ukumehame beach park. Very small surf, but it was sunny so I had my lunch there. I then continued up toward Kapalua and checked out Ka'opala. Again really small surf. I then decided to drive up to Honolua. At the lookout I could see that the surf was reelling in some nice overhead sets. However, there must have been about a hundred surfers out! Way too busy for my likes. I decided to do the drive around the north side of West Maui. Not many people on the road today probably because of the rain. This made it easy driving through those one car width section of road tucked into the side of a cliff. The drive has spectacular views. I stopped to take some pictures of Kahakuloa Head, which is that Pu'u on the point you see from Kanaha when looking to the northwest. After making it around to Waihe'e, I stopped in at the park to take a bit of a break from the drive. I then headed over to Kanaha Beach park and ran into Ben and Julia, Garth and Debbie who had been out surfing for the day. It was about 5 o'clock when I headed out to lowers for a late Stand Up Session. Got a couple of nice waves during my short session. It was near dark when I got in and definitely dark when I had finished packing up. I then headed to Paia and had dinner at Cafe Mambos. A Cafe Mambo Bacon Cheeseburger with Fritata and a side of fries, and to go with that a pint of Big Swell IPA. After dinner it was back to Pu'u Koa where I poured a rum and plucked on the Ukulele for a while and then watched a bit of TV. I was falling asleep on the couch trying to watch "Pirates of the Caribbean", so I head to bed.



Honolua Bay surfing line up



Kahakuloa Head

Aloha 2012 December 31, 2012
The last day of 2012. The sky a clear blue this morning and trade winds again non-existent. For breakfast I made some pancakes with bacon. For the Pancake batter I used the remaining eggnog in the refridgerator and also threw in some chopped pineapple. Actually turned out very tasty.



Bacon and Eggnog Pineapple Pancakes

Aloha,
Mele Kalikimaka!
Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!
Ku Hoe Pa'a!
Randy




Sunset Session at Ukumehame


Aloha 'Oe

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**Translations
Mele Kalikimaka: Merry Christmas
Hau'oli Makahiki Hou: Happy New Year
Ku Holoholo Pa'a: Keep Sailing Hard
Ku Hoe Pa'a: Stand, Paddle Hard
Ku Hoe He'e Nalu: Stand Up Paddle Surfing
Hau'oli la hanau: Happy birthday
Anuenue hulali o kakahiaka: Brilliant Rainbow of the morning