Hippies, Tsunamis, Naked People and Celebrities... Must be Maui!

I have a lot of things on my mind but rather than write about those things, I will give you some insight into life on Maui. Here are a few things I experienced this weekend.

On Friday night there was a tsunami warning. Apparently there was an earthquake in Japan and there was a chance it would cause a tsunami to hit Hawaii. There was a lot of gossip and suspense about our possible impending doom. At about 8pm, the news station said that if a tsunami was coming, we'd hear the tsunami sirens at 9pm and that would give us 3 hours to head up the volcano before the big wave hit. I was watching updates on my tv but the people on our base don't have tv access so they were really out the loop. I got a call to "inform" me that an earthquake happened in Alaska and there would be a tsunami warning at midnight, if it was coming. It was like playing a game of telephone. Thankfully it was a false alarm. The transmission on my borrowed car isn't very reliable so I was glad to not have to test it as I fleed from a giant wave.

I am still trying to train for a triathlon. I am doing pretty good with biking and running but I haven't done enough swimming. I tried to rectify this situation by swimming in the ocean on Saturday morning. In case you were wondering, it is not a good idea to swim in the ocean after a tsunami warning. The sea was angry for sure. I put on my goggles and swam out a few yards. Then I just got repeatedly pummeled by the rocky seas for about 10 minutes til I feared drowning and swam to shore. I am sure I looked really funny. I was exhausted. I had gone for a run earlier that morning. I now understand why the swimming is the first part of the triathlon. They don't want people to get exhausted and drown.

On my way to and from Baldwin Beach, I passed by an unofficial nude beach. It is a common hippie hang-out. Often there are no nudes there but this time, unfortunately, there were. There was a family with two small kids and one very naked dad. Talk about awkward family time! I am so glad my dad is not so "open." Then I saw this guy we call "Paia Dave." Paia Dave is a an old homeless guy with a scruffy wit beard, who inexplicably wears a top hat all the time. Well, he was certainly not wearing the top hat when I saw him at the beach. Thankfully, he was in waist-deep water when I made the mistake of glancing towards the ocean.

I heard through the grapevine that Owen, Luke Wilson and their unfamous brother, Andrew will be coming to Paia at the end of the month. I love a good celebrity sighting! I can't wait to try my "keeping it cool celebrity sighting" tactic. My goal would be to see one of them on the streets and just say, "Hey Luke." Then they know I know but I am not making a big scene. We'll see. I lost my nerve when I saw Kelly Osborne. I won't make that mistake again.