Maui, the best of all. Part 3.

On the road to Hana. Maui.

A black sand beach on the road to Hana. Maui.

Keanae Peninsula. Maui.

The Road to Hana. Maui.

On the road to Hana. Maui.

On the road to Hana. Maui.

Lamb’s ears. Kula, Maui.

Protea flower. Kula, Maui.

Hawaiian Quilt. Maui.

Haleakala Crater. Maui.

The rim of Haleakala Crater. Maui.

Silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense). Haleakala Crater.

Slopes of Haleakala Crater. Maui.

In the distance, Haleakala Crater. Maui.

Molokini Island. Maui.

Sunrise at Kihei, Maui.

Maui, the best of all, Part 2.

I’m still fooling around with the Maui pictures S. and I took last month.  Here’s another selection.

Shell ginger.

Roof of a hut in the Royal Compound. Lahaina, Maui.

Molokai as seen from Lahaina Harbor. Maui.

Evolution proved!

Banyan Tree. Lahaina Town Center. Maui.

Coconut tree in bloom. Maui.

Monstera. Iao valley. Maui.

Just hanging around.

Weaving coconut frond bowl. Lahaina, Maui.

Lahaina waterfront. Maui.

Iao valley. Maui.

Taro growing in Iao Valley. Maui.

African Tulip blossom. Maui.

 

Maui, the best of all.

We’ve been doing a lot of work lately on those Sparta posts so let’s take a break and look at our pictures from Maui.

Lahaina Harbor.

Lahaina Harbor.

Restaurant. Lahaina.

 

Lahaina.

Lahaina.

Grass Hut. Royal Compound in Lahaina, Maui.

Hills behind Lahaina, Maui.

Old graveyard. Lahaina.

Tuff guy. Road to Hana, Maui.

Shave Ice, Chickens, Chagnon — Kauai!

I grew up in the Hawaiian islands and so a Hawaiian vacation is a bit like going home. S. and I are now on Kauai and what a splendid thing a vacation is! Even your humble correspondent (who does little enough useful work) gets into a rut so it has been great to get outside, have my head pounded into the sand at Poipu Beach, have a beer while staring at the sunset and get around to some reading that I otherwise might not do. I hadn’t been back to Kauai in fifty years so I expected some changes. And changes there were: Moir Gardens, a garden of succulents, cactus, agaves, aloes in profusion and a myriad of orchids, which was once a genuine draw is now incorporated into a large resort complex although still accessible to non-guests.  It’s well tended but there are no labels so its educational potential is greatly diminished.

A flowering succulent in the Moir Gardens.  

 Also the famous Coconut Grove (i.e. a grove of actual coconuts) which I remember as a great expanse of gracefully swaying cocos nucifera and little else has now been incorporated into a resort and looks sadly neglected.

There are golf courses everywhere; the worst possible use to which Kauai’s limited land can be put; the only worse use would be just to salt the acreage outright. One thing shocked me: on the north shore, around Hanalei, there don’t appear to be any local people left. It’s nearly entirely Caucasians even in the service jobs. At last we seem to have achieved on Kauai the all-white Utopia first envisioned by the Congregationalists in 1820. I know why that is; the high prices introduced by tourist use have forced most locals to move to the western mainland US. There are large Hawaiian communities in all the major cities of California and also in Reno and Las Vegas. What’s left is an ersatz Hawaiiana – the history and culture of the islands as interpreted by uncomprehending late-comers and faux would-be spiritualists.

 On the plus side are several locations for the National Tropical Botanical Gardens at Limahuli on the North Shore (take an umbrella) and near Poipu on the South Shore. These are very worth-while and I recommend them.

MyBryde’s Garden.  Part of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.  Kauai, Hawaii.

Vacation also means vacation reading. While here I devoured Napoleon Chagnon’s new memoir Noble Savages. Is there any doubt that Chagnon is our foremost social scientist? I’ll have a lot more to say about Chagnon and the so-called controversies that surround him. Let me just say for now that I finally understand why Achilles was so angry at having Briseis taken away from him. Another book that I saw and am determined to acquire and read is John Culliney’s Islands from a Far Sea which is an authoritative natural history of the islands.

The Hanalei River.  Kauai, Hawaii.

I also learned something about Kauai’s official bird: the chicken. Chickens really are everywhere on Kauai both in resort areas and way up the road towards Kalalau Valley. I watched two fine roosters get into it over a hen (apparently one of them had been getting in the other’s face) at Ke’e Beach and I suddenly remembered something; there has been cock fighting on all the islands since the Polynesians first came here. Lots of the birds that got loose during Hurricane Iniki in ’92 were fighting cocks. I finally got a clerk at the Kokee lodge to sheepishly admit that ‘perhaps some fighting cocks did get loose’. They pose no danger to humans unless they push you over to search your pockets for snacks. I watched a whole group of hens and roosters take over a parking space at Hanalei Lookout for the express purpose of extorting treats from people trying to park.

“You wanna park?  Talk to the rooster.” Chickens take over a parking space at Hanalei lookout.

Anyway Kauai is as lovely as ever and I close with some advice to my readers; as Hamlet almost said: “Get thee to a condo resort!’