Sure enough, my nemesis the rooster crowed at 3:30am, took a break, then went at it again at 4 and 4:30. I may have to get more aggressive in my plans for its “relocation”.

Ryan and Kekau are our local swimming guides here in Hawaii. They are both professional lifeguards, and wonderful ambassadors of this Island. They are true watermen, and seem to know every rock, reef, break, current, cave, and animal here. They pulled in early today to help us with our morning swim. The early morning winds we often get here were just settling down, and the afternoon winds were way off in the future, and Wailea Bay was as calm as I’ve seen. We first swam to a reef at the mouth of the Bay, and were glad to see the coral looked really healthy, mounds of green and purple stretching from 30 feet below all the way to the surface. We lingered as Heather identified fish for us.

Our second leg brought us to the opposite side of the bay, where we were greeted by a turtle. They’re pretty tame here, and just go about their turtle business as we watch. The star of the show today, however, was the official fish of the State of Hawaii, a type of trigger fish known as the humuhumunukunukuapua'a, a feisty little guy with a big personality. Back near Beach 69, Heather, taking advantage of the crystal clear water, took some videos of our guests' strokes for later analysis. Kekau, Miriam, Kyle and I did another lap around the Bay, extending it around the mouth to a spot I’ve never been to. There’s a big hole in a wall of lava here that serves as a window to the Bay, and another turtle swam with us for a while.

Clare and Dan are our chef/caterers, and such an integral part of every trip here. Clare procures our food from local farms and fishermen, then Dan turns it into healthy, delicious cuisine. They've become dear friends, and we keep in touch year-round. After our swim, Clare dropped off a lunch of stone-fish tacos, which quickly disappeared. A healthy portion went in a to-go box for Ula, a life guard at Kua Bay.

It helps to have local guys in a place like Hawaii. Ryan and Kekau contacted Ula, the on-duty lifeguard at Kua Bay to ask him to reserve a spot on the beach for us, and a healthy lunch was a nice thank you for his courtesy. The boys got there well before us to set up a sun awning. This place has bright white sand and blue raspberry slushy colored water, and makes for a unique place to swim.

The water was a little bumpy in the afternoon winds, and I swam with Paula, who is new to open water swimming. Guests like Paula always amaze me with their willingness to learn new and difficult skills. She’s a natural swimmer, and we’ll see her become a true open water swimmer by week’s end. Our time at Kua ended with an introduction to rock running, something the big wave surfers do to train for long periods of being held underwater by a massive wave. We’ll do more of this later in the week.

*Kua Bay has a jumping rock. Who can say no to a jumping rock?*

Sometimes things have a way of getting a little out of control on a trip like this, and it happened this evening upon our return from Kua Bay. A local Halau, a group of musicians, story tellers, and Hula dancers, arrived as planned shortly after we pulled in. As they were setting up, I heard live, loud music coming from the beach bungalow next door to us. Uh-oh. I ran down there to see what was going on, and quickly learned that a wedding was about to happen from the bride herself (!!), who was just getting out of the water and was getting married in about an hour. We negotiated a 20-minute pause on her 2-piece band while our musicians and dancers did their thing. She was so gracious! We definitely shared some Aloha spirit there. I ran back to our Hale, and yelled “strike up the band!!!!” I’ve always wanted to do that.

The performers of this Halau always root us to this place, and give us a glimpse into the ancient culture that persists here. I mixed drinks (cucumber hibiscus infused local vodka with passion fruit juice, lime, and soda) as guests enjoyed the performance. The Hula dancers perform on a fairly small deck, and one of them knocked a music stand down by mistake, papers flying everywhere. They recovered with grace, but at about the same moment, a hen arrived with about a dozen tiny chicks. As she scratched and they pecked, our resident mongoose came along and twice tried to steal one of the chicks, both times unsuccessfully. All the hens and roosters in the yard made a big racket over this, but the band played on, and the Hula dancers kept dancing. It was all wildly wonderful and very Hawaii.

Dan had spent the day preparing a Hawaiian Luau dinner, complete with Kailua pork, cabbage, poi, lomi-lomi salmon, and blue potatoes. We wolfed it down after a long day of swimming and playing in the sun. A chocolate mousse made with avocado was a unanimous hit for dessert.

We’ll be back at it tomorrow. Early, I presume.

Hopper

Monday: Rooster by the tail.

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