SwimVacation has the Blues.

When I was a young child, I’d see advertisements for tropical vacations with pictures of white sand beaches and impossibly turquoise water. I wanted to jump right into the page, splashing and swimming with dolphins and turtles. 50 years later, I do this all the time, and it’s everything I’d hoped for way back then. 

This morning we headed south to Kua Bay, a place that definitely has the blues. The bright white sand and clear water conspire here to make an other-worldly scene. There are reefs on either side of the bay full of fish and turtles. We basically swim laps across the outside of the bay, from one reef to the other, following sand ripples in-between. We placed an hour time limit on ourselves, and as soon as the hour was up, the wind picked up and ushered us out. 

Back at our house, yoga time. Amanda has been our Yogi here for many (7?) years, and she’s dialed in a routine specifically for swimmers. We spread out on the lawn, the sound of waves crashing and birds singing as we stretch our legs and shoulders and spirits. We recover with Mamaki Tea and a salad for lunch that Clare has constructed like a shrine. I went over stroke videos with each guest, leaving each with one or two things to work on (high elbows in and out of the water, rotate more, hands to enter 11 and 1).  Naps ensued, as these Celestial Queens (formerly known as the EEs) were up early to stargaze.

Our afternoon swim here at Waialea Bay was short, but it brought us to our preferred spot to run rocks. What? Running rocks is an exercise used by big-wave surfers to train for massive wipeouts and long hold-downs. You basically dive underwater, grab a large rock, and run along the bottom with it as long as you can. There’s more technique involved than you’d think, but the Celestials picked up on it quickly, and eventually showboated by making human water trains. 

Happy hour upon us (as if we weren’t pretty happy already), we drank Green Flash cocktails (melon juice, lime juice, mint syrup, vodka) and feasted on smoked marlin dip. Swordfish smothered in a leek and Ali’i mushroom reduction and snap peas with bok choy were fantastic, but the star of the show for me was the mashed breadfruit. 

Boat day tomorrow!

Hopper