BUY YE BANANAS WHILE YE MAY

Sunrise Cloud Pattern, 6 x 8 oil

It is our first day on Maui, and we're at Costco.  I buy a big bag of apple bananas.  Because apple bananas are the number two reason I come to Hawaii, snorkelling being number one.  Well, maybe painting is number two.  Anyway, they're up there.

Rick says they are way too green and I shouldn't buy them.  But I've been in this position before when I couldn't find bananas anywhere.  These should be ripe by our second week.  I insist on buying them.

It is now day 5.  The first finger on the hand is going yellow.  Yay!  We did find bananas other places, to tide us over until these were ripe.  Gather ye bananas while ye may!

WHALE SONG

Mackerel Sunrise, 9 x 12 oil

In almost all the bays on Maui, you can hear whale song if you put your ears underwater.  You can hear a lot more of it if you are in shallow water near the mouth of the bay.  And if there are no motorboats about.  And if you aren't breathing loudly.  And if your head is deeper underwater.

I have found that the best way to listen is to stand on my head in the water, holding my breath, and quietly swirling my hands to keep my balance.  It appears to be a unique solution: I haven't seen any other snorkellers doing it.

SUNSET

Golden Sunrise, 6 x 8 oil

Every evening there is a guy two balconies down from us who blows a conch at sunset.  He has his own special way of deciding when the sun has set, which I haven't figured out yet.  One night there is an actual disk visible, and he blows the sunset call while the last bit of the disk is still twinkling on the horizon.  Another night, the sun is obscured by clouds.  When is the actual moment of sunset?  I would be tempted to consult a table on some of these nights.  Whenever it is, it's always uniquely beautiful.

MOTORBOATS AT NIGHT

Cloudy Sunrise, 6 x 8 oil on panel

As soon as the sun goes down, it begins.  A sound like a motorboat, or maybe a dirt bike, but long sustained sound with short pauses.  We are staying at Luana Kai, an oceanfront property with a spongy lawn in front, and a waterfilled ditch beside.  And, as it turns out, a great place for frogs;  Or in this case, toads, the infamous Rhinella marina, or Cane Toad.  The call reminds me of the drawn-out tones of a didgeridoo, though the toads do eventually take a breath.  Some nights there are one or two, some nights many.  A toadly chorus to accompany the sound of waves.

MOORISH IDOLS

Honokeana Mackerel Sunrise, 12 x 9 oil

Moorish idols are really pretty fish.  Now that I have my weight belt, I have the chance to see how really pretty they are.  I have found a pair that are not too skittish, and they allow me to approach within two feet.  I am surprised at how large they are.  And how brilliant yellow.  They have lots of little markings on their noses that I never noticed before.  How wonderful to be able to get close and see!

HANA IN WINTER

Hamoa Sunrise, 9 x 12 oil

We are driving to Hana in the rain.  Ordinarily, I would think rain would make a dreary drive.  But oh, the waterfalls!   Last time we drove this road the weather had been dry and many of the falls had no water at all.  This time there is water everywhere.  Some falls are rushing and brown.  The closer we get to Hana, the clearer the water is, but all the falls are all full. Not content to stay in the streams, water is pouring over the rocks and onto the highway.  Sodden soils have slumped into the road, closing off the hillside lane.  This on a road that is only really two lanes half the time.  The road to Hana.... always an adventure!

WEATHER

Hot Sunrise, 12 x 9 oil

We have had showers in our forecast the last few days, and the next few days to come.  We are finding that if we just set out for some other part of the island, we can find some sunshine and calm for snorkelling.  The other day, we found it in Honolua bay.  There we had the clearest snorkelling I've ever had at that site, and saw lots of brilliant fish.  As I was getting out, I asked the lady next to me how her snorkel was.  She said she hardly saw anything, but she was used to Fiji and other exotic places.  I couldn't argue; Hawaii isn't the best.  But here we are, and I insist on enjoying it.  How can you complain about a place where you can drive for ten minutes and get out of the rain?

KIHEI SUNRISE

Kihei Sunrise, 9 x 12 oil

DAWNLIGHT AND COTTAGE

Dawnlight and Cottage, 6 x 8 oil

ROOTS IN THE SEA

Roots in the Sea, 12 x 16 oil

KAHO'OLAWE

Sunrise Kaho'olawe, 12 x 16 oil

SUNRISE HEAT

Sunrise Heat, 12 x 16 oil

BOXFISH

West Maui at Sunrise, 8 x 6 oil

When I think of fish, I think of flexibility.  The boxfish is as rigid as they come, a fixed skeletal box of a body, with little fins and tail attached.  To make up for his stiffness of body, the tail must bend a full ninety degrees at times, the fins make intricate ruffling patterns like the skirts of Loie Fuller.  Even his mouth seems rigid, fixed in a surprised pout.  There are not a lot of these fish on the reef I've been visiting.  Maybe rigidity is not a very successful strategy.

CURRENTS

Sunrise Burgundy, 6 x 8 oil

There are swells from the south today, and water shifts back and forth over the coral.  Tiny juvenile butterfly fish are stationed above the coral heads, like swarms of moths.  They flutter tails and fins madly to stay in place over the coral, then with the surge, spin around like a flock and flutter the other way.  

  A turtle glides by, barely moving his flippers in his slow climb.  I move more like the turtle, holding station by gently waving my fins.  Is it because I am big that moving through the water requires so little effort?  After all, how much muscle can there be in those tiny fish bodies that are mostly fin?

DIVERS BELOW

Seaside Cottages, 6 x 8 oil

At this particular beach, divers enter the water on the sand, and follow the edge of the rocks outward to the deeper coral.  As I am floating above the rocks and corals and fish, I see them about 15 feet below me.  Their bubbles make mumbledy sounds in my ears.   Bubbles appear as blobs, that join into bigger blobs.  They expand as they float upward, shaping themselves into jellyfish domes.  There is a huge amount of air from just two divers; a volume that we, in the above-water realm take for granted.

SEEING

West Maui and Waving Palms

I am seeing lots of octopus.  Since the first day I spotted one, I've been surprising them all over the place on the clearer days.  About half the time, it's because I dive down, and they move.  If any people are snorkelling nearby, I point out the octopus.  Only about a quarter of them see what I'm pointing at.

  Today I show a group of four snorkellers an octopus hiding in a crack.  I dive down and point my finger at it from about 5 inches away.  Only one of the four spectators manages to dive down and see it.  Maybe they're not sure it's really there?  People see lots of turtles and get really excited about them.  Why not octopus?

CAMPING, HAWAIIAN STYLE

Molokini and Kaho'olawe, 6 x 8 oil

It is Labor Day weekend, and here in the campground are quite a few groups of Hawaiians camping. OK, some are in tents like the visitors, but others have huge metal pole structures forty feet on a side, with tarps strung over the top and screen sides.  Inside there are tables and camp stoves and cots, and big plastic coolers.  When they strike camp, everyone helps, taking down tarps and poles, loading it into pickups.  They pull away, leaving bare grass, every bit as if the circus had come to town.

RULES

Tree by the Sea, 12 x 16 oil

I am camping on a beach in Kauai.

There is a sign in the campground bathroom.  It says:

DO NOT TAKE A BATH IN THE RESTROOMS.

NO RUBBER BALLOONS IN RESTROOMS.

NO PLAYING IN RESTROOMS.

UP WITH THE CHICKENS

Distant Cottages, 9 x 12 oil

Afternoons on this Kauai beach are quite windy, so most of the tents are anchored among the few trees around the edge.  These trees are multi-purpose.  The ubiquitous Kauai chickens roost in them at night.

If you've ever lived with chickens, you know that "the rooster crows at the break of dawn" is a myth.  The rooster crows whenever he feels like it.  In a campground with maybe eight roosters, they feel like it a lot.  I am up with the chickens, and it is 3 AM.

CORAL IDENTIFICATION

Sunrise Reef, 12 x 16 oil

Over the years of diving and snorkeling, I've learned the common names of many reef fish, and even which families they belong to.  Coral is another story.  You can't identify corals very well by gross appearance.  The same species can vary quite a bit in color.  Even the growth patterns can change. Just for fun, I did a search on coral identification, and found this page: http://www.chucksaddiction.com/CoralGenus.html

Somehow, while I'm looking around underwater, I don't think this will be much help.  First of all, so many parts!  And how am I going to remember all the details of what I was looking at to look it up later?  I think people who identify corals must either take photos or specimens.  I might as well keep on doing what I've been doing.... just appreciating them in their great variety.