Enter the Dragon

The rest of my mother’s visit went pretty well, although my allergies got so bad during her stay that I lost my voice almost completely. I’m almost positive that it’s the sugarcane pollen that is affecting me, because it’s only when we are in the valley where the sugarcane is grown that I start coughing like a smoker.

My lack of voice didn’t deter us from having fun, though. We visited Dragon’s Teeth, which is at the head of a 3+ mile hike along the Kapalua Coast.

Finding the trailhead is a bit tough, since it’s practically in the middle of a golf course, and the parking lot is tiny. If you can manage to get a parking spot, though, the walk down to the bluff is easy, and as long as you stay on the dry rocks, the footing is sure.

We saw a little tide pool and thought about wading around…

  
But then huge waves came in from nowhere!

Good thing we didn’t go wading. This is why there are always all sorts of warnings saying to be careful near the water. The ocean is incredibly unpredictable. Dragon’s teeth, indeed.

Ray is using his flip-flops to defend us from the ocean.

Dragon’s Teeth isn’t all Sturm und Drang, though. We also found a rather large labyrinth and walked all the way to the middle. Several other tourists joined us, although one woman had obviously confused labyrinths with mazes and couldn’t figure out why the path didn’t have different options to take. I blame Jim Henson.

I have never walked a labyrinth without going through some sort of introspection. I guess it is just the meditative nature of labyrinths. I also seem compelled to walk labyrinths whenever I find one. I suppose I’m not the only one.

The next day, we walked around the beach town of Paia, where our vacation rental is. The great thing about the location of our house is that we are so close to town and the beach. The bad thing is that it’s right in the middle of sugarcane country, putting my poor respiratory system through the ringer.

Being at the water’s edge helps. The fresh ocean breeze carries with it only the smell of salt.