A Relax and Re-group Day in Maui

With some of us leaving Black Rock Beach with sunburns yesterday, we decided that today would be a do/go-as-you-please day. Tom and Peter explored the big waves (or what should have been big waves, but turned out to be wimpy waves) on the north side of the island, Elisabeth, Kat and I spent most of the day by the pool, Danelle relaxed mostly in the shade of the condo, and Aleks kinda made the rounds. It's important to have a day like this, I think, when seven otherwise-independent people are thrown together 24 hours a day for 9 days.

Aleks might be relegated to the sofa sleeper, but he definitely has the best view! I took this picture before he woke up this morning.

Whale watching is big on Maui in December, especially where our condo is, but we have yet to see any.

Now that we're beyond the halfway point in our vacation (sob!), we have to start thinking about finishing off all the food we bought when we first arrived. I wonder if everyone goes crazy with tropical fruit. We definitely stocked up on it -- so much so that I had to make a big fruit salad for breakfast. It was heavenly!

Relaxing by (and in) the pool was wonderful. I had a chance to finally really get into the book I brought... joined briefly by a tropic (definitely not a Northwest) ladybug.

Lacking a hammer to crack open our coconut, we decided to use natural resources and smash the thing to smithereens. I can't stand processed coconut, but the fresh stuff is fabulous! (Silly Kat!)

We'll grill dinner by the beach tonight, then go to bed early, since we'll get up around 4 AM to travel to the top of Haleakala volcano to watch the sunrise. You can bet there will be photos of that!