The sleep in the tent was quite a poor one. It rained off and on all night long and got very windy as well. I was actually happy to wake up and get out of that wet area. But first we took a hike along the pipiwai trail up to the bamboo forest(as mentioned in Sheenah's 14th blog). It was a slippery but enjoyable hike.

Heading back to Kihei we made no stops and got back in 2 hours. The locals that drive this road are nuts! Many sections become single narrow lanes where a driver must yield to oncoming traffic, and tourists seem to follow these rules very well. However, the local pig farmers don't follow these rules and drive like maniacs! Passing is obviously prohibited yet they will fly past you around a blind corner and risk running someone off the road. Quite scary.

So we got back to the nice dry/hot side of the island and decided to go to the beach. We headed to Makena beach because photos showed the water to be crystal clear, and it was. When we arrived we saw a ~2km length of crystal water and beautiful sand. What we didn't expect were the 6+ foot high waves that were breaking on the shoreline. Unknowlingly we thought this was wonderful at first, "lets go play in the waves" went through our minds. We trotted out and managed to play in the waves for a little while. THe waves would vary from 1/2 foot to some very large ones.

Here is a small guide with large waves that we didn't know before this day. NEVER try to jump over a wave and NEVER turn your back to a wave. The proper way to get through one is to drop into a ball and let it wash over and past you, or dive into the wave and pop out the other end. I knew none of this and was actually jumping over waves thinking that was the best way to get past them(keeping my head above water seeming to make the most sense). Eventually, a monstrous wave came and I was able to jump over it and Sheenah was out far enough to float over it. The wave carried us closer to shore though and immediately following was an evern larger wave. Sheenah was caught in the wave with her board and it smashed down right over me. We both took a pretty bad smash. These waves literally treat you like a rag doll and pummel you. Sheenah got smashed into the shore and her back was twisted. She was actually hurting really bad and close to fainting. I was slammed into the sand and dragged up along the beach(while underwater) with the wave. My back was all scratched from the sand. YIKES! This was honestly a very close call from serious injury. We heading to the towels and recovered. We later found out that this beach is named break-neck beach and is considered very dangerous by locals. Often tourists, and locals, will dislocate shoulders, tear rotator cuffs or injure necks on these shores. No kidding! We will have some photos which do the beach no justice and some videos for later. At some point, Sheenah remembered looking down on me from the crest of a wave and I was maybe 8 feet below her, think about that kind of power smashing and tumbling a person. Scary.

We tanned a little bit(I burnt) and heading back to the house. Later that evening we went to a small marketplace of local vendors and did some shopping which was very nice. Another day done.

-Shawn