Hi Everyone!

I had a spectacular 60 hours in Maui. 

It was so nice to go home and feel the ocean for a couple of days. The energy is amazing and refreshing after the long cold winter…  I know what you might be thinking: “Julia is a little crazy to travel all that way just for a couple of days!” But you know what?

It was so worth it. 

I flew out of Vancouver on sunday night and arrived in Maui at 10 pm.  Resi was there training with Scott at MPG for a couple of weeks working to get back on snow, and so I was very lucky to have my best friend pick me up at the airport. We went straight to the ocean for a late night skinny dip!  The next day I woke up to the sound of the swell picking up and the waves crashing!  

We had a quick breakfast at Cafe des Amis, I had a delicious crepe, and while Resi headed to the gym, I hit hookipa for a morning surf!  

The waves were perfect and due to some rain and cloudy skies, it was virtually uncrowded.  I am not used to the small crowds because I am normally only there at the beginning of winter when everyone is jonesin’ for a surf and the line up is packed, so it was such a treat!  I caught my best wave ever too.  It was a perfect powerful right, about head high and I made the drop and even got a little hoot from a local!  Now that alone was worth the trip!  

After Resi was done with her little gym session, we headed to the south side to chase some sun.  Sure enough the sun was shinning and the waves were pumping too!  How lucky to have a south swell in the winter.  We took some stand up boards and cruised around in the sun for a few hours, and watched the humpback whales play away out in the deep blue. 

That was another first for me was to see the whales.  They aren’t around in the summer time, so it was really neat to see them play. There were so many!  The most amazing thing is, when you put your ears under water, you can hear them sing. Unreal and so beautiful. For all you who haven’t heard whales singing yet, check it out here: http://whalesong.net.

The next day was a little more mellow. The swell picked up quite a bit so there was not too much surf for me on the north shore.  All of my friends went out to surf the monster waves with their jet skis, and I decided to relax a little more on the beach, and hopefully go out if the swell dropped off a little.  And sure enough, it did and I was able to hit it a little in the evening and watched the sun set on the beach. It was my last night in the islands and no doubt, I enjoyed every minute!

My flight on Wednesday was at 1:35pm, and of course we had to milk the morning as much as we could. So we made plans to go out and try tow-in surfing for my first time.  I was very excited and it was so much fun!  The waves weren’t monsters but they were perfect for my first time out and it was super glassy!  I was wishing for some big sets to come in… but I had to consciously stop myself. I have a tendency to over-challenge myself and that can lead to some pretty bad wipeouts.  I have a hard time seeing my limits until its too late!  I just want to go big! And then crash and burn… shark bait.

And that’s how my dream came to an end… no not with being shark bait, but by having to leave. 

I thank all of my Maui friends for the best time, most of them are off the Cape Verde this weekend for their first windsurfing comp of the year.  Good luck!!! Rip It Up Boys!

Aloha,

Jules