第一次去海边度假，原因是总觉得度假胜地没文化，除了躺在沙滩上没什么可干的，而老公是个坐不住的猴子，我又不太喜欢晒太阳。所以从我们两个人大二暑假开始游中国，然后游美国，游欧洲，海边我们是不去的 -- 傲慢与偏见共存。
在我怀孕三个月时开始策划我们两人世界的最后一次度假计划。时间很容易定，一定是在2007年的一月下旬： 不可能再早，原因是老公老早就把2006年的假用玩了，而我在每个月下旬的时候容易走开；也不可能再晚，因为一月下旬我已经怀孕六个月了。既然肯定是最冷的冬季，欧洲第一个被排除，又冷白天又太短，也不想费劲去搞签证； 回国第二个被排除，北京只比纽约更冷，不想生病，我这个样子也不适合在外面疯玩儿疯狂购物胡吃海塞； 所以一定要去个不需要签证的暖和地方，现成的地方有三个：Florida，US Virgin islands，或夏威夷。Florida比较近，也相对便宜，可想想以后不知要带孩子去多少次，还是留着带孩子去吧。US Virgin Islands听起来是个好选择，也不太远，可是查了查，贵不说也没什么好玩的，真的只能呆在resort里成天在沙滩上晒太阳。所以我们选了去夏威夷。
可是去夏威夷的那个岛呢？据说四大岛各有各的特色，我喜欢的旅游参考网站Frommer's诚恳地建议大家一个星期只去一个岛。好在有三个朋友四个岛都去过，鉴于我目前的状况，都建议Maui or Kauai，我看了一些网站介绍之后觉得Maui更有趣些，于是时间地点都定了。
每次出行我负责订机票和定大致行程，我不认路，所以老公订旅馆和定具体安排。这次也不例外，只是我在一番调查研究咨询之后告诉老公我们要住Ka'anapali，而且要住得好些，其他活动我也看好了，他只要看怎么去，租辆车就行了。所以订计划这一步也比任何一次出行都简单得多得多。
Packing也是我的强项，但每次都要花很多时间在搭配我的衣服上，要好看要舒服要能适应各种天气气温，还不能带太多。这次虽不能免俗，我老早就开始在网上买好看的孕妇衣服，但总之只有那么几件，买的时候就想好怎么搭配的，而且这次只住一个地方，又租车，不怕背不动，所以这次packing也没费任何功夫。
然后就到了2007年1月20日，星期六，我们出发了。
从Newark到Maui没有直飞，所以来回我们都在加州转机，每一段都五六个小时，正好我可以下来活动一下吃点东西。一路无话，到达Maui的Kahului机场居然还提前了，真是奇迹！一下飞机就觉得空气温暖潮湿，说不出的舒服，等行李的地方居然是半开放的，即有屋顶，可是没有其他所有机场都有的自动门，根本就没有门！老公本来在网上租了辆mid-size sedan，到了Alamo一激动upgrade到了SUV，所以我们一星期开的是TrailBlazer，事实证明是个好主意。
租好车上路，夕阳西下。机场附近看起来和美国别的城市没有太大区别，除了路边的椰子树摇曳，可等开上海边的高速，看到夕阳下的太平洋，看到日落太平洋，看到Maui西边的山，才让我相信花了近十五个小时后我们真的到了夏威夷。
Check-in后进了房间又是一阵惊喜：很大的一个studio，足有500多尺，一个king-size的床，一组沙发，餐桌椅，小小的但设备齐全的厨房，浴室里大理石墙壁和地面，还有一个walk-in closet。我们这次很奢侈地订的是有海景的房间，天黑了看不清，但可以听到海浪的声音，隐隐可以看到海面上浮着的一只白色小船。
开车进来的时候我们发现隔壁就是个shopping center，决定放下行李就去逛逛，找点吃的。
2007年1月21日，星期天，晴
由于时差的关系我们老早就醒了，拉开窗帘躺在床上等天亮。天亮了，我们惊喜地发现外面的景色美不胜收：我们在十二层，最高层，左边是蓝蓝的海水金色的沙滩，前边另有两个旅馆，看得见它们的游泳池和花园，远处是另一片海水，右边是山脚下椰子树摇曳的高尔夫球场。
做了咖啡，吃了简单的早餐，我们下楼去沙滩上散步。我穿了花花的吊带裙，一对相配的长长的摇曳的耳环。虽然才七点多钟，外边的空气是温暖的，赤脚走在沙滩上，温和的海风拂面，阳光暖洋洋地照在身上，说不出的惬意。我们先往北朝Sheraton的方向走过去，让晶莹透明的海水轻抚我的脚面，还有好几对在沙滩上散步，有的人已经下海玩去了。一直走到Sheraton背后的大礁石那里，发现海水平静有人在snorkel，我也想在星期三出海之前来练习一下。我们转身往回走，几乎一直走到Ka'anapali beach的最南端，发现那里有些小浪头，有人在练习冲浪。一路上走过来，有人在游泳，有人在划艇，有人在散步，有人在晒太阳，有小孩子在玩沙子。。。原来这个海滩这么好，能做的事情这么多呀！
散了两个小时步回来我们决定先去Lahaina，把朋友送的snorkeling trip的票给拿了。然后我去买了一块花花的长sarong，老公买了花花的短裤和花花的Hawaiian shirt。中午在一家有海景的饭馆吃饭，老公要了Blue Hawai'i，我不能喝酒就叫了什么volcano eruption，其实就是耶汁冰淇淋shake，也插了伞的。老公叫的鱼是Opa，很嫩，我叫的Hawaiian chiken salada也比平时吃的要好很多。吃完了还赖着不想走的时候，后面的一桌人惊叫说看鲸鱼，发现远远有鲸鱼喷水，后来有一头鲸鱼用尾巴拍水，直拍了十数下。
下午在Lahaina逛小店，家家都卖颜色鲜艳的各种Hawaiian shirt，sarong, 游泳裤，比基尼，花包，裙子，手工艺品，我们吃冰淇淋，shave ice。我又买了个艳粉的一个花包，因为带去的腰包实在不适合孕妇用。
回旅馆在阳台上吃菠萝看海景，晚上去一个叫Kobe的日本饭馆吃铁板烧。
晚上很早就坚持不住睡了。夏威夷和纽约有五个小时的时差，我们决定只倒一半，这样早睡早起，回来也容易适应。
2007年1月22日，星期一，晴
heavenly road to Hana
先抄一段老公在他的博客里写的，我来添油加醋。
I can’t argue whether it’s indeed “the world’s most beautiful drive”, but it’s surely a heavenly hell of a drive!
想起九八年在加州一号公路上开车欣赏太平洋美景的经历。那次我们两个拿到驾照不到半年，只在伊利诺伊平直的高速上开过车，所以总觉得那次的开车经历更为惊险，当然也因为主要的那段山路是我开的，心有余悸。加上那次是老土第一次开眼，所以觉得风景美不胜收，简直无法用语言形容。二零零一年去17-Miles就没觉得不好开，不过仍然觉得好看。形态各异的岩石，雪白的浪花，平静的一望无际的海面，湛蓝的天空，灿烂的阳光，新鲜的空气...... 这次的Hana Highway除此以外，还有茂密的热带雨林，开着红花的大树，绿油油的酷似桂林凤尾竹的竹林。Cringing at the thought of being among tourist cars crawling along the way, we started the day at 7am. In an hour or so we got to the first vista point, overlooking a large bay with dozens of surfers. We stopped there again on our way back at about 4:30pm and there were maybe a hundred.
第一次看真人冲浪。小时候在电视上看的时候我好羡慕啊。老早以前看过一部Keanu Reeves演的Breakpoint，觉得学冲浪看起来也不很难。这次站在海边亲眼看过去，就知道这决不是一件怕水的我能做的事。很多人扶着冲浪板在海面上浮着，等待时机，一旦浪头涌来，就要抓住机会在浪头到达自己的一瞬间以前站起来，然后顺势滑去，但一定要保持自己处在breakpoint前，技高的人还能在浪尖上做些动作，技术不高的人很快就被浪头吞灭了。冲完，他们就趴在板上，靠胳膊一点一点滑回来，遇到浪头，他们就一撅屁股把头藏到水里。看到几个surfer，体型肤色不是一般的好，相比之下在岸上看热闹的我们一个个都肤色苍白体型不是臃肿就是干瘦。Soon afterwards the speed limit becomes 15mph with never-ending curves and endless single-lane bridges and narrows. It’s really quite stressful for driving: constantly spinning the wheel, shifting the pedals, and fighting off the temptation to take your eyes off the road for the scenery. The way back is even more difficult since the drive is mostly on the edge side and most hairspin turns are to the right, unnatural for a right-handed driver.
我也觉得回来的路更难开些。别看我不开车，我的眼睛也一直盯着路看，一边看着风景。We got to Hana at about 1pm with maybe 10 photo-snapping stops. After a quick lunch, we stopped at Waianapanapa (how many A’s are there?) State Park and Keanae peninsula on our way back. The most remarkable view and sound is the roaring sea crashing into pitch-back modern-sculpture-like volcanic stones. Together with those black sand (volcanic ash) beaches along the way, the contrast to the beaches on the west side of the island where we stay is truly amazing.
从没见过黑色的沙滩，真的不好看，而且比较吓人。这一带的景色让我觉得在大自然面前我们是如此的渺小无助。看来我确是一个被城市生活惯坏了的人。The real highlight of the day, though, is our dinner at Mama’s Fish House. Recommended by a friend, it’s the most expensive meal we’ve ever had ($200 total), but it’s well worth it for the best fish dishes we’ve ever had. We got there at 5pm and it was already more than half filled. Most fish entrees are fresh catch of the day (with the fishing company name listed). The Ahi (bigeye/yellowfin tuna) sashimi appetizer is gorgeous. J had A’u (marlin/swordfish) and I had silver-mouth Lehi (snapper) with crispy skin, both incredibly tender and juicy. Compared with them, the Opah (moonfish) we had for lunch yesterday, which wasn’t too bad at all, was like rubber.
这是我们第一次真心觉得美国餐馆的食物好吃。这个评价真是很高了。我喜欢这家餐馆是因为它的氛围。餐馆前的yard其实就是海滩，椰子树摇曳的身姿，夕阳下的海水，帆船，潮声。餐馆内部看起来象是夏威夷人的草屋，窗户大开着，让人虽身处室内，但照样能呼吸室外新鲜的空气，倾听潮声。喜欢明艳的蓝色的有夏威夷图案的桌布。
2007年1月23日，星期二，晴
One of the best on-shore snorkeling place in Maui is the Black Rock, only a few hundred feet away from our hotel. What a place for our first snorkeling experience! It’s a surreal feeling to swim with the fishes. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s Molokini snorkel cruise!
这张照片其实是临走前拍的。
我第一次snorkel，戴上面罩插上呼吸管穿上脚蹼，就一头扎水里了，立刻不明不白地吸进了水，然后赶快挣扎着站起来。又试了一次两次还是一吸气就进水，弄得老公莫名其妙。他也第一次可是一点事情都没有。他耐心地教我，我其实也听不进去，又多试了几次居然也就好了。但过不了太久管子又会进水，我人已经在脚够不着地的地方了，忽然发现穿了脚蹼我自然而然地会踩水了。没敢游太远，但岩石下海水里都是珊瑚，好多鱼，色彩鲜艳的鱼，简直不象真的，水里完全别有洞天！
The only other event in the day is the Old Lahaina Luau, reputed to be the best in town. The food and show were ok, but really toursy. It’s kind of fun to see 500 people together in Hawaiian dress and vacation mood.
夏威夷音乐听起来都一样，很wavy，很放松。看见这许多游客身着色彩鲜艳的衣服，都自然地笑着，端着酒杯走来走去，确是一种不同的经历。就象2003年在马德里一个很不起眼的小广场上，大中午的，看见很多人穿得很少，沐浴在五月的阳光里，喝着啤酒红酒，那么惬意。这些是和我熟悉的行色匆匆的高楼大厦的阴影里的纽约是多么的不同。
2007年1月24日，星期三，晴
I’ve never heard of snuba diving, but when it was advertised on our way to Molokini, I felt it’s something I should try, since we won’t do any scuba diving. It turned out to be one of the better decisions I’ve ever made.
其实他还在那里犹豫的时候我就对他说你去吧。当然他犹豫的不是snuba会不会好玩儿，他怕他丢下我自己玩去了我会不会生气。Snorkeling is fun, but you’re confined to the surface. Scuba diving is the ultimate, but it’s scary and requires a lot of training. Snuba diving is scuba on leash: you’re connected to an oxygen tank on a floating raft by a rubber hose, so you don’t need to carry the oxygen, but of course you can only go as deep as the tube length, which assures safety.
要不是在怀孕我肯定也要去试试的，虽然怕水，可是我更怕missed the fun。但是在怀孕，水下压力大，我还是不冒险的好。所以我就要了根noodle，穿戴好了，慢慢从船上蹭下水去。有了noodle我更不用担心浮在水面上和呼吸的事了。Molokini的水好清呀！但是比Black Rock深多了，所以是一种晶莹的深蓝色，在有阳光的时候是一种热带的清凉，当阳光隐在白云后面是一种深邃的神秘感。因为多云，所以水比较凉，我们租了wet suite，所以我得以在水里多玩儿了一阵子。离Molokini越近，水稍浅，珊瑚越多，鱼就越多。后来发现鱼也喜欢船，船边上也聚了一大群鱼。热带鱼真是给我一种不真实的感觉，太鲜艳了，太漂亮了。For the first time, a scuba diver leads the group of 8 people. It took a while to feel comfortable, and then it’s pure bliss. Why argue whether we know how a fish feels? Just do a dive and follow a fish. The original schedule includes a 2nd snorkel site called Turtle Island, but the weather wasn’t good over there so we came back to Molokini. A 2nd snuba diving is offered, and only me and my diving partner (two persons use one oxygen tank) took it up. With much fewer people and the hose length doubled to 30ft, it was a lot more enjoyable. We saw a sting ray just as we got down, and made a big circle around our ship (J saw our raft moving on the surface). Truly, truly awesome.
还是我怂恿他再去玩儿的。我呢就躲在船上东瞧西看，因为才吃了午饭，觉得立刻下冷水不利健康。也因为第一次下去不小心喝了海水胃里不舒服，还小小地吐了一下，当然没告诉老公。Before dinner, we went up to the north-west end of the island to see surfers at Honolua Bay. It was almost like what we see on TV. Truly, truly amazing.
这个海湾比去Hana路上的好，一个浪比较长，时间也比较长，所以很多surfer有足够的时间可以转来拧去做些动作。海湾上面是PGA在夏威夷开赛的场子。The sushi dinner that caps off the great day is of no less quality. What a day in, on, and from the ocean!
我承认我很不乖，叫了sashimi boat, flower sushi。我还是喜欢生鱼。
2007年1月25日，星期四，晴
We booked a tour for 10am, but they had some technical problem and had to move us to 3pm, so we went to snorkel at Black Rock for a few hours first.
We caught some glimpses of quite a few whales on our way to and back from Molokini, but nothing could have prepared us for this afternoon. We saw several groups of whales, maybe a total of more than 20 individuals. The main group is 5-6 males chasing and fighting for a female, kept circling and surfacing.Then on our way back, the captain made a detour to see a mother whale and her calf playing. We saw maybe 10 breaches of the mother. Indescribable!!!
2007年1月26日，星期五，晴
breakfast at Longhi at Lahaina
trip to Volcano Haleakala, national park
touring Kihei and Wailea
Dinner at Roy Yamaguchi's in Kihei
2007年1月27日，星期六，晴
unwilling to leave our room,
walk on the beach to Black Rock one more time
Iao Valley
Surfing watching, shopping,
Dinner at Mama's Fish House again
Leaving Maui
Things we did in our last two days:
- Haleakala National Park: We drove all the way to the 10,000ft summit–that must be the easiest mountain “climbing” ever. The road is extremely well paved, and really a piece of cake for driving compared to Hana Highway. The desolate scene within the dormant volcano is unlike anything we’ve ever seen, but it’s a pretty boring landscape.
- South Maui: Coming down from Haleakala, we drove around Kihei and Wailea. There’s a stark contrast between the high-end resort hotels in Wailea and the working-class residences in Kihei. Had dinner at one of Roy Yamaguchi’s restaurant, again very nice.
- Outrigger canoe race: We first saw scores of canoes getting to Black Rock from our balcony, and later when we did a last walk on Kaanapali beach we saw people getting to the finish point at Whaler Village.
- Iao Valley State Park: We booked a guided rain forest walk, but the guide called in sick (we suspect that s/he went surfing instead). The valley vista is very different from other places on the island, but the park is too small.
We wrapped up the wonderful vacation with a 2nd trip to Mama’s Fish House. It’s not as shockingly good as the first time, but still very pleasant.
The last thing we did on the island is to munch away 3 apples at the airport, since no fruit is allowed back to the continent. A guy sitting beside us gorged 2 big apples all by himself. Then came the long flight home, and the vacation is over
