The Fleeting Feeling of a Long-Ago Sea

 

The headquarters of the Nationa Marine Sanctuary in Kihei. The first floor consists of informational exhibits about the humpback whale and the importance of the perserve. Outback is a small that looks out over the ocean, where one can stare at the sea for as long as one want's, letting one's eyes relax to the horizon. Were it a month later, we might have seen whales, but as such, it was a little early. They were still on their way down from their summer feeding grounds in Alaska.

Fri -- our time in Maui was coming to a close. Just two full days remained, but as Saturday already had time commitments, Friday would be our last completely free day, to do as we pleased while we still occupied the Panioli Suite

By this time, we were becoming familiar with the twists of the and sudden turns required to make one's way through the forest to and from the North Short Lookout. 

The breakfast consisted of home-made sausage-gravy biscuits made on site by the proprietor, then we immediately headed onto the road with various possible destinations in mind for the day.

We had gotten used to the way, coming down the hill into Makawao Town, the road emerges from the forest by the little churchyard next to the Catholic Church by the main road. 

Our first priority was to return the beach equipment we had obtained on the first day. We had only sed them that initial day at Makena Beach, and the spot by the rocks near Aunt Sandy's in Ke'enae, We didn't need the cooler at all. Somehow that was fine. It was to obtain them and have them in our car during our stay. We grabbed a cup of coffee in Kihau just to experience the fun of visiting one of the local coffee shops in that touristy town, and remind oneself of the leisure of Hawaii travel. Then we made our way a couple blocks to the destination Jessica had wanted to make our first stop of the day, the headquarters of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback While National Marine Sanctuary.

The building was directly on the wall, a small two-story structure. It had a naval observation post in the Second World War, it was speculated, but the records have been lost. Now it serves as the park headquarters. The actual sanctuary is the water---that is the ocean between Maui and the neighboring islands of Kahoolawe, Lanai.

There is not so much to explore in the headquarters beyond the exhibits on the first floor, but I was relieved. I get impatient in such spaces. The exhibits were informative and useful, but i found myself intriigued by the history of the building itself.

Out in back of the building, right along the water, is long bench against the building where at that hour of the day, one can sit in the shade a view of the waters of the preserve out towards Kahoolawe and Lanai. As I sat there I could smell the sea, and feel the warm breeze, and it felt exactly like being in Greece in 1985 when I was twenty years old. It was uncanny at how pleasant it was to feel that, as if my life were fresh and young once again, they way I remembered, when I was bold, and living completely in the moment, where a feast could be had from a bottle of orange juice, and some bread and butter. 

A young bronze God in the Aegean sun, toting a backpack moving from port to port by ferry, and sleeping under the stars---it was a nice image, one that was both truthful and utterly fantastical at once. One gets such a season in life, if one is incredibly lucky, as I was. I have no need to recapture it, but when it pops up spontaneously, every once in a while, I welcome it. When it hits, it is not nostalgia. It feels real, as if one is actually there, as young as one ever was, but the aching knowledge of how fleeting it all is, much more fleeting than one can know.