60: Day 10 – Destroyed

Twin Falls - The first part of today’s post is related in many ways to yesterday’s and I must have a little bit of a rant about the state of Twin Falls. I took our visiting friends there this morning, I thought that it would be fun to swim in the pools and get a few waterfall jumps in. I haven’t been there for a couple of years and while I knew that it had changed what presented itself this morning was nothing short of disgusting. Who has let one of Maui most natural beauties turn into a trodden down zoo of people?

During my visit this morning I saw at least 3 tour guides each with 20 or so paying customers and hundreds of tourists milling about, I do not exaggerate there was a 100+ cars parked and an estimated 250-300 people in the area. The pools and trails were so packed it was no way relaxing and in no way how Hawaii should be, one particular tour had people lined up ready to jump off one of the upper falls and it appears that somebody (I am guess the tour guides) has cleared some vegetation and rocks so that it is easier to jump.

A rare moment with noboddy in the pool!

I have been going to Twin Falls for 15 years and in the past there may have been 4 cars max, it was beautiful, it was relaxing, it was great to get out into the forest and be surrounded by natural Hawaiian beauty, now it is horrible, a mess and something should be done about it. I am not sure what the solution is but, unless something changes you might as well tarmac it and make it like the Iao Valley, so to sum up and finish my rant I declare Twin Falls an ENVIRONMENTAL disaster and urge you not to visit and speak up if you agree with me.

Summer Waves - We were treated to some trade swell today with waves between waste and head high at Ho’okipa, the variable wind meant that the crowds were kept to a minimum at times and while it was a little light on the top turn it was great to get some rides in. I was using the Starboard again today and was pleased with it on the waves although still concerned about the thin pads and I am going to try some other boards. I had a great fun session with friends today and hope we get some more action tomorrow! Still keeping a firm hold of the 100% sailing record since returning back to the island and it looks like the wind is forecast to keep coming.

I love the sense of movement in this shot

I included this pic becuase it shows the waves that we had today, I had left the camera shooting my mistake so this shot is just down to luck.

Would be good with a bigger wave.

I just love the colours and lighting of this one, again another one that should not have been.

GoPro Update - I am having some fogging issues, my friend Dave tells me that RainX on the outside and goggle anti-fog should do the trick so I will get that sorted in the morning. I did a boom mount and got some fun pics before my lens misted up. Hoping for more waves tomorrow and I think that I will use the headcam and record some video.

GPS - I have had some great runs and bike rides in the last 10 days and what is particularly great is seeing GPS tracks of the North Shore rather than of all the tracks from Bahrain which I have done so many times recently. Today I had a fun 7km run to Kanaha and back during early morning, I was so happy in my surroundings that I couldn’t stop myself singing along to my iPod, hope nobody heard me!

I really enjoyed my run this morning from our house to Kanaha and back along the bike path.

More to follow…