Windsurfing

Sunday 19 February
It was a beautiful clear day down at the shore, so we decided to try our luck at driving up Haleakala, the dormant volcano on the eastern part of the island, at a height of 10,023 feet. As we began our climb, we enjoyed a beautiful view down to the coast, but we hadn’t gone more than a third of the way, before we ran into cloud. We continued, hoping maybe we would come out on top of the cloud, but no such luck, the summit was totally enclose in cloud, except for about a one minute patch of clearing and a tiny patch of blue sky - see extra collage. At the beach the temperature was probably about mid 70s F, but the temperature drops about three degrees for every thousand feet of elevation gain. Year-round summit temperature range from sub freezing to highs of 65F, and windchill and overcast conditions make it feel colder! We stopped at the various look outs, hoping to get a glimpse, without success, so we headed back down. By this time, the cloud extended lowers down, and was more dense, resulting in a rather stressful drive.
As a back-up plan we drove to Ho’okipa Beack just east of Paia, one of the best surfing and wind surfing beaches on the island. We spent several hours there, watching all the activity, first from the nearby headland, then from the beach itself. At the far end of the beach we were treated to the sight of an endangered Hawaiian Monk seal, pulled up on the beach, and being watched over by a volunteer, making sure people didn’t get too close. These seals are one of the most endangered seal species in the world. These monk seals are endemic to the Hawaiian islands, and found nowhere else in the world. The population overall had been declining for six decades, and while their numbers are currently increasing, they are only about one third of historic population levels. At the other end of the beach is a common spot for sea turtles to come out onto the beach and I reckon there were 30-40 of them - difficult to count, since some were half lying on others! See extras
Step count: 8,210