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Published: July 29th 2006
Jay @ Big Beach
Me sat on the rocks between Big Beach (behind me) and Small Beach in front of me.Woke up and went down the road for my Chinese breakfast at Takamiya's... SHUT! Damn it! Bloody Sunday! Spotted Neil on his way to the same mistake and offered to drive both of us to Star Market Food Mall. This is where I found out what genetically modified food can be like... I bought a Golden Delicious apple that was at least twice the size of the ones in the UK! I looked on the label to make sure it was a Golden Delicious and saw a symbol you see a lot in the US… "XL".
I went on my first (free) Banana Bungalow tour, it was to Big Beach and Small Beach. Our mini bus was driven by our 'guide' - who was a backpackers who decided to stay on at the hostel as staff. We drove down through a valley with lots of sugar cane and pineapples. Then down and through Kihei, which should actually be desert but gets water pumped over from the East side of the island. So you have lush green areas, right next to a long strip of coast, with hardly any rain all year round. The rain almost always dumps on the North-East
Big Beach Waves
Big Beach has a really short but VERY strong break - NEVER turn your back to it! coast of Maui (and the other islands too).
We finally got to Big Beach and I had a Fish Taco at the roadside stall - amazing! Really nice! It was made with Mahi Mahi fish and was unlike anything I have ever had. We went down to the beach & took a few boogie boards. The break at Big Beach is very short and VERY powerful - get it wrong and you get dropped 6 foot onto the sand and then 6 foot of water crashes down on to you (see
here). There have been many broken bones and even necks/backs there! I decided in my wisdom, that it was a good place to try body boarding (all the boards were being used). I found out really quick what not to do - had the wind smashed out of me a few times. A couple of local guys gave me some tips. But still got smashed and churned about... The Fish Taco nearly made a repeat appearance - so decided to try Small Beach...
You have to walk up over some rocks to get to the small, chilled out, clothing-optional beach. It was an amazing sight! Lots of
More Big Beach Waves
More examples of the break at Big Beach - spot the guy looking in fear... very ‘free and open' people of all shapes, sizes and ages completely naked and very happy about it! Lots of naked Yoga too - full on leg spreading, etc! Lots of pot (saw pot popcorn!), beer, tribal drums, dancing, fire poi, fire sticks (later in the evening). There was path at the back of beach up through fallen trees, where people had strung up hammocks to chill on. A very happy, chilled-out place. I loved it!
It was also an amazing place for people watching - some really 'unusual' characters! My favorite was 'Orange Man'. He was an old, thin man, with balding grey head and big long beard, wearing a jock strap - a bit like the guy in the Life of Brian who lives in a hole and has a vow of silence... Anyway this guy had a funny routine - peel and eat an orange, go for a run up and down the beach (with little jock strap), come back, peel and eat another orange, start signing to the sky (turns out the were Bob Marley songs, but with his own tune/tempo), peel and eat another orange and repeat.... I saw him eat over ten oranges!!
Small Beach - naked yoga
Small Beach is a very chilled out beach - clothing optional, lots of pot, drum circles, fire poi and fire staffs, some very unusal people - people watching to the extreme! LOL
I was also pleased with the much better break. I learnt to body surf and had a really good time. Got some good boogie boarding in too. I would have considered naked boogie boarding, but would be worried I would make my fellow hostel friends feel a bit awkward - I wouldn't mind, but I hadn't been there long and still making friends!
As the sun began to set more and more people joined the drum circle and people danced and played with poi, hula rings and staffs to the chilled-out beats. As we left someone asked me if I wanted to go to the Maui film festival - it was the last day. I said no thanks as I wanted to get back to the hostel, get changed and get to know a few people. In retrospect I wish I had said yes - it was amazing apparently - big outdoor film festival with surfing and kite surfing etc.. And as I found out later hitching a ride is safe and common... Ah well...
Sat in the hot tub when I got back and met two Texans - Keith and Scott, who showed me their 'my finger goes backwards now' football and wresting injuries! Really nice and funny guys!
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melon
non-member comment
clothing optional
small chilled out clothing optional beach - sounds just like my kind of beach.