Maika'i Maui | Dispatch 1

The annual trip to Maui is on and this year I'll be spending 11 days on the island trying to scout out all the new sustainability things going on. Once again this year, Maui follows on the wake of the annual Tribal Journey for which I paddled over 100 miles so I'm very much looking forward to some rest time.

One of the most important things I learned from my Tribal Journey days is that one should always ask permission to enter another People's lands. So, during our approach I sang the song that I had come up with during this year's Journey and once we landed, I paused for a moment and asked permission to enter. There wasn't anyone to give the permission but as this often happens on early morning launches during the Tribal Journey, I knew that by following the proper Protocol, things would be OK.

The first thing that I was very pleased to see upon landing see was that recycling has finally taken off on much of the island. In the airport, in restaurants, etc. Even in our condo where once there was one small can for recycling there are now seven separate containers for various recyclables. Yay!

The next major sustainability story comes from our first afternoon walking around Old Lahaina....Paul's sunglasses purchase. Turns out the ubiquitous Sunglass Hut stores now are supporting OneSight, a nonprofit that works to improve vision around the world through outreach, research and education. Sunglass Hut supports OneSight, you can make a donation at the store, AND you can even donate your old sunglasses for OneSight recipients.

Next up was a visit to the gallery of Lahaina Arts Society in the Old Lahaina Courthouse. The group supports many local artists and my purchase this year was a small medallion pin made of beautiful feathers by Ellen Levinsky. The pin will look great on the cedar hat I recently bought back in Seattle.

An afternoon snorkel included peeks at an eel and a puffer fish and we ended the day with a grocery visit to Lahaina Farms, the local natural food store.