TONI TALKS | FAMILY VACATION | STRANGE BUT TRUE
The Whales Were Watching Them
True Story: What happened when four African American brothers chartered a fishing boat on the Lahaina end of Maui, Hawaii
Our first family trip to Maui was in 1997. I’d wanted to get married there in 1986. This was before “Destination Weddings” were a thing. Images of vows exchanged barefoot on a sandy beach were the stuff my dreams were made of. But a beer budget put my champagne tastes on ice.
In the late 1980s, the universe conspired to align me with someone who owned a condo in Maui. Back then, my position allowed me to cross paths with the ultra-rich and powerful, and it required extensive travel. I’d just gotten back from Tokyo, and all he asked was if I got to see any more of Japan.
The question triggered a rant about being close to Hawaii yet feeling like I was a million miles away. Hyperbole is how I roll. I emphasized that Maui was the place I most wanted to see before I died. Mind you, I was in my late twenties. But the proclamation was heartfelt.
This tickled him. He casually commented that he owned property on the Wailea end of the island. He was optimistic I’d get there and offered free lodging.
Nearly ten years after our encounter, he made good on his offer. His place was beautiful, and the trip was the stuff dreams were made of. We stayed at his place for two weeks.
What’s insane is that we ran into each other in 2015. It was random. But that’s how the universe rolls.
Vacationing on Maui was an unforgettable experience. In retrospect, it was one of those rare times when reality surpassed my imagination. It was the trip of a lifetime for my daughter, who was five at the time.
It may have been what ignited her wanderlust. By the time she turned 30, she’d traveled to 25 countries. These days, I’m a homebody. When I hit the road, it’s generally to scout out local artist communities.
I immediately tapped into my artistic tribe on Maui. The young lady in the picture above had been taught by her grandfather to carve wood.
Upon leaving, we vowed to return with the entire Greathouse Clan. What makes an experience even better is to share it with the people you love. It took 17 years to manifest that intention.
The picture above captured our excitement on Christmas 2013. A year later we brought in 2015 with all my husband’s brothers on the island. That’s the power of love. We’ve always enjoyed being together.
As an aside, the devastation caused by the fires on the Lahaina end of Maui seemed more like something out of a movie than real life.
When we visited Lahaina for the first time in 1997, the entire town was celebrating the International Year of the Reef. Unlike Wailea, it was overrun by tourists.
In the 1700s, Lahaina was the playground for King Kamehameha. Over the centuries, it grew in popularity. By 2015, it annually attracted more than a million visitors worldwide.
Lahaina was the spot where my husband’s vacation story unfolded. It happened on a boat chartered for a boys-only fishing trip.
When we dropped my husband off, watching him try and fail to contain his excitement made me chuckle. He’s the oldest and is always in alpha mode.
My daughter inherited his bent for engaging in athletic activities that risk life and limb. I breathed a sigh of relief as he disembarked from the dock. It was in stark contrast to the activity chosen the day before.
The picture above is of the brothers on a Haleakala Volcano biking excursion. They didn’t dress appropriately for the altitude and paid the price on the windy ride down.
That day, my adventurous daughter and two of their wives accompanied them on the bike trip. The ladies were traumatized by the danger. This is why I chose to spend the day reading on the beach.
Anyway, the fishing trip coincided with the whale-watching season. Hence the title. After they’d been out on the water for a while, the captain told them not to get their hopes up about seeing a whale.
Although the captain said spotting one might be probable, seeing a whale breach was unusual. So you could imagine how excited they were when not one but three whales breached repeatedly.
Arriving back at the dock, their excitement was palpable. Even the boat’s captain was caught up in the euphoria. Shaking his head, he said it was like witnessing a miracle.
My husband, who’s already a character, animatedly weighed in. He believed the novelty of seeing four black men on the boat did the trick.
Doing his best whale impression, David said, “Man, you won’t believe what I just saw. Come on up!”
For the Greathouses’ that day will live in infamy as the time when the whales were watching them. It’s debatable who got the best sighting.
I imagine somewhere underwater, those three whales are sharing the same story with far-flung fish friends and family.
I’m confident the sight of four black guys hanging over the side of a boat on Maui is NOT something a whale sees every day.
Now that’s a “Whale of a Tale!”
I write to share ideas. 🔹 I write to impart wisdom from lessons learned. 🔹I write to reinvent my reality. 🔹I write about pursuing my passions as if they were my profession.
