Whales and Sugar

Over 1600 humpback whales live near Maui. Often you can see them from the beach, but getting a close look requires a boat ride. It's well worth the $45 price tag. I'll post a short video clip on Facebook.

We were on a good excursion. Whales were jumping all around us. We especially enjoyed hearing them via the boat's underwater sonar system.

Sugar cane is a beautiful plant. It sways in the wind with grace. A plant takes two years to reach harvest time. When it is time, the field is burned. The outer leafy part is burned off, but the moist sugary inner part is left behind to be harvested.

It looks like sugar cane is natural to the area, but not so. The plantation owners had to lay 74 miles of irrigation pipe. Where the irrigation does not reach, the ground is parched brown.

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