Juju reports on summer at Bay Head, NJ: August 2009

Its a long way from Toronto to Bay Head. This is the real Jersey Shore. I'm not sure if "Jersey Shore' the reality show has hit downunder but suffice to say it shows a very different side of this favourite beach destination for thousands of New Yorkers and Noo Jerseyites.

Bay Head has come to mean summer for us. Bay Head is a small enclave of charming homes near Pt Pleasant on the Jersey shore about an hour south of  New York city or Newark Airport. Think gracious cape cod style homes with porches and shutters, weathered timber shingles, white hydrangeas, rockers and boston ferns and gelato colored weatherboards. People take pride in these homes and there is a feeling of calm preppy chic.

Friends Linda and Alan invited us to stay for the weekend and join them at the Mantoloking Yacht club dinner and dance recently. Linda, a fashion stylist, nixed my long navy dress and heels because the dress showed too much heel!!!, luckily I'd packed back up and the orange number I'd bought for the Newport beach party in May got the good nod.

While we fussed over hair and heels, the boys cycled over on their comfort bikes ( the standard mode of beach village transport in these parts). We girls tooled over in the car protecting our do's! I had no idea what to expect, isn't that the best way to approach an evening because it turned out to be really super special.

The locals taught us a thing or two about how to party. The very Ralf Lauren preppy crowd was a true mix from teens to grans but everyone boogied the night away to an amazing band helped out by Bon Jovi's blonde keyboard player Dave Bryan. There was such a sense of  joie d'vie and I was just tickled pink to be part of such wholehearted fun and enjoyment of the moment. These people really know how to FUN!

The night was perfection, the sunset a pink pearl glory over the still waters of the bay,  the water lapping right up to the club house as we sat waterside for a dinner of  perfectly cooked beef filet. BYO was the order of the night and seemed to work really well, boys arrives with their chilly bins (coolers) stocked full of booze while the club provides mixers, ice and slices of lime and lemon. All very civilised really.

Later we piled back onto bikes and into cars and went back to Dave Bryans house for an afterparty. He rents a gorgeous old mansion in the dunes and once again it was fun to get to party in such a lovely home. Alans sister and the boys played Beer Pong....seems to be a ritual on the east coast.... a frat house hangover I think. You fill some paper cups with beer and try and plop ping pong balls into the cup. Jeez Wayne. I think you have to be seriously pickled to think thats fun but then I've never been much for party games. Needless to say we had fun and after a stint sitting out on the dunes in cap cod chairs we hit the trail back home. Still  fairly tipsy and in my very high heels, Pip slung me over the handlebars of his pink easy cruiser !! and doubled me home through the quiet streets of Bay Head, singing his heart out, much to Alan's delight and a local cops displeasure! Somehow we made it back to home and hearth, my high heels unscathed and without a citation.

Juju logs our trip to Maui: August 2009

Pip and I flew to Maui last Thursday to meet up with old friends Milson and Leigh Thevenard. Tim, one of Milsons brothers has lived on the island for 34 years. His home in Kuau just along the road from Paia in sugar cane country is just a stroll from some of the best windsurfing beaches on the Island. An old cane cutters house, Tim and wife Chris have renovated and added tropical plantings and huge veggie garden at the back. Orchids, plumeria (frangipani), palms and tieri (hawaiian gardenia) perfume the air.

The little store at Kuau introduced us to Poke (pokey)... raw tuna with a hint of seaweed with soy and sesame dip, Coconut sorbet in halved coconut shell and POG.... a great juice mixture made from passionfruit, orange and guava.

We spent the first and last days at Baldwins beach in Paia a long white stretch of beach scattered with coral debris and fringed by palms and acacias.

A lunch ritual was my Obama burger, Ahi burgers for the others from The Fish Market in Paia. The Obama burger was a grilled slab of Cajun Ono  (white fish) topped with Wasabi butter, slaw, cheese and mayo and was too die for. Paia had a real surfer hippie vibe with Mana foods being a mecca for all things wholesome and delicous. Latarte was a stunning boutique of resort wear, totally beautiful coverups that Leigh and I drooled over, but with price tags around the 200 - 300 mark these tops were not random buys. If I hadnt just purchased my summer gear from Lisa Curran back in New Jersey I might have splurged.

The white sands at Wilea just along from the 4 Seasons Hotel was our fav spot for turtle watching. The mound coral there was the softest green and although fish were not plentiful there were enough to satisty. A large turtle swam along the beach and popped his head up beside me. He was a shiny freckled brown with bright eyes and his beak looked a little dangerous. Milson and Pip swam with him for a while.

We discovered a cool Pupu lounge (apetiser or small plate) in Kihei  where we all tried different
 tropical cocktails. We loved the tiki lights and glasses and stayed for dinner there before heading back to put Tim's chickens to bed.

Most nights we grilled(bbq'd) fish back at the house which was fun. The air was fresher than we are used too and a little cooler than the humidity of NYC, it was a treat to sit outside each night by candlelight and enjoy the tradewind breezes the island is famous for. No need for aircon just a few celing fans ( which I've had to accept are the only way to go in this climate if you hate aircon...and I do) and many of the windows were just sliding screens left open all the time.

Honey girl, brownie and blackie were the reason Mils and Leigh were housesitting for Tim. Three chooks, Junior Boy the ginger cat and the veggie garden and newly landscaped front garden required a fair amount of daily effort. Honey girl was the star, laying one perfect egg per day in a little crate by the back door. Milson herded the three chooks nightly into their chook house and let them out again each morning. Leigh hand fed them with gourmet options daily...quinoa, shitake mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, couscous, oats and even raisins.

We took a trip to Lahaina and Kapalua to snorkle at spot X with the green gate..up near Honolua Bay.. sadly the fish had moved on and the coral was almost non-existant. My parents visited here about 20 years ago when the tropical fish were teeming in colorful schools right off the beach. Now just the odd grandaddy parrot fish floated around in an empty sea. The day was fun though and we checked out the famous golf courses at Kapalua, Kaanapali and Lahaina. We had happy hour $2.50 Mai Tai's !! at Lahaina by the water and bought some Ono and Poke from a local chap in the town which we grilled back at the house after stopping at our B&B for champagne and poke in the garden. Mils and Leigh gave me a gorgeous pink frangipani Lei.

The latest sports craze has revived the old Hawaiian sport of standing on a long board with one paddle and paddling along the coast. We watched each day as people paddled past in really choppy seas. The trades were blowing every day but it was obvious the locals were not put off by the conditions. Another idea we noted were the swim mits people were wearing ... with webbed fingers swimmers teamed these with short flippers and just took off along the coastline. Windsurfing and kite surfing were big there too. There really wasn't any surfable surf during our time but it was great to see people out enjoying the ocean again.

It was sad to leave after only 5 days but we felt like we'd had a good getaway and it was lovely spending time with old friends.