Sounds of Hawaii

You might think I’m referring to music from a ukulele, but I’m not. I want to tell you about what it’s like to fall asleep in Maui listening to the ocean waves crashing on the shore. It’s quite different from what you might be used to — if your experience is the “hush…hush” sound of waves running up on a sandy beach.

In Maui, my room was right on the shoreline, and waves were crashing a few meters from my bed. They made a booming, thunderous sound as the tide came in, as the waves crashed with force on lava rocks. Sometimes, I even wondered if that sound were thunder.

Boom! Wave crashes on lava and black sand at the Wainapanapa State Park on Maui, Hawai’i.

I was also fooled by the sound of the wind blowing the palm tree fronds. Frequently it sounded like raindrops hitting the roof, but it wasn’t rain. It was the dry fronds blowing into each other really hard.

Listening to these sounds, I realized what a gift it was to be far from the sounds of traffic, city sirens or even the television. It’s peaceful to hear the sounds of Nature, and think about the power of the wind and the waves — even the power of the rain, too.