Pamplin Media Group – Nesbit: For a brief moment, Maui found itself

Columnist Sharon Nesbit overcame her case of COVID breakthrough to fulfill her vow to return to her beloved island paradise.

maui Because most people are outside here, you can almost forget that the pandemic is continuing with the latest variant.

But there are no more aloha hugs. No laying on of lei. We make sure to keep our distance. Most restaurants dine outside. People unquestionably mask themselves when entering a building.

On the plane, I lifted my mask just to take a bite.

I promised myself this trip when I had a COVID outbreak last summer and was in the hospital with tubes in my nose thinking it had nothing to do with snorkeling. If you get out of there, I said to myself, go back to Maui and stay longer, by chewing gum.

There are opponents here. My first encounter was with an old friend who works in the rental office.

She immediately assumed her children were vaccinated and still got COVID. Blame the shot. She was belligerent about not being vaccinated, but she was prickly.

You’re learning not to argue, but I’ve crossed her off the guest list if we meet for dinner.

When Hawaii’s tourism industry shut down early in the pandemic, a friend of mine had no condos to clean and therefore no income. He and his family retired to their rustic Big Island estate and made a living from fishing.

He went to dinner with his teenage son in a borrowed boat. I didn’t have to remind him that this was how Hawaiians used to live.

On this island, acres of rental cars are parked in fields that used to grow sugar cane. While it’s nice to think of sugar and pineapples, most Maui residents are employed in the tourism industry.

The dusty rental cars were finally shipped off the island. When the tourists returned, they were so desperate for transportation that they rented U-Haul trucks.

Now we sneak visitors back. But speaking of the days without tourists, I detect a touch of irony. Having their island all to themselves, its beaches open, its streets free of rental cars, gave the residents an idea of ​​Hawaii without us.

My friend Woody, who mainly sells flowers to tourists at the swap meet, put down his shovel and went down to the beach to trade yarn with the fishermen.

Now, of course, he’s back on the swap meet, but he looks different. His days by the water left him tanned. Wearing a battered straw hat and an Aloha shirt, he looks like he’s been on vacation.

They had a hard time making ends meet, but had the rare experience of having their island all to themselves. Financially tough but spiritually they admit a wonderful experience.

Sharon Nesbit is a retired Outlook news reporter who writes her column.