Featured: One of 60 tales of remarkable people who visit or live on beautiful Maui from page 43,  Voices of Aloha on Magical Maui:

THEY HANG OUT at the Tiki Bar, often after a summer of sailing around the San Juan Islands in the Northwest. Meet them and the realization comes quickly that they perfectly represent the passion so many have for Maui.

Frequent visitors Gary Bodine and Chris Marcotte, often listen to some 300 Hawaiian songs Gary  on their iPod on their boat back home in Washington State. (continued below).

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The couple, dividing their time between Maui and Buckley, Washington, regularly cruising the San Juan Islands. Other boaters think they are nuts playing Iz and Grammy winner George Kahumoku on their boat, but they just smile and pretend they are back on Maui. In their own words, this is their story:

Gary:

Voices of Aloha on Magical Maui moon come up over the water. It was absolutely beautiful.”

“We loved it so much the rst time we came I wanted to cry when we left. We came for nine days and extended for three more. Normally, we come for a minimum of three weeks and then we extend for a week and then another week.

“And the kids say, ‘Are you ever coming home?’ And we say, ‘Only if we have to.’”

“We have been coming here for 12 years. It isn’t for the pools, and it isn’t for activities. We take ourselves on trips around the island to Hana, to Haleakala, and learn as much as we can. After a day or so, we literally drift into tropical paralysis—we are so glad to be here.

“When we went to the Big Island, there was a woman who taught Hawaiian language. She had Hawaiian letters on a Scrabble board. You had to make a Hawaiian word you knew.

“When you are listening to a song, you don’t know what they are singing about. Today, we can look at a street name and know what it means and how to pronounce it. We still don’t know much of the language, but what we did learn was that if you look at a word, you know how to pronounce it.”

“Our favorite things are snorkeling at Black Rock (Pu‘u Keka‘a, where royalty once dove to prove their valor), Honolua Bay, the 14-mile marker, and at Napili (a resort built by Canadians). We go to the hula shows. I don’t care how many times I’ve seen them.”

“(At home,) I will go on the computer and look at the Napili Kai and Sheraton webcams every day. ( at way) I come here every day.”

Chris:

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e Visitor Experience

Chris isn’t here full-time yet, because she also loves the San Juan Islands in the summer. But someday, she will be. She movingly sums up her passion this way: “I could live here without a doubt. My heart is here. I want my ashes to be spread here—this is where my soul is.”