We rented a house on the North Shore of Maui near Paia. When I travel I don’t really like staying in hotels. It makes me so aware of being a guest – an outsider. In a house you have the illusion of being local: cooking with local ingredients, saying good morning to the neighbors, using the swing set in the backyard, recycling meticulously. All of these images were taken right around our house. The shark swam languidly across the outer wall of the Luau Mart where I picked up milk in the morning. The He-Man signified our lava-rock beach entrance where I watched a local man stand in the waves, hug his teeny tiny baby to his chest and go under the water for what seemed like minutes. In the evening we’d come home and dip our hot feet in the little tub filled with ice cold water. We didn’t want to carry all that sand into our home away from home.

©Sarah Girner