Maui Vacation - Part 5 of 5

Humpback whale's tail

On Sunday, we got up early and adventured to Hana which is located on the east side of the volcano Haleakala. When we were driving toward the Kaanapali look out point again, we actually saw humpback whales splashing around. This time with their tails and making lots of waves. It was awesome to see in the early light!

We reached Hana Highway and it began to rain, and rain it did all day! The road takes you up and down the lush and almost jungle like mountain side, taking sharp turns and going over many one lane bridges. At times, you drive right along the coast line and see great rock cliffs and ocean waves crashing against it. We saw many waterfalls along, some hidden and we couldn't see them because it was raining to hard to take any of the side trails.



Before rainfall

After rainfall

The pictures of the water all Waikani Falls (aka The Three Bears) is a before and after all of the rainfall during the day. The first one is the first time we saw it in the morning and the second picture is in the afternoon returning to Paia. Most people seem to think that the heavier the water flow, the prettier the waterfall. These two shots are an example of how sometimes less is more.

Freshwater caves

We finally reach the Wai'anapanapa Sand Beach (aka Blank Sand Beach). It's got two things going for it. One, there is a freshwater cave that makes a great place for a dip. Two, it has a volcanic blank sand beach. The spring-fed freshwater caves were probably the remnants of lava tubes. There are two, though only one is suitable for swimming (shown in picture). The water level raises and falls each day with the tide, on which the fresh water floats.



Black Sand Beach

The blank sand beach was formed when lava flowed and fountained into the sea near here, shattering on contact with the ocean. Fragments smashed against each other and formed the sand you see. At the tip of the lava rocks, you can stand and see the waves crash against the lava rocks and watch water spray from the water hole. We did see some creeper spiders along the way! We stayed at the park for a time and eat our packed lunch. It was very beautiful and unique to see on Maui. I would highly recommend it, but leave early before all of the tours come thru - we just missed them as we were heading out.

On the way back, the fog and rain lifted a little bit so we could see more ocean views and cute little towns down the cliff side. We also saw a lot of the red flowers atop trees while driving all along the road. Although it rained pretty much all day, it did not disappoint us.

This was our last sunset to view on Maui and enjoyed every minute of it. We were sad our vacation was over, but excited to head home and see our kids again.

Until next time...

Maui Vacation - Part 4 of 5

This morning we were sitting on our balcony enjoying our coffee and off in the distance we saw a water spout which looked like a small cloud. I then realized we were actually seeing a humpback whale breath and spout water! I grabbed my camera and tried to zoom into the area where they were. By looking at the size of the water spouts we determined it was a mom and a baby calf because of the size of the water spouts.  We watched them for about 20 minutes swimming in the water and at one time it looked like the baby was playing because we saw it splashing around. It was very cool!

We decided to head to a beach called Honokowai Beach Park that was a little south of the resort. It had calmer water with low surf - great for swimming and snorkeling. The water was crystal clear and could see the coral at the bottom. Richard saw a few fish - small and silver in color. They liked being my our toes (a little creepy). I have a fear of open water, but I gathered the courage and went out past the breaking waves and into deeper water where we swam for awhile. It was so beautiful and peaceful out there.

I could have stayed all day but my legs and arms were getting tired. We headed back in and got warm on the beach.

For the rest of the day we sat at the resort pool and soaked in all of the warm sun! Went swimming in the pool a few times to cool off and Richard went swimming in the ocean again.

We finished the day with dinner and another wonderful sunset.

Maui Vacation - Part 3 of 5

On our anniversary, Dec. 11th we woke up to a double rainbow outside our balcony. A storm came in during the night leaving it a little cooler and muggy.

We drove north along Honoapilani Hwy which turned into Kahekili Hwy and ends up in Kahului. It was a two hour drive that went along tight switchbacks up and down the mountain. At times the roads were so narrow only one car could fit at a time. It was beautiful but a little nerve racking for us both because the edge of the cliff was right out the door. We drove past the secluded village of Kahakuloa and the Kahekili's Leap rock. 

Finally we arrived into Wailuku and began our drive east to the small down of Paia. You could see fields and fields of sugar cane along the highway in the valley. This is the reason Maui is called Valley Isle - the large flatland separating East and West Maui. This area is dominated by only one thing - sugar. Before people came to these islands, a thing dryland forest existed here. The Hawaiians quickly cut down the trees when they discovered the island, and the area became a barren desert, after which the Hawaiians had little to do with it. When western man arrived, he saw an opportunity to grow sugar in this unused region and began building ditches to bring water to this thirsty land. Today, the broad valley between the two great volcanoes is an ever-waving field of green trisected by the three highways. This is the last sugar plantation in Hawaii, and its days may be numbered.

After the town of Paia, we arrived at the restaurant Mama's Fish House, where we celebrated our anniversary with a delicious meal. The restaurant is situated next to the cove and our seat was overlooking palm trees and the huge waves splashing into the rocks. For an appetizer we had the Crispy Mahimahi Roll with Hamakua mushroom sauce and poha berry compote. They were very good! We could have just eaten that all night long. For our main meal we both ordered the Maihai caught along our north shore by Eric Nakamura, stuffed with lobster and crab, baked in a macadamia nut crust (as pictured). It also was served with a lobster tail, asparagus and rice. Wow!! The fish was moist and tender and crust gave it a little crunch while the sauce made it over the top. It was delicious! We ended the meal with Kona coffee and a small cranberry biscotti.

We headed back to the resort where we watched another sunset and relaxed hearing the waves splah along the shore.

Maui Vacation - Part 2 of 5

On our second day, we rented a Cabana overlooking the beautiful ocean views.

We sat in there all day just drinking, eating, reading, sleeping and hearing the soothing waves crash against the shore. The wind was calm and the water was warm. The picture below is the view we had to admire all day long...

Richard decided to try out his swimming feet and take a dip in the ocean. It was cold at first but your body gets used to it and then the water seems really warm.

There was a lot of coral on the resort beach except for one little sandy spot that you could wade in and enjoy the waves. We saw some surfers and boggy boarders give the waves a drive - only a few were successful.When the sun went down, we reluctantly headed back inside to get cleaned up. We eat dinner at the resort which the food was pretty good. For the second night we had some pizza and beer to finish off the relaxing day.

It was a perfect day to hang out by the beach!!
 

Maui Vacation - Part 1 of 5

View from our balcony

For our 10 year wedding anniversary, Richard and I were able to visit the beautiful Hawaiian island of Maui. As a gift LezLee gave us her timeshare to borrow which landed us at the Kaanapali Beach Club, located on the west side of the island. It took 12 hours to fly and arrive at our resort. Our butts were sore and we were anxious to get off the airplane. We drove to our resort in the dark so there was not much to see and it was a little difficult to tell where we were going. But, we finally made it and the resort was very beautiful. It had a large open foyer and a small garden. There were lots of waterfalls that had Koi fish. The swimming pool was very large with a cascading waterfall into a smaller pool. Tiki torches were lit all along the resort and we could hear the ocean waves hitting the beach. We had dinner at the restaurant located at the resort and enjoyed the warm weather before calling it a day.

We woke up to the amazing views of the ocean from our balcony. To the west we saw the island of Molokai and to the east we saw the Pu'u Kukui summit. We sat and drank our coffee looking at the waves splash against the shore. Our room was a one bedroom suite which consisted of a separate bedroom, living room, kitchenette and a large bathroom. However, there were tiny little ants that we found roaming the kitchen area. Lucikly they were easy to kill and we had to make sure things were sealed and food was put away. We stopped at a little grocery store called Times and bought some food supplies. It was amazing to see certain things double in cost for what we would normally buy in Colorado. For example, a loaf of bread of almost $5 that would be around $2 here.

For the day, we decided to explor the south side of Maui. We stopped at the Kaanapali lookout point to see if we could view any humpback whales but no luck today.

We drove down to Kihei and stopped at Waliea beaches. There was a beach trail that went along the grounds that we decided to follow. Along the trail we saw beautiful lava rock scenery, native birds and flowers along with banana and palm trees.

We sat and enjoyed the calm beach waves in the shade and dipping our toes in the water.

We headed back to Kihei and went shopping in the outlet store.


We headed back to our resort and the traffic was very busy along the only highway that went to Kaanapali so it took some time. We watch an amazing sunset that night and then eat dinner and enjoyed the warm night air along with live music. 

It was a great first day!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a tasty turkey dinner and had a wonderful time together. It included a delicious sweet potato casserole that LezLee made, stuffing, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, mashed potatoes and homemade gravy. We topped it off with pumpkin pie and coffee. At the end of the afternoon, we were all so stuffed and ready to relax.

LezLee and Larry were so kind and took the kids to stay the night at their house, so Richard and I go go Black Friday shopping together this year. We had fun shopping at Best Buy and Ulta. We then decided to see late showing of the Mocking Jay part 1 movie. It was pretty good but a little slow. I can't wait until part 2 of the movie is in theater.

Until next time...