Remembering Hawaii

This is a short recap of our experiences in Hawaii, and our personal comparison of the 4 islands we visited.

KAUAI

"The Garden Island" - it is a beautiful island, without a doubt. It is only 20% inhabited, and has a rural feeling to it. That's not to say it doesn't have it's towns with all the conveniences, because it certainly does. We saw a lot of the island, but not all of it. We left there feeling like we hadn't seen enough.

OAHU

"The Gathering Place" - it is also beautiful, but in a different way. It has a major city and crowded beach area (Honolulu and Waikiki), which are fine to see once, but we have no desire to go back to those places. However, we thoroughly enjoyed the North Shore and its beaches and surf. We didn't have time to see the rest of the island, which we would love to do some day.

HAWAII

"The Big Island" - also another beautiful place. Comparable to Kauai in terms of it being more rural. Our focus was on seeing the Kilauea volcano, and we didn't have much time to see the rest of the island. In fact, we would probably go back to the volcano because we couldn't see some of the things due to the changes it underwent just before we arrived. The island is quite large. So we will have to spend more time there in the future.

MAUI

"The Valley Isle" - it was downright beautiful in spots, especially the less inhabited areas around West Maui and the Hana Highway. And certainly it's wildlife (whales) were an attraction to me. They only hang around until May. Parts of it were crowded though - reminded me of Florida with all the condos and hotels. I would never turn down a trip back there, but I'd go back to the other 3 islands to see things first.

To sum it up...we'd go back to Hawaii any time. Maybe in 2-3 years for a couple of weeks, and we'd focus on 1 or 2 islands only. We also now have a pretty good idea of where we'd stay on each island which helps in the planning as well.

It was a wonderful 25th anniversary trip!

Aloha Maui - and Hawaii

Well, this is it. We got up this morning to pack for our trip home. It's much easier to pack when going home than it is to pack leaving. You just take everything with you, and hope you're not overweight (the luggage that is). Although I'm not so sure our bodies weren't too.

We had a fairly leisurely time at it though. We didn't have to be out until 10:30 am and we were up around 7 or so. When most was packed, we cleaned out the fridge as much as possible, eating bacon and eggs, and toast, making sandwiches, slicing cheese, etc. We were packing a lunch too.

Anyway, we managed to get out right on time and thought we would head down the south shore since we had not gone to that area at all, and the drive wasn't far.

This is just another scene. You can see the island of Kaho'olawe (the uninhabited one) is much closer to the south shore than where we are. And Molikini (the snorkelling spot) is closer too.

We drove through Kihei along the shore. This is "beach town" on Maui. All the cheaper hotels and inns are here (my impression), and it has some great beaches. It's a pretty contstant flow of traffic and people.

If you go a little further, you run into the town of Wailea. Wailea is much more upscale. The big hotels and golf courses are here (Four Seasons, Fairmont, Grand Wailea, etc.), and there are some very nice beaches down here too.

If you go a little further, you run into the town of Makena. Makena lacks most of the hotel scene, but has very upscale homes, so a beautiful part of the island, a little secluded from the busyness up the shore.

Beyond Makena, the road narrows and starts to become rough. In fact, a road has been slapped down over top of the lava flow that is still so barren looking. Right at the end of the road (can't go any further), you drive out onto lava that flowed down from Mount Haleakala in 1790.

We backtracked to find a beach with picnic tables and facilities so we could have some lunch. We found Kalama Beach Park where we watched a beach volleyball game, and this little guy joined us.

We had time to kill, but didn't want to go very far, for a couple of reasons: 1) we had to be at the airport for a 6:45 pm flight, after returning the car, etc. 2) we were almost out of gas, and Gerard wanted to return it empty! You have to squeeze every last dollar out of it (we had paid for a full tank with the rental, so we can just return it at any level - preferably empty).

Along the way to the airport is a large sugar cane plantation. In fact you can see the burning of the bagasse (what's left of the plant after removing the sugar) almost constantly. Probably Maui's most voted eye-sore. Anyway, here are a couple of shots of sugar cane growing.

It's pretty tall, and thick.

We made it to the Kahului Airport and changed into our "going home clothes". We said our good-byes to the Thompsons. Thanks, Bob and Bev, for helping to make the last 2 weeks of our trip so memorable!

It's always sad to leave a place we love, and we will have plenty of good memories, and have made mental notes about revisiting in the future.

This is next to the security line at the airport and is called "Maui Releasing the Sun". An Hawaiian legend says the demi-god Maui lassoed the sun over Haleakala volcano in order to slow it's progress over the island so his mother's laundry would dry. OK.

We started the flights, leaving Kahului, Maui, and flying back to Honolulu to catch our flight to Los Angeles. We had quite a layover there, but then caught our flight to Toronto. It was nice to be able to check in at the Kahului counter for all legs of our flight, and we could say, "Bye-bye luggage. Hope to see you in Toronto!" Just like magic, it showed up!

It is currently 8:55 pm eastern time on Sunday, so we're home now, and all of this blog feels like it just happened today, even though it was yesterday and today.

I'll do a wrap-up of our experiences in one last blog that I'll probably post tomorrow, with input from Gerard.

Aloha Hawaii. A hui hou kakou (until we meet again).

Ocean Life and Luau

Today we did different things. Bob and Bev decided to stay at the condo, and went out for a walk in the morning.

Gerard and I wanted to do a snorkelling trip. So we booked with "Boss Frog's", and off we went.

They served a nice breakfast on board, then our first stop was the island of Molikini, which is a sunken crater just off of Maui. The reef around it is quite good for snorkelling on the inside, and diving on the outside.

We then went to a site called "Turtle Town". We didn't see much in the way of turtles - only one - but again lots of coral, and a few fish. Overall, not the best snorkelling I've done. This is me looking for turtles.

After the 2 snorkelling bits, they served lunch on the boat, and drinks, if we wanted. But the best part...as we're heading back to the harbour in Ma'alaea, we keep being waylaid by ocean creatures. I don't have any pictures of them, because they just pop up all of a sudden, but a whale breached (jumped) out of the water. It must have been the mother, because then the baby whale jumped out of the water. We did see that, and it was amazing. Then another large whale...as it was diving the captain said, "the tail's coming next", and sure enough, the huge tail came up out of the water before going down. The tail, tip to tip, can be 12 feet, and weigh a ton...just the very end portion.

After a few more minutes, 2 dolphins swam along side our boat for a while. They didn't jump though. Then we went by more whales even closer than the others. The whales are humpbacks, by the way.

We went back to the condo, showered and got ready to go out to a luau. It was at the Hyatt in Lahaina.

It was a cross-section of dances from different Polynesian islands (Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa), and was well done.

Hey...who's that guy in the back, learning the hula?

The smorgasbord dinner consisted of kalua pig, meaning it was roasted in the sand. And other traditional Hawaiian dishes as well.

I think dinner had been announced.

This was the Samoan fire dancer.

And the finale with all the dancers.

Our last night on Maui and in Hawaii. Tomorrow is packing in the morning. I don't know when I'll complete the blog. I might have access in an airport somewhere. But that won't be until the evening, at least.

Mount Haleakala

Today we got up at an ungodly hour. 1:45 am, to leave here at 2:15 since we had to check in at 3:30 am. Aaaaggghhhh! The reason? We wanted to see the sunrise from the Haleakala crater and then bike down the volcano.

We did go to bed early, which helped, but...

We were almost ready to leave the bike check-in office to head up the volcano.

This is one of the vehicles transporting us and our bikes. Notice how dark it is?

It was wonderful watching the sun rise though - above the clouds on top of the volcano.

These people (whom I recognized) were shivering in the corner of the ranger building. I have to admit, it was rather windy up there, and cold. It was 46 F (about 8 C).

When the sun finally appeared, the park ranger chanted the Hawaiian prayer at sunrise. Rather a surreal setting.

It was amazing how quickly the night turned to day.

In the distance, you can see Mauna Loa on The Big Island from here. It's about 60 miles away.

We then went back down to our "staging area". Because of liability issues, you can't ride the bikes in Haleakala National Park, which occupies the top of the volcano.

We had our bikes outfitted by size, and off we went!

Here are Gerard and Bob, outfitted to tackle the 24 miles downhill. At this point, we had already biked about 15 minutes.

About 1/3 of the way down, we started to discard clothes as it was getting warmer and warmer. I caught Gerard with his pants down!

We finished the ride in about 2 hours, with several stops along the way. I have to admit, my okole was getting a little sore. Haven't done much biking lately.

We had breakfast/lunch near the bike office where we ended up. Not sure what it is called before noon on a day where you get up before 2 am. Then we stopped at Ho'okipa Beach Park near Pa'ia on our way back to the condo, which is a haven for windsurfers and kite surfers too.

The end of our day was complete with a nice meal on our balcony. And we gawk at the things that go by on the ocean.

West Maui

Sorry I didn't get this posted last night. The internet was not working here at the condo development. And I didn't have a chance this morning...which I'll explain in my next blog.

All I have to say about today (March 23rd), is WOW. Not only was it Heather's birthday, but we drove around West Maui. We all agreed we liked it better than the Hana Highway. It was different in the sense that it didn't have the greenery/foliage the Hana Highway has, but it had some jaw-dropping sights.

This was from the lookout over Honolua Bay. You see this down the shoreline looking back toward Kapalua.

And this below you.

Gerard and I want to do a snorkel trip, either to this area or to the Molikini Crater. Haven't decided yet. I guess we had better...time is running out! There were also surfers over to another side. An amazing spot.

Here was another spot along the drive to lookout and see the sea.

This is called the Nakalele Blowhole. It's another one of these spots where the sea has worn a hole into the lava and comes shooting up. The 2nd shot shows the blowhole and the sea crashing against the edge, sending so much mist into the air, it looks like fog.

This is Kahakuloa Head (636 feet high) and provides a wonderful background. We had to drive around that thing, which was interesting.

This is a one-lane section of the highway that went on for a mile and a half. Only 1 car had to back up to let us through, and we didn't have to, although we had to pull over several times, as did others.

The village of Kahakuloa was in the middle of it. Pretty spot. I can't help marvelling at the beauty some people see out their house windows every day.

We bought the best banana bread we've had at Julia's in Kahakuloa. VERY good. And so was the candied coconut. Gerard is signing the guest register here.

This guy kept following us on the one-lane road. We'd pass him, then stop. He'd pass us. It went on several times.

Just another view along the highway.

We stopped at Waiehu Beach Park for lunch and watched these kite surfers perform. There were at least a dozen of them there. But couldn't convince Gerard and Bob to go for it.

Here's a picture of the Hawaiian flag I promised a while ago. Happened to see one and had my camera ready.

And here's how we ended the day, with Mai Tais on our balcony, made by bartender Gerard.

Beach Day

After our long drive yesterday, it was nice to just sit back and relax today. A magnolia tree in our yard.

Having coffee on our balcony, we watched the whales go by...several of them. They went to the left, then about half an hour later, they went back to the right.

Apparently yesterday, a mother and her calf were playing not far from our shore. She was slapping her tail on the water, and the baby was jumping in the surf. Too bad we were on the Hana Highway!

We walked down to Honokowai Beach Park and saw this tree. That's Gerard sitting there.

Then Gerard and I walked down further to Ka'anapali Beach. Beautiful beach that goes on a long way in front of the major resorts on West Maui.

We sat around the pool and read, and then showered and got ready to go out. Bev made a delicious spaghetti dinner for us for our anniversary (the reason we're here, after all). Then we went to see the magic show at Warren and Annabelle's in Lahaina.

This is Annabelle playing the piano. She is a ghost, in case you couldn't tell.

Here we are waiting to go into the little theatre for the show.

The show consisted of 2 comedy magicians. They were very good. The 2nd guy used a telepathic rubber chicken and used audience members to help him out. Sounds silly, but it was a very good show.

It was about 11:40 pm by the time we got back to our condo. So that's why I didn't finish up the blog last night.