Road to Hana-Waterfalls

Here's a highlight of the waterfall portion of our drive. The north side of East Maui gets tons of rainfall so there were lots of waterfalls to stop and see.

Whale Watching (Maui)

Here is a bit of footage from our whale watching tour. This is taking the highlights of two hours and cutting out the boring parts, leaving you with the whale footage. Enjoy!

Maui (Day3)

Our third day in Maui was a short one as our flight was at 4pm. We decided to save Haleakala National Park for this day. We did not want to get up at 3am to see the sunrise. We were on vacation...which equals sleeping in!! We drove up to Haleakala National Park around 10am. It was a very long and very windy road. The views driving up the mountain were spectacular as we got higher and higher. It was also neat to drive through the clouds and drive above the clouds.






In the background is an observatory affiliated with the University of Hawaii and the military also uses it for operations. It stands at 10,000 feet.


This is a rare plant called the silver sword



Haleakala National Park is at 8,000 feet. It was pretty cold up there, even in the late morning/early afternoon while we were there. The volcano is dormant. There are many hiking trails in the crater but we did not have too much time to wander around. We took some pictures but mostly video taped as we were driving up and on the way back.

Maui (Day 2)

Day 2 was the infamous drive to Hana. It was a narrow and very windy road with small one-way bridges to cross. This is pretty much a whole day event driving from Kahului around the whole east side of the island and back around.




Along the way there are several waterfalls and coastline scenery. There were big falls such as this first one called Three Bears Falls.




And not so big....


Our favorite spot of the day was the black sand beach. There were many trails to walk along and huge waves crashing against the coastline and fresh water caves.






The red sand beach in Hana was amazing as the sand is a deep red and the water along the beach is a light refreshing blue that contrasts with the red sand.






For the drive back we drove along this stretch of road that was pretty much an unfinished road with dirt and rocks. Some of the guide books say the road ends and you need a jeep to cross this upaved road to get to the other side. However, the book we had said we were fine. We were adventurous and tried the road in our small rental car. It wasn't too bad, some parts even less rough than the highway itself. It was worth the drive as we saw beautiful landscapes. Maybe we'll post some video of it soon.

Maui (Day 1)

(Photo courtesy of www.donnachameleon.com.)

Romney booked us reservations at the Maui Seaside Hotel in Kahului. We figured this is pretty central and since we wanted to visit both the East side and West side of the island, it would make a great home base. The hotel, although a little run-down, was comfortable and affordable.

Our first day was spent exploring the West side of the Island. We wanted to go all the way around in a clockwise direction but ran out of time. Our first stop was at a lookout over Maalaea Harbor. Across the way you could see Kahoolawe Island, an uninhabited island where a lot of bomb testing went on during World War II.



Our next stop was at Olowalu, a town so small that if you blink, you'll miss it. Actually we did miss it. I had to turn around and go back. Why? Because there are only two buildings next to the road. Anyway, we turned off the highway and parked next to a water tank. Then we walked along a long dirt road for about a mile, taking us towards the center of the island. This brought us to a small cliff wall where ancient Hawaiians had carved hieroglyphs into the rock. The unfortunate thing is that over the last few decades, bored kids from the surrounding areas have decided to add their own not-so-ancient drawings in an attempt to trick tourists into believing theirs is ancient too. Here are some pictures. You decide on what's ancient and what's not.

















Lahaina wasn't planned as our last stop of the day, but that's what it ended up. We found free parking and walked the strip downtown. We wanted to take a short walking tour of some of the historic sites of the town. But as we were heading to the old courthouse where it starts, we decided to stop and look at pricing for whale watching tours. (See photos of some of the buildings below.) We ended up purchasing tickets and went out on a catamaran for two hours. The water was pretty choppy so trying to use the digital camera didn't work so well. Instead, I used the video camera and got some footage of several whales breaching. But, after about an hour of it, I started getting seasick from looking through the viewfinder for so long. I'll post some video later.

After returning from our whale watching tour, I had to sit in the park and wait for my stomach to settle for a while. Then we went to dinner at Bubba Gumps where I nibbled off Romney's plate and got a Sprite. By then, it was dark and we didn't want to drive around the rest of the island because the roads are so narrow and there are many cliffs without guardrails so we just went back to Kahului the way we came.


The Old Courthouse, now used as a museum upstairs and tourist shop on the first floor.


Whalers, after harpooning a whale from a distance, would come up close and shoot it through the head with this gun, which would pierce their skull and blow up inside the brains, finally killing the giant mammal.


This is the old prison of Lahaina, taken from the inside. This is the entrance gate where the guardsman and his family lived, watching over the prisoners. The surrounding walls of this prison are made of coral.


In the center of the grassy inner courtyard is a small building where the inmates were locked up each night.

Long time, no see

It's been months since we've posted anything. There wasn't really much to report from the end of January until the end of March. That's when Romney and I went to Maui as kind of a Second Anniversary trip. We wanted to go a year ago but prices were so high for flights. So when we could get tickets for $38 one way, we decided to do it, especially if we end up moving from Hawaii soon and never get the chance to go again.

Right as we flew in from Maui, my younger brother, Callin, flew into Honolulu too. He spent a few days with us before the arrival of my parents who were spending most of two weeks with us. We ran them all over the island, taking them to every possible side and to all of our favorite beaches.

Since they left, I've been trying to catch up in my personal journal. Now Romney has graduated with her Master's degree and her parents are here celebrating that. So I have tons to post. Romney may help me with some of it since she doesn't have work or school anymore. So, stay tuned for some spectacular blogging!