Hawaii 2012 - Part 2

This is part 2 of the blog detailing our Hawaii 2012 trip.  When I finished part one, we were biking down from the Haleakala Crater - 26 miles - after sunrise at the top of the volcanic mountain.  (Click here to read part one of this blog.)  So I'll get right back into it.  We stopped at Kula Ranch for breakfast and had a delicious breakfast overlooking the rest of the Maui.  This is one of the photos we took on the way down the mountainside.

view of Maui as we biked down Haleakala - Molokini is the islet to the left off the coast of Maui.

This is a photo we took on the way back to our Kipahulu paradise,   where we took a shower, napped, and made a spaghetti dinner - which we ate on our deck while the sun went down over Maui.

More Hana Highway Beauty

Our Thursday started with sleeping late, cooking, and eating breakfast at Ala'aina'.  After that, we went to the Hana side of the Haleakala National Park and hiked up to Waimoku Falls - which was arguably one of the most beautiful sights we saw on Maui.  It was a one hour hike past ancient trees,  through a bamboo forest, through streams and rapids to a breathtaking waterfall.  

upper side of the Seven Sacred Pools (Pools of 'Ohe'o)

Seven Sacred Pools (Pools of 'Ohe'o)

another waterfall on our hike from the Seven Sacred Pools up to Waimoku Falls

huge Banyan tree on the way up to the falls

some flowers in front of one of the falls 

 We started out our trip up to Waimoku Falls about 8:00AM, and that was plenty early enough to avoid tour buses that usually make their way over to Hana area around 10:00AM.  I think that we ran into two couples coming down the trail during our whole one-hour hike up the trail.  So if you want privacy, I recommend going up the trail earlier in the morning.  This next photo is kind of a joke between Mark and me.  One of the couples we met coming down as we were going up was a younger couple.  Mark usually approached younger couples who had cameras and asked them if they'd like to have him take their photo.  About the third time he did that, I asked, "Why are you always doing that?"  He said, "So they will feel like they have to ask us if we want them to take our picture."  After that I started calling him "The Lovers' Photographer".  So we have about half a dozen photos of the two of us together in Hawaii - thanks to my husband Mark, The Lovers' Photographer.

The next thing we saw on the way up to the falls was this bamboo forest.  As we learned from our guide on the bike trip, Koa, bamboo is an invasive species (as are at least 80% of all other plants and animals that are currently in Hawaii) and was brought there by Polynesians centuries ago.  It is bad for Hawaii because it grows at a rate of twelve inches per day and blocks light that needs to get to the rain forest floor to help the other plants to grow.  Invasive, yes, but it made the walk so much more beautiful!  It made for an almost otherworldly experience.

at the beginning of the bamboo forest part of our hike

And finally we got to Waimoku Falls!

the top 2/3 or so of Waimoku Falls.

Waimoku Falls was definitely worth the two-hour (round trip) hike up and back down the side of Haleakala.  I would suggest wearing good walking shoes that you can also get wet.  There was quite a bit of wading through rapids and deeper pools and puddles.  When you get to the bottom, you can explore the Seven Sacred Pools of Ohe'o a bit more.  We talked to the park guides for a good long time, and they were very helpful and informative.  We enjoyed that morning very much.  We stopped at a roadside food vendor and had our first Hawaiian "plate lunch".  It was delicious.  It consisted of any kind of grilled meat you liked (we had pork), white rice in a ball, potato salad, and beans.  It was delicious, and we watched a local man husking coconuts and prepping them for drinking as we were eating.

After we ate lunch, we headed back to the secret falls we had been to earlier in the week.  Since it had rained a little bit up in the mountains the day before, we had hopes that it would be flowing a bit more, and we were right!  This is how it looked during our second visit, and since we had already gotten our shoes wet earlier in the day, we just went in with our shoes on this time and had no trouble with the rocks on the bottom.  We spent awhile longer here that day, and we loved every minute.  We both did a lot more swimming than we had the time before this.  That's one off our "bucket list".

The next stop for a couple of nerds in Hawaii would have to be the churchyard where Charles Lindbergh was buried.  As we pulled up to the beautiful churchyard, it began to pour down rain.  So we went around from under one tree to under another tree - all over the yard, and it was fun.  We explored the grounds and marveled at how lovely it would be to be interred at such a serene location.  This churchyard is also right on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

Lindbergh's burial site

After that, we made our way back to Ala'aina', took another shower, and spent the late afternoon into the evening looking up everything we could about Charles Lindbergh - who truly had a fascinating, philandering lifestyle - a fairly tragic character, actually.  (Yes, the definition of "nerd", but it was nice to have time to actually do something like that.) We enjoyed another dinner cooked in the outdoor kitchen, and we ate it on the deck as the sun went down on another lovely day in Maui.

On Friday, August 31st, we woke a little sad to be leaving the Hana side of Maui we had come to adore.  I, in particular, was not ready to be heading over to the Lahaina side - which is a bit more commercial than the rural Hana.  Hana felt like a true vacation - nowhere to go, no time constraints, no problems - just relaxation and rest.  

We packed up our rental car, and we headed back to Haleakala National Park to get one more look at the Seven Sacred Pools and to see if they were allowing swimming yet.  The water was running too high for swimming again that day, and we took a few more photos and headed to Hana Bay, a black sand beach, for a snorkel/kayak adventure tour with Hana Maui Snorkel and Kayak.  The owner was Kevin, and we happened to be the only ones he had booked for that day.  Kevin taught us how to ocean kayak... a first for us.  We both agreed that Kevin was an exceptional teacher and guide.  He prepped us, launched us, got us out in the bay, and walked us through the process of getting in and out of the kayaks and using our snorkel gear.  We had an amazing time learning from Kevin about snorkeling, the history of Maui/Hawaii, and about his life as a writer in Hollywood and his eventual retirement in Maui.  We both got a little seasick (Mark, in particular) from kayaking sideways alongside the surf, but Kevin led Mark over to a rocky cove and helped him get on the rocks to rest awhile.  In the mean time, Kevin had me follow his kayak (I - swimming behind) over to a huge, old sugar ship anchor that had long since sunk to the bottom of the bay.  I looked at it awhile, and I thought we had gotten several photos of it with our camera mask, but they didn’t come out right.  So that was a little bit of a bummer that Mark didn't get to see it, but he would later see something that I missed.  It was so neat to see all the sea life that had made a home in or on that old anchor.  The snorkeling in Hana Bay was perfect.  We enjoyed it immensely.  We would definitely recommend Kevin at Hana Maui Snorkel and Kayak.  He is very personable, and he only ever takes a maximum of 3 parties out at once to snorkel.  So it’s very intimate.  It was an ideal first snorkeling trip for Mark and me.  

Mark at the bottom of the Pools of Ohe'o' - where the fresh water meets the Pacific

more of The Pools

more of The Pools

We grabbed another plate lunch and some more coconut candy at Hana Bay, waved a melancholy goodbye to Hana, and we started our final Hana Highway drive back to the Lahaina side of Maui.

on the way to Lahaina

 The last portion of our stay was at Napili Surf condos in Lahaina.  It was a nice, quiet complex.  It was well-run and well-maintained.  It was perfect for us.  The best part of Napili Surf, we both agreed, was Napili Beach (pictured below) - in which the snorkeling was simply better than we ever expected.  We could grab our gear any hour of the daylight, swim out twenty yards, and see a plethora of sea life - from octopi to sea turtles to all kinds of brightly-colored fish.  We couldn't have asked for a better place to continue learning how to better use our snorkel equipment in a stress-free environment.  We spent our first evening in Lahaina restocking groceries at the local grocery store and unpacking our belongings.

The next morning, Mark spent the early hours out on the beach catching photos like this (while I was catching ZZZZZ's back in the room):

Mark's sunrise rainbow

During his sunrise walk, he saw this fantastic sea turtle right near him as he stood on the rocks with the camera.  I was seeing the insides of my eyelids at the time.  I’m sorry I missed the sight of the sea turtle, but I’m not sorry I missed 5:30 AM.  I was glad he got to see such am amazing sight.  He felt lucky.

his turtle "friend" swimming away

  
After I awoke, we spent that whole day shopping and sight-seeing in the Lahaina area.  We went to the Lahaina Whaling Village and Museum - which was perfectly fascinating.  We spent a good while there.  The museum especially was inexpensive and very well done.  We did quite a bit of shopping for souvenirs and for a dress for me for our upcoming luau dinner date.  We ate lunch at Lahaina Steak and Seafood and enjoyed that.

When I had booked the luau months earlier, I had looked specifically for the best luau experience on the islands.  Our son had spent a week in Hawaii earlier in the summer and had complained a bit about his luau experience - that it had been tacky and not very well done - in any way.  I stumbled across The Old Lahaina Luau because of Internet reviews.  It was said to be classy, historical in nature (giving a history of Hawaiian dance through the centuries), and extremely well done.  We found it to be all of that and more.  What a gem!  Going to The Old Lahaina Luau was the absolute best tourist entertainment we attended during our stay in Hawaii.  We got there early, and we were able to take advantage of several education stations they had in which they taught various Hawaiian skills (like wood carving, spear throwing, etc.).  I spent a few minutes making a bracelet of plumeria (beautiful and fragrant) for me to wear during the luau.

sun setting on the Old Lahaina Luau

my love and I at our table

the last photo I took as my phone camera died at the luau

Sunday, September 2 was our last full day in Hawaii.  Mark woke up early again, but this time he woke me up to go with him down to the beach for sunrise.  We did some beach combing and saw a lovely sunrise.  We ate breakfast in our condo and went to do some more snorkeling.  We spent that morning on Napili Beach.  

one of Mark's sunrise photos

a sunrise photo I took

and another sunrise photo

a photo I took of Mark as the sun rose over Napili beach (notice the moon)

 After lunch, we rested, packed a few things for our flight the next day, and got showered and dressed for our last night on the town in Lahaina.  We shopped again for some more last-minute souvenirs.  We ate another fine dinner seaside at the open-air Lahaina Steak and Seafood.  The highlight of our evening, however, was watching the sun set over Molokini.  Like so many other sights we had seen over the preceding 10 days, it was unusually breathtaking.  We snuggled on a sea wall next to the beach, took a few photos, and watched until the last ray of light sank behind the horizon. 

the sunset on our last night in Hawaii

 After the sunset, we made our last Coldstone Creamery visit in the Hawaiian islands.  We talked to the owner awhile and took our time walking back to our car.  As the salty, sea wind blew through my hair on the way back to our condo on that Sunday night, I felt unbelievably blessed to have been able to have the experience I had.  Although I know there are millions of beautiful places in the universe, I cannot imagine seeing one I am more in awe of than Hawaii.  From rolling pasture lands, to lush rain forest, to stark volcano craters, to majestic mountains, to rugged coastlines, to unique plant and animal life... I can't count the number of times I just put my hand up to my heart and all I could say was, "Oh... oh..." Sometimes there are no words adequate to describe an experience - and even trying to say words to describe it cheapen that experience.  I feel that with this blog.  I wanted to write it, but I didn't want to cheapen the experience.  We hope to return to Hawaii, but there will never be a time that could match (much less top) the time we had in 2012.  We were beyond blessed for having been there.  God couldn't have bestowed the grace of this trip on any two more undeserving people, but neither could any two people have been as completely awestruck and grateful for the blessing as Mark and I were.  

I hope the entirety of both blogs about our trip have been informative for anyone considering planning a similar trip.  As with the other, please feel free to ask any questions in the comment area.