Maui Redux

Here are some of the things I did while in Maui...

Whale watching on a cruise by Pacific Whale Foundation. Saw a whale breach the water just about 50 yards from the boat. Totally out of the water. Amazing. You can join the Pacific Whale Foundation here. Pretty inexpensive and a worthwhile cause. IMHO, of course. Tax deduction and free t-shirt, too. LOL. Oh, the whale watching pictures were pretty crappy, so how about this hula girl instead?

This isn't my picture, because I didn't have an underwater camera! But I was snorkeling in West Maui at Kaanapali, and two sea turtles were about three feet from me. Pretty incredible. One swam off, while the other just looked at me. When it went up for air, so did I. When it went down, so did I. This went on for at least a couple of minutes, then the turtle swam off. The ocean was nice this day, while other times out there were much higher waves and a strong current pulling outward. (Undertow or riptide, I'm not sure which is correct here. But it was strong. A guy on the other side of the island was swept out to sea that day.)

The road to Hana is an amazing journey. (This actually is my picture. Click to open a big picture with better detail). Make sure to have some sort of guide book to know where to stop. Nothing is well marked. The day I went there were very few cars out there, so without knowing where I wanted to go, I would've driven by all those small turnouts along the way. I thought the road from Hana to the Seven Sacred Pools was more "white-knuckle" than the rest of the trip, though. Oh... and do get the banana bread. LOL.

Lahaina is a fun visit. I went here multiple times. Fun atmosphere, lots of shops. And places to eat. Whale cruises take off from here. Pretty crowded place and parking is frustrating, but not impossible. Very pretty beach. Oh, and the banyan tree, of course. (Not pictured).

The drive to the top of the Haleakala volcano was actually more harrowing than the road to Hana. I hit a ton of clouds up there. Made for some great camera shots above the clouds, though. But no clear shots down the crater. There are these signs on the road that indicate "Nene crossing." What's a Nene? A couple of them did jump out and cross the road ahead of my car! Cute lil' buggers, though. If you click on the picture, it'll open up to a pretty big picture where you can see the valley below between the clouds.

Also went to the Ioa State Park with the famed needle. Why not throw in a pic? The first time I went up here it was lightly raining in the parking lot, but by the time I started walking up the trail it was pouring. I had a light waterproof jacket with me that saved me from being drenched. The rain was literally coming down in buckets. Like standing in a waterfall. I went up to the park a second time and the weather was much better. There's also a walk down to the stream and around some garden area.

In an earlier post, I mentioned the Hula Pie at Leilani's. They actually have a website with a picture of a Hula Pie.