Haleakala

Our last day! First, of course, we had to pack. I tried making my suitcase lighter by putting all the heavy stuff in my backpack. Good thing they don't weigh the carry-ons...One last walk on the beach. One last desperate look for whales ( not successful), One last wonderful shower in their wonderful bathroom. One last look at the green, green plants and their flowers outside. "Sniff"

Now on to our next adventure. We headed toward the east side of Maui where the Haleakala National Park is located. It is quite a climb - 10,023 feet at the summit. The road is twisty and narrow. The views are incredible. As we climbed higher, more and more of the island lays at our feet (so to speak). You can see both north and south sides of Maui and the narrow neck of land that connects the two sides. Also the mountain on the west side of Maui - at the foot of which was our condo (*sniff*).

Ok, enough with the sniffing. We got to the first Visitor's Center which was full of helpful information about the park. There I picked up a few things and read about the critically endangered NeNe goose. Hoping to catch a glimpse, I hung around outside for a bit but the cold wind (yes) drove me back to the car. I was dressed for 80's , not 50's!

We eventually made it to the Park Headquarters Visitor Center. The view was very dramatic - a volcano whose last eruption was in 1790. To me it looked like it erupted last year. There's very little vegetation, or none at all. One of the few plants that were living there is the "Ahinahina", or silverswords. They have long taproots but a shallow root systems also that allows them to  collect moisture from the cinders. They bloom only once, and once they bloom, the plants dies. They are very striking against the red rock.

I really appreciated the enclosed viewing areas. The wind was quite strong and cool. Even with a jacket on, I didn't want to venture too close to the edge of the viewing areas of the crater. It felt like you would get blown off!

There's also an observatory there. I'm sure you can see forever at night. Too bad I don't have the time.

Down the mountain we go, time to eat. Lee knew of this wonderful flatbread pizza place in Paia. This restaurant uses only locally grown, organic ingredients. They cook their homemade tomato sauce in a large black iron cauldron and bake their flatbread pizzas in a gigantic brick oven. And for dessert? Brownie warmed in the oven with home made ice cream and whipped cream. I' think I'm in heaven!

We dropped  Allen and Carolyn at the airport and then looked for somewhere to kill some time. After all, we still had 5 hours before we had to be at the airport.Looked for windsurfers at Kanaha Beach Park. Unfortunately the surfers seem to have all just left the water and were packing up. However, there were quite a few birds in the park...Common Myna, Zebra Dove, Spotted Dove, Northern Cardinal ( yes, the same ones we see in Minnesota), Brazilian or Red-Crested Cardinal , and Red Junglefowl (Moa). The junglefowl are just like our domestic chickens except they are truly wild. Brought to Hawaii by Polynesians for food, they are now widespread even in urban areas. There were more than one hen with chicks in this park.

We also found a wildlife sanctuary near to this park and spent  a few pleasant hours bird watching and walking on the trail. The shorebirds we saw were wonderful. One, the Black-Necked Stilt or Ae'o,  was especially striking. They only number around 1300 birds total. We also got to see a number of Black-Crowned Night-Herons or Auku'u. These birds would glare at us from the shore and trees. I hated to upset them but they were impressive birds to see. I wish I had more time to explore the best birding spots on Hawaii. I still have quite a few species to see!

Time to get on the plane. A 6 hour flight to Phoenix, then a 3 hour flight to Minneapolis. That's a long time in a cramped space. But boy, is it ever worth it.

Aloha

The Island of Lana'i

5:30 came early this morning. I know I have to get back into the 5:30 grove on Tuesday but I really wasn't ready for it yet. Stumbling around getting ready for a day trip to another island tends to make you forget important things you may need later in the day. But the 4 of us got off at 6:00 and made our way to Lahaina where all the tours leave from. There were actually other people also stumbling around and we all found our various 'slips' at the harbor. 7:00 our ship left with 21 passengers and 2 crew. The Safari   Tour , I don't know the name of it, was supposed to show us high adventure. Snorkeling, whale watching, sea caves, ship wrecks. Things that less than 1% of the 1% of people that come to Maui ever see....Huh? Well, anyway, very few people see I guess.

Our Captain - Dave - seemed to be a Beach Boy that never figured out he was supposed to grow up. Geared definitely for the younger crowd, he played loud music that whole time. Jacky and I enjoyed the music for the most part. Dave picked appropriate songs for every new activity we did. It just was a little loud - and especially so for Allen and Carolyn who were the oldest on the boat.

We immediately headed out of the harbor and across the channel to Lana'i. Dave warned us the channel was bad, wave wise. I have to admit the only time I believe I've been in worse wave conditions was on the North Sea. If you were even the slightest bit prone to sea-sickness, you would have been losing everything you ate for the last week over the side. The first mate, Jeff, was an excellent driver and did a remarkable job keeping it as smooth as possible. But I still stood there, white knuckled, watching the water drop from the side of the boat. There were cliffs of water. It was fascinating and a little terrifying at the same time! Like car wrecks, you couldn't keep your eyes off the water...

Our first 'stop'  at Lana'i was at a ship wrecked off the coast. It had been used to bring in gasoline and ammunition for the war. When it was no longer useful, the captain put holes in the hull and 'sunk' the ship. As you can tell, the ship is not sunk now. Dave told us there have been only a handful of times in 6 years that the waters have been calm enough for people to snorkel here. Today was not one of those days.

Frankly, I was glad the water was too rough. That whole structure was made of concrete - can you imagine?

On to other areas. We continued around the island. The waters didn't really get better but we did come to our first snorkel area. I can't say I was thrilled - it looked cold, and the waves were crashing up on shore. But I did get the flippers on and the snorkel mask. I am glad I went in. The coral was even better than at the beach (of course it was further down) and there were lots of fish swimming around. I started up the GoPro camera and taped what I could. It really was quite fascinating down there but the waves were moving me and the fish all over the place. After I got a little water in the mask so my eyes started burning, and then my throat started burning from the salt water, I decided I needed an above water break. Note: at the sand bar here yesterday, Dave said there was a female Hawaiian monk seal. There are only about 1000 of these left and they are critically endangered. I never made it to the sand bar but Jacky did, and did not see any seals today. :( I DID get to see a sea turtle - well, his shell as he trucked on over the water. We were trucking in the opposite direction but at least I saw that much! No sharks, eels, barracudas, seals or other such though...

I hope this video works. It takes like an hour to upload! I actually used the one from yesterday because it showed the fish better. Today was basically the same fish but farther away and they don't come out very clear on this underwater camera. By the way, the video starts out kind of squirrelly but it does get better, I promise! I just really wanted to show off my pathetic snorkeling ability and prove I did do it! And yes, the operator of said camera needs to take a few lessons....

The cliffs and shoreline of this island were rugged and sparse. But with the high surf, it made for beautiful wave shots. Not the Hawaii most people get to see but it's worth it at least once:

Waterfall Rocks

After we finished there, we went on to the next spot. This was a sea cave that spouted water. We got the bow of the boat in quite deep when Dave tried to get some of the passengers wet. It was a lot of fun.

Now on to the next snorkel spot. This place was full of other tours which Dave said are never there. It was an indication of how rough the ocean was today because these other tours had to skip their usual spots. I actually never got in here. First we had sandwiches and then I decided to try to dry/warm up before I went in again. I was walking to the step to get in the water when Dave started the engine up and motioned for the people in the water to get away from the boat. What? I guess the mooring had broken that was holding the boat in place and the boat was dangerously close to the cliff. As we started moving away, the snorkelers in the water frantically tried to follow us. Poor Allen! He's about as strong a swimmer as I am and I could tell he was really puffing trying to catch us. Of course we didn't leave without everyone, but it cut our session short. Here's a picture of Allen and Jacky checking out the coral:

The wind kept getting stronger so we ended up just heading back to Maui. We all wanted to watch for whales (after all, the tour was supposed to include that) but our fearless captain didn't want to because he has ADHD and no patience for it (his words). So,* sniff, sniff*, no whale pictures. Can't complain, I got nice ones in Alaska and I did see whales, even breaching. Just not close enough to take photos.

Famous Daves BBQ for supper (after a nice long hot shower) and a little shopping. Tonight is try to fit everything in my suitcase and NOT have it go over 50#. On the way here it was 47#. Not nearly enough wiggle room! There will be a full day tomorrow as our plane doesn't leave until 11:30 at night. So yes, Mom, there should still be one more blog! See you on the plane!

Snorkel Time!

Today we started out slow. Lee's knee was better (especially after the pain killer!) so we decided to do some exploring. We hadn't yet gone north from our condo, which was in Kahana Village north of Lahaina. So off we went. Past the Ritz-Carlton Resort area and places only the rich and famous can go...we followed the winding road up the coast. We saw scenery, lovely beaches, people enjoying those lovely beaches. Eventually we came to rain forest again, and then to areas that were wind swept and reminded me of Dover, England, or the rocky coast line of Maine. The rocks and low shrubs were constantly buffeted by wind. The water was that beautiful deep blue you see post cards. We were heading to  something called the 'blowhole' where water from the surf is forced through a hole in the volcanic rock. Well, I don't think Hawaiians believe in signs because there are none anywhere. You start just pulling over where you see a bunch of cars parked and follow other people's footprints.  We eventually did find the blowhole, along with more unbelievable scenery. Lee and Carolyn couldn't come with us on the trail because it was so rocky.. I made a bad clothing decision this morning and put on a dress (a quite comfortable dress thank you) and sandals. But I braved the trail and am I glad I did:

It's much more impressive with the sound of the waves crashing against the volcanic rocks and the wind rushing by. There were lots of people walking there (all of which made better clothing decisions than I did) which surprised me because there were no safety rails, no marked trail. At any moment someone could slip and fall into the ocean EEK! The three of us made it back safely with a little sun burn showing (Yea!).

After a delicious lunch at Maui Brewery (and yes, I tried a beer - the Parrotbill ale) - fish and chips with 'ono' fish this time. we went back to the condo for a nap. Yes, I said a nap. Hey, it IS vacation! Then Allen, Carolyn, Jacky and I all got on our swimsuits and snorkel gear and headed to the beach for practice. We first went to DT Fleming State Beach Park. That was a mistake. The waves were crashing on the shore and there were plenty of rocks. I could see this was a beach mainly for worshiping the sun (and not in the water) but we tried. Poor Carolyn is quite nervous in water and , brave soul that she is, still tried . She got into the water and I had her on one side and Allen on the other. All of a sudden (not really) a HUGE wave hit us and knocked the three of us down. I was struggling to hang on to Carolyn and brace for the next wave. Jacky, of course, was floating out a ways, watching and laughing at us. Well, Carolyn started laughing - I could hear it through her snorkel tube because she hadn't taken it off yet, then Allen and I started laughing. Meanwhile waves kept hitting us and knocking us back down. We looked like the three stooges! I was too embarrassed to look at the other people on the beach. I'm sure they were quite entertained.
When we finally got out, I told Jacky a quieter beach would be better, otherwise we wouldn't get any snorkeling practice done!
We went just a little ways south to a beach I believe was Kapulua Beach. That was the RIGHT decision! It was perfect. I was hesitant at first - hadn't snorkeled since I was young. Carolyn still had some issues but she did try. I was anxious to try out my new GoPro camera which had a waterproof housing. I was hoping it would take good video under the water for our snorkeling adventure. The water was cool but not unbearable. Jacky and Allen went right in but I took a little time getting wet inch by slow inch (Carolyn went back to the towels). But the first time I put my head in and saw tropical fish RIGHT THERE, I was hooked! I immediately turned my camera on.Unfortunately it doesn't have a lens that I can watch what is showing up on the video, or photo. So I just hold it in front of me.  There were so many fish I think I started to hyperventilate (only kidding Mom).I saw for sure the beautiful 'Moorish Idol' - star of "Finding Nemo" movie, and the "Lei Triggerfish", another colorful one. Others I'm not so sure of their names but it was so exciting! I did go back to shore and put the flippers on, but one round with them and they came off - my poor feet/toes were cramping up! Maybe they'll be better tomorrow. The GoPro took pretty good video. I just have to try to keep it on one thing at a time. See for yourself:

Ha! I'm sure you were expecting a different kind of fish. Well, it seems the blogger only wants to let you see one video, not two. Since I'm hoping to have good videos tomorrow, we'll just leave you with this photo of the Jack-Fish. Tomorrow we leave at 7:00 am for a full day of whale and dolphin watching as well as snorkeling!!!! Poor Lee will have to stay back at the condo. So I'll try to capture what I can. You never know what you may - or not - see on these trips. We did watch whales all day long play in the waters. Of course they were too far away to take any photos. Wish me luck tomorrow then!

Back to the condo for a supper of apple,banana, and fresh pineapple. Yum! See you tomorrow!

Submarine!

Today no whales were playing in the water outside our condo. Allen was up before the sun and SAYS he heard whales blowing close in. Oh well. Laid in bed this morning listening to the myna birds (?).
Eventually though I have to get up as there are places to go and things to do. We started by going back to Lahaina (where everything is for us) and hunting up Snorkel Bob's Shop for (what else) snorkeling equipment. It was fun watching everyone try one masks. I didn't realize they even make prescription masks for blind people like me! So I get to snorkel without my glasses and I can still see! Here is Lee trying on hers:

Of course Jacky had to put his spin on things:

After outfitting everyone, we made our way to the Atlantis for our activity of the morning. We grabbed a shuttle boat which took us to an actual submarine! This sub took us down to three separate reefs where smaller reef fish congregate. The sub itself was quite fun. Everyone had a window, or portal, that they shared with another person. We were down for 45 minutes and saw quite a few fish:

My pictures didn't come out as nice as I had hoped - but I still enjoyed seeing all the different kinds. It was like being inside a huge tropical fish aquarium. What I found interesting is we saw lots of areas that had no fish at all - sand and coral and algae. Yet we'd come to these reefs - one of which was a sunken ship - and all of a sudden there'd be all kinds of fish. On one side of the sub would be fish, and on the other side not a single one could be found. I admit, I was really hoping for a glimpse of a sea turtle, or a shark! No such luck, however we did get to see 2 Spotted Eagle Rays. They were like ballet under the water; so very very graceful. This isn't the best picture but maybe you can see...

Time to get back on shore. By now everyone was hungry. As we started towards the shops, Lee started having trouble walking. Right before we had gotten on the submarine, Lee had gone into town be herself. She had walked into this huge Banyan tree and hurt her knee quite badly. As you can see, it is truly a magnificent tree - unlike any I'd ever seen before:

We ended up adding the Maui Medical Group to our list of places we've seen in Maui. Lee's knee was
x rayed and nothing was broken but she had strict orders to not get it wet. She also still had a lot of trouble walking as well. With our afternoon gone, we grabbed some subway sandwiches and headed back to the condo to make Lee comfortable.
Finally Jacky and I get to walk on the beach at sunset. A few too many clouds but it was still a beautiful evening. First I have to show you my little camouflage crab. They can be found  running around but, let me tell you, when they stop moving, you can't see them! With the help of a zoom lens, they are perfectly wonderful creatures!

And finally, the sunset. Yesterday we were busy at the luau but tonight....ocean sunset. Aloha

Luau!

Well before the Luau comes the beginning of the day. Jacky and I started by taking a stroll down the condo's beach.I was wrong, there IS sand, and lots of volcanic rock. The sound of the waves crashing on the rocks is quite soothing. Of course, I looked for shells, of which there were very, very few. What I found were teeny tiny ones. And a part of a sea urchin. Oh well, at least I won't be bringing tons of sandy shells back to the 48. We did notice that there WASN'T a noticeable sea smell....no fishy smell, no smell of salty water, no sea gulls crying in the air. It was ...different ...The best part of the beach though were these little fiddler crabs that scuttled up sideways out of their hole in the sand. I'll try to waylay one tomorrow or the next day. My tootsies got a bit of a shock in the water also. I expected warmish water...silly me. Then I started worrying about our plans to snorkel. Brrrr! Actually my tootsies got used to the temperature pretty quick (boy Lori, you're such a whiner!). Hope the rest of my body does too!
I got all excited on our deck this morning. I saw whales!! We sat there for a good 20 minutes watching 2-3 whales playing around. They were even breaching!!!! I think there must have been a female with a couple of males competing for her. There were flukes (fins) sticking out of the water, they were periscoping (sticking their head straight up), and diving down showing their tails. One enthusiastic male slapped the water 9 times in a row with his tail before going on to another tactic. We did see a whale boat close to them watching. I hope our whale boat has good luck like that because we were a little far away on land.
Spent part of the morning deciding where we were wanting to go, and making phone calls for reservations and arrangements. Time was ticking by so we finally got out of the condo and headed to the rain forest! This is in central Maui and there's quite a bit of traffic so you don't make good time. Eventually we got to Iao Valley, or Valley of the Kings. Iao needle raises 1200 feet in the air and is quite distinctive. We went for the 0.3 mile hike up to get better views of the needle and of the valley. Beautiful! We walked along a stream which could have been in Colorado it was so similar. The only thing missing was the birds which, in the 48, tend to congregate around running water like that. Here there basically are no mammals. You won't see deer in the trees, or rabbits and squirrels under bushes, or birds flitting through the underbrush. It's beautiful in the plant life though! Huge leaves, many of which looked like our houseplants gone wild. And not just wild - like someone gave them mega doses of growth vitamins! I had my new floppy hat on but it was starting to get pretty warm. Ready to go find something to eat!

Iao Needle

Me and Jacky

Drove over to Paia where the best restaurant on Maui is - Mama's Fish Shack. Lee said it was an outstanding restaurant. When we found it, the place was quite nice. There was valet parking and walls of celebrity photos taken there. I saw Clint Eastwood, and Billy Joel. This restaurant was something else. They made up a new menu every day because the dishes offered were all swimming in the ocean less than 24 hours earlier. Ok not all, there was wild boar too. On the menu was written who caught the fish (or whatever) and where it was caught. I had Red Snapper (I can't remember the Hawaiian name for it) - absolutely delicious. It was Lee's treat, luckily; the meals ran about $50 each. O yes, my Kuau Cooler was good too and I got to add another mini umbrella to my collection  :)

A quick trip back to the Condo to get ready for our luau. We went to the Old Lahaina Luau which is a traditional Hula and feast. The meal was awesome - we watched them take the pig out of the 'imu', or underground oven (e.g. dirt).

 After the wonderful all you can eat food (I can leave the Poi but the LauLau was great) the entertainment started. We had the telling of the story of the Islands in Hula dance and story-telling. It was fascinating. I didn't get good pictures of the Hulas because it was dark. Our server told us they are full every night of every week, year round. We estimated 400-500 guests were there tonight. Just think of it!

It was a wonderful night. We really felt like we were in Hawaii. One last picture; I had a new sundress for the Luau and Jacky bought a new Hawaiian shirt for tonight. Just have to show you how great we look:

Aloha!

Off to Maui

Watching the local news last night was interesting to draw some parallels. First they talked about signing up for the upcoming 'Humpback Whale Count'. On one day in February anybody can sign up t count as many whales as they see. The results are then tabulated and compared with other years to try top keep track of whale numbers. In the contiguous 48, we have the one day 'Christmas Bird Count' where you sign up to do the same thing but with birds. Cool. I wish I could count Humpback whales every year.
The second parallel was surf conditions. In Minnesota they have the ski reports where they tell you how deep the base (of snow) is for skiing at each Ski Resort. Here they tell you the height of waves for the surfers! Where we were yesterday (Pipeline) the waves were supposed to be 6-8 feet high today. They seemed bigger to me!

Today started with breakfast at IHOP again. We decided to go visit Diamond Head which is the crater outside of Waikiki that is a well known landmark for the Island. Our plane left at 1:10 so we didn't have a lot of time. But Jacky, Allen and I decided to try to hike up to the top of the crater. I got sidetracked at the bottom trying to get pictures of the birds I didn't know. All of these I saw were introduced from Japan, India, Asia... Hers's one of the more colorful:

Brazilian Cardinal

Well, Allen decided to turn back after a bit. I thought I could go to the Look Out, before the steep steps started. Huffing and Puffing, my face beet red, sweating profusely, I made it step by step. At one point there was a 200 ft tunnel climbing up, only periodic lights set in the wall. You couldn't see the exit because the end of the tunnel had a 90 degree turn. It was DARK. People going down were brushing up against you and you didn't know how much further you had to go. When you finally came out of the mountain, there were more steps straight up. I'm proud to say I made it to about 30 ft from the top. My legs just couldn't go up any more stairs. I was able to get high enough to see on both sides of the crater.

Lori (almost) at the top of Diamond Head Crater

Inside rim of Diamond Head Crater. Parking Lot is on the far right

Going down at break neck speed was less tiring (i.e. no Huffing and Puffing) but harder on the feet as my toes were jammed against the front of my sneakers with each step. The numbers of people going up and down was a problem also. As is narrow, two lane car roads, I had to wait to 'pass' people. Jacky and I made it to the top and back in just under an hour. Air Conditioning please!

Next stop: the Honolulu International Airport. On our plane to Maui, hardly had time to read a chapter before we were coming back down again. We had the engine and the wing to contend with so no great views of the island as we came in. Too bad - when we leave the island it will be 11:30 at night so there will be NO views of the ocean and Maui.

At least the sun was still up when we got here. This island really is totally different from Oahu. We are on the 'dry' side so there's no beautiful plant life here. Lots of waves crashing on the shore but no nice sand beaches like are all over Oahu. People were on the beaches and some were (I assume) whale watching. I did see a couple of whale blows but no more. Hopefully we'll see a lot more tomorrow.

Starving since we missed lunch, (and I hiked up the crater) we quickly found a steakhouse after unloading all the suitcases at the condo. My first Mai Tai, complete with little umbrella, started off the meal. I had more Hawaiian fish - this time grilled ahi ( a type of tuna). Even though I was super hungry, it was wonderful. We may have to come back in a couple of days. Tomorrow evening is the Luau. I think we'll be visiting the other side of the mountains (rain forest) also. Maybe a beach???? Well, all the cameras are charging and I'll be ready. 

Oahu

I haven’t shown you Hawaii yet. That’s because I haven’t seen the real Hawaii. That’s what today will be about. Our hotel here is in the middle of Waikiki. This is the view from my window this morning:

Yes, we’re on the 17^th floor and there’s only 18 or 19 floors total. Yikes! I don’t do well with heights but I braved our balcony to take these pictures. Let’s go see the rest of the island… 

First off we go to Old Pali Road.10 minutes from Honolulu is a rain forest. It's absolutely wonderful - huge trees covered in philodendrums, big elephant ear size leaves...This area gets over 300 inches of rain a year! Supposedly wild ginger blooms along side the road, but since I don't know what that looks like, I couldn't tell you. After that short 2 mile section of road, we continued north to the Pali Look out. Stunning views make you think of the Jurrasic Park movie on the one side. It's hard to take all in.

 Of course I was almost as interested in the wild chickens running around. They looked like the jungle fowl domestic chickens evolved from. Little did I know this was only the first of many times I would see them.

After leaving the rain forest, we traveled a while to the interior of the island. There we came upon the Dole Pineapple Visitor Center. Wow! Loads of people and more pineapple stuff then you could ever dream of. I would have tried a bunch of it but Jacky said there wasn't room in the suitcase :( We did enjoy delicious pineapple ice cream! but I passed by the pineapple flavored ham jerky, pineapple candy, chili pineapple chunks (no, really!)... 

Caroline and I enjoyed picking out oysters to find a pearl inside. Oh I know it's a scheme but we enjoyed it. And now I have a beautiful necklace to remember the islands by!

We had fun taking a train around the plantation and learning about pineapples and going through the Dole Garden that showed off native plants. The only sour note was the rain that periodically soaked us. I guess the trade winds were from the south bringing in wind and rain. Normally they come from the north. I hope it clears up soon. Hawaii's national flower is the Hibiscus and they were found in the Dole garden in every color I could think of.

When we finally got on our way, food was the next order of business. In a busy small surfing town full of college age kids we found a Mexican restaurant. Later, full of good food, we followed the kids and cars to the water. All along the western side of Oahu the big BIG waves crash in. This seems to be a good time of year for surfing and the number of people out there show that. I didn't get really good photos since it was getting darker and the surfers were out a ways from shore. But the waves were SPECTACULAR and we couldn't get enough of watching them. Photos and videos don't do them justice, you'll just have to come and see for yourself!

One more sun setting over the ocean. I hear there will be plenty of them to see in Maui. You can never get tired of sunsets and oceans, sorry. Tomorrow is another travel day - fly to Maui. It will be interesting to compare the islands. Until then, Aloha