Honeymoon - Maui

Maui was the final island we visited. We tried to pick a place to stay centrally located in Wailuku so that we wouldn't have to change B&Bs as we explored West Maui and East Maui. This didn't turn out to be the best decision. Though Maui LOOK traversable in a reasonable amount of time, the roads are 2-lane, windey, and and hug the perimeter of the island. It also turns out that only the north road is advisable for use by tourists. But more on that later.

Day 8

We arrived from Kauaii and found our B&B, The Old Wailuku Inn, which was also a wonderful place to stay (though nothing beat My Island Inn). We stayed in the Ulu room (lower right picture when you get to pictures again).

We spent the afternoon making reservations for the SCUBA and kayaking trips we wanted to take. Then we headed out to get some provisions and find dinner. The latter turned out to be something of an adventure. Lesson learned about tourist towns -- if you walk off the beaten path, you can fall off the world. We ended up in a rather frightening part of town. But we did find a great place to eat.

Day 9

Unfortunately, on this day I forgot my camera.

We had gotten a referral from another guest at our B&B about The Aquarium, a prime snorkeling spot. So we drove down to the trailhead and hiked a half-hour hike over the old lava flow to a hidden bay filled with all variety of fish. The snorkeling was spectacular. The water was brimming with exotic fish, including stick fish and puffer fish and all variety of brightly-colored surgeon fish, including plenty of humuhumunukunukuapua'a -- the native name for a brightly-colored triggerfish that is Hawaii's state fish. We had a lot of fun with this name. It's easier to say than it is to spell.

In the afternoon we took a whalewatching cruise with Pacific Whale Foundation, which was a lot of fun. No adult breaches, but we followed a mother and her cub around the waters, watching the cub frolic in the water.

For dinner, we picked on our hostess to tell us the best sushi in the area. Sushi Paradise in Kihea. And she wasn't kidding.

Day 10

We'd planned to spend the day hiking in Haleakala, since that was supposed to be The hiking adventure thing to do on Maui. When we drove to the peak of Haleakala, however, we discovered that it was just like home - broken lava rock at high altitude. We couldn't muster any enthusiasm. So we hovered around the tourist areas and headed back down to civilization, where we visited the Maui Ocean Center, an overpriced but very enjoyable aquarium. Then we had dinner, more fresh fish, at Ma'alea Beachfront Grill and Bar.

Day 11

This was the day we took the scenic Road to Hana. Since we didn't want to make separate reservations in Hana, we planned to do most of the great East Maui wilderness sights in one whirlwind day. I don't know why this sounded like such a great idea at the time. Advice for the Maui traveler -- just give up and book a room in Hana for one night. However, it was exciting, and we almost succeeded.

The pictures above and lower right are views along the Road to Hana.

Our first stop was Wai'anapanapa State Park, which has a black-sand beach that has actually received awards for its beauty. This was the checkmark on the list for "black sand beach," since we didn't know about Punalu'u Beach Park on the Big Island when we made our plans. It was swimmable, though this was not advised. We contented ourselves with a short hike along the dramatic shoreline.

Then on to Kaihalulu Red Sand Beach, a hidden red sand beach that we almost didn't find. It was definitely red. And beautiful. We sat there for a while and drank in the view. However, it's almost become a bit of squatter's nudist colony, so we didn't feel extremely welcome, and we left earlier than we might have.

Final stop was the Pools of Oheo. We hoped to hike to the waterfall at the top, but we ran out of light. You notice the dim photo in the middle -- that's a cow. It seemed such a nonsequitor at the time that I had to photograph it.

Then, the return trip in the dark. Since Oheo Gulch is in the southeast corner of East Maui, it seemed logical to drive back along the southern road. Don't do this. It's used only by natives for a reason. 1.5 lanes, going around 90-plus degree sheer cliffs with no shoulder on either side (the cliff side or the ocean side). We were lucky we were driving it at night because the headlights of approaching cars could warn us around corners. Some of it was paved, but a lot of it wasn't. So the return was harrowing, but we were good-natured about it, since we knew we were leaving the beaten path again. We got back to Wailuku exhausted and were only able to find a crappy sports bar open to feed us.

The next morning, our hostess was surprised that we'd decided to take that route, considering the condition of the road. It would've been wise to consult her before we did it. Whoops.

Day 12

SCUBA day again. We planned to take a nice beginner's dive in the cone of a submerged volcano. Little did we know we were in for a bigger adventure. The winds from the north that had so far made our stay pleasantly cool ended up making the dive we scheduled impossible. The bit of the caldera that was above water made a half-circle with which to catch wind, facing north. And the wind was strong enough that day that the whole area was churned up. As the guide said, it'd be no big deal once we got under the water. It's just that he wasn't sure they'd be able to pick us up when they were done. Well, that's a no-brainer.

Our guide was pretty enthusiastic, and he suggested we dive on the other side of the caldera. This is a 400-ft wall dive, meaning the caldera descends 400 feet straight down, and you dive along beside it, looking at the cool sea life and currents that make their home along the dive. This is an expert-level dive, not a beginner dive, and the reason is that 400 ft. In a beginner dive, the water is usually shallow, so you hit the ocean floor before you descend below the 60-ft floor beneath which you can run into serious pressure problems. In a dive like this, you have no help from the environment. You just have to be sure to manage your bouyancy right.

We were highly skeptical about this, being that we had about six dives under our belt, and we estimated that someone who did this dive ought to have about 20 or more. However, our guide was enthusiastic and not at all afraid of how we might screw up. So, being that we did want to dive, we gave in and took the risk.

It was a fascinating dive. Not filled with sea turtles and so forth like you find in more shallow dives. We did see an orange frogfish, and I took about a half-dozen pictures of it, then couldn't find the frogfish in any of them. Not sure what happened there. The center top picture is a black-tipped reef shark. Not the best pic in the world, but recognizable. We also played in the complicated currents that whip around the back of the caldera. And we did maintain our bouyancy just fine, tho we used up our air faster than we might due to concentration/breathing hard.

We finished up the evening at Old Lahaina Luau -- since, after all, this was Hawaii.

Day 13

We were scheduled to fly home in the evening, so we kept this day simple. We scheduled a leisurely 3-hour kayak-and-snorkel trip, which was a lot of fun.We finished in plenty of time to head back to the airport, and the flight home was mercilessly uneventful.

And we got home in once piece.


Day 10 We'd planned to spend the day hiking in Haleakala, since that was supposed to be The hiking adventure thing to do on Maui. When we drove to the peak of Haleakala, however, we discovered that it was just like home - broken lava rock at high altitude. We couldn't muster any enthusiasm. So we hovered around the tourist areas and headed back down to civilization, where we visited the Maui Ocean Center, an overpriced but very enjoyable aquarium. Then we had dinner, more fresh fish, at Ma'alea Beachfront Grill and Bar.

Day 11 This was the day we took the scenic Road to Hana. Since we didn't want to make separate reservations in Hana, we planned to do most of the great East Maui wilderness sights in one whirlwind day. I don't know why this sounded like such a great idea at the time. Advice for the Maui traveler -- just give up and book a room in Hana for one night. However, it was exciting, and we almost succeeded. The pictures above and lower right are views along the Road to Hana.

Our first stop was Wai'anapanapa State Park, which has a black-sand beach that has actually received awards for its beauty. This was the checkmark on the list for "black sand beach," since we didn't know about Punalu'u Beach Park on the Big Island when we made our plans. It was swimmable, though this was not advised. We contented ourselves with a short hike along the dramatic shoreline.

Then on to Kaihalulu Red Sand Beach, a hidden red sand beach that we almost didn't find. It was definitely red. And beautiful. We sat there for a while and drank in the view. However, it's almost become a bit of squatter's nudist colony, so we didn't feel extremely welcome, and we left earlier than we might have.

Final stop was the Pools of Oheo. We hoped to hike to the waterfall at the top, but we ran out of light. You notice the dim photo in the middle -- that's a cow. It seemed such a nonsequitor at the time that I had to photograph it. Then, the return trip in the dark. Since Oheo Gulch is in the southeast corner of East Maui, it seemed logical to drive back along the southern road. Don't do this. It's used only by natives for a reason. 1.5 lanes, going around 90-plus degree sheer cliffs with no shoulder on either side (the cliff side or the ocean side). We were lucky we were driving it at night because the headlights of approaching cars could warn us around corners. Some of it was paved, but a lot of it wasn't. So the return was harrowing, but we were good-natured about it, since we knew we were leaving the beaten path again. We got back to Wailuku exhausted and were only able to find a crappy sports bar open to feed us. The next morning, our hostess was surprised that we'd decided to take that route, considering the condition of the road. It would've been wise to consult her before we did it. Whoops.

Day 12 SCUBA day again. We planned to take a nice beginner's dive in the cone of a submerged volcano. Little did we know we were in for a bigger adventure. The winds from the north that had so far made our stay pleasantly cool ended up making the dive we scheduled impossible. The bit of the caldera that was above water made a half-circle with which to catch wind, facing north. And the wind was strong enough that day that the whole area was churned up. As the guide said, it'd be no big deal once we got under the water. It's just that he wasn't sure they'd be able to pick us up when they were done. Well, that's a no-brainer. Our guide was pretty enthusiastic, and he suggested we dive on the other side of the caldera. This is a 400-ft wall dive, meaning the caldera descends 400 feet straight down, and you dive along beside it, looking at the cool sea life and currents that make their home along the dive. This is an expert-level dive, not a beginner dive, and the reason is that 400 ft. In a beginner dive, the water is usually shallow, so you hit the ocean floor before you descend below the 60-ft floor beneath which you can run into serious pressure problems. In a dive like this, you have no help from the environment. You just have to be sure to manage your bouyancy right. We were highly skeptical about this, being that we had about six dives under our belt, and we estimated that someone who did this dive ought to have about 20 or more. However, our guide was enthusiastic and not at all afraid of how we might screw up. So, being that we did want to dive, we gave in and took the risk.

It was a fascinating dive. Not filled with sea turtles and so forth like you find in more shallow dives. We did see an orange frogfish, and I took about a half-dozen pictures of it, then couldn't find the frogfish in any of them. Not sure what happened there. The center top picture is a black-tipped reef shark. Not the best pic in the world, but recognizable. We also played in the complicated currents that whip around the back of the caldera. And we did maintain our bouyancy just fine, tho we used up our air faster than we might due to concentration/breathing hard. We finished up the evening at Old Lahaina Luau -- since, after all, this was Hawaii.

Day 13 We were scheduled to fly home in the evening, so we kept this day simple. We scheduled a leisurely 3-hour kayak-and-snorkel trip, which was a lot of fun.We finished in plenty of time to head back to the airport, and the flight home was mercilessly uneventful.

And we got home in once piece. The End