Hawaii 2014, Part 1: Maui

Maui. Last time I was here I was nine years old. I don't remember much in detail (mostly lots of green drippy plants and moss), so this trip was all new to me. Of course, that visit was also 45 years ago, so aside from the beaches and volcanic rock, a lot of Maui is likely to be new to Maui since then, too.

In early December, Ken and I took a two-week "vacation from our vacation (sort of)" RV lifestyle to stay on Maui for one week, then the Big Island for another week (see the next blog for that island). 

Our beach-front/street-front condo rental was a mile or so from Lahaina's shopping district to the south and about 1.5 miles from the Ka'anapoli resort area to the north. Decent place, but the chance to relax was marred by constant construction going on at the condo--a small backhoe and bobcat working poolside to repair the seawall and yank out concrete, roofers banging away to replace the roofing substrate, and multiple trucks and construction equipment often barring in/out access to the only available parking, which was a super tight space under the building itself.

Beeeeep beeeep, grrrrr grrrr, crunch crunch, grind grind...the sounds of paradise drifted across our balcony.

Despite this and some other minor annoyances, the location was great. We could watch the sun set over the island of Lana'i from our deck; I saw a spectacular morning moon; and every morning and afternoon several sea turtles would bob in the surf at the seawall while nibbling at the rocks. We took miles-long morning walks north along the waterfront, passing through several contiguous beach parks and picnic areas, as well as along the boardwalks of the fancy hotels in Ka'anapoli, most of which we also explored.

Full moon in the west, taken about an hour before sunrise. More than 20 boats were anchored in view of our condo the whole week.

The same scene with the sun rising behind us and the full moon setting ahead of us. I must have snapped 50 photos of the changing sky and colors within 15 minutes.

The sun sets over the island of Lana'i, due west of our balcony. A layer of cloud covered the top of the island the whole week. Us? Only one morning of overcast and nary a raindrop the whole time.

 

Maui Splash, a sweet and refreshing pineapple/passion fruit wine from a local vintner.

A sea turtle pops up for air beyond the seawall at our condo.

Sea turtle swimming in the shallows. I could have watched these guys roll and float for hours. Most sightings were of their rounded backs, their poking-up butts (much like a duck going bottoms-up for fronds), or a quick heads-up for air. Use the link below for a brief video of this guy.

Video of this sea turtle's bouyant antics: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49032964/SeaTurtle_04.MP4

One of the many views along the Ka'anapoli resorts boardwalk.

And one of the many warning signs along the same path. Really makes you want to go into the water! Other similar signs also warned of "possibility of crime," leaving tourists to choose the lesser of many fates.

So, many just rented a chair and umbrella instead.

One day we drove the winding, slow-going, one-lane-bridge-ridden Road to Hana along the north/northeast coastline (more a journey than a destination--Hana isn't much to talk about). Our stops were suggested by our "GyPSy guide"--a nifty smartphone app that gives a running  commentary/tour based on your GPS location. Sites included several beach overlooks, an offbeat muddy unattended open-ended explore-it-yourself arboretum, and a walk through a rainforest replete with squawking chickens and roosters. Rather than take the same agonizingly slow route home, we decided to circle the island completely (frowned on by rental agencies because of five miles of gravel road, but really not that bad) and arrived home just after sunset.

Black sands beach, Road to Hana

One of the beach points at Kaumahina State Wayside Park on the Road to Hana. A vendor at this stop was selling home-made banana bread, warm from the oven. They use local "apple bananas" for these recipes. They are slightly tangy-sweeter than the ones we're used to...more flavorful overall. I managed to make my small loaf last all week as a treat with my morning tea.

This is a 30-second video of the beach above...no action other than the waves, but pretty to watch.

At another stop somewhere along the coast. These leaves are bigger than Ken's head. Almost everything on the wet side of the islands is water-rich and super-sized. Some plants are almost too alien-looking for words.

I have no idea what this tree is called, but it dripped ever so beautifully over the pathway. It's also bigger than it appears...the lowest strand was almost out of Ken's reach.

 

Yes, this is a rooster in a tree--about 20 feet up, in fact. These fowl run wild throughout Hawaii and can be found pecking, clucking, wooing, and scratching up dirt everywhere, including along roadsides and in Safeway parking lots. Charming to tourists, a bloody nuisance to locals. Their cock-a-doodling near our condo roused us every morning.

'Nuf said.

Coconut cannonballs

A typical rainforest specimen; this is in the Keanae Arboretum on the Road to Hana. Free and with no check-in booth of any kind, it was more like a meander through someone's wooded and wild acreage, with occasional plant-identification signs. Oh, and did I mention bugs? We made a hasty escape after Ken got nibbled by about five no-see-ums. 

An Indonesian import: painted gum tree (eucalyptus). They really do look like an impressionistic painting.

Nature doesn't do anything small in Hawaii. These petals were also waxy and firm.

A very happy plumeria. Not all of the plumeria were this full-flowered, but I could always find fresh, fragrant windfall to put into my hair and float in a bowl.

An inhabitant you don't want to bump into unawares. This lovely guy's body is an inch long, his span about three inches. They festooned plants everywhere and have bright, butter-yellow bodies. Thankfully, all the ones I saw were off trail and could be appreciated at a distance.

The Three Bears waterfall along the Road to Hana. We were lucky to have enough water for all of them to be flowing this well. Not many waterfalls are actually visible from the Road to Hana. This one is within view of one of the 40+ single-lane bridges, which meant that all the waterfall paparazzi mobbed the bridge and parked their cars everywhere they couldn't. Traffic was backed up both directions at the bottleneck. We waited so long for the bridge to clear that I was able to nab this shot right from the car...after I had first waited patiently for every other tourist to step out of the way!

The south side of the island...much drier and with its own kind of beauty. The clouds are obscuring the top of Haleakala National Park. Note the old lava flow down the mountainsides.

Southern coastline of Maui...practically desert by comparison to the rainforests we'd been through.

A popular spot for whale watching, passed on our way home from the Hana road. We did spot a few distant whales at other times, but we were a little too early in December for a lot of action. Jan-Mar is their best time.

Another day's visit was to Haleakala National Park, home of dormant volcanoes and craters. The top is at 10,000 feet, extremely cold in the morning. We were very lucky to have great weather the whole way up and while we were there. Fog usually roils around this mountain (as in photo above), obstructing views until the winds blow them away. We hit some of these mists on the way back down.

Haleakala crater is actually a shallow expanse full of more than a dozen cinder cones...those anthill-looking mounds in the middle that are actually several hundred feet tall. They're lined up roughly in a row, graphically demonstrating the creation of the Hawaiian islands on a small scale. (Short, simplified version: there's a nearby hotspot on the seafloor that almost constantly spews up lava; the tectonic plate that Hawaii sits on drifts about 3 inches a year across this vent. Sooner or later, enough lava piles up that new holes and lava flows burst through on an existing island, or entire new islands break the ocean surface. Once a land mass passes over the hotspot, its cinder cones, volcanoes etc. go dormant, and then extinct. This all takes millions of years. An aerial view of all the islands reveals this "connect the dots" pattern of islands forming as the plate moved over the hotspot. The northwest-most island, Kauai, is the oldest in the chain; the southeast-most island, Hawaii, is the youngest and still spews lava because it's still roughly over the hotspot.

Ken reads about the cluster of observatories at the top of Haleakala; a new observatory is under construction, with cranes working while we were there.

A rare and endangered specimen that grows only at Haleakala--silversword, or 'ahinahina. The leaves are covered with fine, soft hairs like lamb's ear. It sends up one stalk of flowers in its lifetime and then dies, dispersing thousands of seeds to the winds.