Hawaii-Maui

The second half of our trip was spent on the island of Maui.  Upon landing at the airport in Maui we were faced with two options: the road less traveled or the common road.  Of course we decided on the road less traveled which was windy, rugged, and occasionally single lane but beautiful.  One of our stops on this journey was the "Olivine Pools".  This was basically the same as the Queens Baths with the sea raging all around the calm lava rock enclosed pools. We had fun swimming in the calm and admiring the chaos of the sea on the outside.  Another stop was at a blow hole.  The hike to the hole was a ways down so Lindsey and I decided to let the boys check it out.  We could see the blow hole from the top.

Our second day in Maui, we again woke up bright and early and headed off for the “Road to Hana”.   I already planned most of our stops along the road so we were prepared and ready to go.  Our first stop however ended up feeling like a scavenger hunt.  We wandered through the bamboo forest a while trying to decide which trail was the “path”.  When we finally figured it out we ended up on a fun trail through bamboo forest, going back and forth across the river and climbing boulders. There was a waterfall part way up that was pretty but not with a good swimming area so we continued on.  Then we found a pretty fall with a great pool and a rope swing into it.  Best part was that we were all alone.  We played and swam for at least 30 minutes without ever seeing another person.  Then it was time to back track and continue our journey on the Road to Hana.

Unfortunately it was pretty rainy on our day so our views of the coastline weren’t too exciting but we didn’t let that stop us from having fun.   We stopped at Chang’s Pond and jumped off into a small little opening (locals jump from higher and dive), hopped out at waterfalls to snap picks and found more unofficial trails to hike to waterfalls. 

One of the more unique stops on the Road to Hana is the black sand beach or maybe I should say black pebble Wai’anapanapa beach.  I was fascinated with running the fine black pebbles through my fingers.  This beach park also had some fresh water caves that they said we could swim in but we decided against that option.  The final true stop on our drive was at the Seven Sacred Pools.  I’d seen pictures of these pools and heard about swimming in them and was very excited to see them.  However, due to high water the falls were closed to swimming and they were very brown in color due to all the extra sediment being picked up.  Needless to say I was a little disappointed.  Maybe next time right?!  Instead of turning around and driving back the way we came, which is what most people do, we decided to make the loop around the island.  The road isn’t completely paved this direction and it is once again the road less traveled.  It also was very different topography since it is the dry side of the island.  Our Road to Hana day was a long (12+ hours), eventful and very fun day.

We had a day in Maui without anything planned so we decided to rent surfboards again and spend the morning on the beach.  We were so relaxed and enjoying that I didn’t take any pictures!  That evening we decided to have an anniversary date night and for each couple to do their own thing.  It was good to have a more relaxed day and an evening as couples. Even though it was date night, we all attempted to get in bed as early as possible since we had to leave the condo at 1:45am!!....

These crazy kids woke up at 1:45am to leave our condo, drive to the other side of the island, get in a bus, drive up a volcano,  and freeze our tails off to watch the sunrise at 10,000 ft.   It was an amazing experience.  We all just gathered around the rim of the volcano waiting for the sun to make it's appearance.  Then we made our way back down the volcano via bikes.  Biking down was lots of fun with the occasional freak out moments. But once again, the photographer in me must have been wearing out because I didn't take many pictures. 

Once we returned to the bike shop, we headed straight for the beach for an impromptu diving trip.  At the last minute I decided I couldn't leave Hawaii without going on at least one dive so thats exactly what we did.  One quick shore dive.  This dive included the use of dive scooters that propelled us through the water.  There was a bit of a learning curve but we all survived and figured it out.  On our dive we saw several turtles, eels, and a shark.  Although it wasn't the best dive of my life at least I can say I dove in Hawaii and my main goal was to see turtles so mission accomplished! Thanks everyone for putting up with me (and our dive master).  After our dive we were sufficiently exhausted from our 1:45 am wake up call so it was time to head back to the condo for naps.  For our final evening we had a luau planned at Old Lahaina Luau.  We were all pretty excited and were able to enjoy about 15 minutes of the luau and 1 free drink before the rain started and they canceled.  What a bummer ending!  But we left and went to the Maui Brewing company restaurant and enjoyed some beers and tried to make the best of our last full night in Hawaii. 

Our final day in Hawaii was somewhat difficult to plan since we had to be out of our condo but our flight didn't leave until 8pm.  We decided to spend the mid-morning and early afternoon shopping and then eat a late lunch at Mama's Fish House.  This ended up being the best meal of our entire trip!  When the meal was over we did a little more shopping and then sadly headed to the airport.  

We had a wonderful trip and made some excellent memories.  It is a special type of friend that you can travel with for 11 days and not kill each other.  Thanks to Brooks and Lindsey for inviting us along!!