Day 17: R & R, Hanalei Bay

Day 17: R & R, Hanalei Bay

We spent this day not doing much of anything but relaxing. We did do laundry and some packing to prepare to come home.

One place we did want to get to before leaving though was Hanalei Bay. This is an incredibly beautiful bay that is completely ringed by a beach. We decided to get an early dinner in Hanalei and then hit the beach and settle in to watch the sunset.

After picking up a cream puff at Polynesia Cafe, we drove to the far right of the bay to watch the sunset over the north shore. This area had tons of people camping, which got us thinking that we should come back and CAMP in Kauai next time to save even more money! Haha!


Lots of people keep boats moored in the bay, and they hop on surf boards and paddle out to their boats. This cute little doggie hopped right on the surf board with the woman, and off they went.

Bill also later talked to a guy who told him that there was a big spear fishing tournament coming up that is held in Hanalei Bay. And the guy knew Ray, too, not personally, but because of his spear fishing guns. I guess even in Kauai, they want Ray's spear guns!

So ends the journaling of our vacation. We saw so much and did so much and had an amazing time that I am sure we will never forget, especially since we have this handy journal to help remind us.....

Oh yes, one p.s. We had one more dinner at Roy's in Poipu before flying out. Can't forget Roy's! This time we split the chocolate souffle - a much more sane approach to dining! My opah dish was terrific, as was Bill's food. And then, pleasantly stuffed, it was off to the airport for our very horrible and heinously nightmarish flights home.

Day 16: Tunnels Beach & Luau

Day 16: Tunnels & Luau

One last snorkel adventure – at Tunnels Beach. This reef is so big you can see it in pictures from space. On our way over I captured a nice rainbow over the north shore backdrop – a pretty start to our day.

There was a sad thing that happened though, and I am sure everyone will be so disappointed when you hear what happened. When we went to put the camera in the waterproof bag on this morning, we discovered that we were missing the screw-on lens cover! Oh no! We had taken it off the day before after snorkeling to clean the case, and I was sure it was put back in the blue bag. But after a search everywhere, we were unable to find it. So no more fish pictures! I know, you are in great despair! I am so sorry for your great and terrible disappointment!

Anyway, the beach was gorgeous, and the snorkeling awesome. The reef is so huge we could not even hope to cover the entire thing. We walked down and entered a sand channel as far to the east as we could, swimming out pretty deep, then floating back to the west with the current. We covered quite a bit of the reef actually, and saw tons of fish, including some new ones we had not seen yet. No turtles though. We spent several great hours at this before grabbing lunch and heading back.

We spent a while at the pool in the afternoon and then got ready for our evening – the luau! We went to Smith’s Tropical Paradise for our luau. We were nervous when we got caught in a major traffic jam but ended up arriving in enough time for the imu ceremony. Usually, for the hour before the ceremony, you can tour their tropical paradise, so we had to skip that part. The imu ceremony was cool – they unearth the pig from the ground, and the owner explained some stuff which was interesting. After that, we then took a quick walk around the gardens to see them before dinner was served.

We both totally pigged out at the buffet. They had the pig of course, plus teriyaki beef, chicken adobo, sweet & sour mahi-mahi, lomi-lomi salmon, poi, salad, bread, etc. For desert, they had coconut milk, rice pudding, fruit, and coconut cake for desert. I will just throw in here, that Bill had FOUR pieces of coconut cake! The poi was not exactly bad tasting, it just wasn’t good tasting. Just bland blah. But the rest of the food was great, which is why we kind of pigged out.

By then it was dark, and they lit torches all around the ponds and the paths which was beautiful, and we went down to the show. The show was great, although my pictures of it are crummy. My little camera just isn’t capable of good illumination and zoom. They finished off their show with the Samoan fire dance, which was pretty cool.

Smith’s does a great job – they have great service, very friendly people, good food, and a great show. We were thoroughly happy with our luau experience!

Day 15: Helicopter, Spouting Horn, & Poipu

Day 15: Helicopter, Spouting Horn, and Poipu Beach

We had been looking forward to this helicopter trip with great excitement. First of all, Bill and I have never been in a helicopter, and second of all, we would get these great views without all the hard work of hiking.

The pilot seated me in the front right next to him which was very cool, and Bill was to the right of me. We had front row seats! As soon as we gently lifted off that pad, I was enraptured. Now, I love flying, but this was even cooler. I would like to own my own helicopter. Anyway, enough about the total coolness of how it flies and on to the scenery.

The scenes laid out before us were like feasting at the best of buffets. Peak after peak, waterfall after waterfall – it was very amazing. We got to fly into those valleys we had hiked around a few days before and see a bird’s eye view of exactly where we had camped on the beach in front of the waterfall.

We went right into the crater of the mountain peak where you could see that in times of higher rain fall, this ring of the crater would be strewn with waterfalls. There were still plenty though. This was a terrific flight!

We then grabbed some burgers on our way to Spouting Horn on the south side. This is a lava tube that shoots water like a geyser. We ate lunch at a nearby picnic table while watching it shoot, sometimes very little, sometimes 15 or 20 feet.

For the afternoon, we settled in at Poipu Beach – more great beach, great sun, great water, and even good snorkeling. How can you go wrong? There were plenty of fish around for us to see in this bay, and we explored it thoroughly before relaxing on the beach for a little while. I know I should spare you more fish pictures but I can hardly resist! I am addicted!

On the way home, we stopped in at the Hawaiin Trading Post and gawked at Nihau Shell Leis – they basically have a museum-quality collection of them. These are incredibly unique leis. Women find these teeny tiny shells on Nihau (the forbidden island) and drill and string them in a very time-consuming and highly skilled process. They are absolutely gorgeous and range in price from $250 to $10,000. Of course, the higher priced ones are multiple strands, long and usually have a history of being worn by a princess or something. I spied a fairly short one-strand lei with red and pink shells that I loved and gasped when I saw the price at $695. Hey, at least it wasn’t a $5,000 one, right?

Then it was on to Cold Stone Creamery for dinner (what, you say?) (yes, we are falling off the health wagon) (hey you only live once) (don’t worry, we’ll have some more sushi) and then back to the pool and then home!

Day 14: R & R

Day 14: R & R

I hope I have not put anyone to sleep with my hiking epic. I really am not going to write about today because I would have you nodding off. I don’t even have a single picture. I will merely say that we spent the day relaxing, resting, recovering (although we are not in that bad of shape, considering). We ate at a nice sushi place tonight. I do love how much fresh fish is available here in Hawaii. Anyway, having a more “down” day was just what we needed – hopefully more excitement later!

Day 13: The Kalalau Trail

Day 13: The Kalalau Trail

We of course awoke with the sunrise. It is difficult to sleep later when camping, I have found. Our sleep had been a bit fitful anyway – probably the newness of the situation, not having a soft bed, things like that. We initially felt tired, but after packing up the rest of the stuff, we were ready to get on the hike. I must admit that after sinking in tiredness onto the sleeping bag the night before, I wondered how on earth we were going to make it back. But the simple fact was that we HAD to make it back.

Anyway, we were able to get on the trail by 7:30 which was a much better start. That steep descent from the day before between mile 9 and 10? Yeah – well, now we had to go UP that! At least the red sand wasn’t radiating baking heat at this time of the morning. Small blessings! We took our time around the tough parts of the trail, going slowly and carefully so we could come home to our kiddies. Things went pretty uneventfully, thankfully, and by 11:00 we had hit Hanakoa stream. Only 5 miles to go!

We made pretty good time even on this tough trail. We were pretty happy when we saw the mile 4 marker. I was getting pretty hungry by mile 3, and started haphazardly staggering around, when before my eyes, I spied a ripe fruit. I had seen plenty of the green fruit on this tree all day, but had not spotted a ripe one – they are yellow when ripe, whatever they are – either guava or passion fruit. I grabbed it greedily and it was delicious. It perked me up just a little, enough to keep going.

The only hitch in the day was coming into Hanakapi’ai at mile 2 – maybe half a mile out, I rolled my ankle – and on perfectly smooth trail!!!!! It was pretty painful and I had no idea whether it was a twist or a sprain or what. I knew I had to keep going and keep it warm like when I played basketball and that I did not dare to take my shoe off in case it would swell. Those last miles were not the most fun in my life, but I did make it, one carefully placed step at a time (and 4 advil to help me along).

Bill’s feet were hurting and my ankle hurt and after I rolled my ankle I developed a blister on my heel (which I quickly patched up with my kit), but this was the sum total of our hurts. This was really a great thing. In fact I can hardly believe that I hiked 22 miles in 2 days without dieing or being sore. We felt better after this 22 miles that our previous 11 mile hike up the canyon! Just goes to show, you can condition your body!

Hike: hard. Views: staggering. Worth it? Totally!

We immediately drove back to the pool and jumped in. AHHHHHH!!!!!!! Then Bill went out to get an ice pack and food.

After stuffing our faces with real food and icing my ankle, I was very pleased to diagnose that my ankle was most likely just twisted – very little swelling, just around the ankle bone and bruising, but the rest of my fun activities of vacation will not be hampered!

Day 12: The Kalalau Trail

Day 12: The Kalalau Trail

So began our biggest adventure…..

Bill and I laugh a little when we look at the fact that we packed an entire big suitcase with camping gear for this one trip, this one night. After reading about this trip though, I just knew that I wanted to do it.

First, the facts. The Kalalau Trail is eleven miles of trail that traverses the famous Na Pali Coast – the gorgeous jungle-grown knife-sharp lava peaks that make up this north coast of Kauai. There is no way to adequately describe this trail or give an accurate picture, but to try, basically you are walking on the edge of each cliff, going around the jagged points and into the U-shapes of the valleys, sometimes up high, sometimes descending lower. This is hands down the hardest trail I have ever been on, requiring not only a lot of endurance but also great concentration in placing your feet so as not to fall off the cliff into the ocean.

We started off around 9:30 at Ke’e Beach, where we parked and left our vehicle. Bill was carrying a 35 pound pack with sleeping bags, a beach pop-up tent, his extra change of clothes, camp pillows and towels, first aid, water filter, tiny lantern, and camcorder. I was packing 20 pounds – my change of clothes, very limited toiletries (2 toothbrushes, 2 small tubes of sunscreen, and contact case and solution) (yes, that means no deodorant, no soap, no shampoo, etc – rustic!), guide book and map, advil, arnica gel, 100 ounces of water, and all of our food (mainly Cliff bars – a few other misc things). We meant to get started earlier, but it didn’t happen.

The first two miles of this trail lead up to a ridge then back down to another beach (Hanakapi’ai) with a large boulder-strewn stream. Now these two miles were pretty easy, comparatively speaking. The trail was wide, with roots and rocks to keep footing sure. At the stream, we dipped in to cool off, and filled up on our water.

Miles 2-6 began to show the true colors of the hike. The trail first ascended from the beach up to a cliff, the trail becoming more narrow with each switchback. From here on, the trail was mostly on the edge of each cliff; sometimes there was straggly brush or bushes on the cliff side, sometimes, it fell away in a red dusty slope. Sometimes, it smoothed out with jungle comfortingly on each side. But mostly, it was a foot-wide trail, dropping off to the ocean. But around each point was another and yet another staggeringly gorgeous view of the Na Pali Coast.

Around mile 4, we had used up all our water and the big stream we were expecting at 5 was dry. Fortunately, I had two Naked drinks along to supplement this dry spell, knowing we would be to the Hanakoa stream at mile 6. We finally made mile 6 and quickly shed our shoes and hopped in for a swim to cool off and ate some food and refilled the water.

The next part of this trail proved to be the most dangerous and the toughest yet. First, we ascended out of the stream area where the jungle was still lush and green. All of the sudden, around the point, it became dry red, orange, and yellow sand (think southwest desert). We had heard about this part of the trail and I admit, I was a bit nervous. The narrow trail before was bad enough, but a least was fairly firm soil with only the occasional washout. This was either sand or pads of sliding pebbles. There were sections, sometimes over a foot or so, of washout. Sometimes the trail was about four inches wide. The trail was exactly on the cliff edge and fell to the rocks or ocean down a dusty desert-like slope. If you fell here, you were a goner. When we turned and looked at an opposite slope we had just hiked, it looked like a slash in the side of the red hill.

This went on for about a mile and a half – slow, very careful walking, carefully testing step after step for sureness. The ocean beneath us was turquoise – brilliant and sparkling, teasing with its cool wet promise as we became hotter and dustier. Then the winds started whipping around the points, making us have to be even more careful. Then we hit “crawler’s ledge” as it is affectionately called. This actually wasn’t as bad as other parts of the trail – yes, you inch around a point on a ledge of rock, holding onto the boulder on the inside of the trail, but at least you are on ROCK not sliding pebbles and sand!

Finally the precarious two miles ended, but a little after mile 8, Bill and I off-roaded to a little waterfall (unintentionally) and it took us some time and energy to wind our way back to the correct trail. This was a little discouraging, as it meant that we would get into Kalalau later than we had hoped. But back on the trail we pushed on, tired, exhausted, but soaking in the incredible Kalalau Valley now stretched around us. After mile 9, we began a steep descent down more desert-like points to the stream at ten. These views were without equal!

From mile 10 to 11 was actually a flat path backing the mile-long Kalalau Beach. We walked all the way to the end where Kalalau Falls was, to set up our “camp” down by the fresh water. Our off-road venture put us behind and we got there around 6:30, making our trip total 9 hours. We first went for a quick dip in the ocean, the back to the waterfall to “shower” off. Then we quickly changed into dry clothes, threw our sleeping bags on the sand, and watched the sunset. When it became dark, we threw up the beach tent (a 2-sided shade thingy, mainly for kids) and sank into exhausted but fitful slumber.

So, stars shining overhead, ocean crashing in front of us, a waterfall flowing behind us- what an experience! We had hoped to explore the beach and cave and ocean off to the left of Kalalau but did not have the time. We still enjoyed our brief stay there, although VERY rough. If I did this again, I would want some more time at Kalalau, and maybe a few more personal comforts to go along with it.

All in all, very tough, but very incredible. Don’t worry – tomorrow’s won’t be quite the epic – I’ll keep it shorter! : )

Day 11: East Coast Sightseeing

Because of the way the mountains of Kauai are, the East Side has a great number of waterfalls and rivers. We drove down and started with a drive out to the heiau (temple ruins) and Opaeka’a Falls lookout. There were also lookouts for the Wailua River, a good sized river where kiyakers and boaters abound.

We then drove to the lookout for the Wailua Falls. We contemplated hiking down to the bottom of these falls, but the state had put up so many danger warning signs and fences etc, that we decided not to bother. We also were probably not feeling as adventurous as we usually feel, still shaking off the remnants of our 11 mile trek.

Our next stop was Kipu Falls, a shorter waterfall backed by a ring of cliff that preportedly has a rope swing and a big pool for swimming. In our guide book, it described how to get there and warned that some of the land you passed over to get there was privately owned, so go at your own risk. We planned on boulder hopping up the stream to the falls to stay off the land as much as possible.

When we arrived at the turnouts for parking on the side of the road, there were a lot of cars, so we felt very reassured that we could trespass without incident (hey, everyone else was too). We had no sooner parked our car when a cop car came flying up the road.

He was parked a little ways up from our car, so Bill decided to go talk to him to see if he was OK with us going to the falls and to see what if anything was going on. This cop informed Bill that the property owner had called him, so he had come out to talk to him, but that he then got the call that there had been a bunch of car break-ins of the cars parked there to go the falls. He told Bill that he would not be ticketing or fining him if we went to the falls, but that he suspected that there were people just sitting in the woods waiting for no one to be around and then breaking in to all the tourists’ cars, so be warned this could happen to us.

We were a little bummed. There are some property owners in Hawaii who go to great lengths to keep people from enjoying whatever natural phenomena because people have to cross over a little of their property to get there. This was case with the Blue Pool on Maui. What these property owners SHOULD do is just set up a little booth and charge a buck to get in and make some money on the inevitable, while letting people enjoy some really cool things. If people wanted to cross my property to get to some amazing thing, I think I would be inclined to let them, and would set it up in such a way that they could get there, and still keep my privacy for my house.

Anyway, so much for the rope swing adventure. We would have been very dumb to take the risk of a break in, so we did not go. By the time we had talked and were ready to leave, there were a total of four cop cars and a lot of mayhem going on. We got out while the getting was good.

We then spent the afternoon at Lydgate Beach Park on the East coast. I took a nap while Bill snorkeled, and then we snorkeled together. They have an enclosed boulder section protecting you from the surf, and there are plenty of fish to see. This would also be a great safe way for kids to practice snorkeling.

Dinner was at Coconuts on the east coast, which was a very tasty restaurant, then home to pack for our camping trip.

Day 10: Queen's Bath & Sea Lodge Beach

Day 10: Queen’s Bath, Sea Lodge Beach

This was our first slow morning in Hawaii. So far we had really been functioning on what I would consider Pacific Time – bed at 9 up at 6, but we were a little slower to get up that morning. I was actually a little surprised that my calves seemed to be the only sore thing. This was the case with Bill too. Anyway, we had a leisurely breakfast, laid around for a while, then roused ourselves to head off to Queen’s Bath. This is similar to the lava pools that we saw in Maui – the Olivine Pools – a pool formed by ocean water pretty much enclosed by lava rock and therefore protected from the pounding surf.

Queen’s Bath is actually very close to where our condo unit is. On our Princeville map, we saw that it was only one road over. So we drove over (a long exhausting drive of 3 minutes), but saw that there were no more parking spots available. We scoped the area for more, but it is all private residences there, so we could not risk parking.

So we decided to drive on down to see if there was any parking for Hideaways Beach which is right there at the Princeville Hotel. There was no parking there either. This is what we get for getting started later! So we thought about going to a different beach but decided to try one more time at Queen’s Bath for parking, and this time there were spots

On our hike down to the bath, I told Bill to keep his eye out on the other side of the creek for a way through to our condo unit. On our map, I could see our condo units, then to the west, a creek, and then Queen’s Bath, so I thought that perhaps we could find our own special secret way to the bath. And sure enough, just above the waterfall, there seemed to be a faint path through the jungle. More on that later.

We spent a good amount of time there. The awesome thing to me about Queen’s Bath was that it was VERY warm. I love to swim in warm water! Plus after the previous day’s hike it was great to just float around in warm water. We also snorkeled a nearby inlet that had some fish, but probably less than usual due to the people jumping in from the nearby cliff.

On the way back up, we decided that Bill would trail blaze to find our secret path, and I would take the bags back to the car and drive home, hoping to meet Bill there. Bill went where no man had dared to go before, forging through jungle, battling the elements, OK OK not really, but he did find that the path dumped him out at the Alii Kai units right beside ours. So we now have our secret path to Queen’s Bath if there is no parking!

Our afternoon was spent taking a small shoreline hike to Sea Lodge Beach where Bill snorkeled and I floated around. At this beach, the reef extended out very shallowly for a long ways, making this ocean water very warm and wonderful. The snorkeling was OK. We then headed back to the pool, then to catch dinner.

Day 9: Waimea Canyon

Day 9: Waimea Canyon Hike

Oh we are tired - oh we are sore! But what a day! We drove all around the island of Kauai from Princeville to Waimea to check out the Canyon (called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific) and to hike a loop of three trails from the canyon road out to the ocean, across the cliff, and back up a different ocean cliff to road type trail.

The Nualolo Trail headed through jungle forest complete with fragrant flowers part of the time for about two miles before opening up and giving occasional glimpses of the canyon and ocean backdrop. As we came closer to the ocean cliffs, the views became increasingly more spectacular and the trail infinitely more narrow and sheer, dropping to the valley beneath.. At times, we were traversing trail that was maybe a foot and a half wide, with nothing much but maybe a rock on our right, and a sheer cliff on our left. We ended that trail at the Lolo Vista which was so incredible I can't begin to describe it. You could look to you right down the Na Pali Coast, to the left at more coast, and all behind you at canyon walls of all colors and patterns.


These pics are the view down the Na Pali Coast and the view of the very narrow trail at my feet dropping down to nothing!

We then took the Nualolo Cliff Trail across, being treated to all sorts of views of the ocean and cliffs. At the end of this trail was another vista with more spectacular views. We could see back to our left - the Lola Vista - very far away where we had been hours before. This trail then ascended back to the road where we finished our hike going back to the car. All told it was 11 miles, and boy had our feet had it by the end. It took us six hours to complete this hike. As we trudged back to our car, our feet crying out against the abuse, we were contemplating our 22 mile hike (over two days) coming up. What we were contemplating, I will not tell. Just kidding!

I recently bought Montrail light hiking shoes because my L.L. Bean hikers had given me blisters in the past, and I knew this just would not do. Well, I am very pleased to say that I had nary a blister from this hike, and also I think the tread on my hikers was responsible for keeping me safely on the cliffside. What I am not used to is how stiff the shoes are - probably because of the chunky tread - so i think that is what made my feet so tired. I mainly walk around in slippers, with the occasional dress shoe thrown in for good measure.

After getting back to our car (and blessedly changing into flipflops!) we continued on to view the other side of the canyon from various lookout points along the road. This picture gives you one of the views we saw along the way.


So we wound our way back down the Canyon Drive, and stopped right there in Waimea for some food (a local pizza joint - very good, actually) before heading home. When we got back to our condo place, we hopped right in the jacuzzi. Our condo place, The Cliffs Resort it's called, is a decent condo unit type of place that is very roomie for the two of us, full kitchen, all that. The also have a surprisingly nice recreational place with tennis courts, playground, volleyball, a pool with attached hot tub, and a separate adult hot tub area, all of which are warm and nice. The jets of hot water felt particularly great after our hike. Then we went on home to crash into bed.

Day 7: Honolua Bay and Drive Around West Maui Mountain

Day 7: Honolua Bay Snorkeling and the Drive Around West Maui

Honolua Bay snorkeling was fabulous! Tons of fish, blah, blah, same old, you already heard the same song and dance. Anyway, we worked our way up the left of the bay, and then swam across the mouth of the bay. And then it happened - we saw turtles!!!!! In the deeper water of the mouth we finally came across some. I have been waiting for this to happen in all of our snorkeling ventures. I was very happy.

We then worked down the right side of the bay for more outrageously great snorkeling. My neck is starting to hurt from the constant snorkeling - fortunately, I have a break from snorkeling for a few days to recover. Honolua Bay was completely recessed and protected, making entry a piece of cake. No surf, no currents, easy swimming.





Up past Honolua Bay, you begin to swing around the north part of West Maui Mountain. We stopped to check out the Nakelele Blowhole, but it was not blowing very much - just a little spray of 20 feet or so, so on we went to the Olivine Pools. They are protected from the ocean surf and are good for swimming. It was a little cloudy and we decided not to swim, but sat on the lava ledge and watched the crashing waves.

On the way back south, we stopped at a shop where local artisans display work - Kaukini Gallery - and it was fabulous. Tons of gorgeous stuff.

This road on the east side of West Maui Mountain is very narrow, one lane, winding, and cliffside. Yikes! But we safely made it!

Then we headed "home" to repack our stuff (we are having a lot of trouble with the 50 pound weight limit thing). Day 8 we fly to Kauai!

Day 6: Aquarium Snorkeling and Ka'anapili Beach/Black Rock

Day 6: Aquarium Snorkeling and Ka'anapili Beach/Black Rock

Yay! More fish pictures! How thrilling!

On day six's fine morning, we headed back to La Perouse to continue our lava hike around the coves and to another cove called Aquarium (because it has so many fish in the cove). This cove definitely lived up to its name.

But first, we had to hike!


At first, the hike is not too bad. Even though you are hiking through lava, there is somewhat of a path of crushed lava rock. But this did NOT last. The trail becomes very indistinct, and might I venture to say, non-existent! Well, maybe just non-existent to us. As we wound our way around the peninsula, I am sure we off-trailed a few times. By the way, this lava is called a'a, which is the very sharp kind. You don't want to fall on this stuff! There is also a smooth lava, but I can't think of the name right off - it begins with a p.

So on we trekked through lava for about 45 minutes before finally reaching Aquarium cove. This was totally worth the effort. This cove was teaming with fish - tons of variety, tons of quantity. It was amazing. We swept around the cove to the right, and then as I swam across the mouth of the cove and back the left, I was swept into a current and was zipped down a channel between two reefs. What a rush! At the end of the current, it swirled and I had to swim pretty strong to cross the swirl and then I was home free. For all you trepidacious people out there, don't worry - most of the cove was calm and easy swimming.

Oh and did I forget to mention that we were doing this at 8 in the morning? Something I have learned here on Maui is that it is very windy. And as the day wears on, it becomes even more windy. So most of our various activities are best done in the morning before the wind comes in. I have become a morning person!! (shock, amazement) I have also taken to wearing cloth headbands (purchased our second day here) because otherwise I can't see anything for all the hair blowing in my eyes.


In the afternoon, we headed back up to West Maui to try out Ka'anapili Beach, bordered on its northern side by Black Rock (pictured here). People climb up on black rock and jump into the ocean - you can see someone here in the air. It is a beautiful beach with the plus of having good snorkeling around the Black Rock. We snorkeled for a while - some currents were pretty strong here, and the snorkeling was not as good as the Aquarium, but fun non-the-less. We also took a stroll through Whaler's Village (shops) before heading home to get ready for our special dinner on Maui.

One guess where we went - yes, you are right! Roy's!!! This was our special treat, and boy did we enjoy it! I got the pre-fixed with ginger chicken spring rolls, and a salmon dish, followed by the excruciatingly wonderful chocolate souffle. Bill got the szechun baby-back ribs and the surf & turf, as well as a chocolate souffle. Of course, we love the food, but mainly go for the souffle - fond memories of the Newport Beach Roy's come flooding back at this point......right Ray?

Now I must rhapsodize about the chocolate souffle for a moment. This desert is incredible. The center is molten chocolate, the souffle wonderfully moist. The excruciating part is that it is so rich that I feel a little sick eating the whole thing. Exciting news - there is a Roy's on Kauai!!! Maybe next time, Bill and I will share a souffle - that will be a lot saner. OK enough about souffles....

Day 5: Molikini Snorkeling and Lahaina Sightseeing

We took a boat trip out to Molikini in the wee hours of the morning (well, 7:00) on the Four Winds II, a large powered catamaran. They were very service oriented and ran a great operation - they provided plenty of food and drinks the entire time and didn't keep us on too tight a leash (figurative!) at the snorkeling site.

Molikini is a crescent-shaped crater that has abundant fish life and coral growing over the lava. We were given two hours of snorkel time. You can see me floating around there taking a picture on the left, and Bill diving down on the right. We have fifty million fish pictures of course, which I know you are dieing to see.

It took an hour each way, and on the way back, the captain took us by a spot


where green sea turtles congregate. We probably saw ten, maybe more and that was neat. I am still waiting to see turtles right next to us while we are in the water snorkeling! All in all an amazing trip. Visibility at the crater is around 150 feet which is much more than we are getting at the cove sites. There was a greater variety of fish at the crater, although I would say there were actually more fish per area amount in the La Perouse cove 3 & 4.

Once back from our snorkeling trip, we had an afternoon to decide what to do, and we decided to continue on up to Lahaina for some sight-seeing of the old town.

Lahaina's Front Street runs along the ocean shore and has tons of little shops of all kinds. Lahaina also has some historic type things - a courthouse, prison, and the Banyon Tree Park.



We walked Front Street up and back, and on this particular day, there were vendors in the Banyon Tree Park, so we looked over their wares. There were some women selling leis and other beaded jewelry, as well as other artisans selling pictures, painting, ceramics, and some selling junk.

I decided to get a lei to commemorate my trip - I chose one made of kukui nuts and shells. I will bring this bit of Aloha spirit back to cold New England and infuse it into our stoic culture. : ) I also got Abby a shell lei, but don't tell her yet - I will surprise her. (Abby if you are reading this, pretend to be surprised when I get home and give you this!)

We then finished off our day back at the b&b, eating our leftover dinners from Cafe o' Lei (yum!) and zipping down to the beach to catch the sunset. We had originally planned to finish that off by going to Cold Stone Creamery, but we couldn't remember where it was!!!!!!!!!!! and so, having forgotten our trusty guidebook, had to go home empty-stomached. This was probably for the best.....

Day 4: La Perouse Bay and Big Beach

Day 4: La Perouse Bay and Big Beach


La Perouse Bay is down in South Maui near the very bottom of the island - basically as far as you can drive south. We hiked over sharp lava rock along the right side of the bay, which brought us to coves 3 and 4. We bypassed coves 1 and 2 because the guide book said the snorkeling was not as good in those coves. Bill and I had some debate whether we actually were at coves 3 and 4, as nothing is marked and there are tons of little coves and pools besides the bigger ones to confuse you. But we did settle on the correct thing and donned our snorkel gear and hopped in. These coves had decent visibility, not as good as some spots around the island with over 100 foot visibility, but enough to see tons of fish that were swimming around in there. We spent a couple hours snorkeling around these coves before heading back over the sharp lava to our car.

We had some debate over whether to hike further over the lava to the Aquarium (we've heard it is great snorkeling), but Bill's reef shoes had begun to bother him, so we decided to come back another morning. Another factor in this was that as the morning progresses, La Perouse becomes progressively windier, making snorkeling pretty rough. We plan to return early some other morning.

We returned to the b&b for lunch (leftovers from dinner) and then went down to Big Beach for the afternoon. Right is a pic of Bill bodysurfing which he did for quite a while. Big Beach was less windy than other beaches, which was a great plus, as well as being picturesque.

We ate at Cafe o' Lei, a pacific rim type restaurant which was fabulous. We plan to eat those leftovers tomorrow night for dinner!

By the way Sue, the half suit has totally been the thing! The water is up toward 80 degrees for the most part, but the suit makes swimming for a long time even with no sun shining, much nicer! Plus it keeps the sun off! (the sun is usually shining)

Day 3: Oho'e Gulch, Hamoa Beach, Back from Hana

Day 3: Oho'e Gulch, Hamoa Beach, and Highway Back from Hana


This was the view that we woke to in our cabin. It was a little cloudy, but still very pretty and peaceful. From Hana, we continued on around towards the southeast of Haleakala, heading for the Oho'e Gulch, also called Seven Sacred Pools.

As we began to round that southeast part of the island, the scenery became impossibly lush and vibrant, peppered with stunning views out to the ocean. Again, there were waterfalls for us to view along the way. This is a view of the Wailua Falls.

This drive was quite something! Hairpin turns and tons of tiny one-lane bridges were built right next to cliffs dropping down to the ocean. One bridge along the way had been replaced with a steel bridge, and there were men working on it, as there had been a mudslide the night before. The old stone bridge beside the steel one - Bill remembered from his previous trip to Maui. They were having some repairs to the NEW steel one!


Our goal was to reach the Oho'e Gulch and spend some time there checking out the views, hiking around, and frolicing in the waterfall-fed pools. There are seven "pools" fed by a variety of sizes of waterfalls. First, we started up the Pipiwai Trail to check out the Infinity Pool. This pool is found at the top of a large waterfall. To the left, you could slip right over the edge (pictured on the left), but on the right, there are rocks to keep you in the pool. The picture here was taken by me as I climbed out onto the very edge of rocks on the right.

On our way down from the Infinity Pool, we encountered a man and woman hiking up. They asked us what we had hiked to and we filled them in on trail info - what we had done and what was further down the Pipwai Trail. After leaving them, Bill said to me, "That was Flea!" I of course had no idea who Flea was, but Bill being up on his pop culture, filled me in on the details of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Anyway, I was skeptical at first, but Bill had catalogued every arm tatoo this guy had, as well as the gap in the front teeth, etc. So I realized he must be right. We encountered them again as we were leaving, and had another short conversation as to how they had done on their hike. At this time I actually took a good

look and sure enough, all the tatoos Bill had described and so forth were there. (Flea, if you ever happen to read this, I hope you appreciate the fact that we are nice people who would not disturb your life or vacation and act like we know you and ask for silly autographs and otherwise bother you in any way.) And yes, when we got back to our place that night and Bill showed me his pictures, it definitely was him.

But I digress. We then hiked down to the "seven pools" and started exploring them. The bridge pictured here on the left is above the first of the falls and there was a group of crazy kids jumping off the bridge. You can see one the guys here. What you CAN'T see is that the pool they were jumping into had rocks on either side and about a ten foot window for error! When we later looked down from the bridge, I was slightly mind-boggled! Yikes!!

Bill, pictured diving in on the right, was slightly more sane and cautious, as you can see. After playing around in the pools for a while, we hiked up a little further beyond the bridge and swam in some of those smaller waterfalls and pools before leaving.

At this point, we turned around to head back to Hana and back down the Hana Highway to South Maui where we had a new bed and breakfast to stay at in Kihei. Before reaching Hana, we stopped in at a couple beaches.

The first was Hamoa Beach which was a great beach. Bill did a ton of body surfing, and I quit after my first attempt when the bottom of my suit came off and my whole suit was filled with three pounds of sand. I merely swam out beyond the surf and then sat and watched Bill the rest of the time.

We also stopped in to see the Red Beach pictured below which had fascinating sand. We drove back around the island again, appreciating the gorgeous scenery once again and ending at our place (which we love) in Kihei that afternoon.