September 8-12, 1987

September 8-12, 1987

On the move again we next fly to Maui and stay on the western Kaanapali coast. The next morning we make the famous drive to Hana on the northeast coast, along a very long and very winding but pretty coastal road. We stopped at a botanical garden on the way with its Banana trees and beautiful flowers. Around every corner of the Hana Road seems to be another small waterfall. Near Hana are lots of Taro root fields from which the local food Poi is made. Just past Hana we stop and swim in the Seven Sacred Pools (aka Oheo Gulch), a series of cascading ponds. We take a short hike upstream thru grasslands to view Makahiku falls. A little farther past Hana is Charles Lindbergh’s grave. I would go but the road is supposed to get a lot worse, and I don’t want to do the winding return road in the dark.

The next day we stop in the town of Lahaina just south of the hotel. Lahaina was an important port for the Pacific whaling fleet of the nineteenth century. What a wonderful paradise it must have been for the all-male crews fresh from many months cooped up on a ship. In the center of Lahaina is a monstrous Banyan Tree. Banyans can expand by sending roots down from spreading branches. This one tree covers probably an acre!

From Lahaina we take a boat out to Molokini. Molokini is a crescent shaped volcanic islet off Maui. I am going to scuba dive the center reef to see shark ledges. This will be my first swim with a shark! I was nervous all last night thinking about it.

Aimee takes a pass on the adventure and decides to snorkel around the boat instead. Later the boat captain tells her that the surface is shark bait area, and she would have been safer on the sea floor. Well, I can report I saw a shark, only one, but my first, all two feet of him cowering under a rock. I took a photo up close to make him look larger.

In the afternoon we drive to see Iao Needle, the heavily eroded core of the volcano that formed the western half of Maui. We also stop and tour a sugar cane factory.

One evening we go to a luau on the beach complete with roasted pig in the sand, poi (ick! unless you like wallpaper paste) and hula girls. You gotta like hula girls.

The best part about Kaanapali Beach where we are staying on Maui is the sunset view. Looking toward the ocean are the nearby islands of Lanai and Molokai. When the sun sets it sinks behind Lanai. Beautiful!

 

We get up in the middle of the night to take the Haleakala sunrise bus tour. Haleakala is the huge dormant volcano that forms the eastern half of Maui. I am not an early riser, especially on vacation. It is a long bus ride in the dark and when we arrive at its 10,000-foot peak, it is freezing. We brought a hotel blanket with us but it doesn’t help much. We are tired and cold and spend most of the time on the bus shivering. We are way above the clouds here and I can’t say dawn was that impressive. When it does get light, the crater reveals an eerie moon-like terrain. I can’t wait for the bus to leave and take us back to warmth!

Unfortunately our two-week fairy tale existence has to come to an end and we must fly back home to our jobs and our new marriage. Hawaii was awesome but it was also very expensive. Everything we did cost a ton of money. Fortunately we got a fair bit of cash as wedding gifts. The money will go a long way to paying off this vacation.