Our last full day on the island this trip, spending it in Lahaina during the morning and with HAPA at night.

More Whale Watching
We were out the door early on Friday, our last full day on the island. The morning called for an 8:30am whale watch with the Pacific Whale Foundation, so we had to be in town by 7:45am for check-in. It was the first time we had been around Front Street that early in the day, as things were still opening up and the pedestrian and auto traffic were down to a minimum. While it made perfect sense to be so quiet at that hour of the day, we never really pictured the bustling shopping areas as being so vacant.

The 8:30am whale watch was a late addition to our trip plans that we had scheduled earlier in the week. Seeing that it would give us more time in the afternoon over say a 11:30am or a 1:30pm excursion, it was worth the early start. As we were aboard and heading out of the harbor, the 6:30am whale watch was heading back in. Now, that would have been way too early for us.

I referred to our surprise about the lack of crowds on Front Street that morning, so too was the activity around the slips in the harbor. We had some time to spare before boarding and decided to walk along the boardwalk at the pier. As we walked, I snapped a photo or two of the boats docked in their slips, waiting peacefully for the day’s passengers.

As for the whales, we were fortunate to see a ton more activity that morning than we had seen on past tours. Of course, the golden rule of whale watching applied: “whichever side of the boat me and my camera were on, all the action was on the other side”. It was okay, though, as just being out on the water again and sharing the thrill of these amazing creatures being so close was more rewarding than any photos I could have taken. We were glad we chose to sacrifice a morning of sleeping late for this last whale watch.

Lunch at BJ’s Chicago Pizzeria
We were back on land and walking around Lahaina by around 11am. Seeing that we skipped out on breakfast, both because of the early departure and the fact we haven’t had enough sea experience to adjust to the motion of the ocean, we were seeking out an early lunch. Seeing as I’m always game for some Hawaiian pizza and we’ve been to BJ’s on our previous trips, it seemed like a no-brainer.

From the upstairs dining area, we were able to take our time and enjoy our meal at a slow pace. Down below, foot traffic was starting to pick up in town as well as boats out on the water near the harbor. The trees along Front Street obstruct some of the harbor views from BJ’s, but it’s still a nice lookout spot. After lunch and a little more walking, we headed back to the resort.

A Lazy Afternoon
Back at the resort, it was mostly a lazy afternoon. It’s always tough that last day or two when the feelings start to sink in that you’ll be leaving soon. Even though we had done so many new things and created a huge amount of amazing memories from the last two weeks, it was little consolation to the thought of going back home.

We started packing a little bit, spent some time out on the lanai, and went ahead and did the online check-in for our flights home (via United). As I try to do on our flights to Maui, I check-in online as soon as they let you (24 hours in advance) to upgrade our seats to the better Economy Plus sections. Once most of all that was done, it was time to get ready for our concert out at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. This year, just as on our last trip, we were going to see HAPA at the Castle Theatre.

A Night at the MACC
Since we had seen HAPA at the MACC last year, we were a little more savvy about the courtyard festivities prior to the show. Rather than trying to find dinner in Kahului before hand, we showed up early to dine there instead. It turns out we were early, but not early enough to avoid a good 30 minute wait in line for food. It was still okay, though, since we were still on Hawaii time (aka in no real hurry) for one more day.

Our seats for this show were almost the same spot as we had the previous year. It was a lovely evening, although there were a few more on-stage antics this year with one of the special guests HAPA had invited. There was still magic in the air and the result was another reminder of why we’re such a big fan of their music and why their popularity on the islands has stayed so strong over the years.

The drive back to the resort at night was stunning as usual. It’s a rather different drive along Hwy 30 at night than it is during the day, since there are no street lights and, this time around, only a sliver of moon hung in the sky. The seemingly constant stream of headlights from oncoming traffic was more than enough to light the way along the turns in the road, but what was more beautiful is looking out over the water in the darkness.

Grant it, my eyes were focused mainly on the road ahead and Cindy was the one enjoying the view, but at certain points near Maalea, you could see lights from Kihei across the water, almost as if the town was floating in the sky. Had we more time to spend and me all my camera gear, it would have been nice to stop at the Papawai Lookout and taken a few keepsake photos of the view that night.

The Final Night’s Sleep
There really wasn’t too much left to do by the time made it back to the resort. Most of everything was packed already, and we knew that no sooner did we fall asleep, it would be daybreak already and time to head home. We were trying out a different travel plan on the way home, taking off at 2:30pm instead of the red-eye back, so that meant even less time to spend making our way back to the airport.

Despite our impending departure, we still slept rather soundly knowing very well that we were already planning are latest return visit to Maui.

Today was about easy with a lovely lunch with new friends and a tranquil dinner cruise.

Another Slow Morning
We took our time again getting moving this morning. Come a week from now when we’re back in the day-to-day grind, we’re sure going to miss mornings like this. We opted to sleep in a little later rather than make our way downstairs for breakfast, which was okay because we were heading out to Haiku to meet some new friends for lunch.

I’m sure we’re not the only ones, but the more and more we talk to friends and family about visiting Hawaii and Maui in particular, most have either visited the islands or know someone who has great things to say about it. It turns out Cindy’s aunt (a big Maui fan as well) works for one of those frequent Maui visitors, and we were lucky to meet up with him and his wife for lunch in Haiku on Thursday.

Meet The Artist
Allow me to start with an introduction first. Earlier in our trip you may recall me mentioning that we visited the Maui Hands gallery at their Front Street location. We were there to see the work of February’s featured artist, Mort Luby. Mort and his wife Pat have travelled all around the world, and always seem to end up back on Maui for at least a few months out of the year. To them, Maui is sort of a second home.

We ended up buying one of his paintings that first week, and were told that Mort would be painting right there at the gallery every Friday evening during the month of February. Unfortunately, both of our Friday evenings this trip were already rather full, so we didn’t think we’d get to meet him and say Aloha.

Cindy’s aunt works for Mort back on the mainland, and she and her husband gave us our first “Luby” as a house warming gift when we bought are condo a few years back. Excited that we were having another one shipped home, Cindy dropped her a line and told her the good news. Her aunt, in turn mentioned it to Mort and before we knew it, we were invited out for lunch and getting directions to the vacation home in Haiku where they were staying this year.

The Lunch Date
We had seen the signs for Haiku on our drive out to Hana earlier in the week, so we knew roughly about where we were headed. Their rental wasn’t too hard to find. It was a very nice little vacation rental home and the location was absolutely perfect, especially for an artist. This was the first time Cindy and I met Pat and Mort, but it wasn’t long before it felt like we’ve known them for years.

Our common passion for Maui and some of the current events on the island were main topics as we sat out on their lanai where Mort’s easel was setup. Being in upcountry Haiku, their small lanai was surrounded by a calming and peaceful collection of luscious greenery and trees, with very little-to-no sounds aside from what Mother Nature provides on her own.

We talked about Mort’s paintings and his work with Maui Hands. He shared stories of their travels all over the world and why they always love to return back here to Maui. Mort and I had a good discussion on photography as well, and about some of the work I had done so far. It was really the first time I had the chance to talk at length with someone with an artistic background about my photography. It was very encouraging for me.

A Home-cooked Meal
Pat had prepared lunch for the four of us, which consisted of a salad and homemade chili. It was very delicious, and come to think of it, the first home-cooked meal we’ve ever had while visiting Maui. After desert and a little tinkering with Mort’s website (I’m a travelling techie, I couldn’t resist), we got a small tour of Mort’s little workshop in the garage.

Mort had a nice arrangement in the garage. It was neat to see some of his works in progress, paintings waiting to be framed, things like that. He explained a little bit about how he submits work to the gallery, how they review it, provide feedback, make requests for other works, etc. Up to that point, I hadn’t thought too much about how all that works, but who knows, that could be me with my photographs someday.

Time was flying by at this point in the afternoon. We could have stayed and talked with Pat and Mort for hours, but we had a dinner cruise scheduled for that evening and it was just about time to head back to the resort and get ready for that. We couldn’t thank Pat and Mort enough for inviting us over for a lovely lunch and sharing their Aloha Spirit and stories with us. A hui hou!

Rush Hour On Maui
It was almost enough to make us homesick for the traffic back home. Our drive from Haiku back to Ka’anapali took us through Paia, Kahului, Maalaea, and Lahaina all during the busiest time of the afternoon. It certainly could have been more stressful if we were running late, and something I can only assume the local folks have grown well accustomed to. Fortunately we made it back to the resort in time to get ready for our evening on the water.

We typically do a dinner cruise every year as part of our vacation, although we had to cancel the one last year. This was the first one we’ve done with the Pacific Whale Foundation, and since we’re long standing members and had already arranged two whale watches through them, why not stick with them for the dinner cruise. With some of the windy weather we had been seeing the last day or two, we were a little worried about ocean conditions and a chill in the air, but the weather seemed to be cooperating tonight.

Whales, Dinner, Sunset
Even though it was a dinner cruise and not a whale watch, it’s rather hard to not find whales in the waters around Maui come February. The boat wasn’t out to follow them or seek them out like on a whale watch, but as we saw activity here and there, we all paused to watch. It was a nice little addition to the evening.

Dinner was lovely, and since we paid for the premium seats, we were up near the front of the boat at the upper level. It was a table for two, and ours was in the middle of two other very nice couples. We later decided the premium seating really wasn’t needed because it wasn’t a full ship and many of the tables and spots on the boat were all wonderful. The service was great, as we’ve always seen when going out with a PWF tour.

As we’ve taken many sunset and dinner cruises in West Maui in passed years, we’ve come to enjoy some of the gorgeous views of not only the sunsets from out on the water, but the coastline and the majesty of the West Maui mountains. Cue the first photo, please:

You can get a sense of just how grand these mountains are by comparing them to the lonely sailboat in the forefront. As many times is the case, photos can’t do the actual views justice, and the clarity of the air on a cool, early evening night is remarkable. You can see cars driving along the highway next to the shoreline, houses up higher in the hills, trees, ridges, and all sorts of shadows along the well sculpted mountains. And the colors, well…

I mentioned the whales and dinner, and the last piece of the dinner cruise puzzle is, of course, the s
unset. Since we were heading a fair distance south, we got to watch the sun set over the top of island of Lanai this time. From where we positioned at that right moment, the sun dropped onto the island like a jewel on a crown. See for yourself.

Again, pictures are lovely reminders, but never as good as the real thing. Oh, and those colors I was talking about along the mountains just a moment ago? Here’s another shot of the view shortly after the sun ducked behind Lanai.

Bittersweet
We have somewhat of a tradition on our trips of saving the last night for either a dinner cruise or a cocktail cruise at sunset. It’s always seemed sort of special ending our two weeks with a spectacular Maui sunset out on the water like that. This year though, like last year, we were headed out to the MACC the following evening to see HAPA. That meant this wasn’t our last evening, but it still sort of feels like it.

As a bit of anticipated irony, we always end up talking with couples on these dinner cruises that are just starting their stay on Maui. Over the years, we’ve met so many nice people, some that have visited these islands for many years, and others that are experiencing Aloha for the first time. We love to talk story and share our favorite parts of the island, as well as hear other takes and tips on things we haven’t yet tried ourselves. Similar to a luau, if you find the right-sized dinner cruise, it will have that ohana feeling and people you will meet in the process just add to an already perfect evening.

Being from the Windy City, you’d figure we’d be used to all this wind.

A Good Night’s Sleep
After two long, but wonderful days along the Road to Hana, we slept pretty well Tuesday night. We couldn’t believe we were halfway through the second week of our trip already. Bummer. Because of our planning habits, these last few days were setup to be pretty laid back and open to anything we wanted to do, or do nothing at all. Only the evenings were planned for tonight, tomorrow and Friday, so anything goes during the day.

Today’s plan was to do a little more beach hopping, seeing that the only real time on the beach we’ve spent so far was on Sunday. It’d be a shame if we spent two weeks on Maui and didn’t come home to winter in Chicago without a tan.  Borderline sacrilegious, possibly. Anyway, Cindy had originally scheduled a second massage at the Westin because of the nice act of Aloha on their part from last Friday, but she cancelled in lieu of time in the sun.

It was slow morning getting ready, so we were already getting the day off right. The plan was to head up towards Kapalua and find ourselves a few spots on Napili Beach and Oneloa Beach in that area. We had visited Kapalua Beach a few years ago, so we were already somewhat familiar with those whereabouts. What we discovered as we headed out for the day, however, was that the wind had other plans.

First Off, Napili
The wind was blowing something fierce on Wednesday, with reported sustained winds in excess of 30 MPH and gusts even stronger. That helped bring in more showers as we headed further north towards Napili and Kapalua. We didn’t let that discourage us, though. At least not at first.

We made a stop at the Napili Village complex in search of lunch. We came across Maui Tacos, which we surprising had never tried before. Boy, we were really missing out. After gazing at the menu for a few minutes, we placed our order and were enjoying some great food in no time. I had been joking in the past that our mainland favorite, Chipotle, needed to open up an operation out here on Maui. But after trying Maui Tacos, I don’t think that’s really necessary anymore.

This was also my first full day without having my cell phone with me. Technically, I was without it Monday and Tuesday because there was no reception in Hana, but now it was official.  I had commandeered Cindy’s cell phone to send updates to my Twitter account via SMS, but it didn’t feel the same without following my tweeps, also. Cindy soon grew tired of me constantly asking for her phone, so my live vacation stream dried up rather quickly.

To The Beach
After lunch was devoured, it was off to our next stop, Napili Beach. The wind was starting to pick up a little more as we made it to the beach, but still not terrible. The clouds, on the other hand, were hiding more of the sun and the warmth than Cindy would have liked.  I did manage to spend some time waking the beach and snapping some photos. Since the conditions weren’t ideal for the sun worshipers, I had a beach fairly empty of occupants to work with.

It was a really nice beach, minus the weather. If memory serves, it was slightly larger than Kapalua Beach, and from what I’ve read, normally not as crowded either. There aren’t any towering resort buildings like you see along Ka’anapali Beach or Wailea Beach, which gave it a nice, somewhat isolated feel.

After Napili, Oneloa Beach was next. We continued on north along Hwy 30 passed much of Kapalua and found the parking lot for the beach completely empty. Were we in the right place? This is actually one of the larger beaches on this side of the island, where was everyone? It turns out we weren’t the only ones turned off by the high winds and passing showers, and the beach was completely empty. We didn’t even bother putting the towel down it was that windy. Beach hopping over.

Over the Rainbow
We decided to head down towards Lahaina and walk around Front Street instead. We still had a good part of the afternoon ahead of us before we had to be back for our luau at the Sheraton later that evening. We were thinking of going on another whale watch Friday morning, so we wanted to head into town and visit PWF to set that up.

As we drove further south towards Lahaina, it felt like night and day. Almost like the something out of the Wizard of Oz, with the gray and glooming conditions up near Kapalua starting to give way to bright sunshine and the vibrant colors closer to Lahaina. You know, the type of weather you’d expect to see on Maui. The wind seemed to follow us, however, but that warm sunshine sure was a welcomed improvement.

After scheduling our whale watch, we spent about an hour or so walking along Front Street. We weren’t really looking for anything in particular, and were just sort of taking it easy doing nothing. After a completely packed first 10 days of our trip, doing nothing certainly felt nice.

A Different Luau This Year
Our first luau at the Sheraton Maui Resort was two years ago. It was just that one evening that sold us on making that particular show one of our traditions every trip. It was right on the grounds of our resort, and while was relatively small compared to the larger luaus on the island, they still put on a great show. You have a spacious lawn area, a view of the Black Rock Cliff Dive ceremony and an always spectacular sunset off the shores of West Maui. Like I said, perfect.

Well, this year it was a slightly different show. Remember that wind that spoiled our beach hopping plans earlier in the day?  Well, it was strong enough to force the luau indoors into the main ballroom at the Sheraton. It turned out to still be a lovely evening, and I realize the weather is outside anybody’s control, but it just didn’t feel the same without the cliff dive and the sunset. I guess that’s just part of our tradition that we’ve come to look forward to, and a little spoiled by.

Just prior to the luau, we took our annual Aloha Photo wearing our alohawear. It’s a little something we do every year, where we find a new matching set of alohawear to add to our collection, and take a photo together before our luau. Our tastes in alohawear have changed slighly over the years, and I was really liking the set we found this time around.

The Show Must Go On
Aside from missing the sunset and the cliff dive ceremony, the luau was still a great show. The other lacking omission, so we thought, was the fire knife dancer that is typically the finale of the night. As you’d imagine, that’s not something the local fire marshall would be too thrilled about seeing performed indoors.

Fear not, though, as the show must go on. At the end of the main performance in the ballroom, we all emptied out into the courtyard outside and crowded around as a small group. It was a different take as in years passed, being able to stand closer to watch the show rather than sitting in our seats. It allowed everyone there have a better view of the little fire exhibition, wh
ich was cool.

And of course, I just had to take advantage of being closer than usual, and snapped this photo as part of the performance.

It was a great finish to the luau and the evening. Normally, we end the evening with a stroll along the beach after the luau, but that wasn’t in the stars tonight, or any night during our trip this year. One of the few downsides of coming to Maui in the winter months I guess, but I think the whales and some of the other advantages more than make up for it.

When you’re in paradise, you laugh when things go wrong.

Koki Beach
One of the common themes I’ve been mentioning about this year’s trip to Hana is doing things we didn’t have time to do in the past. Koki Beach was no different. Getting the earlier start in the morning and beginning the day in Hana gave us this little spot practically to ourselves. Only a lady playing with her two golden retrievers were there when we arrived, and that’s all we saw the entire time we were there.

Here are a few shots from Koki Beach, with it’s towering cliff, view of the ‘Alau Islet, and the red sand.

The Pools Await
The next stop of the day was the Oheo Gulch, aka the Pools of Oheo, aka the Seven Pools, aka the Sacred Pools. Whatever you call them, they were exceptionally more peaceful early in the morning ahead of all the crowds. Another place we had almost all to ourselves. As you can imagine, given the chance to climb rocks and hike to get a better shot, I could not pass up type of opportunity. Here are a few of the results.

Webnelly Falls
If you haven’t read about it yet, I sort of went for an unplanned swim. Somewhat distracted by a low camera battery (with my spare battery forgotten back in the car) and looking at my next shot instead of where I was climbing, I ended up in the water. I was okay, and as much as I wish I had a photo of the aftermath, I only have this shot of the rocks where I made that misstep and coined the phrase Webnelly Falls after my Twitter handle, @webnelly.

I sort of lucked out by not getting seriously hurt, and by saving most of my camera gear. I was wearing my camera backpack over both shoulders (thankfully) with most of my equipment in it. My Canon Rebel was in my left hand, and as I fell forward, I pulled a Statue of Liberty play and that arm went straight up in the air almost out of pure instinct. The water where I landed was about 18” deep, but because I fell forward, I went in all the way up to my chest on my front side.

Although I was soaked from chest to toe on the front of me, my backpack survived completely dry. The cell phone in my shorts pocket, however, died a watery death that morning. I sort of needed a new phone anyway.

The Shoot Must Go On
I could have been really ticked off, but seeing that everything was still dry and functioning and I still had about 20 minutes of battery life left, I continued taking photos. Now that I was dripping wet, I really didn’t have to worry about how I was getting back across those same rocks, now did I. Onward I went, to get shots like this one, which were well worth it.

Had I gotten angry and called it quits, I would have missed out. Later in the day, Cindy made a comment that she was very proud of me for shaking off the incident and not letting it get to me. It had been a pretty stressful few months leading up to our trip, to say the least. Seeing that my phone at times appeared surgically attached to my hand, being at peace seemed like the lesser possible outcome. I guess something about being in paradise for 10 days, especially the time spent in Hana, really turned things around for me.

Slight Change of Plans
After I finished getting the shots I wanted, we hiked back to the car to change into some dry clothes. That was an unexpected benefit of staying overnight in Hana, I had extra change of dry clothes with me. We had been planning to hike up the Pipiwai Trail to the towering Waimoku Falls, but while I had dry clothes to change into, my gym shoes were still soaked and not in any condition to hike.

We decied to cancel the hike and headed back to Hana for lunch, as well as another stop at the Halfway to Hana to restock on that yummy banana bread. We had fewer stops to make on the way back, so we were sort of taking our time. As we approached Paia, we found ourselves part of quite a crowd at the Hookipa Lookout at around 3:30pm. Much, if not all of the attention was being given to the windsurfers and kite-surfers who were out catching the big waves and putting on a show. Very impressive, and something I would never picture myself trying.

Cindy, Meet Cindy
Not far from Hookipa, three more of my Twitter friends were having another tweetup in Paia and saving a spot for us. It was great, and there were a few of those small world moments. The first of which was @DJSMOOK having lived in Oak Park, IL for a few years, which isn’t that far from where we live now. The second was @ucsmiles not only sharing the same first
name as my wife, they both had the exact same cell phone, right down to the color.

It was a really nice learning a little more about life in Upcountry Maui, which we hadn’t really visited too much previously. After a quick bite at Island Cuisine in Paia, we ended the tweetup with a visit to a private yard area behind the nearby shops (with permission, of course). It was a beautiful, green retreat away from the traffic and distractions from the main street in Paia. It overlooked a stretch of sand that I learned was Paia Beach, and the view was just lovely.

Our Own Mini Mardi Gras
We received a reminder from family back home that Tuesday was Pounchki Day, otherwise known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. For us being in Hawaii this year, we just had to partake in the Hawaiian spin on this last day before Lent: Malassada Day. Malassadas are bakery cousins of the pounchki desserts we’re used to having home in Chicago, and we didn’t have to go far on Maui to find them.

After freshening up back at the resort from the day’s long travels, we made our way to the Cannery to visit Lulu’s for a light dinner and for our malassadas. We had stumbled upon Lulu’s the week before, and since it was so nearby to the Ka’anapali Resort area, it was just the spot. Good thing, too, because after dessert, we didn’t have much energy for much else. After two days of a ton of time in the car, it wasn’t long before we were passed out for the night.

After a day of treasure hunting, we rediscovered so much in the evening.

Welcome to the Hotel Hana-Maui
I’m picking up here where I left off in our last entry about our day driving along the Road to Hana. It was roughly 4pm at this point, and after being in the car for most of the day, we were ready to check-in and relax. As part of our trip planning this year, I mentioned that we had decided to stay overnight in Hana at the Hotel Hana-Maui. Not shortly after posting that, I received a lot of great feedback from folks on Twitter about the resort. I’m happy to report that it was pretty much all true.

While we had visited the Hotel Hana-Maui last year for lunch during our most recent visit to Hana, we didn’t get to walk around that much. We didn’t think it would be too hard to find considering Hana is such a small town, but we were surprised to see signs for the hotel scattered about here and there. What we discovered was that the hotel and its cottages actually occupies something like 60+ acres of land. That was pretty impressive, but it was really only the beginning.

After checking in, we were greeted by the concierge with two very beautiful and fragrant leis, juice, and warm, damp hand towels to, as he put it, “wash the road off our hands.” That was a such a really neat gesture. Next up was the bellhop that gave us a 15 minute tour of the grounds at the hotel before we made it to our cottage. He was very laid back and yet had so much great information about the history of the resort and the area around it. Everything down to the local kids playing basketball at the park next to the community center nearby.

The Cottage
Like all other resorts and accommodations on the islands, we were able to take advantage of one of the specials at the hotel and booked ourselves a nice Sea Ranch Cottage. While it wasn’t looking directly over the ocean like we had in Ka’anapali, I think you’d agree that the view from our patio area was still rather nice.

The cottage itself was equally amazing. Although lacking modern wizardry such as a television, cell phone reception, alarm clocks, and other gadgets we’ve all grown to rely on, to call these cottages luxurious would be an understatement. Rather than go into all the gorgeous amenities and try to describe in words (failing miserably), here are a few photos.

It was so peaceful. It truly was a shame we were only staying for the night, because we could have easily enjoyed 2-3 days there just unwinding and relaxing. Cindy, for one, would have jumped at the chance to check out the spa there, and even though I would have been completely disconnected from everything, I wouldn’t have had a thing to complain about.

Time For Dinner
After unpacking what we had brought with us for the night, we spent a little time just soaking up the tranquility. We were starting to get rather hungry, and freshened up for dinner. The dining room, where we had lunch last year, wasn’t open until 6pm. Since we were somewhat early, we were one of the first to be seated and were shown to a great table near on the outer patio area. It was only starting to get dark by now, and since we were in no hurry at all, we watched the skies turn from a fading blue to the dark, night sky.

Dinner was wonderful, and because our reservation included a generous dining credit, it ended up being on the house. I mentioned we were one of the first ones for dinner, and by the time we were all finished, the dining room was mostly full. It was a good thing we were early, because as we walked out, we felt really out of place with the hotel’s other guests. The price scale factor aside, there were a lot of retirees and older guests that had obviously grown accustomed to this type of luxury and lifestyle. That made us feel pretty out of place, but it didn’t bother us.

The After Dinner Stroll
Since the land for the hotel is so large and the cottages are rather generously spaced, we had a nice walk back to the cottage after dinner. It was a good thing I had mostly paid attention to the bellhop during our welcome tour because you could easily get lost there at night. You could tell it was “winter” because the air was still rather chilly. This being the second week of our trip, however, we were already prepared and had changed before dinner into something a little more warmer.

Being on this side of the island for the evening, I noticed the sky wasn’t clear enough to see too many stars as I had hoped. I’m not entirely sure if that’s the norm or if it was just cloudier than usual that day, but again it didn’t really matter. After about a ten minute stroll, we made it back to the cottage and didn’t spend too much more time outdoors. Earlier on, Cindy had spied the nice soaking tub in our cottage with all the bath salts and other compliments from the Honua Spa at the hotel. She certainly had to take advantage of that before calling it a night.

The Sun Rises In The East
One of the many things I was looking forward to with this visit to Hana was seeing the sunrise. That’s one thing you miss out on when you stay in West Maui, although those gorgeous sunsets aren’t too bad, either. Not having an alarm clock in the cottage might have posed a problem had it not been for the cell phone alarm. Even though I set Cindy’s phone to go off with enough time for me to gear up and head out, I still managed to wake up on my own 15 minutes before it went off. Go figure.

It was pretty dark out by the time I was packed and outside. Still too dark to really scout out a spot to catch the horizon, which I hoped to do the evening before had we had more time.  I parked myself over by the pool, which was still well lit, and did my best not to get too comfortable as to doze off and miss the whole thing. As it started to get a little lighter, I noticed that the pre-dawn sky was rather cloudy. When I headed over to find my spot for the sunrise, it wasn’t looking like the atmosphere was going to cooperate too much. 

Still, I was there for more than just photos, as it’s not every day I get to see the sunrise looking out over the ocean. Here’s the view I was enjoying that morning.

The entire experience was so heartwarming, and something I could certainly get used to
some day. As day broke and more of my surroundings started to become visible, I spotted a ranch worker farther out on the other side of the barb wire fence where I had been standing. He was tending to some of the horses, which I hadn’t really noticed until that point. Although we’ve never ridden horses (not counting early childhood), Cindy really likes horses. Had we spent a few days here in Hana, we no doubt would have been visiting the Hana Ranch on one of them.

Leaving So Soon
By the time I strolled back to the cottage, Cindy was already starting to get moving. Again, we didn’t have an alarm clock, yet our bodies still knew when to wake us up. That type of stuff doesn’t happen back home.

While she was getting ready for the day, I began packing and loading the car. There was still quite a bit we wanted to see passed Hana and then along the road back. Also, there had been talks over the weekend of another Maui Tweetup in Paia for later that afternoon.  I wasn’t sure if it was still on because I had no connectivity, but we still wanted to try. Since we were up early and had things to do, we skipped a full breakfast were back on the road before long.

Against the advice of that old Pop song by TLC, we set out to chase waterfalls.

An Early Start
Maybe not as early as our drive up to Haleakala a week earlier, 5:30am came a lot sooner than we typically prefer on a vacation. But, in order to be on the road by 7am and on our way to Hana before most everyone else, that’s what we had to do. To make it out the door early, we skipped breakfast in our room and stopped at Pauwela Cafe in Haiku along the way.

Many of the articles and reviews I read said to try Charley’s in Paia for breakfast, but we were happy with Pauwela. As far as TXT updates from my phone out to Twitter goes, the one from breakfast was the last one for the day. Where we were headed was far beyond the reach of area cell towers, and much more rewarding at that. This being our 3rd trip to Hana, and the first time driving it ourselves, we were headed off the beaten path and in for a very memorable day.

Being Our Own Guide
I have to admit, we learned a lot about the Road to Hana from the two previous guided tours we took in years passed. During those two tours, we hit all the popular places, including the Keanae Peninsula, Waianapanapa State Park, Wailua Falls, and the Oheo Gulch just to name a few. This time, it was about finding the things we hadn’t seen before, which was sort of the unofficial theme for the entire trip.

When it was time to be our own guide, we had a few options. There is the always popular Maui Revealed, of which we have both the 3rd and 4th editions. That, incidentally, was left at home.  There are also a few CD guides that pop right into the CD player of the rental car. That came highly recommended from our Maui friends on Saturday, but silly me forgot about it until 10pm Sunday night.

We ended up with going something more locally based, Maui – Mile by Mile, which was researched and written by folks on the island. It wasn’t until later that we realized there was a newer (and full color) version of the book from the same publisher, but it still served us well.

Hidden Treasure
Before we knew it, we were stopping at mile markers and crossing things off the list in the guidebook. Since we were staying overnight in Hana and skipping out on the larger sights we had already seen, there was little concern with taking our time, doing a little hiking, and watching the occasional car pass on by to the next stop ahead. There were so many great spots the guidebook led us to, I was lucky to have my GPS travel recorder with me to log all the spots we visited during the day.

Until I’m able to review those logs, though, a few of these treasures will have to remain nameless for now. Here are a few of the highlights, in pictorial form.

For not being big hikers prior to this trip, we were really having a blast exploring some of these trails and less beaten paths. It was about 11:30am when we made it to the well known Halfway to Hana stand.

With only a light breakfast in Haiku and some cereal bars to munch on along the way, it was time to break out the deli sandwiches we packed and start our picnic. Of course, we had to grab a loaf of the freshly baked banana bread they sell at the stand here, which was still warm, too. Yum!

Back On The Road
We must have still been making good time despite all the stops, because while we were eating, we didn’t see as many cars passing by as I thought we would have. After satisfying our appetites with lunch, it was back on the road and more treasure hunting. The second half of the drive to Hana wasn’t as enticing to us as the first 17 miles (at least this year), so we actually made it to Hana ahead of schedule.

We made a stop off at Hana Beach in order to stretch our legs, and for me to walk around and get some photos. Check-in at the Hotel Hana-Maui wasn’t until 4pm that afternoon, and by now it was only a little after 2pm. That gave us quite a bit of time to play with before we thought about settling in and getting ready for a nice, quiet dinner.

Seeing that Hana isn’t exactly a large town, the hotel was easy enough to find. We kept driving, though, and made a stop at the Hasegawa General Store. Now, we had been there in the past, but only for one of those off-the-bus-on-the-bus visits. Having time to actually spend there, it was quite a neat little store with a stark range of products for such a remote shop.

A Few More Sights
Still not time to check-in yet, we kept on driving and made a few more stops. Next up was the amazing Hamoa Beach. I like to think we’ve seen some very, very nice beaches on the island of Maui, but after spending some time walking around and taking in the mana at Hamoa Beach, I had to step back and reevaluate most of the others on a slightly different scale.

After our time at Hamoa Beach, it was another visit with our old friend, Wailua Falls (and the talking Elvis Firebird, for those in the know). Most people know of Wailua Falls as seen from the bridge, but you really have to climb down the rocks and to the pool below to really get a sense of just how amazing (and tall) this waterfall truly is.

One of the things I learned pretty quickly last year was while you can admire the magnificent size of this waterfall in person, it’s nearly impossible to capture the entire scene in a single photo from down on the rocks. Not letting that discourage me, I did focus on various parts of the falls in segments, and of the shots I’ve gone through so far, this is one of the better results.

It didn’t take very long before I had a small gathering of folks down on the rocks with me, so I started making my way back up to let others have their turn. Our last few stops did the trick to compensate for being ahead of schedule, and it was time to head back to the hotel in Hana.

Our Home For The Night
Choosing to stay at the incredible Hotel H
ana-Maui as part of this overnight trip in Hana was truly beyond compare. Even after a full day of amazing experiences, the night was still relatively young as they say, and more magic was awaiting us. Rather than continue this particular journal entry any further, the next one will pick up the evening from here.

The second week of our trip and we finally make it to the beach!

Awake Before Dawn
Sunday was another early start for me, and this time, I was attempting to do more than just catching up on my journal entries. My goal was to put together another time lapse sequence like I did last year. While the one last year was of the sunset, this year’s goal was to capture daybreak in action.

You might think it’d make sense to try and shoot the sunrise as a time lapse. Well, the problem with that, in my situation anyway, is that we were staying in West Maui and the sun rises in the east. I could have tried to get a shot of the sun breaking over the West Maui mountains, but I couldn’t find a good place to set that up and it’s also hit or miss because of the makua clouds, too. Besides, the best place to shoot the sunrise as a time lapse would be from Haleakala, as one of my fellow bloggers demonstrated last month.

The only real oversight I came across was trying to nail down the manual focus and leveling the horizon with the tripod in almost pure darkness. Note to self for future attempts, set those two settings the night before or sleep in a little later. I ended up with 3 different sequences of photos, mainly because I couldn’t find a set of exposure settings that would cover the span of dark to light very well. I’ll share the results here once I get time to process them into video clips.

The Laundry
Perhaps one of the few downsides to a two week vacation, you either have to pack two weeks worth of clothes (no way) or do laundry. We’ve always made a tradition out of doing laundry on vacation (future topic for our Travel Traditions), but this year was a little different than in the past.

Previously, we’d save the laundry for the weekend (no change there) and we’d be able to do it right there at the resort. The Sheraton didn’t have a large laundry facility, but it was enough to get the job done. Cindy would spend the time down by the pool while I hung around the machines and switched the loads, hammering away at something or other on the laptop. All was good.

As it turns out, part of the spa renovation at the Sheraton Maui Resort this winter replaced where the laundry facilities used to be. Bummer. So we had to pack things up and head to the laundromat. We found one in Kahana not too far north, and while we still finished in about the same about of time, Cindy missed out on her pool time. No biggie as today was our beach day anyway.

Going South
Just like last year’s beach hopping, we were headed down to South Maui to do some exploring and finding new stretches of sand to visit (another one of our traditions). We had gotten a later start on the laundry than we had hoped, which sort of threw off our other plans for the day. For example, we didn’t make it to lunch until almost 2pm, which should have been the 2nd hour of our beach and sun time.

Anyway, we ended up at another great local place for lunch, Da Kitchen Express in Kihei. Just like the deli tip from the night before, this one came in from another one of my Maui Twitter friends, and he was right on (no surprise there). Shortly after finishing our plate lunches, we hadn’t far to go for our first beach of the day, Kama’ole Beach II.

Kama’ole Beach II

Kama’ole Beach II is one of 3 different beaches in Kihei that make up the Kama’ole Beach trifecta. We visited Kama’ole Beach I last year, and found beach II to be even better. If memory serves, beach II is just a little smaller than its predecessor, yet we found it was much less crowded. There wasn’t an abundance of parking, but we managed to find a spot nearby on S. Kihei Rd. If there’s one thing I hate more than driving over-sized rental cars on vacation, it’s trying to parallel park them.

Our beach hopping is usually comprised of about 60-90 minutes at each beach, and consists of Cindy getting her towel, water, and book all setup in the sand while I wander off and take a crazy amount of photos. Almost on cue, we were packing things up again after about an hour or so and we were movin’ on. Next up, Ulua Beach.

Ulua Beach

Up until last year, the majority of the beaches we visited were popular spots in West Maui. But after we found Maluaka Beach in Makena, we fell in love with these tiny little crescent treasures. Ulua Beach was just the ticket this year. Located in Wailea and one of at least four beaches along the Wailea boardwalk (also a first for us this year), Ulua had all the charm for us as Maluaka did last year. The skies were perfect, the sun was still pretty nice for later in the afternoon, and I had more than enough places to walk, climb, and photograph. So nice.

By now, we had pretty much lost all track of time. Next up on our beach hoping list, the popular Wailea Beach.

Wailea Beach

This beauty was one of those nice, long stretches of sand that you can also find at Ka’anapali Beach or Big Beach. And while we love the charm of the small, hidden beaches like Ulua and Maluaka, the shutterbug in me simply can’t pass up the opportunity to spend hours strolling up and down the bigger beaches on Maui, filling up my memory card faster than a visitor piling on the poi at their first luau.

Although we were pretty unaware of the time at this point, it was late enough in the afternoon where the sun wasn’t going to be burning us very fast. By now, a fairly brisk wind was picking up, which sort of spoiled Cindy’s chance for stretching out and enjoying the sun here, but it didn’t stop me from snapping a bunch of photos.

It was our first time visiting Wailea Beach, and the first time I really got to see just how huge the Grand Wailea was, other than driving passed it on the way to the Shops at Wailea. From the beach, you can see the towering buildings (which we were able to see from our helicopter tour), the chapel they have on the grounds of the resort, and the giant cabanas they have facing the ocean. It was pretty impressive to say
the least.

On the Boardwalk
During our tweetup the day before, one of our new Maui friends had mentioned the Wailea Boardwalk that was down where we ended up Sunday evening. While it wasn’t part of our original plans for the day, we found ourselves checking it out shortly before the sunset. Boy, that sure was nice. Not only did we see a few whales having fun away from all the boats that stalk them in West Maui, some of the houses and views along the walkway were breathtaking.

Had it not been so late and already into the evening, we probably would have walked the entire path. Something certainly to save for the next trip, for sure. We did stick around for the sunset, which, as you’d expect, was just as spectacular as some of the homes we were standing next to.

Where Did The Time Go?
Crap, it was 6:30pm already? This is where getting that late start on the laundry I mentioned earlier really came back to bite us. You see, the day before at our tweetup, Liza had extended an invitation to Cindy and I to stop by her place Sunday evening. I had gotten to know Liza and her ohana online via Twitter (@AMauiBlog) and her blog, A Maui Blog, and we were very excited to say Aloha to all of them in real life.

It’s always a big deal when a local resident on the islands invites you to their home, and needless to say, we were really, really bummed that we had to take a rain check. Had we not gotten the late start on the laundry that morning, we would have already been packed for our Hana trip the next morning, done with our beach hopping 2 hours earlier, and toasting the sunset with Liza and her family. Mahalo, Liza, for the invitation and for accepting our rain check at the last minute. I promise we’ll make time for a visit on our next trip!

The Mad Dash
So there we were, all the way down in Wailea just before 7pm and we were leaving for Hana in less than 12 hours. While we actually made good time driving back up to Lahaina, the evening was far from over. We made a stop at Barnes and Noble at the Lahaina Gateway to grab a guidebook for our Hana trip, and then Safeway for a few groceries and things to pack for a picnic lunch on Monday. It wasn’t until 8:45pm when we finally made it back to our room, and we still had to pack! We didn’t even have time to eat dinner, either.

When it was all said and done, after packing for our overnight in Hana and all my techie preparations (camera batteries, memory cards, etc.) it wasn’t lights out for us until after 10pm. That 5:30am alarm for a 7am start to Hana sure was approaching fast.