Tuesday Summary
Tuesday was coined our beach hopping day as we visited three new beaches that we hadn't been to during our past trips. We typically try to visit new beaches each year, but never three in one day. All that sunshine and fresh air sure made for a good night sleep. Especially since our Tours of the Stars was canceled for the second time this trip.

Monday's free time led to a little reading and research on which beaches we might was to visit the last few days of our trip. After a little planning and buy-in from everyone on a full day of beach hopping, we were ready to go. After a big breakfast, of course.

So we were off, stopping at Kama'ole Beach Park I shortly after noon. Being the peak of the sun that day, the sand was nice and hot and the clouds stayed a way for a good part of our visit there. It seemed like a nice beach, with relatively gentle waves and enough room for quite a number of couples and groups enjoying a beautiful Maui afternoon.

Next stop was a smaller and more secluded Mala'uka Beach, further south towards Wailea. With the help of our maps and the trusty GPS on my PDA, we found the parking and shoreline access after on our second attempt (they're not next to each other) and found ourselves with quite a bit of sand to ourselves. Going off of memory, it seemed like Mala'uka Beach was just a tad smaller than Kapalua Beach which we visited last year. This was far less crowded, though, and it had a nice feel to it as well.

Unfortunately, the sun didn't follow us the way south to the Wailea and Makena area, so the clouds took up much of the sky. There were a few breaks here and there that helped Cindy enjoy her time on the beach more, but I was regulary adjusting my camera for the overcast and waiting to take some shots in between the cloud cover.

Last stop for the day was Big Beach at Makena State Park. And when they say "big", they mean it. We parked in the first lot and once we walked down to the sand and looked to our left, wow. According to the guidebooks, it's about 2/3 mile long, and since I just have to take pictures, I ended up walking all the way to the end and back. Its a lovely beach with a loooooot of room to spread out, just because of it's size. I think parking is more of a worry than finding a spot on the beach.

All told, we covered all three beaches in about 4 hours, and it was time to make the way back. We did have to stop for ice cream on the way back to Lahaina, of course, since we were in the warm sun (er, clouds) all day. On the way back, we also stopped at Safeway again to pick up sandwiches for dinner and ate on the lanai again. We had our second attempt at the Tour of the Stars reserved for 8pm again, but sure enough it was canceled again.

Itinerary - Tuesday, April 22nd

• Breakfast buffet at the Sheraton
• Kama'ole Beach Park I in Kihei
• Mala'uka Beach in South Maui
• Big Beach at Makena State Park
• Deli sandwiches on the lanai for dinner
• Time Lapse of the sunset
• Tour of the Stars, 2nd Attempt, CANCELED

Tuesday Timeline

11:07 AM HST

Heading down to South Maui to go beach hopping

After a big breakfast, we packed our beach gear, camera gear, maps, guidebooks, GPS on my PDA and we were good to go. Traffic wasn't that great, but it never really is anyway.

12:18 PM HST

Stopped off at Kama'ole I

Our first stop for the day. The sand was nice and hot since the sun was shining here most of the morning. This was actually one of three different beach parks that make of Kama'ole, so we could have tallied our three beaches all in a relatively short distance, but what fun would that have been?

2:47 PM HST

Finishing photos at Mala'uka Beach, wishing there were less clouds

Getting to Mala'uka Beach was a bit of an adventure (as we call it), but we ultimately found it. You end up driving down these small, tree covered roads hoping your GPS signal stays connected and looking at the beautiful houses and properties that might not have a full ocean front view, but look so peaceful and serene.

The beach itself probably had less than 60 people on it, so we had plenty of choices as to where we wanted to sit. Like Kapalua Beach, there was a little walking path at the end of one of the beaches where I went off to take more photos. I guess while I was off doing that, Cindy and mom spotted a way nearby that actually breached above the water and they said you could actually "feel" the splash it made as it re-entered the water. And I missed it.

3:51 PM HST

Just walked the entire length of Big Beach. Now I have to walk back *sigh*

Next time, I'm bringing my iPod when I go to take photos at Big Beach. The walking didn't bother me so much, it was more of my toes getting tired of walking in the sand without shoes on for three hours. It is a really impresssive beach when it comes to size, and the maps and satellite views don't really do it justice. If you've been to this beach and seen it for yourself, you know what I mean.

4:13 PM HST

Okay, made it back. We're done with the beaches for today.

So, walking back took about 25 minutes, which wasn't too bad since I didn't stop and take that many photos coming back. Walking out there the first time took a little longer.

4:13 PM HST

Getting ready for the long drive back to the resort.

I liken this to riding your bike on one of the long bike trails. You go so far and you're like "wow, we went pretty far." Now, when you have to turn around and go back the way you came, it feels a little daunting.

4:40 PM HST

Stopping for some ice cream

We found a Baskin' Robbins that we passed just after Kama'ole Beach Park I, so we made sure to stop by on the way back.

6:12 PM HST

Back at the room (after stopping at Safeway)

We picked up deli sandwiches again at Safeway and brought them back to the room. I'm surprised we didn't eat dinner on the lanai more often, it is just so nice.

6:41 PM HST

Trying to do a time lapse of the sunset from our lanai

Since we were always out and about on most evenings, this was a great chance for me to try out my setup for a time lapse of the sunset. I have cables and software that came with my Canon and hooked them up to my Dell laptop. Set the timer to shoot every 20 seconds and it came out pretty nice.

Here's the link to the video on Flickr: Maui Sunset Time Lapse

7:12 PM HST

Sitting on the lanai after the sunset.

After all the photos for the time lapse were taken, which not sit back and enjoy the evening sky, right?

7:13 PM HST

Also, watching the clouds and expecting the Star Tour to be canceled any moment now

The clouds made a nice effect in my time lapse and luckily stayed away from most of the sunset itself. The star tour, unfortunately, wasn't going to fair as well.

7:32 PM HST

Yup, Tour of the Stars canceled again. We'll try again next year.

And it didn't. Luckily, we hadn't left for the Hyatt yet by the time they called us.

8:23 PM HST

Uploaded my time lapse to Flickr. Transferring a few photos to blog with on today's beach hopping

I was able to get my time lapse uploaded relatively quickly to Flickr, mostly because the final file wasn't so big. There was a group of people upset with Flickr when they started hosting videos like YouTube, but I think for small little clips like this, especially time lapse shots, it adds a nice touch.

9:22 PM HST

Finished blogging (finally).

Adding the particulars of each beach we stopped at today took more time than the other posts, which is okay. At this point, it may start sounding like blogging on vacation felt more like a chore, but it really wasn't.

Related Links

• Blog Post - Beach Hopping in South Maui
• Blog Post - Time Lapse - Maui Sunset
• Flickr - Maui Sunset Time Lapse
• Photos - Kama'ole Beach Park I
• Photos - Malu'aka Beach
• Photos - Big Beach @ Makena State Park