Maui
Our first day – Monday – was pretty much a big blur because of the time difference. By the time we arrived at our hotel, we had been awake for about 19 hours, and it was only 4:00 p.m.! The drive from the airport to the Ka’anapali beach resort area was spectacular! We had no idea what to expect when we hopped in our convertible and started to head away from the airport, so when we got to the coast and caught our first glimpse of the ever-changing Pacific waters – at the bottom of the cliff we were driving on! – we were in awe.
Tuesday morning, we were too exhausted to do much other than hang out on the beach. Ka’anapali beach is really spectacular. This is the beach that is most often voted the most beautiful in the U.S. and is always in the top ten beaches in the world. The thing that struck us about the Pacific is that it changes on a dime. One minute, it’s calm and soothing, and literally a minute later, it’s rough with very high swells and a strong, strong rip tide. This probably explains the groups of surfers hanging out in the water every where you look. At first glance, it appears that they’re just sitting on their boards for no reason, but they’re most likely just waiting for the sea to change, as it inevitably will.
Wednesday was the big sunrise bike trip down Haleakala, an inactive volcano that last erupted in 1790. As promised, the tour guide picked us (and 10 other people) up at 2:30 in the morning and we began the long drive up the crater. It was about 30 degrees cooler up there than down by the beach, and we were freezing! The sunrise made up for it, however. We then got on the bikes and began our 38-mile trek down the narrow road – with no guardrails! The ride was unforgettable. We traveled through 7 (out of 9 on this planet) ecosystems as we descended. The top of the crater is barren and rocky – lots of lava rock and hardened magma, but as we got further and further down, we went from prairie to tropics to seacoast and all the others in between. Unfortunately, one of the other participants in the tour had an accident and went over the side of the crater at the very beginning of the ride; fortunately for her, she escaped with only a broken collarbone.
Thursday we took the fascinating drive to Hana along the Hana "highway," which is a total misnomer if there ever was one as the road is not even big enough for 2 cars to fit side by side in some spots! The views we saw on this drive were stunning – from the views of the sea atop sheer cliffs to the lush tropical foliage and the road itself which has hundreds of hairpin turns and one-lane bridges.
After that drive – which totaled 6 hours round trip – we decided we needed several of Hawaii’s famous Mai Tais. So, we parked ourselves in one of the beachfront bars and hung out and watched the sunset. We asked the very talented gentleman who was the nightly entertainment to play a song for us honeymooners and he chose a lovely ballad titled "Aloha, I Love You." Very apt, we agreed, as we said "mahalo," which means "thank you" in Hawaiian. Despite the efforts of the early missionary and other European settlers here to suppress it, the Hawaiian culture and language is very strong here.
Friday morning we joined the staff of the Pacific Whale Foundation, a non-profit research and conservation group here on Maui, for a snorkeling trip to the island of Lanai. Bill Gates made this island famous in the 80s when he rented practically the whole place out for his wedding. It’s another lovely island with only 2 major resorts – and great snorkeling areas. On our way to Lanai, we came upon a pod of spinner dolphins, which surrounded our boat and played with us for 20 minutes. There were about 100 of them! Many of them jumped out of the water and spun around (hence the name) on average 7 times before hitting the water again. We continued on to our snorkeling destination – a protected little cove on Lanai’s south shore. The marine life was stunning! Parrot fish, Moray eels, trumpet fish – all colors and stripes of local fish. The only blight on the day came when a fellow passenger got seasick – all over Sam’s shoes! I thought this might encourage him to not leave them lying around all the time, but instead he just saw it as a reason to buy new ones… He must inherit that shoe fetish thing from his father.
We ended our stay in Maui last evening with a luau titled "Drums of the Pacific." Lots of food, lots of scantily clad Hawaiian men and women (grass skirts, coconuts, loin cloths, and fire sticks – wonderful!), and again, lots of Mai Tais!
We are now on our way to Kauai, where we’ll write more. As we travel around, we are following the devastation Katrina wrought on the Gulf Coast and feel humbled and thankful that our families and friends are all safe and sound.