Yesterday, May 19, was our first full day on Maui! We took a few hours in the morning to settle in, and then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the beach and exploring our side of the island!
We spent a few hours swimming around on Fleming Beach before moving on to see what else was in the area. We met some chickens, took in the scenery, and even stopped for smoothies. Here are some pictures from throughout the day:
I’m pretty sure that’s Becky’s knee on the right …
I don’t know what this tree is actually called, but I call it a spaghetti tree
As I publish this, we’re sitting in the Maui airport waiting for our flight home. This was a fairly eventful trip! We went ziplining, snorkeling, attended a luau, watched the sunset from a volcano, and even toured a pineapple plantation. We also went to a different beach every day. But there was still plenty that we didn’t have time for, like the popular Road to Hana highway.
One thing that I noticed early on is that the roosters started crowing around 5am every morning. I ended up getting out of bed shortly after, but it meant I was going to sleep at 9pm every night to make up for it. Keep this in mind if you ever decide to visit Maui.
The most difficult part of this trip is going home, and not just because we’re leaving a tropical island paradise. I somehow misbooked my flight home for yesterday instead of today. It would have left while we were at the pineapple tour, but I didn’t realize my mistake until last night when I tried checking in. I managed to get a seat on the flights I intended, but last-minute airline tickets cost a lot of money! I guess I should just be relieved that I get to go home.
I hope you all have enjoyed reading my daily vacation blog entries. They were a lot of fun to put together, and it was sometimes difficult to choose the best photos from throughout the day. I especially hope that me a few months from now finds these posts useful, once all the details of this trip start blurring together.
We started today with a tour of the Maui Gold Pineapple plantation. We got to see pineapples at varying stages of development, including fields that had just been planted a few months ago. Fairly early into the tour we stopped for a pineapple sampling, and our tour guide used his machete to pick, peel, and cut up pineapples for all of us to try. They were much better than the pineapples you can get in the store, and everybody on the tour got a free pineapple to take home.
After lunch we looked around the Makai Glass glass blowing studio. An artist there had just started making a glass humpback whale, so we watched him work for a few minutes.
The distillery tour was next. We saw a small facility where Maui Gold pineapples get turned into various rums, vodkas, and other spirits and shipped to a few places back on the mainland. There was a tasting session at the end, where I tried several of their products. The pineapple orange guava flavored vodka was my favorite!
We finished off the day by snorkeling and swimming at Polo Beach, right next to the hotel where our luau was Monday night.
Here are pictures from throughout the day:
The beginnings of a pineapple stalk growing
Pineapples at various stages of development
This pineapple field was just planted a few months ago
Workers harvesting pineapples
I ate a pineapple peeled with a machete today
Photo op with props!
Pineapples getting rinsed before sorting and boxing
A glass turtle with built-in light
A live glass blowing demonstration. The artist is making a glass humpback whale
Another morning spent at the beach, only this time we brought snorkel gear that we rented. We spent half our time there snorkeling before heading back for lunch.
After lunch we drove to the Haleakalā Volcano, home of both the Haleakalā Observatory and the Haleakalā silversword. We reached the summit about 20 minutes before sunset, so our timing was just about perfect. Watching the sunset from 10,000 feet was AMAZING, and I wish we had stayed a bit longer to see the stars.
Here are some photos from the day:
Panorama of Kamole Beach Park 3, where we spent our morning snorkeling.
The view from close to the summit of Haleakalā volcano
The Haleakalā silversword plant
Haleakalā observatory, which was apparently off-limits to tourists
We started today with a Segway tour of Lahaina. After a short tutorial on how to ride a Segway, our tour guide took us all over the town! Our first stop was at the Lahaina Jodo Mission, a Buddhist temple home to one of the largest Buddha statues outside of Asia. We continued past the historic district and stopped at the Great Banyan Tree for a photo before returning our Segways.
After lunch, we went to Maui’s Big Beach for the rest of the afternoon. This beach has some powerful waves that are great for bodysurfing, if you don’t mind getting tumbled around a bit.
Today’s photos are mostly from the Segway tour, but there are a few of Big Beach at the end:
The three of us on our Segways in front of the Jodo Mission
This bell at the Jodo Mission is rung 11 times at 8PM
Inside view of the Buddhist Temple
The Jodo Mission Pagoda
Us in front of the Giant Buddah Statue
The U.S. Seamen’s Hospital in the Hisoric District
Shaka!
On our Segways in front of the Great Banyan Tree
All of this is a single tree with many root systems
In front of the Sugar Cane Train at the end of our tour
An Old Hawaiian Flag, originally designed in 1812
Maui’s Big Beach
A panorama of Big Beach. You can climb over those rocks on the right to reach the nude beach …
We hit the beach first thing in the morning again today, only this time we rented paddle boards! We played with those all morning, until the wind started picking up and a slight rain started. Then we went in for lunch.
We dropped my brother off at the airport after lunch, since he has to go back to work tomorrow. We intended to do a few outdoorsy things afterwards, but it was raining on and off at this point so we spent the afternoon at the Maui Ocean Center Aquarium instead. They had several of the fish that we saw while snorkeling the other day, but they also had an entire exhibit dedicated to whales, dolphins, and other sea mammals. They didn’t have any living mammals, however, due to a ban passed in 2002.
As always, here are a few photos from throughout the day:
We didn’t have anything planned for this morning, so I let myself sleep in … until 5:30. I’m still waking up with the sun, even when I’m on vacation. We spent the morning swimming at a couple of beaches that had been recommended to us. Then we got ready for today’s main event: the Grand Luau at Honua’ula.
The luau started with a Hawaiian imu ceremony, where a whole pig was unearthed from the ground. Afterwards, we enjoyed a feast with several traditional Hawaiian dishes. The luau concluded with a live performance detailing the history and myths of the Hawaiian islands.
It’s a good thing we haven’t adjusted to the Hawaii timezone yet, because today we got up early to go snorkeling! We went on a tour guided by the Pacific Whale Foundation, an organization dedicated to saving endangered species of whales from extinction. Our first stop was at Molokini, a volcanic crater formed around 230,000 years ago. We snorkeled for about an hour and then moved on to Maluaka Beach, nicknamed turtle town due to the large number of green sea turtles found there. After another hour of snorkeling, they fed us lunch and then returned to Maui. By the time we got back to our timeshare we were exhausted from a morning full of snorkeling!
The rest of the day was more relaxing. We hung out by the beach, grilled kabobs, and watched the sunset.
Here are some photos taken during the day, mostly taken with an underwater camera that I rented:
Maalaea Harbor, as seen from the boat.
Molokini, a crescent shaped volcanic crater.
My Mom on the boat on our way to Molokini
Fish!
More fish!
A red sea urchin
Some of the fish get really close!
Obligatory underwater photo
Boo!
Just Kevin swimming on by…
Frigatebirds circling the crater. They don’t live here, but they eat things that do!
I’m in Hawaii this week for a family vacation! We flew in late last night, and checked into a hotel near the airport to get some sleep. Today we moved on to the timeshare unit we’re staying in for the rest of the week.
We had a bit of time to wander around the hotel grounds this morning before checking out and driving to Paia to pick up my brother. Then we went up into the mountains for zip-lining shortly after lunch!
