Fun and Sun in Maui

Dear Family,friends and followers,

 
We would like to share some of our adventures on the island of Maui. We arrived February 5th, around noon, got our rental car and were on our way, we first got supplies at the local health food store, and then drove to the Maui Nature center to learn about some of the plants and birds that we would see during our visit. A short drive up the road was the Ioa Needle State Park. We walked  up to vista points and crawled through the railing to hike along a trail we saw described in one of the secrets of Maui books. The weather warm, the air was clean and we were ready for whatever we might encounter over the next 10 days.
We headed towards the town of Haiku, where our couchsurfing hosts had a small separate apartment for us to stay. They had been out in their yard prepping for a big Super Bowl party, and invited us to join them with thieir friends for the game and a bon fire afterwards. However, we already had an invitiation with Ashland friends David and Elyse, who were staying on another part of the island about a half hour away. So, Sunday morning we got up early and hit a few sights towards the western beaches, we went bird watching along a boardwalk in a marsh preserve, checked out beaches for swimming and snorkeling later in the week. We had a wonderful time enjoying the Super Bowl with our friends, and afterward went for a sunset walk on a boardwalk along the ocean in front of several large resorts. We checked out fancy pools with tunnels and bridges, and the beautiful little wedding chapel overlooking the ocean, enjoying the live music and sculptures in the resorts.
These are are great days, warm throughout the night. It is truly T-shirt and shorts weather and  no need for sweaters in the evening.
Monday, we circled the northwest portion of the island. We swam along beaches near Black rock and decided we would come back for snorkeling. We stopped at many special spots we were told we should check out by the locals and friends who have been to Maui. Some of the highlights were a blowhole that shoots water up hundreds of feet in the air when the waves come crashing in, and the Olivine pools which are beautiful tide pools on a ledge above the ocean. Perfect for swimming. We had our first experience with papaya and passion fruit at a fruit stand, and ate lunch on a cliff over looking the beautiful expanse of blue and green water before us. Another day was spent travelling up the moutain to Haleakala National Park, an extinct volcantic crater, at 10,000 ft. We did several short hikes from there. We spent a couple of days swimming different beaches and snorkeling from one great spot to the next. This was the first time Rick had ever snorkeled , and my second so it was a wonderful experience, especially in the warm water and sunny weather. The fish and the coral were fantastic.

Another day, we went out on a boat to see the Humpback whales. At one point we had momma and baby whales surrounding the boat on all sides, and watched them breach and jump completely from the water.

We spent several days driving along the road to Hana, which is a famous one lane, winding road that goes down the eastern coastline and wraps around the southern shore. We camped one of the nights and had a YMCA cabin to ourselves , overlooking beautiful grounds and the ocean. We stopped at the Garden of Eden, which is truly that place. Alan Bradbury, an incredible arborist, artist and musician, bought 26 acres that he turned in to trails , so people could walk through a tropical rainforest and identify over 600 plants. We saw cashew trees, several other nut and flowering trees I never knew existed., amongst many other varieties . We spent several hours here wandering the trails, and saw a waterfall and ocean views that was filmed for the movie  "Jurrasic Park." There were many other spots along the  Hana highway; lily ponds, red sand beaches, waterfalls, bamboo forests and small villages amongst lush tropical vegetation. A real highlight was our hike to the Infinity pool overhanging the cliffs above the ocean, high above an area called the 7 sacred pools. We swam in these pools, tiered one above another spilling over to other waterfalls. Rick also swam in a cave with fresh water where he would disappear from my sight but still be above water in a cave with beautiful rocks.

We have now moved to the big island of Hawaii  and will send another blog  to chronicle those activities and adventures.     ALOHA!