Rays of delight

Three days of great snorkeling. Sunday morning we went to ‘the Fishbowl’ for a second visit. There’s a south surge coming and there was more water in the cove than we usually see. Just as we arrived, a couple were exiting the water so we had the fish all to ourselves for the next hour. As we were hiking out, it rained (what a surprise!). The lava gets a little slippery when wet.
Monday morning we went back to Kahekili. There’s lots of coral here and it feels like you can keep going and going. Afterwards, we walked the beach–an uninterrupted stretch of golden sand which took us 1 ½ hours round trip. We ate lunch at the park and caught some more sun. The wind picked up in the afternoon so we left early. Unlike South Maui, where the afternoon trades blow onshore, the winds in the Ka’anapali area are offshore.
With time on our hands, we decided to drive around the West Maui mountains. It’s a great drive with the road squeezed between the mountains and the ocean–lots of curves and switchback turns and terrific views. There are even eight miles of one-lane road where you constantly have to be prepared to yield to oncoming traffic. My reward for staying on the pavement and avoiding all the fallen rocks (and other cars) was another shave ice–pineapple this time.
This morning, we went to Ahihi II. A five-minute walk from the parking lot takes you to a rocky beach. We’ve avoided this spot in the past (not sure why–not impressed years ago) but it’s suddenly jumped to our list of favorites. There was just enough of a black sand beach to make for an easy entry. We went to our right and found lots of great coral and large fish. We went to our left and found more coral, more fish and a turtle. Just as we had decided to head back to shore, we came upon three spotted eagle rays swimming in formation. Usually, we catch a brief glimpse of a ray but can’t keep up with their movement. These three were doing circuits around a racetrack–I guess they were hunting food. We watched them for about five minutes. Magical. These creatures move so gracefully.

In the house of the rising sun (and rising wind)

Thursday morning dawned bright and clear with not a cloud to spoil the view of Haleakala so we decided to drive to the summit. We’ve already done the dawn thing a couple of times so no need to freeze out okoles off this time. We’ll wait until 8:30 to leave and take advantage of the sun’s heat. It’s only about forty miles from our condo (mostly uphill with numerous switchbacks) so we arrived at the summit (10023 feet elevation) shortly after 10. The views were great. About twenty minutes after we arrived, the clouds started to roll in and, within ten minutes, we were engulfed. It was like watching the fog creep in over the South Side Hills.
We ate lunch at the park campground where we had a Hawaiian honey-creeper for company. After lunch, we decided to try to drive to Alelele Falls but no go. Last year, there was a strong (7.2) earthquake on the Big Island and it caused landslides on Maui and closed the road. They’re still working on it. Alelele Falls sits in the middle of the area which has been closed to the public. Apparently, the geologists have flown over the area and feel there are many more rocks ready to come tumbling down. Doreen was okay while the road meandered along the coast but she balked when the road snaked between some deep cuts and we’re looking up at some (maybe unstable) boulders. So, we retreated to the Maui Winery and sampled their wares.
This is definitely not the best time to visit the Hawaiian Islands. The weather people keep talking about ‘light trades’ in the 10-20 range. I’m not sure I buy ‘light’ when, while hiking back from the Fishbowl or the Aquarium, the wind is almost enough to blow you off the trail. Or, when, after dinner, you take your mug of tea to the balcony, put the mug down on the table, and watch the wind create white caps in your mug. You definitely need to start your day early because the morning hours are the best for wind and water visibility. The wind picks up shortly after noon and doesn’t die down again until about eight. Incidentally, the other side of the island is the ‘windy side’ where all the kite surfers congregate.
We were surprised last night when we went to the luau at the Wailea Marriott and found the wind much lighter than here in Kihei. Maybe we were just lucky. When we walked the beaches there this afternoon, it was as windy as elsewhere. The luau was a nice affair (not quite the rave we’d been told). The food was excellent, the drinks mediocre. The show was long on dramatics and pageantry but short on dancing (there was even a little Cirque de Soleil for some reason). The Samoan fire dance finale was spectacular. We had an interesting chat with the performer afterwards. Turns out he grew up in Auckland, New Zealand and only moved back to Samoa a few years ago when his mother died and wanted to be buried in her homeland. Also, he had spent five years in Edmonton after he went there to perform at the Commonwealth Games in 1978 (?).

Life's a beach (or two or three)

Monday was a beach day. We drove to Makena and walked the Big Beach, then climbed over the hill and checked out the Little Beach. What a great way to get some rays. Big Beach is still one of the world’s best beaches. Little Beach was bigger than I remembered and the trail was easier. Probably because more people have been using it since the ‘blue book’ became popular.
Tuesday we decided to try Honolua Bay, one of our favorite snorkel spots and one of the places we’ve had the good fortune to swim with a pod of dolphins (coincidence–I think not). The first misgiving came when we reached the stream on the short hike in to the beach. In the past, we’ve just skipped across the rocks without even getting our feet wet. But it had rained in West Maui overnight and we waded across in knee-deep water. We snorkeled on the right of the bay and found a lot of deterioration in the coral. As the morning went on, the river kept bringing mud and debris into the bay and the visibility got worse. We left early and had lunch at D. T. Fleming (still didn’t find Bonnie’s watch).
In the afternoon, we stopped at Kahekili and enjoyed a second snorkel. Lots of coral and fish, a great beach with easy entry/exit, showers and washrooms and a grassy lawn for sunning. This has always been one of our favorite spots on Maui but, for some reason, we usually seem to end up here only in the afternoon. We’ll be coming back–in the morning.
Wednesday, we hiked out to ‘the Aquarium’. It’s another 25-30 minute trek across the lava but the trail isn’t as well marked as the one to ‘the Fishbowl’ so, as we scrubbed rust off memories of past visits, the trip out took almost 50 minutes. At least, we didn’t get blown away by the on-shore winds. The snorkeling was great. Lots of fish, including many large groupers. The highlight for me was a five minute encounter with a large moray eel. He just kept swimming from rock to rock and didn’t go to ground for long stretches. Usually, we see eels sticking their heads out of rock crevasses but this trip we seem to be specializing in swimmers. We’re not complaining.

The joys of modern communications

Before we left home, I went online and created a Google mail account and used that to set up a blog at Blogspot. Big plans to post musings about our experiences and share a few photos during the trip instead of just posting our travel pictures after we returned home. I knew I was taking my laptop for which I had a wireless card and my U3 stick which allowed me access to my web browser and my e-mail program.
‘Gang aft aglay’ as Robbie Burns might say. The first setback occurred when I discovered that I could arrange temporary service on the dial-up level but not high-speed or wireless. But, the condo manager told me that there seemed to be a ‘hot spot’ near the pool and I might be able to use that. So, that night, I set up on the only table near the pool, found the available network and was able to get online. Only one problem, there’s no light and I can’t see the keyboard. Talk about ‘hunt-and-peck’.
The next night I set up in a different spot near the barbeques (where there are lights). This time I found three networks but they’re all encrypted so I don’t get online. Back to the pool, this time with a flashlight. Now, my wireless card can’t find any available networks.
Time to spend some money. I troop to an Internet café and buy some time. I boot up the laptop and insert my wireless card. McAfee immediately sends me a message that the wireless card is incompatible and must be disabled. (When did this happen?) I uninstalled and re-installed the wireless card but McAfee still wasn’t impressed. I’m not getting online with this laptop unless I do it without virus protection.
Oh, well, I do have my U3 stick as a fallback. I can do my writing (blog and e-mails) at the condo on the laptop, save the files to the memory stick, go on line with the stick and transfer the files as necessary. Spend a little more money and get an account with iZone, primarily a gaming site. I was able to get the blog postings done but Thunderbird wouldn’t send my e-mail drafts and kept flashing a message that g-mail wasn’t supported. Still looking for a work-around for that.
In the meantime, the second night I go online with the U3 stick, my web browser (Firefox) goes haywire–something about a missing file. So now I have a laptop with a working browser that I can’t get online and a memory stick that I can get online but the browser won’t work. I need to download a new version of Firefox for U3.
If you’re reading this, I must have found a solution. You may have noticed a lack of pictures. Haven’t worked that out yet. We’re on Maui time so keep checking.

There are slow movers & there are turtles

The slow movers are us. The turtles were plentiful off Po’olenalena Beach. We’d already seen turtles at Ulua but this was a suburb of what the snorkel tours call ‘Turtle Town’. A great way to spend a Sunday morning. We also watched some fish harass a small octopus. Doreen even saw an eel and a ray–now she’s one up on me.
We spent Sunday afternoon watching the kite surfers at Ho’okipa and Kanaha Beaches. Then we treated ourselves to shave ice.
We needed an easy day after the exertion of Saturday. That was the athletic highlight of our trip–the Maui Taco 5k. It was a fun event–which would have been more fun if they hadn’t put in those hills. Ah, well, we both finished under our projected target times in the middle of the pack We did manage to beat some 6 year olds and some 70+’s. (Actually, Doreen finished fourth in her age group–just missing out on an award by less than two minutes.)
The race was won by Jacob Rotich of Kenya in a time of 15:34. He was using the 5k as a warmup for the Maui Marathon on Sunday. He won that event on Sunday for the fourth straight year. His wife, Hellen, won the ladies’ division in 18:18.
Now it’s on to more beaches, snorkeling and hiking. Did I mention beaches? And snorkeling?

Snorkel time

Two days of lying around the pool laying down a base tan. And shopping for groceries. And shopping for supplies. And shopping for souvenirs. And shopping for internet service. And shopping. Time to hit the beaches and see some fishes. Our first choice is Ulua/Mokapu. A very good choice. Easy to get to the beach. Easy entry into the water. A little crowded near the shore but better as we go out farther. Lots of fish (scads of humus) but little coral. Visibility could be better. Just out past the rocky point, we had our first surprise–one turtle swimming along, then a second. As we turn away, having filled our picture quota, there’s a third turtle resting on the bottom. On the Mokapu side, I spot my first octopus. On the way back to Ulua, I watch a second octopus stretching and retracting. Then, as I try to line up a Moorish Idol for his portrait, he leads me right to a swimming moray eel. I’ve hit the trifecta on our first snorkel. Our second snorkel trip is to ‘the Fishbowl’. Still a tough 25 minute hike across the lava field. (Plus the extra distance from the parking lot now that they’ve taken away the off-road parking.) Still worth it. Lots of fish in a closed, small space so you get up close. Sometimes too close as Doreen found out when she turned in a cul-de-sac to face an eel swimming right at her. At least now she can stop complaining that I was seeing all the eels. (Two more this morning–why didn’t I get a prescription mask sooner?) Only nineteen more snorkel spots to check out (plus assorted repeat visits). God, life is tough. We’ll just have to suck it up and pretend we’re young again.

Getting there is half the fun

Not this time. The Air Canada flight from Toronto to Vancouver was fine. The problems were in Vancouver where we had to change planes for the flight to Honolulu. For some reason, we had to go through security again. My carry-on bag, which had sailed through Toronto screening, now sent up a red flag. I was told it was traces of either explosives or makeup. Since I wasn’t wearing any makeup, on came the full search–four security personnel, everything out of the bag, a full body pat-down. They weren’t even sure they’d let me keep my tea bags.
Twenty minutes later security finally released us and now it’s Air Canada’s turn to continue the farce. After all the passengers were seated and strapped in, they discovered that the oxygen supply for the cockpit wasn’t working properly. So, sorry, but there will be a 30 minute delay while the module is replaced. No problem. Everyone wants the pilot to have oxygen. Besides, we have a two hour window in which to catch our fight to Maui. Of course, the passengers won’t be deplaned for this short wait.
But these workers aren’t “Star Trek’s” Scotty and one 30 minute repair becomes repeated delays. Still no deplaning. Doreen is beginning to get frantic. Thank God (or Travis) for the cell phone. She’s able to call Go! Airline and reschedule our Maui flight for Sunday morning. And she can call the car rental people and tell them not to wait up for us. The repair stretched to just over two hours so we arrived in Honolulu just after the last flight to Maui had left. Oh, joy! We’re in Honolulu late on Saturday night with no hotel reservations. Just tack another $150 onto our travel budget. Thanks Air Canada.
The silver lining in this cloud was that the flight to Maui was a daylight rather than nighttime flight and went smoothly. A smaller plane, not full, flying lower–a great opportunity to get some pictures both leaving Oahu and arriving Maui. Things also went smoothly with the rental car agency and the condo check-in. We’ve got a nice one-bedroom unit on the top floor with gorgeous views of West Maui and Ma’alaea Bay. Let the good times roll!!

The countdown is on

We leave for Hawaii on Saturday for six weeks. This will complete our yearly cycle as we've been in the Hawaiian Islands at some point in every month except September and October. We first visited Hawaii in 1971 when we had family posted there with the US navy and we've been returning off and on ever since. We still haven't been able to pick a definitive favorite island but Maui probably leads on points.
This time we have a month on Maui and two weeks on Oahu. As well, we hope to get in day trips to Lanai (again) and Molokai (a first). Of course, the Ironman is being held on the Big Island during our visit and we'd love to see that in person. Now, if only the money holds out.
Time to pack.