Day 12: Road to Hana

We left our lovely Noelani Condominium Resort this morning making for the Road to Hana. This is a 49 mile trip on a twisting and turning road that will take some people about 2 hours but our time-frame will be closer to 6 hours due to the stops along the way. Some say there are over 600 curves and more than 55 bridges, most of which are single lane.

The purpose is the lush landscape, spectacular views and quirky Hana at the end point.

Oh, look. One of the many single lane bridges

Rainwater is extensively controlled on the east side of Maui for the benefit of the sugar and pineapple plantations. Even though most of them are shut down the need for water is still a priority for the increased populations.

One of our first stops was Auntie Sandy's at Keanae Landing for "World Famous Banana Bread". Every local stand makes this claim but this is counted as one of the best. 

There are many places along the Road where hikes can be made to better vantage points. This is a mahogany tree in one of the old growth forest areas.  

I am trying to climb around all these tree roots and rocks. Yes, I am wearing sandals.

One of the funny things we found was a serious lack of concern for safety on these little treks into the forests. Here they assume you have decided to take whatever risks come your way. In our area, walks on manicured trails, even some paved ones, have one or even two railings and raised sides just in case the walkers can't figure out where to go. 

Bob and the lava rocks on the Keanae Peninsula.

Above the Keanae Peninsula. 

One sad event on April 1, 1946 was a 30 foot tsunami wave hit the Keanae Peninsula after a large earthquake in Alaska. This was before the government mandated warning signals. Most of the inhabitants were killed and all the buildings were swept away except the stone church which is still standing.

Waikani Falls - there are several stages above what this photo shows which makes a total of over 1000 feet.

Someone was ambitious on this stair climb. Look at those safety rails.

Upper Waikani Falls also known as the Three Bears. Though clearly there are no bears in Hawaii.

This really pretty falls and pool had no parking close by. We had to drive over the bridge, left then right turns, cross the street and park in a 5-6 car turn out. You had to then walk back down on the road for pictures.

This Makapipi falls presented a different challenge. This time we had to walk up across the bridge, around the turn and up the road, then lean out over the bushes  

One of the last big stops was the Wai'anapanapa State Park. There are blowholes and ocean arches plus one of the only volcanic sand beaches. The volcano erupted and this particular type of lava shattered when it hit the water. As I was watching the waves roll in I noticed the little pieces were actually riding the wave. I am assuming they are pumice which is lighter than water. It was cool but very weird.  

Black sand beach 

We decided to eat lunch before taking to the beach and hiking to the blowhole on the other side.

After lunch we made the trek across the beach and climbed up to the blowhole. What a disappointment after having been to the Nakalele Point blowhole (see prior post). This was barely a mist.

This is one of the arches created by ocean swells. 

This is an Small Asian Mongoose. Many people, including one guy I spoke with, think this is a squirrel. I don't know what they think a squirrel looks like but this has a distinctive weasel look. I was curious as to the plural and found it to be mongooses, not mongeese (which sounds silly anyway).  They were brought here from Jamaica to control the rat population. This did not work well as mongooses are active during the day, rats at night. Mongooses also eat ground nesting birds and their eggs. More problematic is that mongooses carry leptospirosis which causes mild symptoms for headaches and muscle pain to severe bleeding into the lungs and kidney failure.

Bob enjoying the delicious banana bread.

Shaka sign meaning this is cool, okay or everything is fine.

On the rocks near the arch, this bird is guarding an egg.

At Komi Beach past Hana. Look close at the top of the rock and you can see a palm tree. How did that get up there?

Komi Beach is not a good choice for swimming, surfing or snorkeling as noted in the TWO warning signs. 

Now this made our day. Go Pack Go!

Day 11: Banyan tree and Sunset sailing cruise

Good thing today will be more of a relaxing day. All that walking and climbing yesterday tweaked my knee a little so level ground is the order of the day. Tell you what though, Bob and I wore our hiking boots and were glad to have them. I would not have wanted to try climbing that cliff-side even in sneakers. We saw a lots of people at the blowhole trying to make it down and up wearing sandals or flip flops. Rookies or experts, we are not sure.

An additional update from yesterday is necessary. I must have been more tired than I thought because I neglected to say the show off our lanai was back in full force when we got home. We had two separate pods out towards Molokai to entertain us. The one I watched had a baby and two larger whales. They were all breaching repeatedly. Then one started doing the pectoral slap over and over. Bob's pod had one whale that was a tail slapper. Maybe they were all talking to each other. They seemed to be moving towards each other too. We were waiting for the two pods to get together for some synchronized swimming to this season's whale song but it didn't happen.

This morning we had a tail slapper. The difference was this one was slapping the top side down. How do we know that? Because the underside of the tail and body is lighter color. This is how hump backs are identified. The underside "design" is photographed and recorded in a database and movements are tracked. The hard part is getting the photo. Regulations do not allow boats to steer directly towards a whale so most try to get along side. These curious creatures frequently are watching the boats too. Consequently, any tail slaps are top side visible. So our visitor is either head down or on "his" back. Sadly, "he" was too far away for a picture because we could have uploaded it to a non-scientific website and checked if there were any prior sightings.

Too calm this morning for any surfers.
Look closely and you can see a faint rainbow. 

Pretty good picture of a whale breech.

We had a few errands to run in Lahaina and this morning was a good time to do them. We wanted to get in a swim before our sunset cruise. Easy to walk to a beach since it is right next to our condo resort. But when we got there we found most of the small beach taken by resting sea turtles. We saw five taking a nap. They need to rest after being tossed around in the surf like they are in a washing machine. No problem for us though because the walk goes through a park and right onto another beach.

We could tell that a short way into the water there was going to be a fairly nasty drop off. We scouted for a buoy about 50 feet from shore and waded in. The water was cool but not cold. For those who have been in the water (ocean or gulf) around Florida you would certainly be surprised by the intensity of the waves, coming in and going out. The sand melts away from under your feet while the next wave rocks you backwards. It's easy to loose your footing. We managed to make the drop off and it did. Way over my head (don't be mean) and Bob didn't get much further. We had to keep monitoring the buoy, the sea wall and our towels. First we were pushed up the beach and then down. It was a real roller coaster. Strong currents and high rolling waves were exhausting us sooner than we expected so after only 30 minutes I said we needed to get back on shore. We were both breathing hard by the time we reached the sand.

Click on photo for a panoramic view.
Look close and you can see Carol in the picture twice. 

World's largest banyan tree. 

This tree is a small city block.

Foreground is cannon salvaged from a sunken Russian vessel. Background is the first hotel on Maui.

I was asking this guy for directions, but he didn't say much. 

This is our Sunset Cruise sailing ship.

At the beginning, it seemed this would be smooth sailing. Champagne for me, Mai Tai for Bob, yummy appetizers and good views.   

Bob checking on the Captain. 

Looking back at Maui.

The farther we got from Maui the more interesting things started to be. The waves kicked up to swells and the misting spray became a drenching wash. Soaked through and through, except for our shoes safely stowed before get on board. We may be smiling but trust me, we are very damp. I was afraid we were going to wish we had some Dramamine but we weathered the rough seas. We had not seen much of any whales but as rough as it was  they were probably just hiding out waiting for things to calm down. As the sun slowly dipped toward Molokai, the swells grew less and less. A few water spouts and whale rolls, then some breaching and pectoral slaps. The show was back on. 

Calm seas and golden sunset.

Why don't sea captains dress like this anymore?