Hana Trip

Well, it's hard to believe, but we only have one more day here. We are planning on heading up north to catch one of the beaches we missed on our last rip up there. It's supposed to have some good snorkeling.

Our trip to Hana was great! We ended up with 200 pictures. Don't worry, I won't put them all on. But it was hard to pick the ones to use. It was such a spectacular drive and stay.
One of our first stops on the road to Hana was at Twin Falls. This huge plant was on the walk in.
Here we are at Twin Falls. We didn't swim at this one, but at some later pools along the way we did. If you notice there's a rope hanging there in front of the falls just waiting for someone to take a swing on.

One of the many amazing vistas along the road. This is looking back across a bay at where we just came from. The road to Hana is only 52 miles long, but it has over 600 turns in it and I can't remember how many bridges--lost and they're all one lane bridges. It took us over four hours to drive it.
This is tropical rain forest country... lush and green. Here's Deanna hanging on to some vines that where hanging down from this tree.
At a Botanical Garden stop along the way we took a short walk through the different plant. This is a Rainbow Gum (or Eucalyptus) tree.

... and some interesting flowers...

There were some incredible sea-scapes along the way. This was Deanna's favorite stop. The waves crashing over the lava rock was beautiful. There were also some tide pools to look through. We ended up eating our box lunch here.


same stop as above.
Our only full day in Hana we went on a hike up to Wailuku falls. It was about two miles each way. Along the way the trail was lined with these Guava trees. We must have eaten a dozen guava each or more.

Here's what the fruit looks like after you peel it. You eat seeds and all. So sweet and juicy!
Can you guess what this is? It's coffee beans. There were a couple of trees in this one area.
The coolest thing on the hike, though, was the bamboo forest. As we walked through, the wind blew the bamboo and it was like walking through a giant wind chime. These bamboos were so tall and the bent in over the trail making a canopy.

Looking up in the bamboo forest.

Another waterfall

We also made it down to the Red Sand Beach. We almost missed it. There are no signs or anything point the way. We were about to leave when we saw another couple walking out across a field, so we followed. And, boy! were we glad we did.

Finally, a Hana land mark--the Hasegawa General Store. It was established in 1910 and is an experience all in itself. There's even a song written about it! They have more stuff piled into this little store than you can imaging.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Got to get some school work done. I need to work ahead here and get my Tuesday work done by tomorrow. Mahalo for spending time with us. Aloha.

catching up

It's Wednesday morning. Today we are looking at heading up the coast to the Kapalua area and doing some snorkeling at Honolua Bay. It's one of Maui's four marine preserves. And then on the way back we'll stop off at the Aquarium.

Yesterday we snorkeled at two areas not far from where we are staying. The first stop was Makena Landing, also called Five Caves because of the underwater caves in the area. The coral was amazing. We also saw 8 turtles. Three were sitting on top of a coral shelf in about 10 feet of water. It was really cool to dive down below them and look into their faces. They really are amazing creatures. We also had one swim right under us.

The second place we stopped was Ulua Beach. You know the funny thing is each time we go out I think, "This is the best spot." But really each spot is so unique and different. Ulua had by far the best coral. We started to make our way out to the deeper reef, but Deanna didn't feel so comfortable. The water was about 25 feet, and to really get a good perspective you needed to go down there--Deanna doesn't go under water, so we stayed on the inner reef. Still, there were some 10-15 dive spots where you could look up at the coral and follow these valleys through the coral heads. There are so many little things going on when you get close up that is easy to miss from the surface.

Anyway, here are some more photos with some captions:

Here's a picture of the Lava flow that's about 3 miles down the road from where we are staying. It is very "other world" looking. It's hard to get a perspective in the photo, but some of the formations are huge.
Five in the morning and on our way down to the start of the race.
We rewarded ourselves with pizza for dinner. You can see the results at MauiMarathon.com on the home page they have a link to the Half Marathon overall, as well as division results.

This is ONE tree! It was only 8 feet tall when it was first planted back in the lat 1800s. This Banyan Tree is the landmark of Lahina Town.

We're on our way out to the Submarine for our undersea adventure.
This the Atlanta's 9.
Through the viewing porthole. The Plexiglas was 3 1/2 inches thick.
Schools of fish around some coral.
Twenty-four years ago when we came here on our honeymoon this boat was moored on the docks in Lahina and was a whaling museum. Deanna and I toured through it. About 6 years ago it was in danger of breaking it's mooring and causing damage if a storm came. They decided to scuttle it in about 95 feet of water to serve as an artificial reef, and a new diving destination.
This is algae growing on the ocean floor at 135 feet. It's amazing, but 30% of all the world's sand comes from algae like this. They loose a calcium exoskeleton and that's what forms the sand. Also, if you notice the water is a little murky looking. Monday night was a full moon, and with each full moon the coral reproduces. It sends out spores, and these spores look for something solid to latch on to.
This is coconut shrimp with a pineapple chutney. We at at the Aloha Mixed Plate Grill in Lehina after the Sub trip. When we pulled in the car wouldn't turn off. We had to call Avis, they came out, couldn't fix it, so we got a new one. Kind of cool, though, we ended up with an upgrade and an extra half a tank of gas. And with gas at 4.55 a gallon, that's a pretty good deal!
Monday night Sunset from the lanai.
Last night we went to Buzzes Wharf for dinner. We both had the special: Mahi Mahi with 4 prawns seared in Parmesan with a red pepper sauce... yum!

Well, I guess that's it for now. If anyone is checking out the site, you can always leave a comment and let us know what you think. We are thinking about and praying for you guys every day. Aloha

John

Half Marathon Result

Hello all. I just wanted to make a quick note about the Half Marathon this morning. We'll try to update with some more photos and stuff later tonight. Anyway, there was about 1,100 runners in the Half. It was a 5:30am start, so we had to get up at 3:00 to get a bite to eat and head out. It was still dark, except for a full moon that reflected off the ocean. The sun started coming up as we hit Front Street in Lahina Town. Our finish time was considerably faster than we thought. We finsished with a 2:07:09. That was gun time, since they didn't have a start mat for the chip (it actually took us about 37 seconds to make it to the start line after the gun went off). Deanna ended up 14th in her division, and I was 24. I think our over all place was 393 and 394. It was a really nice run. More later.
John

Luau

Today we went to a beach called "Big Beach" (it's right next to "Little Beach." No, really it is). "Big Beach" is the largest undeveloped stretch of beach on Maui. It was a huge crescent shaped beach that was beautiful. And once again, it was very uncrowded. There were no hotels or condo anywhere near it. Although there was a shave ice truck in the parking lot, and we did get a shave ice after swimming.

After Big Beach we drove down the road a bit to a lava flow. I think I read that it happened in 1790 or something like that. Maui's volcanoes have been inactive for a long time. Anyway, we parked and walked out to the water. No real beach here, just rocks. We went out snorkeling. It was AMAZING! We only had a little time because we had to get back and get ready for the Carbo Luau, but the time we spent was so cool. We are definitely going back. We'll probably head out there tomorrow after I get my book report done and my weekly esay.

Below are some photos from the carbo luau. It was pretty good. We picked up our numbers and stuff.






Aloha.

Ioa Valley

Yesterday we want to Black Rock and went snorkeling for the day. It was really, really cool! We got to see two sea turtles, and a couple of rays and tons of fish. We got a one-time-use underwater camera and took some pics. After we get it processed, we'll see about getting some of the photos on here.

Deanna will finish telling about the pictures from today's adventures.

look at all those PAPAYAS!!!
Picked out front: mandarin oranges, papayas, orange . Starfruit 50c at the neighbor's stand....
Waffles, fruit and POG (passion, orange, guava juice) with a side of homework.
on a hike through the Ioa Valley. Hot, but fun.

more Ioa valley - in the gardens...



after the Valley and the Gardens we went to the beach and watched the surfers, and windsurfers.


lots of kids showed up after school to surf. it was a lot of fun to watch them, some looked only 4 or 5 years old.


This was a cool little town on the Hana Highway about 6 miles out of Kahului. We drove through it on the way to the beach, but had to stop to take a picture of the sign on the way back. Please, don't feed the hippies....
This is sunset in the backyard of where we are staying. We were going out for dinner in Kihei.
We found a really cool place--Wok Star--and had udon noodles and this amazing desert!

Our First Day on Maui

Here's Deanna while we are waiting for our bags. There's almost as many Starbucks on Maui as in Seattle! (By the way, for those who may not know, if you click on the photo you make it bigger)

We stopped by Costco to pick up a few things. It is amazing how much Kahului has changed! Last time we were here there was practically noting around. Now it's wall to wall stores and traffic.

This is right outside our room. Yes, those are papaya trees. We picked one for breakfast tomorrow. There are also mango trees (the mangoes are not quite ripe yet), and lemon trees and some lime trees as well. It is so cool!

We ate dinner at "da kitchen" then went down to the beach to swim and watch the sunset.

Here we are watching the sunset.
Aloha!