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2010/09/07 Diving in Maui

π 2010-09-07 01:01 in Diving

We spent 3 of our mornings in Maui diving with Ed Robinson's Diving Adventures since we had a great time with them last year. It was only 8 dives, but still, they were good ones, especially the plane wreck, boat wreck, and the amphibious vehicle wreck.
You can see many more pictures of our Maui Trip here.

This was the first day, including a wreck dive:

Molokini

Second day:

nice frogfish

wrecked plane

grr...

Third day:

Molokini Birds

amphibious vehicle

we finally found an octopus

once it's found, it sticks to you for protection from other predators

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2010/09/06 Flight Around Hawaii's Maui, Molokai, and Lanai

π 2010-09-06 01:01 in Flying, Nflying

(If you do not see any track on the map, click on '07 Day 05: Maui Flight' in the upper right corner twice).

As part of our vacation in Maui, I figured a good way to have another view of everything we visited, and a peek at what we couldn't visit like the neighbouring islands). It was nice to see the coastlines we had driven on, and especially the long sliding sands trail that we didn't hike all the way to the end :)
You can see many more pictures of our Maui Trip here.

Just like Hawaii last year, it made sense to rent a plane with a CFI and just do the scenic flight without the need to be checked out. On Maui, Maui Aviators was the place to go for renting a GA aircraft with a CFI if you don't get checked out. At a few times, it was also nice to hand out the controls to the CFI and let him fly while I was too busy taking pictures of a waterfall while we were in a steep turn close to the rocks :)

The flight started with the north of Maui, and its crappy one lane dirt road :)

the 'fun' one lane dirt road full of blind turns portion of Hwy 340

We then flew towards Molokai Island:

Molokai waterfalls

Molokai's Kalaupapa Airport

Molokai Leper Colony

Molokai Airport

Molokai reef

After that, we headed for the coast of Lanai:

The non pretty side of Lanai

Before heading back towards the main island of Maui on the Lahaina side:

Lahaina

Jet Skis

and transitionned to the other half of Maui, starting with the Kihei coast:

North Kihei

South Kihei

Kamaole Beach Park

South Kihei Boat Ramp we go diving from

Wailea

Makena

Little Beach, just north of Big Beach

Big Beach

We then did a little side step to Molokini which has such incredibly clear waters and good diving:

Molokini

and back to South Maui:

Big Beach

The other 'fun' dirt road, south Maui. At least this one is a 2 way road

We then 'climbed' to the top Haleakala a bit quicker than it takes to drive and hike :) and had a look at

The observatories at the top of Haleakala

Sliding Sands Trail

The Pu'uo we spent 1H to hike down to

The ambitious hiker can actually hike all the way down to the beach from 10,000ft

After that, we flew from South Maui (through the seven sacred pools), to West Maui/Hana, and Hana Airport (including the trike from Hand Gliding Maui), and back to Kahului:

yes, they have nice waterfalls

The big waterfall is the end of Pipiwai trail

Seven Sacred Pools

Hamoa Beach south of Hana

Hana's Red Sand Beach

Luana Spa where we stayed in Hana

Hana Airport with its Hand Gliding Trike Base

The Winding Road to Hana

More Wining Road to Hana

Back to Kahului Airport

The flight was just around 3H, a good way to see Maui and the nearby islands.

If you wish, here is a link to a big georeferenced map of the Maui Flight (you can turn on display of other gps tracks by clicking on their name in the upper right corner twice).

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2010/09/02 10 day vacation in Maui to visit, hike, fly, and dive

π 2010-09-02 01:01 in Ntrips, Trips

Last year, we took a nice honeymoon in Hawaii, it was our first time there. Back then, we only had a week in Maui and went through some of Maui a bit quickly, and definitely missed some parts :)
Our first anniversary celebration was a chance to try this again and explore what we missed last year.

Here's a quick overview:

Waianapanapa Beach and Coastline

Venus Pool

Seven Sacred Pools

South Maui

Kula Enchanting Floral Garden

Surfing Goat Dairy

Haleakala

Haleakala Sliding Sands Trail

Haleakala Sunset

Kaluhui Airport/Maui Flight

Kihei Keawakapu Condo

Big Beach and Black Sand Beach

Old Lahaina Luau

Kaanapali_Zipline

Maui North West Loop: Blowhole and Olivine Pools

That's all Folks

Kahului

We started in Kahului, where we landed and where you can shop for food (good plan before heading for Hana which is a bit bare).

We went to the pretty but overpriced Mama's Fish House by the beach for lunch:

MC Escher was here :)

Road to Hana

After the late lunch, we did the road to Hana. Google maps was very optimistic about the road to Hana, 1:09 is a bit fast, even for me :)
Garmin was more realistic with 03:11.
We stopped by the Garden of Eden and did the nearby hike around the waterfall, which got us back into the park from the side. The peacocks and especially the duck were very friendly if you had food :)

1H09, maybe if I floor it with no one on the road :)

waterfall trail by the garden of eden

By the time we got to Hana, it was of course raining

Luana Spa

We then arrived at the Luana Spa where we were staying for two days to visit Hana a bit less hurringly than last year.

Jennifer cooked us some great meals, with fresh fish I had juat bought :)

Hahanu Gardens

The next morning, we went to Hahanu Gardens, with the great opening hours of 10:00 to 14:00 M-F. Despite the hours and resulting difficulty to visit or to even find at the end of an unpaved road, it was worth it.

there were lots of dead lobsters that got washed on the 'beach'. Too bad none were fresh :)

Waianapanapa Beach and Coastline

After that, we went to visit the Waianapanapa beach and coastline:

Warning, warning signs are dangerous! :)

Venus Pool

The next morning, on our way out we finally found the Venus Pool that I couldn't find last year:

Seven Sacred Pools

We then went on our way to the seven sacred pools, which were closed due to water contamination (someone with HepC cut themselves and put blood in the water, it takes a while to flush). That said, it wasn't a biggie, we had already been in the pools last year and instead we used the opportunity for a nice quiet picnic by the water that no one was in :)

Then, we finally went for the entire Pipiwai trail with its very nice waterfall at the end

very nice bamboo forest

South Maui

We then finished the loop around South Maui and made it to the Tedeschi Winery in 1h20, which I'm told is a good time for that road :) We made it to the Winery just in time to visit it before they closed :)

nice roads :)

they also have nets to catch fallings rocks, which is good (the north west side is missing those)

fun 'straight' road

we were able to see Molokini from the road

and we then finished the evening Upcountry Bed and Breakfast for a nice sunset in a jaccuzi :)

Kula Enchanting Floral Garden

The next morning we went to the Enchanting Floral Garden in Kula, which was a quite nice place to visit.

Surfing Goat Dairy

After the Floral Garden, we went to check out the Surfing Goat Dairy, play with some goats, and eat some goat cheeses.

Haleakala

And we then headed to the top of Haleakala to have a picnic to acclimate before our hike.

on the way up, we saw the Pu'uo we were going to hike to

at the top of a bit over 10,000ft, there were a lot of observatories

Haleakala Sliding Sands Trail

Then, was time for our hike on Sliding Sands trail. Everyone made a big deal on how it was a tough hike, but we hiked a sustained 2.2mph on the way down and up (actually speed was almost just as fast on the way up). We were up and down in 2H, including some stops for pictures.
It was actually a nice easy hike:

you could get a horse ride to the bottom and back

our target, the Pu'uo

the trail goes much farther if you have time

Haleakala Sunset

After the hike, we stuck around to watch the sunset, since we had done sunrise the previous year. What was interesting was that we were actually sitting on top of a rainstorm which I drove back down to after the sunset.

Kaluhui Airport/Maui Flight

The next morning, we went to Kaluhui airport for a very nice flight around Maui and the neighboring islands, visible on a separate web page (follow the link for more pictures).

Kihei Keawakapu Condo

By then, we had moved our base back to Kihei, where Jennifer found a nice condo just by the diving boat ramp. Jennifer was very happy with the kitchen :)

the ocean view was decent :)

Maui Diving

Most days from then, we went diving in the morning with Ed Robinson's diving adventures. There are lots of pictures on the separate Maui Diving page

Iao Needle

Our first afternoon, we went to see the Iao Needle:

Waihee Plantation

The next afternoon, we went to the Waihee Plantation to do their nice hike:

our first stream crossing

and this was our target

La Perouse Bay

The next day, we had a dive-free day we used to go visit the south side of the Island on the Kihei side, aka the end of the road on that side of the island, a mere 5 miles from the higher up road going to Upcountry. Too bad the old makena road linking the two was closed to the public years ago after some idiots had an accident and sued the land owners (die in hell, idiots!).
Anyway, going to the end of that road to hike to the south side of the Island from La Pérouse Bay, was fun.

lava rocks

this looked like a water pipe going to a few houses, apparently it wasn't worth digging the conduits in :)

Big Beach and Black Sand Beach

On the way back, we hit Big Beach where a few people were playing with the waves:

Old Lahaina Luau

The next day, we went to look around Lahaina before our Luau that evening:

the giant tree is still unbelievable

end we then went to the Old Lahaina Luau:

after dinner, they had a nice show for us:

Kaanapali_Zipline

The next morning, our last day, we went to Kaanapali to try their ziplines. While they are overpriced in my opinion, they were quite fun.

A couple of videos:

Maui North West Loop: Blowhole and Olivine Pools And to finish the day, and our trip, we did the north west loop that Jennifer wasn't feeling too well for last year: the blowhole, and olivine pools with lovely 5mph one lane road at the end.

the road is nice at the beginning :)

the blowhole

and the Olivine Pools

full of life

After that, was the 5mph one lane road full of blind turns back to Kahului. Thankfully everyone we caught up with was nice enough to pull over and let us pass: my strategy was to gun it in the straights and be very careful on the blind turns. This got us out of it in record time.

That's all Folks

The next morning, we were on a plane back to SJC (flight time was a mere 4.5H thanks to a nice tailwind).

If you wish, here is a link to a big georeferenced map of our Maui trip.

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