|
| Aloha! - Dream Destination - Maui |
| Wednesday, January 31, 2007 |
Aloha!
Aloha! - The Journey
Aloha! - Pearl Harbor and the Submarine Tour
Aloha! - Diamond Crater and Hanauma Bay
The next day we were on our way to the Airport before sunrise. We were running a few minutes late and I was edgy. Our luck, the cab driver was slow as a tortoise on the highway. Cars overtook us from both sides. Finally we reached the airport, only to see a long security line. I completely forgot we couldnt carry big liquid containers in our carry-ons. I had a huge bottle of lens cleaner on me. We had to run back to the Counter to check in a back-pack with the container, by which time the security line had gotten even longer. By this time I had decided we would miss the flight, and started taunting myself and DH for not waking up early and not being more responsible. DH was quiet, he knew we would make it to the gate on time, he just kept his thoughts to himself, and let me rant. The flight was at 7AM and by 6:30 we were inside, we even had time to grab a coffee from Starbucks. They dint start boarding until 6:55AM. DH started pulling my leg, saying things like, "Cha, we could have come a little later, we have so much time here waiting. We could have asked the cab driver to drive even slower, and we could have had a nice time at the security line", and so on. Yeah I know, I put up with this kinda talk all the time.
The most exciting part of this short 40 minute flight covering about 100 miles was I got to see the other islands from up above. They looked beautiful! I was able to see the water changing colors as we left the shore, from a light blue to dark blue. We saw, Molokai, another of the Hawaiian Islands, surrounded by the ocean totally. When we reached Maui, I thought Maui looked like a young girl with many hidden secrets within herself, to be discovered. It had drizzled a little, it increased the beauty of the island, as though a painting had been given a retouch.
The Airport was horrible though. It was stinking! We found some detailed road maps of Maui. We had our GPS too, though we werent sure if the maps of Hawaii came preloaded or not. Kahului seemed like a sleepy little town. We were to realize all of Maui was so, later. We got our rental car, a Ford Taurus, a stupid car I tell you. We had one whole day at the island. We had three things we wanted to see and do. Road to Hana, Haleakala, and the umpteen world famous beaches. Finally we decided on taking the Road to Hana, as we could go to some beaches along the way too.
 It started drizzling a bit. But apparently it never rains for long on the islands. Our first stop was the Ho'okipa Beach. I should say these various names did not register in my head as we drove, I am just looking up these places on the internet as I write about them. The sea was supposed to be rough, and it was good for surfers. We saw a lot of surfers at the beach. The main highlight was the beautiful rainbow we saw as an aftermath of the drizzles. This is the first time I saw a whole rainbow thanks to the landscape, nothing was hidden. It was so cool. Unfortunately I wasnt able to take a picture of the whole thing, as it was huge, and I would have had to go across the road into the fields to take a full pic. All the seven colors were spectacularly clear. It was an amazing sight. I think we were just on time, once we finished taking pictures, the rainbow started fading away amidst the clouds. A wonderful start to the journey.
Er.. or so I thought. Within a few minutes of crossing the Beach, we were at the  windward side of the island, lush green and just bathed in the rain, fresh and pristine. But I wasnt able to enjoy all of this. Because the road had by now become so winding, that it was difficult to not feel giddy. Another 30 minutes and I was almost regretting the decision to take the Hana Highway. I wanted to go back and do
something else. We stopped after 10 or so miles, at Kaumahina State Wayside Park. I had to gather my bearings a little before proceeding on. DH suggested I drove. It was a good suggestion. While I drove I was able to enjoy the drive much more, and didnt feel nauseated. The view along the road was becoming more beautiful as we were climbing on a light slope. It was exotic and heavenly. Isolated from the rest of the world, nature at its best self, untampered with.
 We reached Ke`anae Point. It was another of nature's marvel. There was no beach, only dark rocks, and the rough sea. One can spend hours just watching the waves crash onto the rocks, beautiful. The blue of the sea, the green of the land, and in between was the black of the rocks, natures's true colors. It was bliss to watch. From there on we proceeded on the highway across so many many one lane bridges, with little streams of water rushing towards the ocean from the mountains. I should say most of the other attractions were hyped. I guess raw country side is a treat for Americans. Not for us, Indians, obviously.
As I said earlier we were on the windward side, which is the wet side of the island, and this side got much more rain than the dry side, and hence there was dense foliage, and amazing vegetation to look and admire. It was all rain forests along the highway, it looked picturesque.
 We reached the Black Sand Beach, also known as Wai`napanapa State Park at the Pa`iloa Bay. What I liked about beaches in Maui were that they were so isolated. Not many people were around, so it was almost as if we had the whole beach for ourselves. Now thats amazing right?! Its mainly because these beautiful beaches are not easily accessible one has to drive the ever winding Hana Highway for three hours to get to the beach. Some might think its not worth it, but it soo is.
The beach obviously had black sand, which are apparently actually tiny, smooth lava pebbles. DH was a little dizzy this time, but he made it all right. We took a bunch of pictures at the beach. We saw some lave tubes. I had to drag DH from being too adventurous. Seriously, its like stopping naughty kids from doing unsafe things. ;--) He wanted to go into one of the caves which had crashing dangerous waves on the other side.
We went onto the rocks across the beach, where there was a blow hole. Did I tell you what a blow hole was? Blow holes are created when the pounding ocean undercuts a shorline lava shelf. A hole in the lava shelf causes a geyser like effect. When the surf is just right, it forces water up the hole, just like a geyser. I picked the definition right off the web and obviously it was not safe to trudge around that area, and I had to constantly remind DH of that fact.
We were just a few miles from the town of Hana. Hana wasnt as attractive. They rightly said, it is the journey that makes the destination attractive. We went to the Hana Bay Beach Park, we werent too impressed with the landscape. We spent sometime there watching a little kid running with the waves. We set out in search of the Red Sand Beach, but were lured by a Ranch house restaurant. We had been having
sandwiches until then, real food in a good restaurant was more than tempting. The place wasnt crowded, as it was almost 2PM. We asked the waiter for directions to the Red Sand Beach and he refused to give it to us, saying the route would be through the restaurant property and so he was not allowed to give us the route. Anyway by then we were too tired with all the winding roads. I wanted to visit a few beaches
atleast before going back to Oahu.
The drive back I was dreading. I wish they had a round trip route to Hana, so we 
didnt have to get back the same way we came by. This time DH drove, while I sat with my eyes closed. The hairpins bends were not so bad with eyes closed. Dh made amazing time in the one hour I slept peacefully. When I woke up I was fully refreshed. And now I was able to admire the rain forest even more. I took some pictures on the way, for the hundredth time, the landscape was a beautiful work of nature.
We got back to Hookipa beach in less than two hours, and I was very happy. I suddenly remembered the GPS. I took it out to test it, and it worked!! With the GPS and the detailed Maui Map, I was sure we wouldnt get lost on the little island. So we set of to explore the other side of Maui, towards the beaches. The good thing about the GPS is that we didnt have to know the exact address of the place. I just searched for local attractions and lo behold! all the bearby beaches popped up! How cool!
We set forth to the south beaches. There were two main roads along the beach. Maui  was so small compared to Waikiki. But it was beautiful nevertheless. No tall buildings, or noisy traffic. It was quiet serene and almost rustic. We finally settled on Mokapu Beach, set in front of a huge resort. In Hawaii, all the beaches are public. Even if there was a resort in front of the beach, the beach was open to the public. Good thing, we can enjoy beaches without having to cater to the exorbitant prices the resorts charge. We had almost an hour before we had to leave for the airport. So we changed to our swimsuits to play in the water. DH went deep into the ocean while I was just playing 
closer to the shore, running with the waves. We saw Molokini island. That place is the most famous place for snorkelling and scuba diving in Maui. Unfortunately a trip to Molokini would take a whole day, hence we had dropped the idea. That is one of the things I would want to do, sometime in life. We were just in time for the sunset. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Well, we didnt realize it was beautiful then. But when we looked at the pictures later, the whole place felt so heavenly, so far away from the real world.
We were to realize later that a whole another set of beaches were on the west side. :--( The Kaanaapali beaches, which were also world famous. Unfortunately we didnt have tim to cover all of this in one day. Which is why I should reiterate, one should plan to spend more days in Hawaii. Still, I am glad we covered more than we had bargained for in Maui.
We left to the airport, as it started getting dark. Thanks to our GPS, I doubt if we would have made it safely to the Airport if not for it. We even took a detour to the gas station, with the help of our GPS to fill the tank before returning the car. The car was a stupid car. It did not have an 'all door lock/unlock' mechanism at the driver's seat. So to lock or unlock the passenger doors, where we had all our belongings, we had to unlock every single door separately. Even in this age!
The journey back was uneventful, I slept right after I sat in the plane, and woke up when the plane landed in Honululu. It had rained in Honolulu too, but we were happy our day didnt get spoiled too much by the rain. It was two tired sleepy heads that retired into the hotel room that night. I was personally a little relieved to be back to civilization. The husle buzzle of Waikiki was welcoming after Maui inspite of its exotic beauty.
And we had just one more day to enjoy this place. Our vacation was almost over! :--( |
posted by SK @ 7:02 AM  |
|
|
|
|
|
