Still dark, our alarms roused us bright and early for another day in Hawai'i. In the dim light we were able to see the outline of the beach in our backyard, and indeed, it was pretty. It was a beautiful sunny warm day in Hilo, which is actually very rare, as it rains there almost every single day. Thankfully, my ankle felt much much better, and wrapped in an ace bandage, I was fine. What a relief!!!
We packed up (don't be fooled by how easy I make that sound) and hopped back into the car to the nearby airport to return the rental car and check in for Maui.
The airport "volunteer" who offered to help shlep our luggage was upset when we didn't tip him. Anyone who can afford to retire to Hawai'i does not need our dollar tip. Sheesh.
The airport interior looked like an old living room from the 1960s. As our usual, we boarded by last call, and were the last ones onto the plane. Once again, we were the only whites, the rest of the plane was Asian. I think they were here from Japan and flying to some sort of reunion. Personally, I don't think Japanese should be allowed on the island at all after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but I kept my opinions to myself... Perhaps they repented.
The flight to Maui was about 25 minutes from takeoff - landing. On my tripadvisor travel app I read for the duration of the flight, I discovered a travel guide app for our next activity, The Road to Hana. Upon landing, I promptly purchased it.
Arriving in Maui, we went to pick up the rental car and sadly realized we are spoiled and no longer comfortable in a standard car. As it's vacation, and money is flowing like water, we upgraded ourselves to a nice Jeep.
Onward to Hana! Our travel app was money well spent. For $4.90 we got a very interesting tour guide, who briefed us about the sights on the way. Without him, dubbed by us, Hoku, we would have had no idea what we were actually seeing on the drive. The app works with GPS, and there was no cell service for hours, yet Hoku worked flawlessly. Score 1 for Tripadvisor.
The Road to Hana is a curvy, twisty, windey, drive circling the Haliakula volcano. Some 600 hairpin turns, and I believe 50? (unsure exact num) one lane bridges. The actual distance is only about 60 miles, but takes between 3-4 hours on average. The going is very slow, the turns are pretty sharp. The sides of the narrow roads are lush green vegetation or breathtaking ocean vistas. As we climbed higher, we saw more jungle. There are many places to stop along the way, but one day isn't enough to cover them all, so we decided to stick with Hoku's advice.
Our first stop was an arboretum, a nursery of exotic trees brought over to the island from all over the world. Pomellas, limes, grapefruit, rainbow eucalyptus, bamboo to name a few.
Next we came upon a waterfall, which Hoku suggested we view from the bridge due to the treacherous climb down, however after feeling completely left out seeing the other tourists acquainted up close and personal with the gorgeous falls, we knew we were going down. And down we went. A slippery, muddy, rocky descent down into the waterfall river and riverbed. Certainly an experience, and that's what we're here for. We enjoyed seeing the falls up close and were careful where we climbed and stepped. Very worthwhile. The falls pooled down into a cold clean pool glittering off the canyon walls. Beautiful.
On with our twisting drive, our next stop was a small town right on the shoreline. Paia. The waves are huge, crashing into cliffs and rocks on the shores of Paia. This town was destroyed in the 40s by a tsunami, but has since been rebuilt. Hoku promised us coconuts, but we were unable to find ripe ones. The cliffs and waves were a real sight. Caution is needed, one never knows how high the next wave will be. We saw an unsuspecting tourist fishing get completely splashed by a wave. The waves are very strong, and can pull you straight into the raging water.
Twisting and turning through the lush rainforest, we arrived at Hoku's next suggested stop, Waianapanapa State Park. Blue crystal clear water, a black sand beach, waves crashing into cliffs, a blow hole, and even caves. The backdrop of the lush greenery on the jutting peninsula literally makes you lose your breath. Spectacular is an understatement, and pictures do little justice. They sort of act as a souvenir to remember the awestriking beauty. The caves are halfway in the ocean and rapidly fill with water from the crashing waves. Naturally, seeing this from the mouth of the cove wouldn't be close enough for us adventurers, so we crawled thru and hoped the water wouldn't get too high. It came pretty far up, but we didn't get wet, or swept out to sea. Lots of swimmers on the black sand beach, really pretty dark sand. Next was the blowhole, stand there long enough and you will hear a roar, and see water shoot out like a geyser. Pretty cool.
At this point we started to rush, it was close to 4 o'clock and knew our next stop was 45 minutes past Hana. We skipped Hana, it's just a little town on the Maui coast. A short detour gave us a peek at their beaches. I would say its pretty, but what in Hawai'i isn't pretty?!?!?
The next must see according to our research was the Seven Sacred Pools in Haliakula National Park. Knowing its close to sunset we hurried to get the info we needed and start the hike. Just a .5 mile walk in to see the waterfall and pools draining into the ocean. Very very pretty, and extremely windy. The water is extremely cold. Despite the late hour we opted to attempt the .5 mile hike up to the next waterfall. Racing the clock, us avid hikers scaled the mountain and arrived in record time. 10 mins to sunset after speaking to someone people on their way down, we decided to continue up a little more to the bamboo forest. Despite the incline and rocky hike, I'm glad we did. The entrance to the bamboo forest is via bridge, and then you see the long bamboo trees towering up. Very cool. Never seen anything like it before. Now it was really late, and getting dark, not so smart despite the park being open all night, so armed with our flashlights (I wasn't going on this trip unprepared) we carefully made our way down the darkening mountain.
Getting to Makena, our next stop was further than we realized. We thought instead of driving back the way we came, (don't recommend that drive at night) we would loop back around the island from a different road as shown on our map. Our smartphones had no service which means no GPS either. We knew some of it would be bumpy and unpaved, and it was. It literally felt like we were driving the neverending road to nowhere. Most of it was narrow, curvy and steep, and in the pitch black, couldn't see much of anything, except of course, stars, which were beautiful.
We didn't know where we were going but there weren't many choices on the 1 lane road, so we just plodded along until decades later, we finally reached civilization. The drive back took us about 2:20, which is actually pretty quick for the return from Hana according to our hotel staff. The other way is longer and has traffic from all the tourists returning from the drive.
Our resort is indeed 4 star. Beautiful. Upon arrival we were bestowed shell leis (necklaces) and cold bottles of Hawai'in water. The room is large and spacious, staff helpful and friendly. Although we cannot currently see the ocean (it's dark), we hear the surf and crashing waves. The room has a partial ocean view I can't wait to see tomorrow from the small porch. I tell you, this is the life.
I think Maui is a hit :)
Good night and G'Shabbos!!
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