Maui

20+ years ago I was sent to Hawaii to work at a CH2M Hill office. I flew to Maui on a Friday after work and flew back on Sunday as I had to work on Monday. All I had time to do that trip was go on a whale watching tour and drive to Hana and Ohe’o Pools (Seven Sacred Pools). Wanted to do those same things this trip and more. Boy, did I. Life is a Beach!!

Day 1—Iao Vallley

I landed by 11:00 am and couldn’t check into the condo until 3:00 so had some time to kill. Rather than just sit around I headed to Iao Valley to see the Iao Needle. It was only a 20-minute drive from the airport and figured I had plenty of time hike to the needle.

Got my car and loaded up my bags (no I did not travel light… do I ever?) and tried to start the car and the firkin key wouldn’t work. What the? I go get a guy and he tries too. Go back to the counter and the guy comes out and walks to a different Kia Soul, same color, and says it works fine. Well yeah, if you go to the right car….. Had to unpack all the crap and repack and got on the road. Egads. Great way to start my trip on Maui.

I didn’t know what to expect of the Iao Valley. Itwas very pretty. Green and lush, like most of Maui. The pinnacle or needle was cool. It took less than 10 minutes to hike there. I thought it would be a long hike back into the valley. To spend more time there was another hike by the river so walked on that trail for a while. A good first afternoon on the island. Finally, time to check into the condo. It was a great condo and exactly 60 steps from the ocean. I could hear the ocean and it was a nice lullaby to go to sleep. Nirvana……

Day 2—Road to Hana and Hiking to the Waterfalls

Decided to head up to Hana after my blood test. The road to Hana hasn’t changed a bit which is awesome. This drive is not for the faint of heart in some stretches….. gorgeous overlooks and waterfalls all the way. It is only a 48-mile drive starting from Kahului. I headed off around 9:30 and didn’t arrive to the park until around 2:30. I stopped at a few waterfalls along the way and once hiked back about 45 minutes to a waterfall. It is a looong drive.

I decided to hike to the waterfalls before visiting the Ohe’o Pools as I figured that would feel great to soak in after the hike. The hike was awesome and walking through the bamboo forest is so cool. The klankety-klank as the wind blows through. Those of you who have hiked through bamboo know what I’m talking about. This trip was much different than 20 years ago. Then it was a rainy day and I did not see anyone else on the hike until I was almost to the waterfalls. As I was walking through the bamboo that time it was pretty eerie. It was dark because of the leaves on top and the klankety-klank…… freaked me out. This time many more folks on the hike…… I actually wish it had been more like the first time.

I made the mistake of not bringing anything to eat and by the time I reached the bottom I was exhausted and hungry. But I had to go to the pools, food be dammed. Hiked to the overlook and you cannot get into the pools right now. Something about the flood pumps were stolen….. They were very pretty from above but could only see 3-4 of them….. Not the same as sitting in them. Next time.

Day 3—Whale Tour and Sittin on the Beach

The whale tour was the same one I took 20+ years ago. In a hard-bottom raft and so much fun. Just like I remembered. But this time we saw soooo many whales I lost count. Got quite a few pictures of tails but missed the two breaches everyone awed about. You turn your head for a second….. scheez…… but I did put my GoPro into the water and you could hear the males singing to the females. Very very cool…… I already posted that so you can hear.

One baby whale and momma came right in front of our boat. AWESOME…. Front row seat.

Later that afternoon I walked the beach by the condo. Brought out a beach chair and sat and relaxed. It’s a nice beach and could walk all the way to Kihei I’m pretty sure. If I had a car on the other end, I would try that. Nice relaxing end to a great day.

Day 4—Honolua Bay for Snorkeling—the long adventurous way

What an adventure today was. Yikes. I was headed to Honolua Bay for some snorkeling as I had read an online article from a local about the best places to snorkel on Maui. Set out to go there and boy…… did I find some beautiful stuff while on an adventure. YOOO HOOO I was headed to the point on the map (in the Shutterfly post) where there is an arrow and a 1. I missed that and drove all the way to the arrow and 2. Yikes. Overshot by a long way….. it was a beautiful drive and probably more treacherous than the Hana drive. You see all those squiggily lines? Yes, it is just like that driving. In one area for a couple of miles it is a one lane road. I was hoping that I would make it all the way w/o running into a car going the other way…… but NOOOO. When you see a picture of a one-way road that I’ll post, that is where I had to back down to let two jeeps go by. Holy crap. I had to back down a long way to find a place wide enuf for us…… made it the rest of the way and no more backing up. Thank goodness.

Once I got a few miles past the one-way road, pulled out at a spot to take a short hike to the cliff and take some pictures. I ask a guy, ‘is it much farther to a gas station?’ and his response is, well in another half hour to 40 minutes you’ll be in Waihee. I’m like what? Where is that? He gets out his phone and GPS and shows me. I’m like holy crap I went way past where I was headed. So instead of going forward I turned around and headed back the way I came in….. I was going to snorkel at Honolua Bay dammit… On the way back I stopped a bunch more to take pictures and see the views since that was the side of the road to do that. After a while I saw a few cars and thought, well this must be something….. so I hiked to an overlook and way below are the Olivine Pools (see map). They are beautiful….. There are sooooo many, some close together some off to the sides by themselves. Of course, there are signs that this is dangerous and a plaque from a family who lost someone, but the beauty draws you in. I was wearing flip flops since I thought I was going snorkeling and not hiking, so made a note to self to return and hike to the pools another day.

Further down the road I saw another group of cars and of course, got out to check it out. It was a blowhole and from up above I could see it blowing water and it was sooo cool. The hike to the Nakalele blowhole was even more treacherous than to the pools, so note to self, bring your hiking shoes and come back this way. Here is a video someone else took of the blowhole:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYYqJ5pY7B0  (You might need to copy/past this link into a browser. I’ll try posting some videos to YouTube as my Dropbox is almost full. Unless if anyone knows a better place to post.)

Drove a little farther and saw a secluded beach with one person on it. It had a beautiful pool surrounded by a reef right in the ocean at one end that looked like it would be great for snorkeling. Figured when I come back for the other pools and blowhole I’ll stop here too.

Finally made it back to Honolua Bay for some snorkeling. No beach at all unless you call big rocks a beach. Got my stuff together and since I thought there would be a beach I brought a beach chair and extra crap. There was an older couple sitting there and I asked if they would mind watching my stuff while I snorkeled. They said their kids/grandkids were out there and they would be happy to do that as they would be there a while. Walking to the edge of the water on big ass rocks with no shoes on is no fun. Thank goodness there was a place to slide down into the water. Got in and swam about 30-40 foot and went to turn on my GoPro, but I didn’t have it. SHIT. Turned around, swam back, climbed out of the water, walked on the big ass rocks and got back to my stuff. Also had noticed that my mask was fogging so took it off and put in the cream and turned to them and said, ‘Shoot me if I come back.’ Walked back on the rocks, slid into the water, and swam away. Got about 50’ this time and I couldn’t believe it but I forgot the camera again. HOLY SHIT. Swam back, climbed out, walked on the rocks, got back to my chair and they said, should we shoot you. Hahahaha they thought that was very funny. And honestly, I laughed too. WTF Saw a turtle and called it a long adventure day……..

Day 5—Snorkeling at mile marker 14—Haleakala Hiking and Sunset

Today I was headed to Haleakala to watch the sunset. I had been told there was good snorkeling at Mile Marker 14 about 10 minutes from the condo, so thought what the heck and headed out to check it out. The reef was good. None of the reefs in Hawaii (so far) have been beautiful. They are volcanic rock with some coral. They are nice, just not like Fiji I have to say.

But then I saw an eye staring at me…… I was like, OK what the heck is that? It was an octopus and I could tell he was hoping I wouldn’t notice him. Octopus can disguise themselves with color and if I hadn’t seen his eye, I wouldn’t have noticed him as he looked a lot like the rock he was hiding in. He was too firkin cute. I will post a video and see if you can find him. I got a video of him swimming away to a better hiding place but the firkin video is not there. Well crap……. Then I saw a turtle. Great way to start the day.

The drive to Haleakala took longer than I thought it would so good thing I left early. Got there around 3:00 and checked out where the summit was for watching the sunset (6:40 approx), took some pictures from the top and then drove back down where you hike into the crater. Took some more pics and saw some Nene birds and then headed into the crater. In the brochures and online it said that it takes twice as long to hike back up as down. It was almost 4:00 and that meant 45 minutes to walk in and 1 ½ hours to walk back out. That should give me enuf time to get back up to the summit and parking since those are limited.

Incredible to hike into the crater. I walked down a little over 45 minutes and turned around. As I was walking down folks were mostly barely chugging along the trail back up. I was thinking huh, they must be out of shape. Hahahha OMG As I headed back up, I barely got 30’ and my chest was burning and it was hard to breath. What is going on? Did that a few times and thought, holy crap, I’ll never make it out of here. Then I made myself take 100 steps, no stopping. It was incredibly hard to do that. I did that a few times and then could only make it 75-80 steps. Finally, I couldn’t do that anymore and could only take 50 steps before stopping. I honestly wondered if I would make it out at all. A couple of MUCH YOUNGER people passed me and I just could not keep up. A family was passing me and they are like, are you OK? I said, yeah, just a bit winded. They asked again, are you SURE you are OK? I said yeah I was just taking it slow…….. Honestly, I thought I was going to die. (ok a little melodramatic here). I think that is the hardest hike I have done in my life. Someone said it’s probably because you are starting at ocean level and then going to 10000+ feet and then climbing down again and back up. I’m not sure, but not sure I would ever try that again. It was like hiking on the moon very different terrain, very colorful and pretty.

Drove back up to the summit and luckily found a spot to park. There were clouds covering the west side and no land could be seen. I thought maybe the sunset would be ruined but it was beautiful. The sun set under the clouds and it was weird because then the sky became lighter because the sun hadn’t set over land yet. It was very cool and glad I made it out of the crater alive. YOOO HOOO

Day 6—Sunrise Snorkel to Molokini, Turtle Town and MM14—3 Snorkel Day

Did a sunrise snorkel to Molokini. The water was probably the clearest I have ever seen. Problem is, other than the volcanic rock and some coral, there wasn’t much to see. Not many fish or critters around. The water was very pretty blue though.

Then we headed over to Turtle Town. The coral was pretty cool there and lots of sea urchins and some fish, but not a single turtle…….. hahhaha you go to turtle town and don’t see turtles….. as we were headed back the captain saw spinner dolphins in the distance. It was time to go back, but he took us out pretty close and they were so cool. There were LOTS of them and they were jumping and playing. It was mesmerizing…… I loved them. Didn’t get any pictures though as I only had the GoPro and didn’t get close enuf for good shots of them. It was awesome!

Later in the day I went back to snorkel at MM14 hoping to see my octopus again and get some video, but no such luck. Never a bad day when you snorkel 3 times though. YOOO HOOOO

Day 7—Snorkel at Kapalua, Swimming at Olivine Pools, Nakalele Blowhole, Failed Snorkel at Punalau Beach and Black Rock/Ka’anapali—Another 3 Snorkel Day

First thing in the morning driving to Kapalua to snorkel, before Lahaina, I saw a whale blowhole while driving and thought, this will be a good day/a lucky day….. and that feeling, come to find out, was so true…….

Got to Kapalua Beach around 9:30 and I had to park a mile away. Peeps must get up at the crack of dawn to get a parking space…. Scheez. I don’t love beaches that are that busy but I was told that it was great for snorkeling and well, couldn’t pass it up. Plus it was on the way back to the pools, blowhole and pretty beach I was returning to see. It was an awesome snorkel and I saw two honu, which I love. One was sleeping and I could see his leg out from under a rock. Watched him for a while and eventually he had to go up for air…… he came right at me. I am the honu whisperer. Haha

After the snorkel, headed to Olivine Pools. Finally got to the spot and headed down the trail—remembering that this is a dangerous place and to NOT stand on any cliff that is open to the sea and waves….. sooo many pools. Some only big enuf for a couple of peeps and others that many could fit in. No one was at the side pools further away as the surf looked very dangerous over there. Same with the pools on the other side. It was wonderful to sit in the pools and float. So very pretty and peaceful unless a jerk was doing a cannonball into the big pool. Hahahaha Stayed away from the sides by the surf. It was pretty high and splashing all around.

On to Nakalele Blowhole. The hike was over large boulders and rocks. It was intense but a cool hike. Once at the blowhole again, I stayed away from the edges. You never know when a rogue wave will come along and pull you out to sea. It has happened many times. I don’t want to be a statistic……. Hung out there a while and the blowhole was pretty active although not as high of spray as the video I linked in this blog.

On to the next. The beautiful beach with one person on it and a beautiful huge pool with reef all around for a perfect place to snorkel and swim. Stopped at the overlook again and Christina (from Russia) was there, getting some shots. She said she really wanted to go down buy not by herself. I said I wanted to hike down also and snorkel the pool and having someone along would be great. Let’s do it! The hike was pretty short and the last 15’ was a rock wall straight down but with places to place your feet and hand grabs. Made it down in one piece. YAAAAAY.

We got our snorkel gear on and ready to go. I jump in first and start swimming perpendicular to the ocean, headed to the protected pool. The waves were pretty big so knew we wanted to head there. Christina yells, hey Pam, come look. I don’t know what this is…… I swim back and it’s a firkin fish hook, a large one albeit, but still a fish hook. OK it did kind of look like a big spider with really long legs but that was only for a second. (Right then I should have figured out that Christina was new to this.) Back to swimming toward the pool. Then Christina yells again, Pam, lots of fish here, a big school. Back I go to check it out. There were a lot of fish and they took off straight out into the ocean. Christina follows them, and I thought, I’ll follow them for a little while. I know better than that, but still did it. We follow the fish for about 20-30’ and all of a sudden I feel it. A riptide. It was pulling me out and I couldn’t do a thing. I look ahead and Christina hasn’t figured it out yet. I’m screaming to turn around and of course, she couldn’t hear. I turn around and a huge wave comes in and starts pulling me out to sea. I grabbed onto the reef for dear life……. I don’t know how I held on, but I did. Then the wave came back and was carrying me toward shore. I held on to the reef as I walked with my hands. Then another huge wave pulling me out. I try to see Christina and she must have noticed a little after me and was trying to come back too. The waves by now are huge and coming fast, pulling us out and then crawling on the reef back in. I have to say, more than once I thought if you let go or get pulled out, this is it….. it was terrifying. And more so for Christina who was not making headway like I was. After about 5 minutes I finally pulled myself to some rocks and got on top of them and the tidal wave was still trying to get me, but I was up high enuf to hold on. Christina was screaming, Help, help me. OMG. I didn’t want to watch her drown, but I also don’t know her. I know in my heart if it was my family or a friend, I would go out there….. I just couldn’t. I kept yelling to swim to the side to get to the calm pool, but she couldn’t hear me. She kept screaming and honestly it was the worst feeling……. Knowing I really couldn’t help. She finally figured out to grab the reef and like me, made it back in but it was an excruciating 5 minutes for her and me. I pulled her back in as she got closer and we both just fell apart. She because she really came close to dying and me because I almost had to watch someone die…….. We crawled back to shore and couldn’t believe what we had just been through and made it. Oh lord…….. it was one of the scariest things to happen in my life. I love the ocean. It has beautiful life in it. But I also have a huge respect for its strength and unpredictability. Christina told me it was only her 4^th or 5^th time to snorkel…. I should have paid attention to my instincts and told her no, don’t follow the fish out….. next time I will stand my ground. (On the pictures in Shutterfly you’ll see the pictures of the beach and the quiet pool. Out further you will see the surf and that is where we got pulled to.) Yikes.

We part ways which was a good thing. Christina would be a bad travel partner for me and I for her. We both were like, let’s do this…. I need to be with someone who questions the situation. We wished each other safe travels.

Drove on to Ka’anapali and arrived around 4. Wanted to snorkel and see the Hawaiian tradition of the guy diving off the cliff at sunset (around 6:30 I was told). Plenty of time to get in a snorkel and then go change clothes to sit at the café, have an appetizer and watch the show. Saw one Honu and lots of fish. I try to stay organized when I snorkel, put everything away when I’m done. I put my mask into its case, put all the gear away and then head to the car to get my clothes around 6 so that I can make it back for the ceremony. I get to the car and no car keys. I had put them in the mask case and they must have fallen out while I was putting the mask away, right at the edge of the surf. DAMMIT. That is going to cost me….. but I figure I was there to see the show, I’d go back and watch then call the car rental place. I walk back to where I got out of the water and where I put the mask away, and there on a rock, were the car keys. OMG I couldn’t believe how lucky I was…. What are the chances…….. YOOOO HOOOO when I looked up at Black Rock the torches were already lit and the guy had already dived off the cliff. Well shit….. but at least I had my car keys. Hahahaha

Head back to the car and leave the parking garage and the arm was up. The console where you pay said, Please wait, the arm is up. No duh. Honestly, I waited like 4 minutes. Seriously, I am not waiting any longer. I drove out and didn’t have to pay. Hahahaha

So it really was my lucky day….. I’m alive, I found my keys and I didn’t have to pay for parking. Obviously, being alive was the thing…………

Day 8—Snorkel around the corner from Turtle Town

Last day in Maui and so I headed to an area close to turtle town that you can drive to…. There was a turtle sunning on the rocks over in an area impossible to get to…… but you could see him from above.

Snorkeled a while and saw two honu again. I really think I am a honu whisperer as they seem to come right at me like, hello, how are you? I love them. They are so graceful and pretty. I tell them that while I am taping them…. Hahahaha

Got back to the condo and had laundry to do and suitcases to pack……. I had a magical time on Maui…… my own little heaven, except for a lot of other folks. I am very blessed to be able to see so much beauty.

Love you all. Xoxo spank