Sunrise at Halekala - Above the Clouds . . .

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Before arriving in Hawaii, I’d asked a lot of friends who’d gone before what were the not-miss things to do. Everyone I spoke to said I had to see the sunrise at Haleakala Volcano in Maui.

Yesterday, I did the drive along the Road to Hana followed by an evening at a Luau. After the Luau and some visiting, we returned to the ship to nap. I tried tricking my body into thinking I was going to bed for the night, rather than just 2 ½ hours. Not sure how well that worked, but at 3:15am, the alarm went off and me and my roomie (Emina) were getting up and ready to go. By 4am, six of us were packed into the van and heading off towards Haleakala National Park.

The drive from the ship took about an hour and a half going up. We climbed (well, I drove) over 10,000 feet to get to the top of the volcano. The road was steep, twisted and dark. My big phobia is falling and at times that drive was scary for me. I kept my eyes completely focused on the road immediately in front of me, but in my peripheral vision, I could see the lights of the buildings down at sea level; my heart would race at how high we were at that point. It was pretty intense, but I got us up there safely and just in time for the “show”.

Just as we were pulling into the parking lot, the dawn was breaking. The sky began turning from black into a deep blue. We rushed from the car and up the pathway to the top.

It is cold on top of Haleakala. We were warned of this - multiple times. We were prepared for this. I wore two sweaters, a scarf, my Olympic mittens and brought a blanket to curl up in. But being warned and thinking you’re prepared is still not the same as actually feeling the cold! The van’s thermometer said it was 6 degrees celcius - but then add in the wind chill at 10,000 feet with no sunlight, trust me, it was cold up there!

We sat and huddled together for warmth. I took tons of photos - which was difficult because I was shivering and I had the mittens on! Mostly, I just tried to take it all in.

We were above the clouds. As the sun got closer to rising, colours painted the sky and the clouds below us. The sides of the volcano sloped down; they were dark and shadowed. After about 20 minutes, the sky began getting steadily more light and then the sun appeared at the horizon. After the sun had appeared, the girls rushed back to the van, but Emina and I hung back a few more minutes. That was when I thought it was the most incredible - the sun rose higher and strong bright rays of light stretched down to the clouds. It was stunning.

After we thawed out a bit in the car, I began the drive back down. I was pleasantly surprised at how not sleepy I was considering the little sleep I’d had. But I was wide awake for the drive down - and it was lovely! The drive up had been so scary because it was dark and I couldn’t see anything. But the way down in the morning sunlight provided beautiful views of the island and the sea in the distance. In the lower half of the descent we passed through fields with cattle wandering around.

When we got back into Kahului, the town where we were docking, two of the girls got out at the ship and the rest of us decided to go for breakfast. There was an I-HOP only a few minutes from the ship so we went there. Nothing like a good breakfast after a sunrise above the clouds!

And now after 24 hours of adventures in Maui, it’s time for me to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be another day of Hawaiian explorations!

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Comments

[swills82]

Very cool!
Again, some beautiful photos. Thanks for sharing!