Blogs from Kahului, Maui, Hawaii, United States, North America

Sure the Big Island is the biggest, but you can't have a biggest without a second biggest. Step up to the plate Maui. While she's less than a quarter the size of the Big Island, some of the driving times are extensive enough that you still get the sensation of a road trip whilst navigating the rental around the island. I mentioned in the previous blog how all sealife should be high tailing it straight to Hawaii due to its temperate aqua living conditions. Whales, specifically Humpbacks, being smarter than your average ocean dweller, have tuned in to the message, if the numbers we bore witness to are any indication. The body of water between Maui, Lanai and Molokai plays host to God knows how many of these doyens of the deep. At any time of ... read more

Whoopee! We are finally on our way. Becky turns and looks at me with a giggle and a grin "We're going to Hawaii!" Like i didn't know that. But i laughed and said "Yes, at last we are." After a 5 hour flight we landed without incident. I'd like to pause a second to thank the kind and generous flight attendant who moved us to 4 empty seats so that i could accomodate my particular needs, have more leg room, and eventaully take a nap. I was very grateful for the preferential treatment. Through security, down this ramp, and around that bend we, and other groups of travellers, were all finally spit out into bright sunshine and very blue skies with white puffy clouds. Humid air wrapped around me immediately and though not uncomfortably hot, it ... read more

Today’s Hawaiian adventure was set in Maui. A car (well, van) load of us set off to explore the Road to Hana. Again, I was the driver. The Road to Hana is 42 miles long and is literally carved into the North-Eastern side of the island. Friends who had been to Maui before recommended this trip and I’d read a lot about it. The Road to Hana has been called the Road to Heaven. The drive was meant to be both beautiful and challenging - 50 one lane bridges, cliffs crashing down to the sea, countless hairpin turns - we were up for it! I’d managed to borrow a copy of an audio guide for the Road to Hana. It was quite good - you timed it with different spots and mile markers and it provided ... read more

Today we decided to go on a Whale - Watching Cruise with the Pacific Whale Foundation. The weather was beautiful and clear and we had been hearing all about many whale sightings from shore. We took the bus to Ma'alaea Harbor and boarded the catamaran boat for our cruise. The water was great and we could see the Maui wind farm on the hill in the distance. I saw approximately 2 spoutings and 3 curved black backs slip into the water, but no spectacular breaches or tail-up dives. Of course one would have to be watching all day or more to perhaps see those. We did see a mother and her baby whale (a calf) swimming together. The glare from the bright sunshine sometimes made it difficult to spot whales in the distance. When we (Ray ... read more

We get our continental breakfast "to go " this AM from the dinning room and quickly board the bus (Duane's Bus) to ascend from sea level to Haleakala at 10,000 ft. We are all prepared with warm clothing (rain coats)and told to walk slowly and breathe deeply to guard against altitude sickness. So we all settled in and ate our breakfasts and dozed. It is a 2 hour bus ride and we got to the top about 8:30 am. Susan had been told by park rangers that the road would be closed from 9:00 am on for road maintenance and repairs so we needed to be there before 9:00 and be ready to descend by then too! So it seems we were on a tight early morning schedule. Once we arrived, we were told that the ... read more