Wowie Maui!

Wowie Maui!

We are all digging the “laid back”, “small town” vibe that is Kīhei, Maui! We’ve spent lots of time on or near the water. Our condo looks out over the ocean and we have a perfect sunset view every night. And because I have a baby, I’ve also seen some sunrises over the mountain in the back, too. Breakfast on the lanai has been a highlight because everyone races to be outside as quickly as possible. 

Nathan took a surf lesson and spent two days surfing. His instructor had a surfing doggy who spent time on Nathan’s board. The dog, a pitbull, being an experienced surfer, as well as a solid muscle and low center of gravity, stabilized the board so much that Nate was able to move around on it. Adorable, that was mine and Lily’s highlight of those days. Nate upped his board length and started catching all the waves! 

We took Phylis for her first ever snorkel. It was special to be part of that!  We saw some reef fish and some pretty urchins. I was able to identify the endemic Hawaiian  fish - the humuhumunukanukaapu’a (I think I got close to the correct spelling on that one). 

Nathan and I were able to dive again. This time we did a two tank dive on the Molokini crater. The boat trip out was fun, as we approached this half submerged crater, sticking out of the water. The above water part of the crater was home to squawky Brown footed Boobies. The below water part of the crater was covered in lovely coral, much of it dead from the increase in water temperature. There was lots of reef fish to see. Many beautiful kinds. Again nothing overly special to note, just a lovely, clear dive. It was neat to dive on the coral, like a wall with a sandy bottom on the floor of the ocean. 

We did some playing at the beach and saw a ton of turtles from the shore. 

Lily loved the swimming pool at the condo and was in it at least once a day, usually twice. 

The other thing, besides water that characterized our time in Maui was driving. 

We drove the “white knuckle”, “terrifying” drive to Hana. Spoiler: it was not scary at all. It’s not dissimilar to any mountain drive and certainly not as scary as made out to be. It was, however, windy. I loaded up on all my anti nausea techniques and was mostly fine. We saw beautiful rain-forested or bamboo covered mountains dropping into the ocean and some “rural” Hawaii. We did a few short hikes to see waterfalls and rainforest and other interesting natural things. We couldn’t figure out why the bamboo forests were making Lillian so upset, until I finally interpreted that she was expecting to see baboons (bamboo-baboons. Similar?) and was mad they weren’t there! We ate banana bread and organic coconut ice cream. Because a drive is about the snacks, of course. 

We also drove around the west side of the island. Destination blowhole. We were nearly swept off the side of the mountain as we watched the blowhole send waves shooting up high in the air. That same drive also allowed us to see some more rural Hawaii, “dragon’s teeth” rocks and some petroglyphs that predate a written form of Hawaiian language.  I liked the west side better than the Hana side as it was more rocky, windswept and bracing, which made it all the more beautiful to me. 

Our last drive was along the “back way to Hana”, although we didn’t get that far, It was still pretty. We drove for an hour, and ended up about 5-10 miles (as the crow flies) from our condo which was far down the mountain below. Maui needs more roads. Destination pineapple wine. We found Maui Wine, a delightful little/big winery that infuses some of their wine with Maui grown pineapples. I enjoyed the tasting, but more so the ambiance as the tasting room was once the King’s private cottage, the bar was made out of a 16 foot piece of a mango tree and the gardens were stunning.

Right before arriving in Maui there was quite a giant fire right in and around the airport and Kihei. We luckily were not affected by the fires themselves which caused road closures and some evacuations. 10-20% of the fire was under control when we landed, by our third day it was 80-90%. What we were affected by was the smoke and ash. After the fire was out, it was so dry and windy, there was not a day that wasn’t hazy and smoky. We cleaned the counters every day and within hours would have a black film on them. My feet turned black and other than the moment my shower was over, were black entirely the whole time we were there. 

Nathan and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary by flying to the Big Island and getting settled in at our new Hawai’i home. 

Highlights

Jessica - being in an awesome location where you could walk to everything. Diving twice on Molokini crater. The views from the costal drives. 

Nathan - diving and surfing, both with an awesome company. Driving the “road to Hana”, especially the bonus drive we weren’t going to do on the “backside”. 

Lillian - the “swimmmmming pool”. Church the surfing doggie. Chickens and roosters everywhere. 

Phylis - the black sand beach. Snorkelling for the very first time. Being jumped on in the pool with Lily. Sitting on the lanai and looking at the ocean. 

Bebee - can’t think of anything too special. 

Lowlights

Jessica - making the decision not to do the Haleakala sunrise and hike to not subject Nathan and Lily to 10 000 + elevation. 

Nathan - my feet being black all the time. 

Lillian - doing lots of car drives. 

Phylis - the ash everywhere. 

Bebee - nothing was bad except roosters waking me up in the middle of the night.