Departing Maui
Today we leave Maui to depart our international journey. We have had a great time here though the weather is not as nice as Kauai. Yesterday, it was 95 degrees and very humid. It was much too hot to be outside comfortably.
After we left Ka’anapali, we got the opportunity to stay at the Four Seasons in Wailea. The hotel is really beautiful with lots of fountains. It has been hot and overcast since arriving on this part of the island.
Our highlight of our time in Maui is when we got to drive the Hana Highway on Saturday with our friends Jana and Beth. The Hana Highway takes you along the north coast of Maui. Hana is the final destination, but most of the fun occurs along the way.
Our first stop was at a natural pool along the road where you could swim in icy water. Jana, Beth, and I hiked down off the road into the pool, but Dave, always the daredevil, decided to jump twenty feet from the road into the pool. Thankfully, he is still safe and sound.
Our next stop was off the Hana Highway into a town called Nahiku. After driving about five miles we reached a beautiful lookout on the ocean. It was breathtaking, but it got better. We hiked down a short path and found a natural pool right next to the ocean. You could climb into the pool and stand underneath a waterfall while watching the waves break on the rocks merely feet away. It was amazing.
Our next stop was at a place called The Blue Pool that was described as straight out of a Hollywood movie. That was no joke. After paying some locals two dollars to park on their property we hiked along the ocean for a few minutes and finally came across the Blue Pool. We regret that we didn’t bring our cameras along this hike because the pool was picture perfect and truly out of a movie. The Blue Pool was a large pool protected from the ocean by boulders. Feeding the large pool was the largest accessible waterfall we had seen thus far. The waterfall expanded about twelve feet across the rocks and was at least fifty feet high. You had to swim to the other side of the chilly pool but once you got across you could sit under the waterfall. We met some other honeymooners along our way who we walked to the pool with. Jokingly, Dave told them that we were also on our honeymoon and we had invited Jana and Beth along with us. They believed him and gave us a really strange look, but Beth was quick to correct that she and Jana lived on Maui and were just tagging along for the day. Scott and Melissa, our honeymooning friends, followed us to our next destination, Black Sand Beach.
As the name suggests, the beach is created by black pebbles getting eroded over time by the rising and falling of the tide until the pebbles turned to sand. Despite the signs warning of dangerous current, man of war, and jellyfish, Dave was the first to step into the water. Jana and I followed carefully. We only dipped our feet in though. There was a tunnel that you could walk through and see another view of the beach. Near Black Sand Beach were some caves you could swim into.
On the way to the caves was a sign telling of a Hawaiian legend. The story began "once upon a time" which led Jana and I to believe it would be a happy story. Unfortunately, the story was one of a Hawaiian princess who ran away from her cruel husband and hid in the caves. Her faithful maidservant accompanied her and fanned her in the heat. The husband saw the reflection of the fan in the still water and found the princess’ hiding place. He then killed her. Every year, shrimp come to the caves turning the water red and many Hawaiians believe it is to symbolize the innocent blood shed by the beautiful princess. Not exactly the happy ending we were looking for, but nonetheless the caves were really neat. Again, Jana and I climbed down the short trail to the water while Dave jumped ten feet into the cold water. We swam into the cave where there was a natural ledge formed in the water. We sat in there for a bit until I nearly froze to death and then we swam out into the sunshine.
Our last stop along the way was at Seven Sacred Pools. We barely made it before the sun set completely. We hiked at dusk for about ten minutes before arriving at the pools. The pools were created by a waterfall and turned into seven pools by the natural terrain. The pools ended in the ocean. Beth, Jana, and I were cold, hungry, and exhausted so we watched as Dave bounded up the rocky terrain to jump twenty feet off the waterfall into one pool and then another. We watched the sun set as it rained, but Dave continued to swim. He came back just as night set in. He was so excited about his waterfall jumping telling us that there was another waterfall forty more feet up that you could jump fifty feet into a pool of water. He can’t wait until next time we come to Maui to do that jump.
We proceeded to drive in the dark along the rest of the road. The company we rented the car from asked us to turn around at Hana since the road was gravel, but we had a three hour drive back that way and only two if we took the rest of the road. Everyone can be thankful for Dave’s skilled driving as we went along a bumpy gravel road along a cliff where we continuously saw commemorative crosses for people who must have perished off the side of the cliff and cattle milling in the road. We made it safely back to Kahului, where we began, and scarfed down dinner before calling it a night.
I had the wonderful coincidence of being in Maui at the same time as Jana’s sister, Paula, who was a very good friend of mine in high school. Paula, Jana, and I were able to go shopping while Dave golfed. It was great to spend quality time with such good friends.
I have one other funny story. When we arrived at the hotel, we started noticing men in black suits always sitting outside the elevator on our floor. Confused about why anyone would come to Maui to sit in chairs on the seventh floor of a hotel, I started joking with Dave that the FBI was after him. These men were in the chairs every single time we came or went from our room. One day, after leaving to go to lunch, we noticed one of the men sitting at a table alone a few tables away from us. The mystery was growing. Dave finally confronted one of the men about why he was spending his whole vacation sitting in a chair outside the elevator. It turns out we weren’t too far off. The men were Secret Service agents protecting a French diplomat vacationing at the hotel. We have now befriended the agents.
We have a nine hour flight to Japan today at 1 pm. We will be sixteen hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time in Japan. Our first destination is Osaka.
After we left Ka’anapali, we got the opportunity to stay at the Four Seasons in Wailea. The hotel is really beautiful with lots of fountains. It has been hot and overcast since arriving on this part of the island.
Our highlight of our time in Maui is when we got to drive the Hana Highway on Saturday with our friends Jana and Beth. The Hana Highway takes you along the north coast of Maui. Hana is the final destination, but most of the fun occurs along the way.
Our first stop was at a natural pool along the road where you could swim in icy water. Jana, Beth, and I hiked down off the road into the pool, but Dave, always the daredevil, decided to jump twenty feet from the road into the pool. Thankfully, he is still safe and sound.
Our next stop was off the Hana Highway into a town called Nahiku. After driving about five miles we reached a beautiful lookout on the ocean. It was breathtaking, but it got better. We hiked down a short path and found a natural pool right next to the ocean. You could climb into the pool and stand underneath a waterfall while watching the waves break on the rocks merely feet away. It was amazing.
Our next stop was at a place called The Blue Pool that was described as straight out of a Hollywood movie. That was no joke. After paying some locals two dollars to park on their property we hiked along the ocean for a few minutes and finally came across the Blue Pool. We regret that we didn’t bring our cameras along this hike because the pool was picture perfect and truly out of a movie. The Blue Pool was a large pool protected from the ocean by boulders. Feeding the large pool was the largest accessible waterfall we had seen thus far. The waterfall expanded about twelve feet across the rocks and was at least fifty feet high. You had to swim to the other side of the chilly pool but once you got across you could sit under the waterfall. We met some other honeymooners along our way who we walked to the pool with. Jokingly, Dave told them that we were also on our honeymoon and we had invited Jana and Beth along with us. They believed him and gave us a really strange look, but Beth was quick to correct that she and Jana lived on Maui and were just tagging along for the day. Scott and Melissa, our honeymooning friends, followed us to our next destination, Black Sand Beach.
As the name suggests, the beach is created by black pebbles getting eroded over time by the rising and falling of the tide until the pebbles turned to sand. Despite the signs warning of dangerous current, man of war, and jellyfish, Dave was the first to step into the water. Jana and I followed carefully. We only dipped our feet in though. There was a tunnel that you could walk through and see another view of the beach. Near Black Sand Beach were some caves you could swim into.
On the way to the caves was a sign telling of a Hawaiian legend. The story began "once upon a time" which led Jana and I to believe it would be a happy story. Unfortunately, the story was one of a Hawaiian princess who ran away from her cruel husband and hid in the caves. Her faithful maidservant accompanied her and fanned her in the heat. The husband saw the reflection of the fan in the still water and found the princess’ hiding place. He then killed her. Every year, shrimp come to the caves turning the water red and many Hawaiians believe it is to symbolize the innocent blood shed by the beautiful princess. Not exactly the happy ending we were looking for, but nonetheless the caves were really neat. Again, Jana and I climbed down the short trail to the water while Dave jumped ten feet into the cold water. We swam into the cave where there was a natural ledge formed in the water. We sat in there for a bit until I nearly froze to death and then we swam out into the sunshine.
Our last stop along the way was at Seven Sacred Pools. We barely made it before the sun set completely. We hiked at dusk for about ten minutes before arriving at the pools. The pools were created by a waterfall and turned into seven pools by the natural terrain. The pools ended in the ocean. Beth, Jana, and I were cold, hungry, and exhausted so we watched as Dave bounded up the rocky terrain to jump twenty feet off the waterfall into one pool and then another. We watched the sun set as it rained, but Dave continued to swim. He came back just as night set in. He was so excited about his waterfall jumping telling us that there was another waterfall forty more feet up that you could jump fifty feet into a pool of water. He can’t wait until next time we come to Maui to do that jump.
We proceeded to drive in the dark along the rest of the road. The company we rented the car from asked us to turn around at Hana since the road was gravel, but we had a three hour drive back that way and only two if we took the rest of the road. Everyone can be thankful for Dave’s skilled driving as we went along a bumpy gravel road along a cliff where we continuously saw commemorative crosses for people who must have perished off the side of the cliff and cattle milling in the road. We made it safely back to Kahului, where we began, and scarfed down dinner before calling it a night.
I had the wonderful coincidence of being in Maui at the same time as Jana’s sister, Paula, who was a very good friend of mine in high school. Paula, Jana, and I were able to go shopping while Dave golfed. It was great to spend quality time with such good friends.
I have one other funny story. When we arrived at the hotel, we started noticing men in black suits always sitting outside the elevator on our floor. Confused about why anyone would come to Maui to sit in chairs on the seventh floor of a hotel, I started joking with Dave that the FBI was after him. These men were in the chairs every single time we came or went from our room. One day, after leaving to go to lunch, we noticed one of the men sitting at a table alone a few tables away from us. The mystery was growing. Dave finally confronted one of the men about why he was spending his whole vacation sitting in a chair outside the elevator. It turns out we weren’t too far off. The men were Secret Service agents protecting a French diplomat vacationing at the hotel. We have now befriended the agents.
We have a nine hour flight to Japan today at 1 pm. We will be sixteen hours ahead of Mountain Standard Time in Japan. Our first destination is Osaka.
posted by Lindsay | 12:10 PM
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