16 November 2006 (7:20 AM HST)
I am sitting on the lanai at Classic Vacation Cottages on the island of Kauai. We’ve been on the go the last couple of days, which means that this journal has slipped into the past-tense narrative again.

On Tuesday, November 14, we moved from upcountry on the eastside of Maui to a resort on the beach on the western shore. Maui has two distinct mountains from two separate volcanic episodes with an expanse of lowland in between. The day started off rainy and overcast, but we’ve learned that weather is very geographic and changes quickly in the islands. Our first stop was the Iao Valley, which is incised into the eastern slope of the West Maui Mountains. The rain and clouds followed us, but what it took away in panoramic views it gave back in drama and mystique. The drive up the valley ended at a walkway along a beautiful stream which cascades down the mountainside. They had interpretive signs which explained some of the history of the island. Again, it was interesting to note how the valley was described as the site of the biggest battle the island has ever experienced where the bodies filled the streams when Kamehameha I overran the island in order to “unite the islands”. It always sounds so altruistic when you see it presented on the information signs. As always, the conquerors get to write the history. I’m not sure why the signs have such a strong prejudice for the reign of King Kamehameha I.

As I mentioned, we had intended on snorkeling a lot on Tuesday, but a parting comment from Gary as we were leaving left a pall over our plans. He mentioned that he was not going wind-surfing because he thought it was a bad idea to be in the water when it was overcast or the water was murky, because sharks couldn’t see as well and it was too dangerous. Jerry on Oahu had also mentioned that he didn’t go surfing after a rain because the fresh water flowing into the sea brought with it runoff that attracted the sharks in to shore and the mix of salt and fresh water was not as clear. The rain had stopped and it was starting to clear when we got to the first spot where someone had recommended snorkeling (the 14 mile marker on Rt. 30, the Honoapil’ilani Highway, on the south shore). We found good parking (a rarity) and a few other people snorkeling. We also found signs posted along the beach which said, “Swim at your own risk. Shark attacks have occurred along this area.” We decided that even if it was great snorkeling, it would be hard to relax and enjoy it. This coastline is also within sight, although not very close, to where a man got bitten by a shark a few days earlier only 30’ from shore. We decided to find a more protected area.

This time we were trying to find Black Rock north of Napili. We knew where it was, but found it very difficult to get past the “No Public Access” signs at all of the resorts that line that area of the coast. By the time we found the small sign indicating beach access, the rain had started again and didn’t look like it would let up soon. We ended up spending the day going through art galleries in Lahaina. We checked into The Mauian and I got to swim a little at their very nice sand beach while Julie talked on the cell phone to the kids. We relaxed in the evening and started packing for another inter-island flight the next day.

We decided to make one more attempt at snorkeling along this coast in the morning (Wednesday, November 15) at Honolua Bay. Just after sunrise we headed out to find this area which is supposed to be one of the best in Maui. We traveled light, which is a change for me, leaving my camera, wallet, and other valuables back in the room so we wouldn’t need to worry about them while we were both in the water. We only had about 45 minutes before we had to be back to get ready to head to the airport, so we were a little stressed. We had gotten detailed directions from a woman who had been there before, so we felt good when the landmarks all fell together and we found a good parking pull-off. As we walked down the path to the beach we passed a crudely-lettered sign that said that there was a $5 fee for accessing the preserve along this path (to pay for upkeep and portalettes). Being 7:00 in the morning, we hoped that whoever had posted the sign would not be around to collect their fee. Unfortunately, we were met down near the water by a man who claimed to own the property fronting the beach, and he would not let us enter without paying. I wish that I had told him that it would just be for 45 minutes and asked for a break, but he was pretty brusque and I didn’t think of it.

We got back in our car and tried unsuccessfully to find another way to get to the water. Finally, we found a nice, government owned and maintained trail down to the bay next to the area we were trying to find. It led to a beautiful beach with a calm surf. I was sure that we had used up all of our time, but Julie insisted that we could make up the time somewhere else and suggested that we go snorkeling for 15 minutes. By the time we had gotten our gear, there was a “set” of waves rolling into the beach that were probably four feet high. They didn’t last long though and we pushed out into the water. The snorkeling was not as good as it looked like it would have been in Honolua Bay, but it was still nice and we saw a lot of fish and the biggest sea turtle that we have seen to date. It was well worth the effort, even after the very spooky swim back through the churned up water at the surf’s edge. I’m okay swimming where I can see into the distance, but I’m very uneasy in close to the beach.

We spent the rest of the morning packing and taking the plane to Kauai by way of Oahu. We still haven’t learned these security ropes yet. I had done a good job of making sure that my water bottle was empty before going through security, but managed to forget that I had my Swiss army knife in my fanny pack. The ticket desk put it in a cardboard box which I could check through. Julie had to give up her suntan lotion since it was over their 3 oz. maximum for a carry-on.

After having a new rental car on Maui, we chose to have a less sporty looking car for Kauai. It’s not a good idea for your car to look too much like a tourist’s when parked at some of the waysides. There are some people who break into cars to get valuables, and others that vandalize the cars of tourists to discourage intrusion on their local space.

On the way to our new lodging, we stopped for a picnic lunch at Poipu Beach. The book said it was good for body-surfing, but the bay was filled with coral that made it much better for snorkeling. It was probably the best fish-viewing that we have seen. We then headed upcountry to Classic Vacation Cottages in Kalaheo where we are staying. Julie describes it as a "quaint cottage nestled in lush vegetation and very nice," aside from the overwhelming smell of mildew. Fortunately, we don’t have to spend too much time inside. At $45/night it helps make this vacation in paradise more affordable.

16 November 2006 (11:12 PM HST)
Today was a great day visiting the Waimea Canyon on the west side of Kauai. The canyon was formed by the combination of a fault and erosion by the Waimea River. It is described as The Grand Canyon of the Pacific, and while it doesn’t compare to the Grand Canyon, it is still very impressive (two miles across in some places and 3000’ deep). We stopped at some great overlooks and hiked a two mile trail around the rim of a gorge that led down to the Na Pali Coast. The first mile of the walk was along a road that was closed, even though it looked in perfect condition and was probably newly paved. The second mile was along a very rough trail of red, sticky mud that made the hiking kind of difficult. Fortunately, the trail was wide, because it ran along the edge of a huge drop-off. We had hoped to see more native birds along this trail, because it does run through native vegetation and is above the “mosquito line”, but the only birds we saw were the native ‘apapane and the introduced Erckel’s Frankolin (which we had never seen or heard of before). We also got a quick view of an owl flying overhead, which we assume was the native pueo. The trail ended in a very steep climb over red clay knobs which led to a knoll with a 360 degree view of the surrounding gorges. Gorgeous!

We headed back down the mountain and stopped in Hanapepe to do some more Art Gallery gawking. We treated ourselves to ice cream; a two dip sundae cost $7.30 so we shared it. It was delicious! We did our grocery shopping for the rest of our stay and headed home.

12 November 2006

We “survived” the road to Hana today. Hana is a small town on the eastern shore of Maui. Taking “The Road to Hana” is a popular tourist excursion because the road is very windy with several nice overlooks from the cliffs along the coast.
We thought there would be more access to beautiful waterfalls, but if they were there, we missed them. We did walk in to Twin Falls, which was a pretty falls, but not as impressive as we expected. I’m guessing that most of the impressive falls are on the private property that lines the roads.
Several of the streams that come down off of the mountain have been diverted from flowing into the ocean so that they flow to somewhere else. It looks like it was probably done a long time ago, so I assume that it has to do with harnessing the power of freshwater for the sugar cane crops which used to be the life-blood of the area.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at an overlook that was probably 400’ above the water on a sheer cliff. I have never stood so close to such a huge drop-off. I wouldn’t have stood as close to this one if it had not been for a pair of very interesting sea-birds that kept teasing us by flying by and disappearing from view below us. They turned out to be White-tailed Tropicbirds, which have a long, thin tail about as long as their body.

As we neared Hana we stopped at Wai’anapanapa State Park. The sky was threatening rain and the surf was building up which made the coastline very interesting. We sat at an overlook and identified a colony of Black Noddies which were flying in and around a huge rock tower that jutted out of the water. Then we walked down to Black Sand Beach and explored the caves along the coastline and took pictures of the waves crashing through the rocky shore. (To understand the colors in these images you have to visit our photography blog at http://oakhaven.blogspot.com)


We had decided when we scheduled our trip to stay out at Hana for one night so that we wouldn’t have to drive back the 40 miles in the same day. It was a very good decision, since the drive (along with sight-seeing) took us six hours and Julie was wiped out after all those miles of curves. We were planning on spending tomorrow visiting more sights at this end of the island, but there is a bridge that was knocked out by the earthquake a few weeks ago. Supposedly, you used to be able to walk past the bridge for an hour and a half to get to the Seven Sacred Pools (which we have been told repeatedly are not sacred or seven), but now they have closed it off all together. We are spending the night at Joe’s Place ($45 for a private room with shared bath), which seems nice.

13 November 2006
We are back at Peace of Maui tonight after taking the “Road From Hana” today. I am so glad that we stayed out at Hana last night. We spent this morning checking out the coastline past Hana. The surf has been up which makes the waves very energetic and exciting. We didn’t feel comfortable swimming at the first few beaches that we stopped at because of the size of the waves. We did swim at Red Sands Beach which is a secluded beach in a small bay protected by a natural breakwater. Most of the beaches are not marked in any way, but Red Sands Beach takes the prize for the most difficult to get to. You have to park along the side of the road, cut across a lawn area for a school, follow a path through five foot high grass that looks like it hasn’t seen more than a few people walk by in weeks. Then you get to a path that leads along the face of a cliff that is only about 1-2’ wide and sloping toward the 50’ drop off to the rocks along the coast. If that wasn’t bad enough, the path is not cut into a stable, hard material, but is made up of gravelly volcanic rock that was covered with little round pine cones that made it very treacherous. You could see where the path had slid away in some places, and you hoped that it wasn’t going to do it again soon. It was a relief to get down to the beach, but while there I was worried that someone would come behind us and knock off the narrow ridge and leave us stranded.

We managed to see more of the falls along Hana Road coming back than we did see going there. We pulled off and hiked into two of them which had a big enough pool below to go swimming in. We managed to get back in three hours which was much quicker than yesterday’s trip. We stopped at several art galleries which were inspiring. Dinner was at the Pa’ia Fish Market where Julie had a chicken taco and I had Mahi fish and chips. We got in early enough to do a load of laundry, although their drier is not working, so we had to hang it out on a line. I hope it will be dry tomorrow since we will be leaving in the morning and heading over to the west side of Maui to spend our last night. We spoke with a woman tonight who was telling us about several good snorkeling beaches over there.

11 November 2006

We are sitting around in the living room at Peace of Maui solving world problems with Nicole from Oregon and Gary from Nova Scotia. It’s always interesting to get the benefit of other’s perspectives. I realized that I missed yesterday’s entry. While it seemed like we spent the day at the airport, it actually went pretty quickly. The flight from Oahu to Maui was smooth, but we sat on the wrong side of the plane (the right side) to see much of the islands. We got in to Maui after a 40 minute flight at about 10:30. By 11:30 we had our baggage and rental car and were on our way.

We decided to visit the south shore of Maui before going to the hostel, so we drove along looking for a great beach. We had heard a lot about Big Beach in Makena State Park, so ultimately we were heading there. We stopped at a roadside stand for hotdogs and drinks and pulled into the nearest turnoff toward the shore to find someplace to eat. We found a nice parking area with a nicely paved access to the beach which had restrooms and showers. It was a great place to have lunch, but we still wanted to see what this shoreline had to offer so we continued to head along the coast.

When we got to Big Beach we found a very full, very long parking area which was quite a ways from the beach. We lugged our beach and snorkeling gear down to a very long and wide crescent of a beach which had a lot of people, but also had plenty of space to put them on. I can understand why people like this beach, but we found it too big. We parked our stuff in the shade, which was quite a ways up from the water. There were no facilities, other than a few port-a-potties, so changing into our suits was going to be a hassle. The beach also had no place that looked like it would be good for snorkeling. I checked out the smaller beach next door which was supposed to have good snorkeling and be on a smaller scale, but being one of the few “clothing optional” beaches on the island, it was packed and we didn’t feel comfortable.

We ended up going back to the beach where we had lunch, which I believe is Polo Beach, and had a great time. The reef is very close to the shore, so we had a good time snorkeling. Along with a lot of very colorful fish, got to swim with a rather large green sea turtle. I had heard that it is best not to approach them too closely, but instead sit back and let them come as close as they are comfortable. It happened that the way the waves were I drifted over to within about ten feet of him (or her?). Then he swam down in between two coral heads and stared up at me. I thought I might be making him uncomfortable, so I moved on.

After swimming we headed to our lodging and Peace of Maui, which is up-country from the north shore. The hostel has seven bedrooms, two bathrooms, and three showers along with a common kitchen and living room. After dropping off our stuff we headed down towards the coastline to Pai’a which is a bustling little town with lots of shops and eateries. We did a little window shopping in some of the art galleries and had dinner at Café Mambo where Julie had a hamburger and I had a duck burger. Then we stopped at Mana’s grocery store which was very crowded with a Friday evening crowd. We bought enough groceries for our stay on Maui and headed home to relax.

This morning we considered getting up early and heading up to the top of Haleakala, which is the dormant volcano which makes up the eastern side of Maui. It would take an hour to get to the top, which would mean leaving before 5:00 to get up to the top. We decided to take the advice offered in The Birdwatchers Guide to Hawaii and get up there a little later after the crowds had left. There are a lot of bike tours that start at the top of Haleakala (at 10,000 feet) and coast down the 38 miles to the bottom. We ended up getting to the summit around 9:00. We had brought warm clothes specifically for being on top of this mountain, and we were glad we had them. While it was 60 degrees on top, the wind was fierce. The terrain makes you feel like you’re on Mars, with lots of reddish rubble and little to no plant life. On the way back down we stopped at several areas to hike along the ridge or into the “erosional valley”, which is where the crater used to be before it eroded away. It was very dramatic. Near the top we had lunch in a parking area with a Nene Goose looking on. Then we drove down to Hosmer Grove where there is a nature trail which was supposed to have many of the native birds. We spent a good part of the afternoon birdwatching on the short nature trail and learning some new birds. We sat at one overlook which had an informational sign identifying some of the birds and saw almost everything mentioned. It included the red, endemic birds (the I’iwi and the Apapane) and several Amakihi. While we were watching and fretting over whether or not we were seeing enough to be sure of our identifications, a Pueo (short-eared owl) soared over the opposite crest and down through the valley in front of us. It took our breath away. Pueo are one of the few owls that are active during the day, so it was the best look that we had ever had of a wild owl.

As we were leaving, the clouds were coming in which was an experience in itself. There was a wall of fog that was thick enough to limit visibility to about 30’, but next to it was completely clear. Driving down the mountain with the fog was a little treacherous, but we were glad that all of the bikers were off the mountain by the time we left. We managed to catch the sun just as it dipped below the horizon as we neared the bottom of the mountain.

Since we weren’t quite ready to head back to the house, we went to Makawao and checked out some more art galleries. There are some very creative people who live in Maui. I hope that there are enough buyers visiting the area to keep them all on financially solid ground.

10 November 2006 – 9:00 AM HST
I’m two days behind in journaling this trip. We are sitting in the airport waiting to fly over to Maui for the next five days. I didn’t realize that we would have to go through security that is just as tight to fly from one island to another. It gets to be a hassle, but as they say, they’re doing it to keep the flight safe. While packing our bags we had packed a soft-sided cooler with some food that we had bought and packed it in Julie’s suitcase, which is already big and heavy. It ended up being overweight by about ten pounds. We had to unpack some things out of that bag and stuff it into another bag. When they were scanned at security, that was the bag that they wanted to open. It would hardly close back up. I hope it doesn’t pop open on the flight. The bag with the ammo case went through without any concern at all. We had started keeping my epi-pen in Julie’s backpack. I had forgotten that I had put a razor blade in the kit a few weeks ago for removing bee stingers. The security agent was almost apologetic when he suggested that we couldn’t bring a razor blade on the airplane. I’m impressed that their scanners picked it up.
On Wednesday (11/8/06) we went to see Pearl Harbor.
We had been told to get there at 7:00 (before it opens) to avoid having to stand in line for three hours. We got a little lost on the way and didn’t get there until 7:40. The line was probably 300 feet long. Fortunately, when they did open, the line files in fairly quickly and we were into the museum within half-an-hour. They give out tickets for the introductory movie and the ferry ride over to the Arizona Memorial. We had 1 ½ hours to look through the museum before the movie, which was actually just about perfect. Some of the history was amazing. They were experimenting with radar in 1941 and actually followed the attack flight of almost 200 planes in for an hour before the attack.
The technician told his superior, but was told not to worry about it because it was probably a flight of US planes they were expecting that morning. The information never went past those two or three people.
It really made me appreciate that the attack occurred in a peacetime setting when their defenses were down. At the time, the US was building up its military strength and the Japanese military knew that they would have to strike quickly to be successful. It was really sobering to think about all of the life-and-death decisions that were being made in those few minutes after the attack.

After a morning of museums, we decided to go swimming and snorkeling in the afternoon. We had been told that the beach below Diamond Head had good snorkeling. We found a pull off, but the area made us uncomfortable. While there were a lot of cars parked along the road near the beach, it seemed like too many of them had solitary men just sitting in them. There was a little foot traffic down along the shore, again all men. When we rounded the corner looking for a good place to access the water, we came to a larger group of men on the beach wearing very little (at the most). We decided that we weren’t the clientele that normally visited that area. We decide to go to a beach near Kapiolani Park where I snorkeled just off the swimming beach. It’s amazing how much there is to see so close to shore.

We had dinner at the International Marketplace where we ate the first night. We stopped in at a bakery where we bought a piece of chocolate cake and croissants for lunch tomorrow. It was odd being in a bakery with a French name, speaking English to a Japanese clerk, and feeling the need to say Mahalo (Hawaiian for “thank you”). It is quite a multicultural experience.

We started off Thursday (11/9/06) with a trip up to the Nu’uanu Pali Lookout, which is up in the Ko’olau Mountains. It gives a great view of the windward side of the island … at least it does when it’s not raining and foggy (cloudy?). There was not much of a view when we got there, but we could wait around a little until the weather broke a little and we could see out to the water in some places. The overlook is on the side of a cliff where King Kamehameha drove the Oahu warriors off of the cliff when he came from The Big Island to “unite the islands”, as the sign so politely put it.

Driving down the windward slope of the mountain, we stopped at Ho’omaluhia County Nature Park, which is a botanic garden that lived up to its name (peaceful). We walked around a lake and saw a lot of the birds that we have become familiar with, and Hawaiian Coots, which were a new bird for us. We were hoping to learn some of the native plants, but can’t seem to get our tongues wrapped around the native names. We then drove along the coast looking for a good snorkeling place, but decided not to stop anywhere.
We did stop to do some bird watching along the coast across from a marine bird sanctuary. The sanctuary is a ways off shore, so you can’t see birds on the island, but can sometimes see them flying along the waves. Julie was sitting on the rocks staring out to sea when she realized that there was a large gray bird hunkered down on a rock not more than twenty feet from where she sat. It turned out to be a Pink-footed Shearwater, which was another new bird for us. (Such excitement, you say! It takes all kinds in this world.

We ended up the day hiking up to Makapu’u Lighthouse to view the sunset and several hang gliders flying along the cliffs in the dwindling light. It was quite a sight, but made us wonder how one learns to hang glide, considering that making a mistake leads to instant death. Can’t just chalk it up to experience and try again in the morning.