Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Trip to Maui (2009)--Day 9
4/28/2009
Birthday and a Hike
Patty's birthday was today (no, I'm not disclosing her age!), and we also had booked a West Maui hike through Maui Eco-Adventures. The van arrived at the Lahaina Shores at 7:30 sharp. The guide, Eric, has two young women who are "in training" to be tour guides with this excellent company. We headed up to Ka`anapali, picking up eight other participants along the way. A couple from Nova Scotia is celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary! Other folks joining us included a couple from Houston, a couple from San Antonio and a woman visiting from Switzerland.
Our first stop was at D.T. Fleming beach where we enjoyed a continental breakfast and also a completely unexpected viewing of a Hawaiian Monk Seal which was lying out on the beach. A very impressive sight!
DT Fleming Beach
Monk seal taking a nap at DT Fleming
D.T. Fleming turned out to be only the first of what would be many photo opportunities over the course of this 5 1/2 hour activity. Our next stop was at Honolua Bay; I had driven as far north as this bay in the past, so there was nothing unexpected (other than the monk seal, of course). But after this, we would be driving on roads and seeing places I had not seen over our past five trips to Maui. There were some incredible vistas along the way. Time didn't permit our stopping everywhere we witnessed a nice view, so I would have to make the trip solo at a later date to snap pics of these places. The stop at the Nakahele Blowhole was much anticipated and turned out to be a disappointment, due to low surf and we got there at low tide. When the conditions are right, the surf forces a large spray of water vertically up through the hole. It's something to see based on pictures I've seen on various websites.
The highlight of this activity was hiking down to and swimming in the Olivine Pools. This was a pretty decent hike down a fairly volcanic rock pathway. Hiking sticks helped. Lugging that large camera bag didn't help. More than once I slightly lost my balance and nearly fell. A couple of people suffered minor scrapes courtesy of the a'a lava along the way. Eric and the trainees were slightly concerned about my progress, but slow and easy allowed me to get to the Pools without incident. We're surrounded by rock faces on three sides, cutting down what wasn't much wind to begin with, so by the time we arrived at the Pools, it was a welcome dip into the pools!. Patty stayed up above the pools, watching our stuff while I cooled off in the water. Luckily, due to the low surf, conditions were perfect today. Normally, these pools can be very dangerous to swim in, and people have been swept into the ocean on occasions, sometimes fatally.
"Olivine Pools"
Kahakuloa Head
A happy couple!
Julie's Best Banana Bread, considered by some the best of its kind on Maui. Not a fun drive to get there, though!
The view from near Julie's famous banana bread stand of Kahakaloa Head was impressive, but the bread was even better. Some have said that it's the best banana bread found anywhere. Since I haven't sampled every banana bread known to man (yet), I'll have to reserve judgment, but this was certainly the best banana bread I've found. Just past the bread stand, the Kaukini Gallery and Gift Shop was also a nice stop, featuring art from over 100 Maui artists. The prices match the quality.
Turnbull Studios was one of the final featured stops during this tour. This gallery was noteworthy, but I found myself thinking by this time "are we here to hike, or go to art galleries?" It was somewhat confusing. That question aside, this is a nice place to observe some quite interesting sculptures in the garden.
Turnbull Studios
The final stop we made is at the Lower Makamakaole Falls. Not having the permit necessary to hike down there, we had to be content with viewing these lovely falls from the road. Maui Eco-Adventures is trying to obtain permits from the state to start running tours down into this deep valley toward the falls, but Eric is less than optimistic this would happen in the near future.
Makamaka`ole Falls
After that, we quickly drove through Wailuku and Waikapu, eventually reconnecting with the Honoapi`ilani Highway, leading us back into Lahaina. In our estimation, this was our favorite activity while on Maui. The only thing we screwed up, however, was when we booked the activity with M.K. We didn't realize there were two West Maui tours. The other tour features a hike through a tropical rainforest, including a swim at a fresh water pool near a waterfall. We thought we were booking this tour, but apparently didn't make it clear with M.K. But in hindsight, this was still an exceptional activity and it now gives us a new activity to experience when we return to Maui. Rating: 9.5
Kimo's
No tanning today after the tour - we're dog tired - so after a nap, we headed over to Kimo's Restaurant for Patty's birthday dinner. We always make it a point to dine here when we're on Maui, and with good reason. Good food and service, wonderful sunset views, and nostalgia (this was where we had our wedding night dinner in 1996). I didn't like the Polynesian Chicken I had last year, so opted for the Teriyaki Sirloin, and was pleased with the choice. Patty had the steak and shrimp, one of her favorite choices. The atmosphere at Kimo's, while nice very early in the evening, becomes extremely romantic once the sun sets and they light the tiki torches. This is one of the two restaurants we most highly recommend to anybody coming to Maui.
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