Hawaii

Maui - August 2007

My second trip to Hawaii was to Maui in August of 2007. This was an awesome trip with so much going on in my life. I had just accepted a job with a new company in the Seattle area and was making my move from NY to Seattle. Since I took an extra 2 weeks or so off in between jobs and all my belongings and furniture were going to take a couple weeks to get to Seattle, I figured spending that waiting time in Maui sure beat spending it in an empty, unfurnished apartment.
My friend Des from FL also wanted to go to Maui, so he met me the day after I arrived there and we spent a fun week traveling around Maui and enjoying the beaches and waters...

Our first stop...Little Beach for some R and R in the sun

Little Beach
Here is the view from our spot on the beach...does it get much better?

Near our B&B/Resort
We stayed at a place called Maui Sunseeker - right across the street from the ocean. Awesome location with a view of the water and sunset - and a wonderful outdoor shower up up on the roof that I opted to use each morning rather than the shower in our room - it was great showering with the sun on me and the blue sky and palm trees above.

Road to Hana
On one of our days we took the road to Hana. We made several stops. This one was for one of the recommended hikes thru a bamboo forest...OMG...they weren't kidding calling this a forest. Yes that's me working my way thru the bamboo. This photo doesn't quite do the thickness justice, but this was a beautiful sunny day, but the bamboo was so large and thick that the sun was blocked out.

Bamboo Forest Hike
Same bamboo forest hike, just not in the thick of it...

Bamboo Forest Hike Waterfall
The reward for this hike was suppose to be this waterfall, but the forest itself was my reward...it was so COOL! It was pretty funny when we came off the trail to go back to our car, my legs were covered with mud and there was a woman in white pants about to enter the opening in the bamboo to check out the hike, but one look at the mud all over Des and I's legs she changed her mind.

Bead Maker
This was a guy at one of the more touristy hiking spots making and selling beautiful necklesses and bracelets of tiny glass beads.

Bead Maker
I wish I could remember how many beads it took to make up one of these bracelets you see...but you can see the size of those little beads on the plate - quite an artform.

Blue Pool
This is me on route to an infamous spot called Blue Pool Falls. It is infamous because the only way to get there is thru private property that is often blocked by locals who have "had it" with the number of tourists who began visiting this place following the publication of its location in a popular guidebook (which I had with me). It was well worth the risk for me because it was really beautiful. it is impossible to capture the entire scene in one photo. To the left is a rock wall with a wide lacy waterfall framed on both sides by wildflowers. To the right is the crashing of the surf. And in the middle is a natural pool perfect for swimming.

Blue Pool
Ahhhh...there I am in the Blue Pool - above me is the waterfall and in front of me is the ocean - awesome setting!


How can you not love Hawaii? The color of the water, the bright skies, the flowers everywhere!


This was a park we stopped at on the road to Hana with a great black sand beach and really interesting flowers.


The flowers around the parking lot of the park.


More from the road to Hana.


This is a natural rock formation called Lao Needle - The green-covered stone protruding from the valley floor is actually an old basaltic core (volcano remnant. The 'Iao Needle is 2,500 feet above sea level, or 1200 feet tall from the valley floor. The traditional name is Kuka`emoku and it's known as the phallic stone of kanaloa (Hawaiian god of the ocean); thus the 'Iao Needle was once used as a natural altar.


The North West drive from Kapalu around Nakalele Point and on to Wailuku is amazingly beautiful. This is my friend Des at one of the many, many view points we stopped at.


More views from this drive on the opposite side of the island from Hana.


We stopped here and spent quite a bit of time around the water around the Nakalele Blowhole. Here I walked out on a rocky area...


and was surprised by this wave splashing against the water. The water actually knocked one of the lenses out of my sunglasses and suprisingly after the water subsided I found the lens in a small pool at my feet.


Here is a view of the Blowhole from about 200 feet up the trail near the road.


That's me in front of the Blowhole right before it errupts.


And Des in front of the Blowhole...it was really pretty cool just hanging out around here and watching the waves of water rush in and shoot up like the old faithful geyser.


This drive was probably more beautiful than the road to Hana...bright, sunny with amazing views.


Yes...more views on this cool drive.


Gorgeous bay on this same road trip.


Here in Lahaina is this exceptionally large banyan tree that was planted in 1873 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the missionaries.


We took a snorkling trip out to Molokini Crater. Molokini is a crescent-shaped, partially submerged volcanic crater which forms a small islet located in Alalakeiki Channel between the islands of Maui and Kaho'olawe. The shape and location of this islet make for perfect scuba and snorkling conditions.


The snorkling trip included a stop at a sea turtle nesting area...very cool swimming with these giant sea turtles.


Friend Des on our snorkling trip.


Our very nice and helpful snorkling tour guide.


Molokini snorkling.


Molokini snorkling.


Molokini snorkling.


Molokini snorkling.


Molokini snorkling.


Molokini snorkling.


Molokini snorkling.


The road to the Haleakala summit for sunrise. This is a very popular thing to do on Maui and requires getting up around 3am. Amazingly this holds the world record for climbing to the highest elevation in the shortest distance of 38 miles, to 10,023 feet.


Sunrise at the summit of Haleakala is like nothing else on earth. This volcano is called “House of the Sun” and witnessing the sunrise from here its easy to see why.


I had some warm clothing with me but Des didn't have anything so we grabbed a bedspread for him...and a very good thing we did...I think it was about 20 degrees up there.


There were several of these plants around up here at over 10,000 feet.


On the way down from the sunset here were some of the views...beautiful and well worth getting up so early.


This island continued to amaze us. We took the road around the south side of the island to find this area that was completely opposite of everything we had seen up until now. Incredibly dry, rocky lava that made us feel as if we were on a distant planet.


And back to our B&B area for sunset and another awesome dinner out.


copyright protected - photos by Tom Whalen

Drop me an email Tom Whalen takeoff321@aol.com