SATURDAY, MARCH 22

We survived the road to Hana and the back side of the Island! What beautiful scenery – made even better by the fact that John didn’t have to drive so he could look at it too.

The shuttle from Polynesian Adventure Tours picked us up at 7:15 in the morning (which should seem early except for the fact that we are still running on BC time so it seemed like 10:15).  We went to the main station to re-arrange bus loads and then on to a continental breakfast at Whole Foods.

There were only 21 people in our group, all ages from all over the world (Mexico, Argentina, China, Florida, Virginia and Kansas for sure. Our driver, Wade, called himself a Wikipedia of Maui knowledge and he certainly was.  Topics from botany to volcanology to the history of Maui were discussed.

After breakfast, we started out toward Hana.  It was raining quite hard but looked clearer in the direction we were heading. The first bit of road wasn’t too bad and then the real fun started – there are 618 curves and 59 bridges over 84 kilometers, and, although the road is 2-lane, it’s more like 1.5 lanes.  At some points, the minibus was hugging the side of the rock wall so closely that if I had opened a window, a rock would have been within an inch.  Wade was a very good driver, and has been driving tours to Hana for 15 years or so.  We passed some very white-knuckled drivers coming the other way and some distinctly unhappy looking passengers in the vehicles.

Our first stop was at Ke’Anae Peninsula where there were some really neat lava formations along the shoreline.  Luckily, for us, the rain stopped just as we pulled into the parking lot, We had been going to stop at Hookipa Beach lookout to watch the surfers but no one was out braving the waves.

As we travelled along, all the waterfalls and normally dry creek beds were filled with water – they were spectacular. Whenever possible, Wade stopped the bus (sometimes using a boulder as an additional parking brake)

so everyone could get photos.  When there was nowhere to pull over, he drove the bus at almost a standstill over the bridge so there was time to gawk and take photos.  The size of the philodendron plants were amazing.

We stopped next at Waianapanapa State Park to see the black sand beach.  Also here was a lava tube that we could enter (being sure to duck far enough when entering so as not to bump your head – hmmm, I didn’t do so well with that *g* but no injuries occurred).

Back on the bus and off to the Hana Farms Market where the owner greeted everyone with a taste of fresh banana bread topped with Lilikoi (Passionfruit) Jam. Around here banana bread is made with the small finger bananas that are sweeter than regular bananas.  There were all types of goodies – including Macadamia toffee – which is fantastic *s*  Almost everyone on the bus bought something and there was a lot of sharing going on after we had stopped for lunch.

Lunch was at the Hotel Travassa in Hana – we had ours included with our ticket.  It was buffet style and featured salad greens, rice, lemon chicken and pulled pork.  I was actually able to eat!  After lunch, where we sat with another couple who had been involved in the same interesting driving situation as we were yesterday, we wandered around the grounds of the hotel and admired the plants and the lava rock wall.

Back on to the bus, feeling like old friends by this time, we headed for Oheo Gulch and the 7 “Sacred” Pools (a story made up to try to attract tourists).  Most of us had already figured out that there would be no swimming today but we could take photos of the pools (or what was supposed to be pools) and do some walking on the trails.

Now, if we thought the road to Hana was hair-raising, the next part of the trip was more-so.  We were entering another area where rental cars were not supposed to be driven but you wouldn’t have known it. Most drivers were fairly reasonable but there were a couple of cars that didn’t have any sense and tried to squeeze past the bus in a very tight spot.  They made it but I think at least one of them put a few scratches on their car.

The scenery on the back side was gorgeous – unfortunately, Haleakala was hidden by cloud but the ocean was visible.

Our last stop was at the Tedeschi Winery tasting room.  The rain had decided to pour down so the tasting room was packed with people.  We really liked the Maui Splash (a pineapple wine) and were looking at it to buy when one of the guys from the tour said it was available for less at Walmart.

As we were driving from the winery back to Kahului, Wade mentioned that Oprah Winfrey had purchased a large piece of land on the side of Haleakala and had put a private road in so that she could get to Wailea faster – that explains the road that John saw on Google Earth that didn’t seem to be accessible *s*

We got back to the condo at 6:30 after an excellent day.

The plan for today was to head to the top of Haleakala Crater if it was clear or to head to Lahaina and the west side of the island if it wasn’t.  When the sun rose (we’ve been getting up before the sun does), there were a lot of clouds so the west side it was.

There was a small rain shower as we were leaving Kihei but the sky towards Lahaina looked much brighter and the rain was light and warm so we were glad to be heading in that direction.

Once we reached Lahaina, the sun was shining so we parked the car and went to look for some geocache.  The first was hidden at the Old Lahaina Prison and it was supposed to be easy to find as it is hidden in an easily accessible spot.  As hard as we lookers couldn’t locate it but when I looked at the geocaching website, someone else had denoted that he found it today but it wasn’t where it was supposed to be.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Our next stop was the huge banyon tree in Lahaina Square. It is impressive and covers an area of about 200 feet.  It has 12 major trunks and it was like being under a huge umbrella. Just outside the square was a geocache in another tree – we found a parcel in the tree trunk but to our surprise, it was a package of sunglasses and not the geocache.  A little more looking (under the watchful eye of one of Maui’s police officers) and we had the cache in hand with no questions from the officer.

We then visited the Old Lighthouse to get a photo of it for another geocache requirement and then headed further west looking for Maui’s only store that sells Maui produced yarn (no one really thought I would pass up a chance to shop for yarn, did they?) The shop was a small store selling the products of different Maui artisans and everything was made on Maui.

Yarn shopping completed, it was back on the road heading along the coast.  It was drizzling again, but not enough to stop us from getting out of the car to look at the view – which was spectacular.  I kept a watch for whales but didn’t see any sign of them today.

After a while, we saw a sign warning of a narrow, windy road and made a few comments to each other about how we were already on one.  Hah! little did we know…

Apparently, we had inadvertently crossed into the no go zone for rental vehicles.  The road became one lane with very few pullout and limited visibility. We figured we should turn around but the question was where could we find a spot wide enough for our little car to do that? By this time, the rain had increased and we had to pass through a bit of water (maybe an inch and a half) at the bottom of one of the hills.  After a few hair-raising experiences with passing other vehicles coming down the hill we were climbing, we found a spot wide enough to turn around. The downhill trip back to the gully wasn’t too bad and then we reached the spot where the water was on the road.  Oh-oh, in the 15 minutes (more or less) that we had last been there, the water had risen about 9 inches.  We made it through although my adrenalin was pumping and, once we got back to the two lane road, pulled over to eat our picnic lunch and then head back to the condo for some relaxation. We did stop on the way for a  short stroll along a nature sanctuary boardwalk on the way back but didn’t walk the full length of it.  Only saw a few birds who appeared to pose for the cameras – maybe they are used to people.

After dinner tonight, I did some gecko stalking.  Just for you Lizz.

Tomorrow we are off on our tour to Hana.