SUNDAY, MARCH 23

The top of Haleakala was covered in cloud when we got up so we headed to the Maui Ocean Center, at Ma’alea Bay.
I loved all the exhibits but my favorite had to be the honu (Hawaiian for turtle). They had a couple of young ones on display as well as 3 or 4 adult ones. The enclosure could be viewed from above or below the water and it was so neat to watch them stretch up to breathe and then go to the underwater observation area and see how gracefully they swim.

I think John’s favorite might have been the eagle rays and stingrays that were in the observation tunnel area. We had one stingray pass over us while we were in the tunnel and it was massive.
To our surprise, we found we had been at the ocean centre for almost 3 hours (and that was before I found the massive gift shop!)

On our way back to the condo, we stopped at a craft fair that reminded us of the markets in Mexico. There was even a dusty rooster running around.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing – we’ve been on the move a lot (and our legs were a little sore – either from trying to stay upright in the bus on Saturday or from applying the imaginary brake for most of the trip.)

MONDAY, MARCH 24

The skies were mostly clear when we got up today so we crossed our fingers, dressed in warmer clothes and headed for Haleakala. Once in the car, we encountered some rain but it was fairly light.

We kept checking to make sure the top of the mountain was visible, breathing a sigh of relief as the clouds managed not to envelop it. We made a short detour to find a geocache before starting up the ‘highway’. The first part wasn’t too bad – switchbacks but nothing horrible. We were just about at the park gate when we saw a Hawaiian Nene (pronounced Nay-nay, a goose that is on the endangered species list). We had been told that they weren’t easy to see so we felt lucky.

We stopped at the visitor center on the way up and bought a couple of things and took photos of some small silversword plants. After that stop, the road got a little twistier. The speed limit was 20 mph on most of the corners which were fishhook like turns. We passed one section where someone had recently gone off the road, luckily into the wall side and not over the cliff. The police and park rangers were there doing accident investigation.

We finally reached the summit of the mountain (elevation – 10,023 feet or 3055 meters above sea level). The temperature was 47 degrees Fahrenheit (8.5 Celsius for my children) and there are signs warning you to walk slowly because of the elevation.

There were some clouds looking out to the south and east but the view was still spectacular. We wandered around a bit and then headed down the mountain a bit to the lower parking lot where another visitor center was located and where you could see into the crater, weather permitting.

We were disappointed to find that the crater was shrouded in cloud but we took photos anyway and then went inside the gift shop. While we were looking around, someone pointed out that the clouds were gone and the crater was visible. Everyone rushed out to take photos and before long, the clouds were coming back in. We were pleased to have been at the right place at the right time.

We headed back down after that, trying to go easy on the brakes and transmission but that wasn’t easy to do. We finally got back near the bottom and could smell the lovely scent of eucalyptus from a large grove of trees. I opened the windows and breathed it in *s*

We headed to Kula Botanical Gardens since it was nearby. They had a large number of plants but only about half were actually named. It was a little disappointing…

We spent about an hour there, then found a viewpoint and had our picnic lunch before heading back to Kihei where it was 85 F (29.5 C).

Tomorrow is our helicopter flight!

A couple of photos for you, Lizz.  The first guy is a chameleon that was at the Botanical Gardens and the second is our gecko neighbour trying to attract someone’s attention.