Our Island hopping adventure

AND AWAY WE GO

On February 19th Rosella and I along with art and Ethel were up in the wee hours of the morning getting ready to leave on a10 day, three island excursion of Hawaiian islands of Molokai, Maui and Hawai'i (The Big Island).  The common way for inter-island travel is small 9 passenger commuter planes and we were off in one of these shortly after the break of dawn, headed for Molokai for the day.



NOT TOO MUCH ROOM
IN HERE !



DIAMOND HEAD CRATER



WAIKIKI FROM UP ABOVE



Rosella and Ethel were both a little hesitant about our aircraft but once we got going, it was a spectacular 25 minute hop to Molokai.   The flight path took us over Waikiki and Diamond Head at the end of the beach and followed the coastline for about 10 minutes before heading over the water that separates the island of Oahu with Molokai.  It was a clear sunny day and the plane flew at a very low altitude which allowed us to thoroughly enjoy the spectacular scenery along the way.

Upon our arrival in Molokai, we picked up our reserved car and headed for our one day of adventure traveling this very small, mostly un-developped island where the longest white sand beach in Hawai'i will probably have only your foot prints on it, where no building is taller than a palm tree, and taking it easy seems to be a way of life.  Here, there is so little automobile traffic on their 40 or so miles of paved roads, there's not a single traffic light, there's no mall, no escalator no elevators no bright neon signs; no burger wars here. 

AUNTIE RUBY'S

With a total population of just over 7,000 habitants, shopping is done in small, friendly businesses in Kaunakakai, the largest town, and in the villages of Kualapu'u and Maunaloa.  We had lunch at Auntie Ruby's restaurant, the only restaurant we saw during our driving across the whole island. 

Life here is slow and relaxed, it's very rural and peaceful, it's almost like stepping back in time 50 years, quite the contrast with the hustle and bustle of Waikiki with it's dozens and dozens of tall, luxurious resort hotels, streets burgeoning with visitors from all over the world.



The drive and the stops were very pleasant.  On one end of the island, we stoped to visit a secluded beach about 7 minutes walk along a sandy trail to discover a beautiful beach that went on as far as we could see with only a grandfather playing in the water with his grand children while grandma sat watching them.  Parked on the beach were two very large seals that greeted us as we approached the water.  If you are looking for seclusion, this is the place!



SECLUDED MOLOKAI BEACH

SEALS BASKING ON THE BEACH




 



NARROW ONE LANE ROAD

Later on during the day we drove down narrow roads glistening with wild plants and tropical flowers and enjoying the great scenery along the ocean shore.  Before heading back to the airport for our flight to Maui in the early evening, we found a great home made ice cream parlour and sampled some of their products.

By 6:15 pm we were on board one of those small commuter planes, on a 35 minute journey to Maui.  What a nice day we had exploring this almost secluded part of the Hawaiian islands, no rush, no tall buildings, no hustle and bustle, no glitter,just calm and serene pleasant scenery, and very nice people.

MAUI OCEAN CENTRE

Day two of our journey, we woke up in our very pleasant condo on Maui where we would be staying for the next little while.  We decided that we would spend the day exploring the Maui Ocean Centre where we took a a journey of discovery, were amazed at the beauty of Hawaii's underwater world, and we learned a whole bunch of new things about the underwater world.

FEEDING THE
SHARKS AND
STING RAYS

We saw awesome animals and experienced Hawaii's incredible underwater world   We sat  watching in a demonstration area while scuba divers entered a glassed-in aquarium /pool to give us a talk to us about the various wildlife at the bottom of the Hawaiian ocean and observe them in a live demonstration of feeding the sharks that reside in this huge aquarium  that houses these incredible animals.  The whole thing was being narrated by a host who was in the demonstration area and had voice contact with the scuba divers in the aquarium who would provide us with a play by play of the animals that were swimming in the pool and how all the fish, the sharks in particular feed in the ocean.  it was incredible. 

UP CLOSE WITH THE
SCIENTISTS

After the feeding, the diver who was doing the feeding came into the area where we were watching and Ethel, Art, Rosella and I stayed behind while all the other people in the crowd who pursued their visit and spent about 20 minutes asking questions and getting all kinds of very interesting information from both these two scientists who make their career studying and observing ocean wild life.  It was another great day for all of us on Maui.

ONE LANE BRIDGE

The next day, we were up early to spend the day exploring the famous "Road to Hana", one of Hawaii's most scenic adventure and breathtaking tour on this famous Maui roadway with stunning scenery around every turn.   Although Hāna is only about 52 miles (84 km) from Kahului, a typical trip to Hāna takes about three hours if you don't stop to admire the dozens and dozens scenic spots along the way, as the road is very winding and narrow and passes over 59 bridges, 46 of which are only one-lane bridges, requiring oncoming traffic to yield and occasionally causing brief traffic jams if two vehicles meet head-on. There are approximately 620 curves along this route which is just east of Kahului to Hāna, virtually all of it passes  through lush, tropical rain forest. Many of the concrete and steel bridges date back to 1910 and the CD we purchased to to provide us with a blow by blow details of what we were observing along the way explained that all but one of these old bridges are still in use.



UNDER THE FALLS



DON'T WANT TO GET WET

We stoped at many of the spots indicated on the CD, took a lot of photos along the way.  Rosella and Ethel had packed a lunch so we stoped at a small State Park rest area along the way and had a picnic.  We made our way as far as Hana, a very small little town at the end of the road and after visiting a black volcanic sand beach located just outside of town, we turned around and made our way back to our condo in Maui, very content that we had all spent another unforgettable day in the Hawaiian Islands.

HOW'S THIS FOR SIZE?

Day three on Maui, we decided to go snorkeling on the west side of the island so Ethel, Rosella and I made our way to the equipment rental place by 8:00 am.  Art decided to stay at the condo and spend the morning relaxing and enjoying the surrounding area.  To get to the snorkeling reef which had been recommended by the lady at the equipment rental place, we drove along a four lane highway for about 25 minutes and them another 15 minutes through a very part of the Island where there were resort after resort with plush golf courses and incredible landscaping till we reached a one lane road which took us to the snorkeling area.  When we got there, we parked the car and walked along a half mile along volcanic terrain till we reached the water where there were already dozens and dozens of people who were already in the water.  We put on our gear and headed for the water as best we could, it is very difficult waking along the beach and in the water with snorkeling fins.


Rosella and I had snorkeled previously but Ethel was trying it out for the first time so she was a little hesitant.  Not long after she was in the water, she got the hang of it and we all spent the next one and half hour the thoroughly magical experience of snorkeling in a rich coral reef, overflowing with tropical fish and coral in almost every colour imaginable.  We all had an incredible experience, promising that we will do some more snorkeling later on when we get back to Oahu.

WHALE WATCHING

How could we ever find something as exciting to do in the afternoon of our third day?  Well this is what we had in store.  We had booked a boating excursion which took us out into the open sea about one to one and a half miles to do some incredible humpback whale watching. 





DOWN SHE GOES!

COMING UP FOR AIR

The Humpback Whales begin to arrive in November, and most of them have arrived by the beginning of January. and  during the peak season between January and early May  all the boats guarantee that you will see whales and the day we were out, we saw plenty of these majestic mammals who love the warm, shallow waters between Maui, Kahoolawe, Molokai, and Lanai.  That wrapped up another incredible day on Maui.

When we got to our condo that night to download today's pictures like I usually do and check my email. While I opened my laptop, I had my thump on the screen and disaster struck. I broke the membrane of my monitor resulting in a dig black blurb at the top of my screen where my thumb was with streaming black lines similar to a spider web on the remainder of the screen. My laptop was dead, caput, completely out of commission.




ON TOP OF HALEAKALA




Our last day on Maui, before departing to explore the Island of Hawai'i (better known as The Big Island) and we decided to take a 36 mile ride up the dormant volcanic crater on top of Mount Haleakala.

Stretching across Maui’s southern and eastern coastline, Haleakala National Park is home to Maui's highest peak. Rising 10,023 feet above sea level, Haleakala's graceful slopes can be seen from just about any point on the island. Haleakala means "house of the sun" in Hawaiian, and legend has it that the demigod Maui lassoed the sun from its journey across the sky as he stood on the volcano’s summit, slowing its descent to make the day last even longer.

Haleakala is a dormant volcano which is the highest peak on the island and boasts that it is the only road in the world that brings you from sea level to over 10,000 feet of altitude in that short distance.

WINDING ROAD TO HALEAKALA

The long, winding road to the summit of Haleakala takes some time to drive up, but is well worth the effort. There are numerous hiking trails that offer solitude and scenic vistas, and we had also purchased a CD guide which provided us with expert guidance and insight. Along the way, our CD guide had us discovering that there are more endangered species here than any other park in the National Park Service.

THE RARE SILVERSWORD

While we didn't spot a Nene bird, a Hawaiian goose which is only found here and on the volcanic mountains of The Big Island, we were fortunate enough to take pictures of a blooming ahinahina plant (silversword) which can only be
found here on the planet.




While we didn't do so, some tour companies take the tourists up to the summit of the mountain and provide bicycles for people to coast  the 36 miles, all the way down the mountain.  We have a friend who did this a few years ago and attested it was a lifetime thrill to do the visit that way.

On our way back, we looked to find a pizza place for lunch and upon a strong recommendation from a local person, we ended up at the Flatbread restaurant in Pa'ia, just a short distance from the airport where we would be flying Mokulele Airline, the commuter flight company.  The pizza lived up to expectations.




We arrived at the airport about 1 hour early as required but in about half an hour, our departure plane had arrived and all the passengers were present so we took off about 25 minutes before schedule and had another neat low altitude flight to The Big Island which allowed us to observe the goings-on below.

We learned that The Island of Hawai'i also known as The Big Island, is the youngest island in the Hawaiian chain and is also by far the biggest, providing a vast canvas of environments to discover a variety of unrivaled natural wonders.

This is the home of one of the world’s most active volcanoes (Kilauea), the tallest sea mountain in the world at more than 33,000 feet (Maunakea) from its foot in the sea to its peak on land.  The Big Island is also home to the most massive mountain in the world (Maunaloa) and the largest park in the state (Hawaii Volcanoes National Park). All but two of the world’s climate zones generate everything from lush rain forests to volcanic deserts, snow-capped mountaintops and in addition to beautiful white sandy beaches, also boasts black and green sand beaches.  On a scale model of this island, it was easily understood that the whole island is made up of these three gigantic mountains and for all intent and purposes, the only living area on the huge mountainous area is around its perimeter.

So, on day one, we set out to discover the perimeter of The Big Island.  Our drive started in a volcanic terrain which looked very much like scenes form the moon.  Vast terrain of arid volcanic fields that went on for mile after mile with the odd road which took us to waters edge with many nice little sandy beaches along the way,

Little by little, the terrain began to change with plants and flowers sprouting up along the way and by the time we arrived on the other side of the island we were driving in a lush rain forest with super tall trees along the highway and an extraordinary variety of plants and flowers.

Its incredible, in about two hours driving, you pass from this arid, moon-like terrain to some of the greenest and lush areas I have ever seen.  This is all because of the height of the volcanic mountains that stop the clouds fro crossing the Island so on the Hilo side, they have tremendous amounts of rain, and on the Kona side of the island, it is almost always sunny.

MOON LIKE TERRAIN ON
THE BIG ISLAND

LUSH RAIN FOREST ON
THE BIG ISLAND

Along the way, we stoped of at the scenic look out of Waip'io Valley an which is often is often referred to as the "Valley of the Kings" because it was once the home to many of the rulers of Hawaii. The valley has both historical and cultural importance to the Hawaiian people.
Waipiʻo means "curved water" in the Hawaiian language. The lovely Waipiʻo River flows through the valley until it enters the ocean at the beach.

According to oral histories as few as 4000 or as many as 10,000 people lived in Waipiʻo during the times before the arrival of Captain Cook in 1778. Waipiʻo was the most fertile and productive valley on the Big Island of Hawaii.

This valley is the largest and most southern of the seven valleys on the windward side of the Kohala Mountains.  It is a mile wide at the coastline and almost six miles deep. Along the coast is a beautiful black sand beach and this valley, we were told, is often used by motion picture production companies for filming such as Jurassic Park. 

On both sides of the valley there are cliffs reaching almost 2000 feet with hundreds of cascading waterfalls, including one of Hawaii's most celebrated waterfalls - Hiʻilawe.  The road into the valley is very steep (a 25% grade). In order to travel into the valley, you must either ride down in a four wheel drive vehicle or hike down to the valley floor.

The look out provided us with a very small glimpse of this majestic place, it was too late for a guided four wheel drive tour today and because of everything we had seen and learned about this unique place, I was hoping that maybe we could come back another day to take the tour.  From here, we turned back and returned to Kona, the sunny side of the Island where we had our condo accommodation.



Our second day on The Big Island was also not a disappointment.  We hoped in the car again with a packed lunch and headed for the top of Mount Kilauea and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

THESE ARE TOO SMALL!

I had called the night before to get the latest information on volcanic activity and was told that it was possible to actually go to the fields where the lava is flowing into the ocean which is why they claim that The Isle of Hawai'i is actually growing by around 500 acres in the past three years when the volcano became active again. He did recommend that we needed to wear firm closed footwear and we only had sandals,  So, just before leaving Kona for the 95 mile drive to the crater, we stoped off at the local Walmart to buy cheap sneakers for our excursion in the lava field.  The drive here was pleasant, more noon terrain, more lush plants and flowers until we got to the entrance of the park.

STEAM OOZING FROM
THE CRATER

The 7 mile road that encircled the edge of the volcanic crater was closed some time ago because of the unstable nature of the active volcano so after viewing the crater from a lookout, could see the vastness of the crater and a plume of grey steam was oozing out the centre but we couldn't see any real activity.  In talking to a Park attendant there, he advised us that the lava tours at night can be very dangerous and advised us against driving to the other side of the crater, about 45 miles to walk on the lava fields.  he strongly recommended that we wait around for a few hours and experience the blazing red-orange glow of the volcano in the darkness of night.  So we proceeded to have our late lunch and went exploring various trails around the area of the crater.

AWESOME
NIGHT SCENE

The wait was well worth it, to think that we were experiencing the spewing of one of the only live volcanoes in the world was truly awesome.

On our way back to Kona, we decided to make reservations to go on the Waip'io Valley tour in the morning the following day and then visit Hilo, the rainy town on the other side of the Island.

DOWN THE 25
DEGREE SLOPE

In a few words, the Valley tour was an awesome, educational one of a kind experience.  Our four wheel drive van started down the one mile 25 degree slope to arrive at the bottom of this historic place. 








The tour was all that we expected it to be and them some.  Our guide was native Hawaiian and shared lots and lots of experiences and information about these majestic surroundings.  Yet another extraordinary morning on The Island of Hawai'i.

FALLS IN
THE VALLEY

SPEED LIMIT IN
THE VALLEY



CROSSING A BROOK
IN WAIP'IO VALLEY



After the tour, we headed towards Hilo with a few stops along the way to witness lush gardens and tumbling water falls. 



TWIN FALLA ON THE WAY TO HILO




EXPLORING THE
MARKET IN HILO



It was Saturday and I had read that the Hilo Farmers market would be open until  2:30 p.m.  We were there with lots of time to visit the whole place with all its exotic fruits, vegetables and Hawaiian crafts.  It ended up being very educational and lots of fun.



HUGE BANYAN TREE IN HILO

From there, we drove to Banyan Drive, a street along the ocean lined with huge Banyan trees which grows downward branches that reach and root in the grown below them.  It really is an amazing natural process.  We ended in in the parking lot of small The Coconut Grove Municipal park where there were lots of locals who had crossed the footbridge leading to the island to picnic, swim, play games with their kids and enjoy this great place.



CROSSING THE BRIDGE
TO COCONUT GROVE
ISLAND



GIANT TURTTLE



On the bridge, we observes a giant turttle who was frolicking in the water below us.  On the other side of the bridge, we struck up a conversation with a local resident who was sitting on a rock along the edge of the water, helping his two grand sons fish from that spot.  We had a great conversation and he voluntarily gave us lots of insight on what it means to be a native Hawaiian.  Again we learned a lot about the culture, spirituality and history of the Hawaiian people.

To get back home, our friend in the park recommended that we take the Saddle Road, a sometimes narrow winding road which would take us directly over the mountain to Kona on the other side.  he did say it would probably rain there and could be dangerous at night but it would be OK during the day.  We travelled the Saddle Road and boy, did it ever rain for about 20 minutes,  Other than that, it was a very nice ride to end our third day on The Big Island.

Our last day on The Big Island and we have to vacate our condo by 11:00 a.m.  After dropping the keys of the condo at the rental office and returning our unused sneakers at Walmart, I decided to go to the local Costco to get information on the laptops they had in stock so I could do a little homework on arrival in Waikiki,  I wanted to buy my new computer at Costco because they extend the manufacturers warranty to two years and have a great return policy, even on items purchased in the US. 

ANY BRACELETE HERE?

WAITING OUTSIDE
THE SHOPS

I left the rest of the gang in the went boutique shopping area along the beaches of Kona and they spent the balance of the morning hopping around from shop to shop looking at anything that looked like a bracelet, ear rings or a necklace.  They apparently had a great time and I gathered all the information I needed for my laptop. After my Costco, I returned and met the rest of the gang at the gesignated time and location. 


After I joined the others, they had already spotted a local restaurant which features coconut shrimp so we stoped and had lunch there and we all ordered  the same thing.



MMM  MMM
LOVE THOSE
COCONUT SHRIMP!



We droped off the car at the airport with lots of time to spare.  However, there was a delay, the aircraft was over one hour late in arriving.  It ended up being a real jet airplane with about 125 passengers and it was full for the 45 minute flight to Honolulu.



I rented a car to take us home so we could go grocery shopping in the morning and I could go to Costco to buy my laptop which I did.  The Windows 7 operating system has a files transfer program which will hopefully allow me to transfer all the data from my old laptop to the new one.  However, I need a cable which I could only find at Radio Shack at almost $50.  WHAT!!! Fifty bucks for a six feet USB  cable?  No way!

I went to Monoprice,com on the internet where I have ordered merchandise many times in the past and ordered the exact same cable at a cost of $2.73, delivered to our condo in 3 days by US first class mail so I should get the cable either tomorrow, Monday or Tuesday.

By the time I download the early island tour photos in my new laptop, it will probably be the end of the week before I can complete this very long blog update.