Day Twenty-Eight - Farewell

Last night we watched the sun set over the ocean. Today we travelled for 24+ hours to get home. The magic is over this time but we'll be back!

Day Twenty-Five - Mexican

It's a good day when the highlight of the day is going for Mexican food at Fred's Mexican restaurant. LOL. We did go for a quick snorkel in the morning and we took Lisa and Jen to the dumps in the afternoon. As usual the dumps was awesome. I accidentally scared Jessi when I took a leaf from the surface of the water and dropped it to the bottom. When I did this, large black fish thought I was feeding them and started chasing us. Jessi had no idea what was happening and swam for the shore as fast as possible.

Day Twenty-Four - Road to Hana

This morning at 6:00 A.M. Jen, Jessi and I set out for an epic adventure. Our first stop was for cinnamon rolls which made Jen and Jessi hyper and then really tired.

Our first stop was at the Ke'anae peninsula:




Pua'a Ka'a State Park:


Nihiku:


Mongoose:


Black Sand Beach:


Lava tube at black sand beach:


"Swimming" at the Seven Sacred Pools (this was as close as we could get since they had closed the pools due to heavy water flow):


On the road back:

Day Twenty-Three - Final Brunch

Today was our last brunch of the trip. We went back to the Maui Prince and everyone ate themselves silly as usual.

In the afternoon we went back to the dumps with Barry, Richard and Gaby. Jessi and I saw an Eel swimming free and a barracuda.

Day Twenty-Two - Hanging Around

Today we snorkelled at our beach this morning. Barry, Lisa, Jessi and I swam over to the point between Kamaole Beach III (our beach) and Kamaole Beach II where we heard there was good snorkelling to be had. The rumours were true! We saw several turtles and some large blue Ulua.

We bummed around the rest of the day. I got on the computer for some video games (which did not go as succesfully as I would have liked) and Jessi wound up reading. I was jonesing so bad for my video games that we went out and bock Guitar Hero: World Tour for our DS. It's surprisingly fun and fufills my VG itch for now!

Day Twenty-One - Farewell to Laura

Today is Laura's last day. We're sad to see her go but Jessi and I are happy that her and Jeff will be closer (they're moving to Ottawa) so we will see more of them. This morning we enjoyed breakfast at the Grand Wailea hotel. It was very nice and the setting was stunning.

In the afternoon we went to the Dumps. It's a snorkelling spot near Ahihi bay, South of Big Beach. The entry was easy (you could sit on a lava ledge to get in). The snorkelling was amazing! We saw seven turtles. There were so many we thought they would bump into us. We also saw lots of coral, fish and even a little eel.

Day Twenty - Maui Ocean Center

This morning we were treated to an excellent snorkel off of our beach. A huge green seat turtle was grazing on the reef and we watched it for about twenty minutes. Then we saw a starfish scuttling across the sand before getting eaten by a parrot fish. Very eventfull!

In the afternoon Uncle Barry and Auntie Vicki treated Trudi, Riley, Granddad, Jen, Jessi and myself to a trip to the Maui Ocean Center (an aquarium). Jessi and I have gone every time we've come to Maui and I still enjoy visiting it.





Young turtle:

Day Nineteen - Moloka'i Lookout and West Side

Today we toured the central and West side of Moloka'i. We started by driving up to the Kapalua lookout. It's atop of the famous sea cliffs of Moloka'i and looks out over the ocean and the old Leper colony.





Phalic Rock:


On our way down from the lookout, we stopped at Coffee's of Hawaii where we enjoyed some delicious smoothies!

The beach we visted on the West side was huge and almost deserted

Day Eighteen - Moloka'i East Side

Today we woke up early and drove to Lahaina Town to catch the ferry to Moloka'i. Moloka'i is an island to the Northwest of Maui. It's much less visited so it is a nice destination for those who want a more "authentic" experience.

The ferry over was pretty rough. We sat on the top deck and got wet from a couple of ocean sprays.
Ferry:


Jessi on 20-mile beach:


Windy narrow road:


Rewarding vistas:


Halawa Valley:




Jessi's Little friend:


Hotel Moloka'i:


Our Pad (on the left on the bottom floor):


Live entertainment at Hotel Molokai. Nani and Bertha:

Day Seventeen - Lanai

Today we took a snorkel cruise to Lanai. The trip over to Lanai was wavy and some people got sick while others held on for dear life:


Our first site was a marine preserve and was absolutely beautiful. We entered the ocean in deep water where we couldn't see the bottom and it was terrifying but we were all brave and it paid off! Our second site was near a lighthouse and it was breathtaking above the water and even more spectacular under. The Hawaiian kings used to have exclusive fishing rights to this bay and even had stairs cut into the lava shelf for easy access. Here's a shot of the bay:


Sorry for the poor camera work but the currents were strong as you can see from the way the fish are being thrown around!


In this video you can see an octopus. It's red and swims from the bottom of the frame and then settles on the coral and turns mottled white and beige to match the coral it's sitting on. Amazing!

Day Sixteen - Mama's Fish House

Today Granddad treated all nineteen of us to lunch at Mama's Fish House. The location was straight out of a movie and the food was delicious. I don't have much else to say so I'll let some pictures do the talking:

Day Fifteen - The Blowhole

This morning the waves were pretty big so we just bobbed in the waves instead of snorkelling. Afterwards Uncle Barry treated Riley, Jessi, Trudi, Jen and myself to a delicious shave ice. I got Green Apple/Lemon Lime. Yum! Jen and I tried adding gummi bears to the bottom. That was a bad idea! LOL.

In the afternoon, Jessi, Tony, Sally and I grabbed some Thai food and headed for the Blowhole in West Maui. On the drive Jessi and I told Tony and Sally to watch out for whales since whalewatching season is starting on Monday. Tony laughed and said that there was no way we would see whales from the road. Moments later we spotted a spout then was saw a whale breaching! LOL. Talk about good timing. It was about 1/2 mile offshore (or closer) and was probably the best sighting we've seen. I couldn't see much since I was driving but the rest really enjoyed it!

We stopped in Lahaina at Dan's Green House. They had little baby pigs and parrots. I was lucky to drag Jessi out of there without a new baby pig in tow.



We finally found the blowhole and were not disappointed. Here's a shot of the blowhole at full hight. There's a guy in the photo who can give you a sense of the scale.

Day Fourteen - Granddad

Today we took Granddad for lunch at the Kula Lodge. The drive was nice and the view at the lodge was better than I've ever seen it! We enjoyed a delicious lunch. It was nice to be able to thank Granddad for taking us to Maui. It was also nice to hear some stories from Granddad's past.

Day Thirteen - Rain

Today was rainy. Big droplets of rain poured down all day. Jessi and I made the best of it by going to Kahului to get some shopping done. We got our Walmart shopping done. We tried to visit Maui Tropical Soaps but found their store front closed. :( We also tried to find the Wow Wee chocolate factory but only found a pub. LOL.

Day Twelve - Another Lazy Day

We skipped the morning snorkel today because I'm getting hives and I suspect it might be from the salt water or something in the ocean. We spent the morning lounging around, reading. At noon Jessi and I walked along the beach to Rainbow mall where we bought some souvenirs for friends and family back home. We tried a new restaurant for lunch called Cafe O Lei. It was a very nice looking restaurant and the food we had was very tasty but they didn't have much on their lunch menu for me to eat. Afterwards we picked up a shave ice and walked back along the beach.

Day Eleven - An Anniversary!

Today is the third anniversary of my marriage to Jessi in Maui. To celebrate, we went to the Maui Prince and reminisced on the spot where we were wed.




Then:



Now:





Afterwards we visited the black sand beach in Makena.



We stopped for lunch at the Five Palms restaurant where we had our rehearsal lunch last time we were here. The lunch was very good!









On our way home we stopped for Shave Ice at our favourite shave ice stand. I had pineapple coconut. YUM!



At happy hour we were treated to lava flows (a blended drink), lots of yummy pupus (appetizers) and an ice cream cake! We got lots of cards, well wishes, presents and even a beautiful bouquet of flowers!

Day Ten - Haleakala

Today we enjoyed another excellent snorkel. There were large schools of fish just off the reef. After our snorkel, we drove up to the Kula Lodge where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and a view of Kihei and Central Maui.


Then we drove up Haleakala to the summit. We didn't stick around long since the thin air made it hard to breathe and made us all a little sick and tired.






On the way down we stopped at the Surfing Goat Dairy. Jessi got her well-needed dose of animal attention from the goats, cats and dogs. We may return soon since the mother goats are going to give birth soon.