Marvellous Maui

First attempt at getting both pictures and text on an entry.  !

 Those of you who are on Facebook will have seen some of these photos due to my "picture of the day from Maui" series, however, they are worth looking at again in my opinion!  It is true, one does not take as many pictures on a return visit to the same spot, but that does not mean that the place is any less beautiful.  We watched this liner arrive, went past it when we went whale watching, met some of the over 2000 passengers while we were at the dock, and then watched it sail away. One passenger told me that she and her husband had been taking the same cruise out of San Diego for 12 years!

 The obligatory view from the toes, taken on the beach right in front of us. That is Molokai in the distance.

 

Not too much "beach"right in front of Maui Kai this year.  Last year I could sit in among those rocks and not get wet.              

   

                                                   

Palms leaning toward the ocean on Front Street in Lahaina. It was windy!

 Sunset viewed from Mick Fleetwood's restaurant, third floor rooftop bar, on Front Street.

First we heard the Hawaiian legends, then a piper, a nod to Mick's Scottish roots. Quite a combination!

Duke's Restaurant just down from us on the Boardwalk.  We enjoyed a couple of lovely meals there. It is in the perfect location, right on the beach!

Black Rock from the Whaler's Village side.  No, we never did get to the Cliffside Bar to see the diver at Sunset.  Have to save something for the next trip!

Gorgeous Hibiscus.  Love this flower, and it is everywhere, in many different colours.

Trilogy VI on an outing right in front of our lanai.  This is the craft from which we saw the whales right up close.  More on that later.

Many rainbows this trip, which meant there was a bit more moisture than there was last year.  Dad used to call that "liquid sunshine",  and that's just what it was.  It never interfered with any activity, and was gone in a few minutes.

That's it for Maui pics for this year I think.  I have them all on the ipad if you are really interested!  I'm envious of anyone who has a trip scheduled,  but most grateful that we had three glorious weeks in paradise.

More Heavenly Hana Pictures

Heavenly Hana Pictures

Heavenly Hana

The guide books call it Heavenly Hana and it is. For the purists, there is no other Hawaii. This remote  town (50 miles but two hours plus from Paia even without stops) is relaxing to say the least. There are few clocks because time is not supposed to matter. At the most expensive hotel, actually the onlyhotel, with rooms starting at about $350 a night, there are no TVs. We didn't stay there. Most B and Bs were full, so we stayed at Bert's Place, which turned out to be a rustic lower level of the place Bert lives in, on the same property as live his parents and siblings, in separate dwellings. The grounds were beautiful (maintained by James the gardener), with orchids, orange and lime trees in abundance.  It was kind of fun to shower outside!  Rustic though it was, it was a terrific jumping off point to explore beyond Hana, which is what we intended to do.
So on we went, to the Seven Sacred Pools (which are neither sacred nor are there seven), back to the black sand beach, risking life and limb to see the red sand beach, to the Venus Pool, and to hike through a magnificent bamboo forest to get to a spectacular waterfall. That hike was worth two Y workouts at least.  I will try to post pictures here, but if that doesn't work for me I'll make sure you all see them when we return.  None of them do justice to what we saw - Heavenly but wild Hana and surroundings.  And yes, the road beyond Hana is wilder than the road to Hana!