another day in paradise

Friday, after our long day driving around Maui, we stayed at the resort all day. One of the things on the grandgirls list was snorkeling but the beach I first thought we would go to on Maui, after reading about it again, they would have to swim a ways to the reef and the water was 9' – 12' deep. Um, no. Especially since they had never snorkeled before, not even trying one out in a swimming pool and aren't real strong swimmers. So I researched snorkeling on the Big Island and there was a very pretty and shallow cove and all you had to do was wade out and see all kinds of fish and some coral and sea turtles were supposed to hang out there as well, perfect for beginners the description said and it was close to where we would be staying.

After breakfast I rented paddle boards for an hour, snorkel gear for the two of them to practice with, and an umbrella and we settled in on the beach for the day. The young man threw in three chairs and set them up for us.

The girls tried out the paddle boards first. 

After they got their sea legs they paddled to the left towards where the land curved around fairly close

and then returned, paddling to the right 'til they passed me 

and kept going...and kept going...and kept going until Marc finally asked if I could see them.

“I think I can see them,” I said as I was peering into the far distance looking at large and small specs in the water. “I think that's them. I think they're coming back” still peering in the far distance. “Um, maybe not.” I finally got up and started walking down the beach not seeing them, walked further still not seeing them and further still and seeing what looked like skegs sticking up out of the water in the distance and now imagining flipped boards and drowned girls and how do I call out for a search party and their mother is going to kill me! They're grown capable women, they'll be fine. The skegs turned out to be snorkelers and walking a little further they finally came into view heading back my way. We were a loooong way down the beach from our red umbrella.

“You girls about gave me a heart attack!” I hollered while they waved and smiled at me, “Hi Granny!”.

So they continued on back while I stopped and chatted with a woman who lives on Maui from Oregon originally, been there 7 years, retired 4 years ago. So how does a woman get from Oregon to Maui I asked her. There was a man she met on-line, visited. He turned out not the be the man but Maui turned out to be the place so she sold out and moved. Eventually I made it back down the beach not long after the girls got back to the red umbrella. Their one hour paddle boarding had turned into two but the young man at the rental shack was unconcerned.

They practiced with the snorkels 

and sunned and swam while I hung out in the shade of the red umbrella until we got hot and hungry and headed into Lahaina for another late lunch/early dinner 

and the girls finally got their shaved ice 

and we returned to the resort and lounged around the pool for our last sunset on Maui 

and watched the evening entertainment for the diners 

and took a last stroll on the beach 

and the girls and I hung out longer after Marc went up to the room just talking about life and stuff and then at 9 PM an unexpected fireworks display started up just on the other side of the gear rental shack in front of the bungalows, a celebration of a wedding perhaps. This was no cheesy at home display but went on sustained for about 15 minutes, a nice professional display.

When it ended, we turned in for the night as we had another day of travel the next day heading to the Big Island.

next: the island Hawai'i

links to previous posts in this series:

1. it took all day but we got there

2. our first full day

3. the drive to Hana 

the drive to Hana

Thursday was Jade's and Autumn's 19^th birthday. It was also the day we planned to do the drive to Hana. The drive to Hana along the coast and through the forest is one S curve after another, about 617 curves, about 52 miles of them, going an average speed of 20 mph, sometimes 10 mph, including 56 bridges most of which are one lane bridges. 

photo via: pieceofmauiparadise.com

photo via: hawaiilulutrip.net

It is a beautiful and sometimes harrowing drive with many scenic stops along the way. Depending on how many times you stop and how long you stay at each, the trip takes about 3 hours they say. They tell you to start early, that there is no food available along the way so bring a box lunch. Turned out that part wasn't quite true as there were many fruit and food stands along the way. Also as it turned out, we didn't make it all the way to Hana, almost but not quite as we didn't start out early enough and we still had to do the same drive in reverse and we wanted to get back before dark.

We should have started out about 7 AM but it was probably close to 10 before we got on the road with a nearly hour drive to Paia where we got our lunches and the road to Hana starts.

Our first main stop was Twin Falls, having twins with us. Twin Falls has a small lower fall which was about a 15 minute walk from the road. The actual Twin Falls was another 30 minute hike (and 30 minutes back) and the girls decided we would just continue on.

We stopped a few times here and there for the scenic views but driving that road, for the people in the front seat at least, was a riveting proposition. Those turns were tight and often blind and we would pass things before we realized that was the turn. The one lane bridges, sometimes crossing the gully of a small waterfall, weren't so bad after awhile as those were rarely blind and the etiquette was to let whoever got there first go first. But we did stop at the Garden Of Eden, a private little arboretum that had some cool stuff growing and mostly labeled but it was a little pricy I thought, charging by the person instead of car.

and we stopped at a lava tube. This was pretty cool, a linear cave formed by flowing lava. We could only go in so far as the property line allowed, which was pretty far, then we had to turn around and retrace our steps. The cave was unlit and they provided mag lights. The lava around and above glittered like fool's good but it was actually a life form, a rock eating bacteria that lives chemically off the stone, a very old form of life.

a scenic overlook

And we reached Wai'anapanapa State Park which boasted a black sand beach and a seaside cave. There were other features like freshwater caves and some historical ancient sites that I would have liked to visit had I been aware but it was late in the day by then anyway and we did spend some time on the black sand beach 

and hiked up a little trail above the beach and so we got to see a sea turtle swimming along the side of the bay below where we were standing. Hard to tell from the picture but this one was pretty big.

Driving back was not quite so gripping having some experience now on the road and without stops we made it back in time to get dinner in Lahaina.

I really liked this painting in the little hole in the wall 'asian fusion local' with an open kitchen

and the waiter (maybe 4 employees total including the cook who was this really skinny woman about our age with a big dog that she took out for a walk after we were served) folded Marc's napkin into a bird of paradise. Also, they let me wash my hands in the sink in the kitchen after I had eaten my messy fish tacos.

note: I had a very hard time selecting the few yes, comparatively photos for this post. I plan at the very end to do a post of just some of the pictures that didn't get included in this and other posts.

next: another day in paradise

links to previous posts in this series:

1.  it took all day but we got there 

2.  our first full day 

it took all day but we got there

The day before we left was a frenzy...I had to clean house because I hate going on vacation and coming back to a dirty messy house, put up the batch of tomatoes that were approaching the edge (and still I took a huge bag of tomatoes to my daughter when we picked up the twins), mow the Little Backyard (have to do the whole thing with a trimmer as the lawn mower won't fit through the gate) because if I didn't my sister would need a machete to get to the back door to feed the cat, and pack. I think I fell into bed around 10 PM.

Since we live an hour and a half from the airport and had to stop on the way to get the twins and then park the car and get the shuttle to the airport and then check in our bags and go through security, we got up at 3:30 AM in order to leave the house at 4:30 AM to get to the airport at the recommended two hours before our 8:35 AM flight. We made record time though since it was so early and no traffic so by the time we did all that, we still had two hours to wait before they started boarding. Well, better too early than too late I guess but we could have used that extra hour's sleep.

First leg of the trip was to Dallas and we arrived a little before 10 AM to discover that our 11:15 flight to Maui was delayed til 1:15 which gave us time for food but also gave us another long wait in an airport.

Eventually though we boarded (those are the twins feet in the first row)

and arrived on Maui, picked up the rental car, and drove the 45 minutes or so to the resort which was about 10 minutes past Lahaina, checked in, and went for dinner in time to see the sun set while a lovely lady danced the hula.