9 Nights on Maui

Author: lougee1043
Date of Trip: March 2010

our trip technically starts on saturday when we take molly our black lab to a friend from the beaver pd who has agreed to keep her while we were on vacation. another friend of ours who is kind enough to drive us to and from the airport also agreed to come by the house every other day and see to kiheis (red boy cat) needs when they were over a few days before we left his wife thought it wouldnt be fair to kihei to be left alone in the house so she told us to bring the cat to them and they would keep him at their house while we were gone

the rest of the day was relaxing as we finished packing and closing up the house when we have early flights we like to stay at an airport hotel the night before so we dont have to deal with traffic and we can sleep a bit later since we are only five minutes from the airport we stayed at the ramada in for 58.00 incl all taxes- we had a bite to eat at the hotel but dont eat there if you are starving as the service was really slooooooow

sun am there is a knock on the door telling us its our wake up call – seems the phone in the room wasnt working so they were nice enough to send someone around to wake up- shuttle to the airport

had hoped to meet up with a poster at the pdx airport but it just didn’t work out even though I was wearing my aussie hat as an identificationwhat can i say about hawaiian airlines – they leave on time arrive on time and still feed you for free you can buy an upgraded meal for 10 bucks if you want – hawaiian is now a cashless airline so you have to pay for everything with a credit or debit card they also roll a snack cart down the aisle selling stuff before the movie something the movie theatres should consider 5 bucks to see the movie if you want it

since we had roll on luggage we didnt have to deal with checked bags and were off the plane in good stead jan waited out front with the luggage and i went to alamo via their shuttle bus went right to a kiosk to check in for the car went smoothly except the print out didnt have the 2nd driver on it and they charged us about 10 bucks more then my printout from home since there was a line at the counter i just decided to wait for another day to go to the counter to get the paper work corrected wouldnt be a problem knowing that we were going to drive right past the airport in the next few days – i did go back and the paperwork was corrected and i even ended up with a cheaper price then i had signed up for on the computer no harm no foul end up with a hyundai -full size picked on with a moon roof car ran perfectly with absolutely no problems

checked in at hale pau hana – our 4th stay there in number 13- a ground floor unit walk out the lanai across 30 feet of grass and you are on the beach – jan said this was her favorite unit i do remember her saying that about units 4-5-6 when we stayed there too unpacked and went to foodland for the required shopping – we got home in time for the whale show right in front of out unit could see the whales blowing – and breaching

monday – looks like the start of a great vacation- really didnt do much except unwind from the trip and started on my tan

tues – we went out to see the whales with blue water rafting -they leave from the kihei boat ramp which is only 5 min south of hph so it was a perfect location- they use a zodiac type craft so the really cant be a lot of people on board we had about 10 captain joe and steve seem very knowledgeable about the whales and their migration and it was enjoyable learning about the humpback whales that frequent maui waters year after year the law requires that the boats stay 100 yards away from the whales as not to overly disturb them so when we saw some we shut down and just drifted whales came to around 10 feet of the boat and even swam under us – it was thrilling to see them so close up- we also listened to them on a hydrophone that was put overboard

then we went to our favorite breakfast place for a late one – kihei caffe and we split an omelet with a side of bacon — there was a family of 3 sitting at another table and the guy looks over at me and complains about the flies that are around his food — I said “its to be expected after all you are eating outside”-he swatted some more flies and then they got up and left 3 plates of barely eaten food on the table —

wed — went back to kihei caffe again for breakfast — this time it was French toast –then we went to the maui ocean center — got there a little after opening so it wasn’t crowded- walking thru the glass tunnel and seeing all the various sea life was awesome — but I just don’t know how people can spend all day there — we were in and out in less then 2 hrs and felt we saw everything -bbq that nite

thurs – went to makawao — the plan was for jan to check out shops while I went on the piiholo ranch zip line went into a coffee shop — we had a coffee- a tea and one scone and the bill was almost 12 bucks — and no whipped cream- who do they think they are- starbucks????????

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It started raining so jan decided that rather then walk around town in the rain she would go with me to the zip and sit in the car and wait – rained on and off during the zip-but it was great fun you have to do a bit of walking on the trails and you carry you zip line hookup which weighs around 20 pounds and in addition you have to walk across suspension bridges as well as climb up ramps and stairs with your gear to get to the zip starts – a few of the walks left me totally out of breath- they use a sit down harness as compared to the type used on haleakala so it’s a lot less intimidating to take off sitting down as compared to running off the platform the last zip is 1/2 mile long and the view is spectacular when I got back to the car jan said ” ive been sitting here for 3 hours and you owe me big time”” and she spent the next few days trying to burn the numbers off my credit card by shopping

Drove to paia and had lunch at the paia fish market — sitting at picnic style tables is nice because it allows you to meet up and chat with strangers — walked around town and then drove back to the condo and spent the rest of the day on the lawn perfecting my tan

Friday got up early to take the ferry to Molokai so we can meet an on line pen pal who lives there — she and her husband met us at the ferry and were kind enough to spend their day showing us around their island – so peaceful and laid back — they don’t even have a stop light anywhere on the island –we drove into the halawa valley and stopped at a flower farm owned by a man that they knew and we were given a tour-then we drove back to the kalaupapa lookout and saw the leper colony from the cliff- there are still about 19 people living there and the government has more people then that living there and seeing to their needs — the only way down and up is either by hiking or by mule ride — due to the fact that we were only there for the day it didn’t allow to do either and still make it back to the ferry — we stopped at the coffee plantation and I bought some Molokai coffee — we stopped at their house for a bit and then it was back to the ferry but not before I bought a Molokai tee shirt- we said out goodbyes and took the ferry back to lahaina- the ride was much rougher then the trip there

Went to aloha mixed plate for dinner and where we were seated we could hear the music from the oll – drove back to hph and called it a day

Sat – did nothing today except relax — turned a little cloudy in the aft and it was generally more windy then I remember – matter of fact we never turned the a/c on and that was a first for us -got dinner from da kitchen

Sun- again the sun was in and out during the day and the water seemed a bit rougher — jan made a few contributions at the shops at wailea – we went to cafe o lei in kihei for lunch — back to the beach

Monday – last day here — I don’t remember when I stopped wearing shorts and a tee shirt when I would leave the condo but I realized I was going everywhere in a tee shirt and by bathing trunks and nobody cares

Went to the post office with a box of stuff we bought as well as dirty clothes — it was worth the 50 bucks not to have to carry/deal with the extra weight—box showed up on our doorstep on Thursday -back to the kihei caffe for our last breakfast there-

Fyi — bada bings has been replaced by a restaurant called ‘threes’

Also made a few stops at local boy for shave ice

Tues finished packing — drove to ogg — dropped jan off in front with the luggage and turned the car in — line wasn’t too bad at tsa and the agriculture checkpoint was less of a problem – plane left on time and arrived a few minutes early- our friend was there to pick us up and take us home

Wed – woke up early to collect molly — who was really glad to see us — picked up kihei who really didn’t voice an opinion — out little family is all together again and I am thinking about our next trip to maui but it most likely wont be til april 2011 unless I win the lottery then we will go back in november