Why did we pick Maui? First, we had never visited Hawaii before, so that sounded good. We have relatives with a condo at the Papakea Resort just north of Ka`anapali on Maui, and the family discount made that affordable. We did a fair amount of reading for the trip- guide books, web sites, newspapers, so we had a pretty good idea of what we would see and do- lots of hiking in the mountains, and lots of snorkeling in the ocean.
And boy did we!
Friday, October 8th-
We had a direct flight from LAX to OGG (Kahului, Maui) at 3:30pm. Just why is Kahului airport coded as OGG? Interestingly enough, just the other day there was a newspaper article that explained it. It was in memory of a pilot by the name of Hogg who used to live there. But I digress... I took the day off (I have a very flexible schedule) to take care of all the last minute packing, dishes, and scooping of cat boxes. Alison and I met at the airport about an hour before our flight. It was a VERY packed flight, and the bidding was up to $1000 in travel vouchers for seats, but we wanted to start our trip. American Airlines has the worst seating programs on earth. There were families where the KIDS were scattered all around the plane. Maui being the honeymoon capital of the world (as we learned), there were many affianced and honeymooning couples split apart by the seating arrangements. There were nearly riots trying to get everyone moved around to their satisfaction.
The flight to Maui was uneventful. We read the whole way, but weren't too tired when we arrived. The approach to the airport crosses between the two lobes of the island, and we got a pretty good look at everything from the air. It was pretty spectacular! We landed just about at sunset.
The Kahului airport is probably the nicest airport I've ever been in. The whole thing is made of open air pavilions, with beautiful views out the windows. Their restrooms are equally spectacular.
A short ride on the Avis shuttle bus got us to our rental car. The driver was far too friendly and helpful after a long flight! We did get good directions and an estimate of how long it would take to drive to the resort though. Maui is a fairly small island, only 725 sq. miles. The population is about 100,000 (less than the city of Berkeley, where I grew up), and at any given time there are around 30,000 tourists on the island (and you could tell- most of the cars on the road seemed to be rentals. More than once I tried to open up the white Cavalier that turned out not to be ours!).
There are two main roads in Maui, one circling the north half of the island, one circling the south. We started out heading west where the two highways are (more or less) one, then started circling NW on the north island highway. The road is only two narrow lanes, and they twist and turn a fair amount as the follow the coast that they were carved into. The night was very warm and humid, and there was a wonderful scent in the air that may have been sugarcane, but reminded us of Rooibos tea from South Africa. There wasn't much in the way of traffic, but a pair of drunken tourists ahead of us made for a slow drive regardless. There was also quite a bit of road construction going on.
We had forgotten to get directions to the condo at the rental car agency. The problem was compounded by the lack of street signs at intersections where there was construction. We unknowingly overshot our exit by a couple of miles, and ended up pulling over at the Napili plaza shopping center for directions (and some quick shopping for breakfast food). We found out that our exit was the one that didn't have a sign of course!
We finally arrived and got checked in around 9pm. We immediately went out on the lanai (balcony) to get our first look of the ocean. Wow! It was right underneath the lanai! Great! But, by now we were pretty whipped, so we climbed into bed. We had made reservations to go on a guided hike in the Waikamoi preserve on Haleakala first thing in the morning, so it was definitely bed time.
Saturday, October 9th-
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| Molokai |
Haleakala is the big volcano that makes up the peak of the south half of Maui. We had about a 1 hour drive to get there before our hike, but not knowing what was involved we left 2 hours early (7am). We were meeting the hike guide at Hosmer grove, just inside the entrance to the Haleakala National Park. This is at an altitude of some 6500 feet, at the top of a 22 mile road that switches back and forth and back and forth dozens of times. From the top of the volcano (10000 feet) to sea level is only 38 miles (on the road, much shorter without switchbacks). Though the road is winding, and a bit foggy, it is well paved and reasonably wide, so it wasn't a difficult drive. On the way up we passed a few bikers coming down from the sunrise/bike ride tours. We were thinking about doing this, though the views through the fog didn't seem to be that great. We had just about decided to do one of the later rides (9am start rather than sunrise), when we came around a corner and saw a biker sprawled out across the pavement with his bike tangled on the side of the road. A couple of people were with him waving off passing cars, and the chase van that follows the bike tours was collecting the bike (priorities!). We passed a ranger was coming down from the park shortly after that to carry off the wounded. Hmm, maybe we won't be doing the bike ride, or if we do, it will have to wait until our last day here so if we break something it won't ruin the rest of the trip.
Hosmer grove is a place where in the early 1900s someone (Gee, could his name have been Hosmer?) did some experimenting to see what sorts of trees could grow on Maui to support a timber industry. He planted groves of a few dozen types of trees from other places (pines, eucalyptus etc.), none of which are native to Hawaii. Of course, the new forests (and their associated flora and fauna) pretty much killed off all the native species of plants and animals in the area. And the kicker is that no good timber tree species grow well here!
At that altitude, the misty morning was misting right past us. We could see cloud banks blow through every few minutes, but it was not particularly cold or wet. The Nature Conservancy manages the Waikamoi forest preserve, and leads hikes on the second Saturday of each month. We were very lucky that our trip allowed us the chance to come on this hike. Our hike included about a dozen people, including several native Hawaiian teachers (very young!). Our guide was Kepo who (escorted by his two sons) took us through the grove, and down into the preserve where the native forest still survives. Along the way he explained the problems of invasive species (as many as 18 a day???) coming into Hawaii and out competing all the native species. There are very few (relatively speaking) genera in Hawaii, because what few there are were wafted by wind and wing to the island over the course of millions of years. The species that did take root tended to lose most defensive capabilities (like flightless birds and thornless berry bushes) because their predators did not make it too the island. Since people have started bringing in outside species, the Hawaiian species have suffered tremendously.
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| Sunset from the lanai |
As the hike left the invasive forest and entered the native rainforest, the changes were remarkable. Under the invasive forest hardly anything grew, as there was a thick humus layer of acidic pine needles. In the native forest there were plants everywhere, from tiny mosses and ferns (and tree ferns as well), up though vines and climbing plants, up to trees. We heard a lot more birds here as well, and saw quite a few. The big hit with the birders was the i'iwi with it's scarlet feathers and bill. Though we were in the rain forest and it misted quite frequently, we were there during a drought, so it didn't really pour on us.
The hike lasted about 4 hours, and we were starving afterwards. There is no food sold in the Haleakala park (it attracts rats and other non-native species), and we hadn't shopped for lunch (didn't even think of it last night). Rather than spending a grouchy, hungry day going up to the top of the volcano, we decided we better head down and get some food before someone got hurt. After the 22 miles of twisting road we got to the highway and started driving in a random direction (well, West) looking for the first sign of food. We didn't see anything for several miles, and turned East on the next highway we passed still hoping. It was just starting to rain and we saw a hitchhiker by the road, so we decided to be adventurous and pick him up. He was just going a couple miles to pick up his car from the shop, but he pointed us towards Casanova's, the best Italian place to eat on the island, in Makawao. Of course, when we arrived there they had just finished serving lunch and wouldn't reopen for dinner for several hours, so we ended up grabbing sandwiches at a deli next door.
We were pretty whipped by this point, so we drove back to our condo then took a little walk to shop for dinner and to rent snorkel gear. We got our snorkel gear at the Maui Dive Shop, where the equipment was good and the staff friendly (if in a hurry to send us on our way). I was able to get a mask with corrective lenses so I would actually be able to see the fish. Luckily the dive shop and a supermarket are just across the street from Papakea. Very convenient. We were back in the room for a boring dinner and a beautiful sunset. Bedtime was pretty early (jetlag, yeah, that's the ticket!).
Day: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - Notes/Resources
Last Updated 27 October, 1999
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