After five months of working (yuk), Karen and I are back travelling. We are in Hawaii for two weeks with two good friends. We have been in Kihei on the island of Maui for three days now. I am a total Hawaii virgin and am much enjoying the experience. We are in a beautiful condo at 940 Kihei Rd. The view from it is spectacular.
We had great flights from Calgary to Vancouver and Vancouver to Maui. We had the same crew on both of the West Jet flights. They were fantastic and made the flights very pleasant.
We spent yesterday settling in and doing some shopping. We woke up at 3:45 this morning to set out for Haleakala Park to watch the sun rise over the volcanic crater. I have to comment that the organization of the Parks staff is somewhat wanting. This is a very popular event, and I am pretty sure it occurs everyday. So the fact that we were stuck in traffic for 15 minutes when they shut the road down when the main parking lot is full is an avoidable problem. May I suggest the use of radios and planning. Just a thought. Anyway, we were able to get to the secondary view point just before the sun poked over the horizon. Confusion over parking aside, it is pretty impressive.
This is a must see event. The drive up to 10,000 feet from sea level is fantastic. The best part is on the way up you have no idea what is around you. We attached the Go Pro camera to the hood of the Jeep for the drive down in the daylight. Very cool. We were on the beach relaxing by late morning. A local gentleman directed us to an excellent beach just south of the Kihei boat launch. Beautiful sand and nice surf. While out relaxing in the surf I had a turtle a good meter long swim within 10 feet of me. Absolutely awesome!
After soaking up the rays on the beach we stopped in at the Maui Dive Shop and Karen and I booked a SCUBA tour for tomorrow at the Cathedrals just off the island of Lanai. Very excited about this.
Had a fantastic steak dinner on our balcony at the condo. After watching the sun rise we enjoyed watching it sink into the ocean.
Hey, we had considered going there this week too. Decided to take a road trip instead, as we haven’t done that in a long time. We are currently in Arizona and the weather is gorgeous. Going to visit with some friends as well as go hiking around the Grand Canyon area. Not sure where we will head to next as we didn’t make any specific plans. Won $700 in Vegas which wasn’t too bad, but a lot less than last time. Have a great time on your trip, perhaps we will go somewhere together one of these times. Planning on trip around xmas or after to the DR, no flight booked yet.
Oh, forgot to mention “NICE PICTURES”!