I am still documenting more or less some of the trips I took in the last few years. I'm getting close to being caught up! This trip took place a year ago when I had a free trip to the island of Maui. Mik from Italy was still my boyfriend at the time, so he, of course, accompanied me there.Now neither of us had been to the islands of Hawaii before - so this was a treat - although we only got to go for 3 days - too short! We stayed at the timeshare WorldMark in the city of Kihei. This was situated perfectly across the street from one of the pretties beaches there! So nice to walk there, walk the beach, sit in the sand and watch the sunset. And one of my favorite pastimes: people watch. I remember admiring 1 enthusiast doing his yoga moves while enjoying the sheer careless attitude of a gay young man exercising/dancing flamboyantly across the sand wearing his headphones.
Unlike the island of Oahu - where I went with Patrick in July (see blog) Maui is much more laid-back and less touristy. I don't care to shop or be around a ton of tourists and mostly want to soak up the Nature, so I really prefer Maui. It just didn't feel like it was outright catering to the tourist - although, of course, it relies on tourism as well.
One needs to rent a car while there - we spent one entire day driving the circumference of the entire island - SO lovely!! We did buy for $20 bucks a recommended CD that you listen to in your car as you are driving and it tells you about what you are seeing, about the kind of vegetation that is growing there, how to get to hard-to-find beaches and trails to waterfalls. So nice!:) I HIGHLY recommend doing this!
Our main problem is that the time of year we went - end of January - although beautiful, not too hot, not humid, but it did rain off and on so it wasn't preferable for water sports and laying out. Which we also wanted to do. When we rented snorkels and a native told us how to get to a great, hidden snorkeling lagoon that natives know about - we were disappointed that the water visibility after the rains was murky - so we couldn't see anything past 1 foot in front of us. :( Also, hiking the simply stunning trails was very muddy - and we only had brought flip flops!
That said, I truly enjoyed myself. It is a WONDERFUL place to enjoy nature and relax. It is pretty dead at night - as far as social life - but we didn't mind. There are bars of course - but it's not at all like Honolulu, Oahu.
One morning we got up at 3:30 am (whew!) to drive to a shop that shuttled us and a few others about an hour into the center of the island where there is a huge old volcanic crater. One of the big tourist things to do is get up early, drive up there yourself - or do what we did - and watch the sun rise at the edge of the crater. Now, due to the altitude climb - we were warned it would be quite cold up there. Again - we had only packed shorts and flipflops - we never expected cold! So the tour furnished us with space suits - waterproof and thick. And believe me - we NEEDED them! We were amazed so many people got up so early to get there when we arrived. We went outside while it was still too dark to see anything of the crater. The wind was blowing relentlessly - it was quite cold! But, eventually the colors started to change and we saw the sun poking through over the horizon. GORGEOUS - again, I felt that humble closeness to God when I am simply moved by Mother Nature. (Similar to how I felt hiking the Incan Trail to Macchu Pichu in Peru). It took about 15 minutes for the sun to rise, all the while with changing colors. Everyone applauded. We then could finally see the crater - looking like a canyon - very cool.
After a bit our guide unloaded the mountain bikes we all had rented and he left. It was up to us to cruise down the zigzag road of the mountain all the way back down to the coast. FUN! Another Elsa adventure of course!! We set off, still in our Gortex suits and helmets as it rained off and on and was still cold. It was very fun! And eventually as you get lower and lower you start taking off the layers of clothing because it starts to warm up. Once we finally got down to the bottom of the mountain we found ourselves at a little town. Now here is where the real adventure began! We were a little confused about where to go to get back to the part of the island coast where the Tour shop was located. I thought it was one way and Mik thought another. Well, we went my way - with me cheerfully stating: "We have the bikes all day, if we get lost - it will be an adventure!" Well. Getting lost we did. That wasn't the problem. The problem is that we took a very difficult route with major HILLS. I mean, we were huffing and puffing and sweating for a few hours. It was VERY tough!!! Now, I had known Mik long enough to know that he has a patient, sweet disposition so he didn't mind at all that we were lost. But he didn't suffer as much as me - cus the boy is STRONG!!! I, on the other hand, was dying sometimes and had to off and walk the bike. He just laughed. When we finally dragged our ragged selves back into the shop - hours after the rest of the tour - they laughed at us good-naturedly and asked, "Got lost, huh?" We told them what route we had taken and they were so impressed we biked those hills. We DID have the option that if you got lost or too tired to call them and they would pick you up in the van for $50 bucks, but those of you who know me, know that I am stubborn as a mule and that I'll die trying before giving up on some physical adventure.
Another highlight from that trip was that one could really see the majestic Great Whales right off the coastline! We were as excited as kids constantly looking for them to surface and gulp some air throught their blowholes. They were simply magnificent! I couldn't get over how large they were!
I would go back to Maui in a heart beat - the nature was so lovely and green and the native islanders very hospitable. A lovely trip! Click on slideshow below for webalbum! "Mahalo"... :)
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