Leaving Lahaina

[Kyle]Since we were on a mooring, and since the moorings were fairly widely spaced, we got to have a nice quiet start to the day. Begonia’s systems are set up so that the anchor windlass will not work unless the port engine is running. This means our sails usually start with an hour or so of engine time. From a mooring however, we could just put up the sails, cast off the mooring line, and go as a pure sailboat.

We cast off the mooring line and accelerated through the mooring field into open water. We tacked and were soon gliding up Maui’s west coast. At Honokawai – about halfway – our light westerly wind died and gave way to the easterly trades funneling through the Pailolo Passage that separates the islands of Maui and Moloka’i.

Soon, we were sailing upwind in 20 knots of wind accompanied by eight-foot seas. We sailed almost halfway to Moloka’i before tacking back to Honolua Bay on Maui. As we approached, the seas and wind gradually diminished until we were entered the bay on flat water in variable winds. There was another private boat there, as well as two big charter catamarans. The charter boats left just as we arrived, leaving us our choice of spots in the bay. We found a sizeable sandy patch and set anchor amidst scuba divers and snorkelers who had set off from the stony beach. By sunset, all that was left was the other boat and a lone car parked at the normally crowded overlook where we had parked the day before wishing we could anchor in that beautiful bay below. Now we are here. I feel so fortunate.

The last snorkel tour boat departs as we arrive, and a rainbow appears in time for dinner

Rental Car in Maui: Day Three

[Kyle]We were pretty exhausted by the third day with the rental car, but parking in Lahaina is scarce and the only spot we could find had to be vacated by 7 a.m., so we were up early again.

This time, we headed first to the ‘Iao Needle, a 2,250 foot prominence right in the middle of the valley emptying from west Maui into Kahului. Maryanne was saved by the fact that there were no trails to the top. We could see why. West Maui’s older mountains have been eroded into such steep and imposing forms that they are inaccessible to all but technical climbers. We did what we could, though.

Univitingly steep, The 'Iao Needle was once regularly climbed by Hawaiians to look out for neighbouring warriors on route, it remains a sacred site

After that, we had a nice, leisurely stroll through the Alexander and Baldwin Sugar Museum. This explained the history of C&H’s production farm, which is the largest farm in Hawaii.

We then somehow ended up in the village of Kapalua. Never mind how we got there (our rental car company might not approve). Along the way, we found a place selling candied coconut and coconut-covered macadamias. Both things are totally worth the twenty-pound weight gain per ½ pound serving.

Road food added to the amazing memories of the day.

We had the same problem as the day before with the road from Hana – every bend in the very bendy road presented a new vista of incomprehensible beauty. We needed to return the car on time, so we were increasingly forced to pass by spots that we could have happily spent the whole day enjoying. Toward the end, we made an exception for two (or three, or four) special spots. One was a place called “The Blowhole”, where a trick of geology caused the ocean swell to accelerate through an increasingly narrow opening until it explodes vertically in a geyser through a small opening. The sign on the path warns, “Do not come too close to the Blowhole. Fatalities have occurred. This is NOT a water park!” Perhaps it was good that we didn’t have time to go all the way down to it.

The other spot was just an exceedingly pretty little bay where every car on the road seemed to be stopping. It was bounded on each side with craggy a’a lava and dotted with multicolored snorkelers. There was something that seemed familiar about tis little bay. I thought about it for a while and then realized we had made it to Honolua! I pulled out my phone and started the navigation software to check. Yep, it was Honolua, our next anchorage! I was so excited it was all I could do to not rush home and start sailing that very minute.

In due time. We returned the car and the company was kind enough to drop us off at the Lahaina Yacht Club, where we flashed our card and were let in. That night, it was just a nice bar filled with loud and excited Stanley Cup fans (that is ice hockey for those who don't know), but it was still so cool to be sitting there in Hawai’i as guests of the Lahaina Yacht Club.

We mingled during Happy Hour and both had long, hot showers before heading out into the town for a farewell to Lahaina dinner. We ended up at the Sugarcane Grill – a Thai place with a second-story balcony overlooking the beach and setting sun, it was marvelous.

The Road from Hana

An amazing drive along the south-west coast of Eastern Maui (rancher land) provided some stunning coastal views

[Kyle]Never mind how we got to Hana. We just somehow got to the end of the road at the other part of Haleakala National Park. We were even there before the wall of tourists showed up.

The hike up the hill takes us past various waterfalls and a bamboo forest before reaching the largest of the falls

We started on the popular 'Road to Hana' from the wrong end, with the Papawai trail up to Waimoku Falls (in the lower part of the Haleakala National Park). The two-mile trail took us through a really cool bamboo forest up to the 400+ foot falls. My favorite part was the noise the forest makes as the wind blows through the bamboo. The stalks make a hollow clacking as they bang together.

And a short loop at the foot of the park diverts to freshwater pools (popular for swimming), more waterfalls, and a beautiful coastline

We then went through Hana against the tourist flow and then followed the road back to Kahului. This part of Hawai’i is impossibly beautiful. Our poor car never made it more than a mile before we were pulling out at a scenic viewpoint or a giant waterfall. The road takes all day.

Every new turn along the road provides a new stunning view and a reason to stop and explore a little, luckily we were in no rush

Scenes from Ke'anae

My favorite stops were the perfect little village of Ke’anae, with its frightening but beautiful beach of a’a lava being pounded by booming waves, and the Ke’anae Arboretum. The open air arboretum was hidden from the road on a path that required a few minute walk into the valley. There were lots of tropical trees from all over the world. My new favorite tree (behind the Giant Sequoia, of course) is the Australian Painted Gum. Gums are massive deciduous trees that are nearly equal in mass to the big Sequoias, but have much larger leaf canopies, making them cast an even larger shadow. We were privileged to see some of these on our trip to Australia in 2009, but we had not seen the Painted Gum, with its gorgeous rainbow-colored bark that looks like it belongs in the background of Edvard Munch’s painting ‘The Scream”.

The beautiful painted gum (an Australian eucalyptus) amazed us both

Haleakala (Lanai)

[Kyle]With Begonia’s lockers refilled with stores for the foreseeable future, we could finally start on some real tourism. First on our list was a trip to the summit of Haleakala, Maui’s highest mountain. We did not go up there for sunrise as everyone suggests because I had no intention of getting up at 1:30 to do it. Instead, we got there at 9:00 in the lull between the sunrise crowds and the midday tour buses.

Solar observatories that sit atop the mountain, and silverswords grow well in the desolate looking landscape, protected here from invasive animals

Unlike Mauna Kea, most of Haleakala’s incredible scenery doesn’t present itself until you reach the Pu’u’la’ula summit at 10,023 feet (3,055m) and look over the other side at the “crater” (not a real crater).

Uh…Wow!

Our first glimpse into the 'crater'

The multi-colored landscape of cinder cones and lava of all sizes from giant boulders to grains of sand looked like pictures sent back from the moon or Mars. Although we were breathing the thin atmosphere and it wasn’t 200 below zero, it certainly felt like to had to keep reminding ourselves that this was actually Earth. I’ve been to Earth, but I’ve never seen a place like this.

We did the requisite pass through the visitor’s center, and then we were off to climb down the hill. Unlike most hikes, all of the trails at Haleakala start at the top. Although we (me. I mean me. Well, ‘I’ in the context) would have liked to take the big trail all the way down to the beach 14 ½ miles away (what’s the problem? It’s all downhill), Maryanne sensibly vetoed the idea on the basis that our car would still be at the top. Instead, we decided on a three-hour trip; one down, two up.

We took the Sliding Sands trail most of the way to the ‘crater’ floor. The beauty of the constantly changing landscape was almost too much to bear. We descended through black, then red, then gray lava fields into what was once the scene of inconceivable violence and power as the Earth made itself on such an enormous scale. It is truly awe inspiring to be able to stand in such a place.

Amazing views from a great hike

We met up with a couple of young Park Service guys out spraying for invasive plants. One of them had an altimeter watch and told us we had descended to 6,800 feet. The walk back to 10,000 feet was increasingly exhausting, but we felt so privileged just to have seen it.

We drove back to Lahaina exhausted and hungry. We stopped off at a place one of the rental car guys recommended as inexpensive, and serving good and local and traditional foods. There, we got our first taste of poi. No, actually, we didn’t. Poi is a traditional Hawaiian dish made from pounded taro stem/root. Poi has absolutely no flavor at all and is the consistency of paste made from corn starch and water. We were later told it is best used with really salty or spicy foods to tone them down.

Back in Maui

[Kyle]We had a nice, normal, boring, slow sail from Manele (on Lanai) to Lahaina (on Maui). It’s nice to have day without too much adventure. To keep it that way, once we were safely moored we stayed aboard for the remainder of the day doing minor maintenance and internet chores. The view of Lahaina backed by the West Maui hills was amazing, though. I still can’t believe we are actually here.

We went ashore the next morning to pay our fees with the harbormaster and check in with the Lahaina Yacht Club, who was kind enough to supply a handful free moorings for visiting yachts. It was good to not have to deal with the whole anchor kerfuffle for once.

Lahaina harbor and dinghy dock

With those chores done, we had a walk around the tourist part of town, which consists of about a ten by two block stretch along the water. We poked into shop after shop of every conceivable item plastered with ‘Lahaina’, ‘Maui’, or ’Hawai’i’. These were interspersed with more yummy looking restaurants than it was possible to visit, all thronged with other tourists.

Ahh... A very relaxing place pictures show scenes from Front Street, including the giant Banyan tree (possibly USA's largest, covering over an acre of land) and views from the Yacht club

We had found a place that would rent us a car for cheap, so once we'd collected the car in the late afternoon, we of course did the first thing on our list of things to do in Maui: drove into the main city of Kahului and stocked up at Costco. I know, I know, but it was our last chance to go to a decent store for a while and we needed a five gallon bucket of soy sauce to replace the one we used last week.

Traditional polynesian boat building (and racing), and a few sunset views around town

[Maryanne]Originally our plan had us skipping Lahaina, but I pushed and prompted and eventually persuaded Kyle that it was a place that we should not miss, and ah, I'm so glad; it is a beautiful and historic town that retains a very quaint charm of yesteryear. It also has plenty of restaurants, museums, and a beautiful beach front main street scattered with fantastic ocean and sunset views.