Maui-the Valley Isle

Visiting in the mist, rain, wind and a little sunshine

We stayed in Kīhei in a condo on Māʻalaea Bay for a week, which gave us time to visit all 5 regions of Maui, at least a bit:

• South Maui, where we stayed and where we dined most nights. Wednesday we just hung out in the condo there, listening to the rain (and recovering from our 1st week in Hawai’i?)
  Sunday we visited the Maui Ocean Center, Aquarium of Hawai’i in Māʻalaea.
• Upcountry Maui – we drove to the Haleakalā summit twice: Thursday on a rainy, socked-in day, Monday on a partly cloudy day, with actual visibility at the crater
• Central Maui – we didn’t visit so much, but drove through a lot, going to/from East Maui and the Upcountry and in Kahului, the largest community, with the airport and the Costco where shopped and gassed up.
• West Maui – Friday, we drove around the coast as far as the Nakalele Blowhole and stopped in Lahaina for a Cacao Farm Tour and dinner on the Lahaina coast.
• East Maui – Saturday, we drove the Road to Hāna and 12 miles past the town of Hāna to the Kīpahulu district of Haleakalā NP, and back.

Visits to 1 new National Park Site:

• Haleakalā National Park (#374), which extends from the sea to the 10,023′ summit at Puʻu ʻUlaʻula, is an International Biosphere Reserve that supports native ecosystems in a maturing volcanic landscape park and vibrates with stories of ancient and modern Hawaiian culture and cares for endangered species, some of which exist nowhere else. On our first drive to the top of Haleakalā, visibility was rarely more than 100′, so, when it cleared yesterday, we drove up again!
  
  Although we made it to Kīpahulu, we only visited the Visitor Center, as it was raining quite a bit. We’ll have to come back for the hikes along the shore and to the waterfalls and bamboo forest.

West Maui

Driving partway around the northwest coast, stopping at a few overlooks, was good practice for the next day’s Road to Hāna trip. And it was interesting to see how Lahaina is recovering after the 2023 fire. But the best was our Lahaina Cacao Farm Tour with Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate. It was fascinating to learn about cacao, how it’s farmed and processed (who knew chocolate is a fermented food?) and the special things they have to do to farm it in Hawai’i, which is just outside Cacao’s natural growing zone in tropical rain forests. We also enjoyed the chocolate sampling. There is a reason their cacao beans have been winning Cacao of Excellence Awards, the biennial global evaluation for cocoa bean quality and flavor. Check them out: Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate.

Road to Hāna

We got on the Road to Hāna a little after 8:00 am, made it through Hāna about 10:30, and back about 1:00 pm after our drive out to Kīpahulu, and got back to Kihei about 5:00 pm. Did a lot of driving (all Gail!), lots of curves, many 1-lane bridges. Saw lots of waterfalls and coastline. Stopped for banana bread at Aunty Sandy’s, tacos at Orale Taco, and ice cream at Coconut Glen’s. Longest other stop was at Waiʻānapanapa State Park, to explore the black sand beach, lava tube, and volcanic shoreline. GREAT Rainy, Misty Day!

Hanging around Kihei

Aside from lazy time in/around the Condo, we drove up and down the Kihei coast a bit, mostly hitting different casual places to eat…Gail must have had at least 5 fish taco dinners. Then we spent Sunday afternoon at the Maui Ocean Center, Aquarium of Hawai’i. Sea turtles, sharks, unicorn fish, small octopus, jellyfish, lots of Hawai’i endemic fish, etc.; a 3-D movie about humpback whales; and an entire building of history…native Hawai’ians, and, of note, the island of Kahoʻolawe.

Sitting peacefully in the Pacific Ocean between Maui and Lanaʻi lies Kaho’olawe, a small, windswept island that holds profound cultural and spiritual significance for Native Hawaiians. Known traditionally as Kanaloa, the island is revered as a sacred place of navigation, worship, and connection to ancestral lineage. However, during and after World War II, Kaho’olawe was subjected to decades of relentless bombing and military testing by the United States Navy—leaving behind physical devastation, cultural loss, and environmental trauma that reverberates to this day.

Now on the “Big Island”

Fly to Kona yesterday afternoon, and then drove over the middle of the island to Hilo and south to Volcano House in Volcanoes National Park, arriving about 45 minutes after sunset. And, since this post is a bit “late”, how about a teaser or two from the Big Island.

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