Maui - Journal
November 14, 2000
2:00 PM (Hawaii Time):
We are somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on our way to Maui.
It took about 4.5 hours to get to Los Angeles, California from Atlanta. Now we're
less than 2 hours from Maui. It is a looonnnggg flight and I'm "stove up", but it'll
be worth it. I'm tired, as I got very little sleep last night and got up at 5:00 AM
EST (about 14 hours ago). We got good seats on the plane, had 2 meals and 2 movies
(The Perfect Storm & X-Men). We are so excited about Maui and the week that lies ahead.
Jody
Jody and I are so tired & excited. We took a few cat naps on the plane and had 2
delicious airplane means & I'm not being sarcastic! The pilot said that it's
82 degrees F in Maui. Yea! We saw 2 movies and during our X-Men movie a flight
attendant asked for a doctor or medical person in the back of the plane. Since many
people were laying down sleeping, I couldn't tell what, if anything, was happening.
Jody and I got off the plane during its hour layover in L.A. We bought a newspaper
and Momma a spoon. We met a couple in front of us that went to Maui on their honeymoon
& are returning for their 1st anniversary. Jody & I are now looking through our maps
anticipating arrival.
Anna
November 15, 2000
6:45 AM (Hawaii Time):
We made it! Arrived yesterday at the airport and got our rental car. A pontiac Sunfire;
silver. The perfect car for our trip. As soon as we got off the plane, we knew we were
in paradise! We stopped by K-Mart by the airport for some supplies. Then headed toward
Napili Sunset. The drive was beautiful, though I couldn't take it all in driving. The
ocean and mountain views are breathtaking. We stopped in Lahaina and got our snorkel tickets,
then headed up to the condo. The office had closed, but left our key for us. The studio
is wonderful. Has all we need, including a view of the ocean from our lanai. We unpacked then
went over to Maui Tacos for our dinner. It was delicious! What a wonderful start to what
is to be a truly awesome vacation. We are going down to the beach after breakfast then to the
Iao Needle.
Jody
The office had our name on the small marquee welcoming us! The Murphy bed was very
comfortable. With the cool island breezes we were very comfortable without air conditioning.
We arrived to find fresh flowers to greet us all around the condo's exterior leaving a lovely
perfume. I can't wait to walk on the beach & take more pictures.
Anna
6:45 AM:
What a day. The beach was awesome & the water is so clear! We only walked around this morning, but will be in the water tomorrow. We drove over to the Iao Needle in the Iao Valley State Park. It was beautiful. A stream flowing through the valley was so soothing. It provides for a lush area. We walked around and took several pictures there. Afterwards, we went to the Maui Tropical Plantation. We looked around in the market/gift shop for a while, then took a tram tour of the plantation. It was so neat. I never knew that coconuts in the store are inside what falls from the tree. We saw starfruit, avacados, coffee, and many other plants, including Macadamia nut trees. After touring the plantation, we ate lunch at the Plantation Restaurant. We shared a fresh fruit sampler platter that had fresh pineapple. It was sooo delicious. Then we both had sandwiches. Anna had a Mahi sandwich, and I had a club (big surprise). Afterwards, we went to K-Mart and got 2 boogie boards for playing around in the ocean. I bought Anna a lei -- a fresh lei. She looked cute with her hat and lei. It was pretty & smelled great. We drove just east of Pa'ia to look at the ocean on the east side of Maui, where the surfers & wind surfers go. The huge waves crashing onto the black lava rocks was stunning. The beauty and clarity of the water is just hard to describe. We took pictures, but I know they will not do justice. We drove back to the condo, but go caught in traffic, due to a truck hauling coco palm tres overturning. There is only 1 road to most places on the island, so when this happens, you just have to relax, listen to the radio, and take in the scenery. After we arrived at the condo, we decided to start writing post cards, grab a bite to eat, relax, and go to sleep. We have to leave at 6:00 AM in the morning for our snorkel cruise to Molokini. I'm very excited about that. We brought underwater cameras for that!
Jody
This morning we ate blueberry bagels & drank passion orange Aloha Maid drinks for breakfast. We bought the stuff yesterday at the K-Mart -- the only island discount store that's not so discount. After showering we walked down a path through two other condo buildings to the beach. It took about 10 seconds to get to the beach. It is beautiful. As I sit here writing I can hear the waves crashing and the tropical breeze blowing. There's a nice wind & we appreciate that because the condo is not air conditioned. We read the guest book & saw where other people who stayed in this very condo were not as lucky as we were. The weather is perfect! I couldn't have asked for warmer days & cooler nights. Very pleasant. We checked into the room after the morning walk on the beach since we arrived late last night. We then drove to the Iao Valley State Park where we walked around & viewed the Iao Needle. Then we went to the Tropical Plantation where we saw a coconut husking demonstration & viewed the beautiful plants -- orchids, pineapple, coffee, macadamia nut, mangos, ginger -- you name it! We ate at the cafe there where I had a great fish sandwich & fresh Maui fruit. Jody & I bought boogie boards at K-Mart to go swimming, but on the way back got caught in a terrible traffic jame because a truck carrying huge palm tres had turned over. So now we are here writing our post cards & in our journal. We are very tired and we must get up early for snorkeling tomorrow
Anna
P.S. - Jody got me a beautiful heavy purple lei! I love it & I love him!
November 16, 2000
7:00 PM:
Wow! Where do I begin? For lack of a better place, I'll start at the beginning. We got up at about 5:15 AM this morning & got ready to go to Maalaea Harbor to meet our boat, The Ocean Spirit, for a day of snorkeling. The Pacific Whale Foundation is the organization we chose for our snorkel trip on the advise of some friends. We were not disappointed. We arrived at the harbor, slip #52, and boarded the Ocean Spirit. It was very windy at the harbor, but we were told it would die down once we got out of port. It took about an hour to reach our first snorkel site: Molokini Crater. On the way out we were served a breakfast of fruit & bagels. We went out onto the bow (front) of the boat to soak in the beauty. A nice lady offered to take our picture, and while we were posing a gust of wind carried my new Hawaiian hat out to sea. Rats. Fortunately, she got the picture before it blew away. Soon thereafter we arrived at Molokini Crater and got in the water. The water temperature was 78.3 degrees F. It was so crystal clear that it is hard to describe. From the surface you could see fish and coral, but when you stick your face under with the mask, it all comes alive! We saw the most beautiful fish and they swam right up to us. That was very cool. I think we stayed there about an hour, but I'm not sure. We then packed up to go to our second snorkel site. We went to one area to swim with the turtles, but the water was too rough so the captain proceeded toward west Maui. On the way, the water became quite rough due to strong winds, and the boat was jumping. I thought it was neat. Then someone from the top, or back of the boat alerted everyone they had spotted a whale. We all ran to take a look. A nice gentleman next to me pointed to where it could be seen. After a moment, I saw the tail and fins of the whale in the distance. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take a picture. That was really neat!! We did take pictures of the fish with our underwater cameras. After the whale excitement, we headed toward Lahaina, where we anchored for our secnod snorkel. The was was calm, but we didn't see any turtles. I was really wanting to see them, but everything we did see was beautiful. The coral in this area is breathtaking. We snorkeled there about an hour before returning to the harbor. It was really an exciting & memorable trip. The views of the islands from the boat were stunning. After the snorkel trip we went back to the condo to shower. We rode over to Lahaina to look around and pick up our tickets to the luau tomorrow. I bought a Hawaiian shirt & Anna got a Hawaiian dress. We looked at all the shops on Front Street. Lahaina is an old Whalers village and the history there is impressive. We are going back tomorrow to look around before the luau. After looking at some shops, we had dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was delicious! Anna had a cheeseburger in paradise, & I had a spicy chicken sandwich. We both had non-alcoholic fruit smoothies; Anna a raspberry, and I had banana. After dinner, we came back to the condo to relax and get ready for another day! The muscles are already getting sore from the snorkel...but it is worth it!
Jody
November 17, 2000
7:53 AM:
I couldn't write yesterday because I was tired from writing a bunch of post cards. I'm sooo sore from the snorkel. It was very fun but my claves are killing me today. Jody turned on the news just now ... still no news of who the next President of the U.S. will be. Jody and I have a slight tan from yesterday even with sweat-proof, water-proof, SPF 30. Today we are planning on speding the day at the beach. We will just relax and play in the clear blue water. Yesterday we went snorkeling - it wsa so much fun! We saw coral, sea urchin, tropical fish, and even a humpback whale. We returned to the condo, showered, walked around Lahaina and at at the Cheeseburger in Paradise. A wonderful day in paradise.
Anna
12:00 PM:
We got up this morning, ate a bagel & had some of our orange drink. We went to the store for a snack & some drinks before heading to the beach. We swam a bit and was amazed at how clear the water is at our beach. We relaxed on our beach towels, then decided to rent snorkel gear. I went up to Boss Frogs for 2 sets & came back to the beach. Anna and I snorkeled a bit at Nipili Bay. We saw all sorts of fish and coral/reef. We came back to shower before eating lunch and going back to Lahaina.
Jody
9:00 PM:
After our day of snorkeling at our beach, we cleaned up and headed back to Lahaina. We had ice cream, then started the walking tour of historic Lahaina. Of particular interest were the Baldwin House, the Carthaginian, and the Banyan Tree. The Baldwin House was the house of a missionary/doctor. The carthaginian is a replica 19th century ship. And the Banyan Tree is more than 60 feet high and casts a shadow on 2/3 acre, and was planted in 1873. It is huge! We then rode around for a bit while waiting on the Luau. We stopped at Hilo Hatties then proceeded to The Old Lahaina Luau. It was great. After getting our programs (with our names printed on them), we were both given a lei, then escorted to our table. On the way, we had our picture taken. Our seats were near the performance area, to the side. We looked at the crafts and the pit where the pig is cooked. The spread of food wsa huge. We both got full from the main meal, which was delicious. Afterwards, they brought 3 desserts for us to eat. All were great. Then the luau began. The show was great. It was a bit windy, but we survived. We went to our first luau together so that made it that much more special. We were both in our Hawaiian clothes. We opted to buy the pictures they took as a souvenir of our time at the luau. Tomorrow we head out to Hana. We're heard good things abuot the trip. We are both tired from our day, so we're going to turn in and tackle a new day tomorrow!
Jody
November 18, 2000
6:45 PM:
Anna and I just got in from our journey to Hana, Maui, HI. We left this morning at 7:00 AM and drove over to Pa'ia to get a picnic lunch, a CD of "The Road To Hana", and fill up the car with gas. We had a cassette of the "Road To Hana", but after we left the airport on Tuesday, we realized we didn't have a tape player. Oh Well... Pa'ia is just over an hour from our condo, so we left there around 8:30 - 9:00 AM on our trip to Hana. There is not much to see in Hana, but the journey is priceless. The views of the ocean are what you'd see on television, only better. There were waterfalls all throughout the rain forest. The greenery was sooo green. I've never seen anything quite like it! We took 2-3 rolls of film for pictures on this trip alone. We saw black rock beach, which is stunning. We also saw a mongoose at the park. We went to the seven sacred pools, just beyond Hana. The wind was blowing furiously when we got there, so we didn't get in the water. The views were awesome. Then we went to Charles Lindburgh's burial site. We headed back to the condo, via Pa'ia, to return the rented CD. We got to Pa'ia at 5:00 PM, and back at the condo around 6:30 PM. We stopped at Maui Taco's for dinner. We plan on getting up EARLY tomorrow morning to go to Haleakala Crater for sunrise. It takes nearly 4 hours to get there from the condo. It should be as exciting as everything else we've done. All in all, the trip to Hana was excellent! The beauty of this are of Maui is priceless.
Jody
I am really having the time of my life out here in Maui. This is truly a dream come true. I'm so thankful to God that we are here. Yesterday I was too tired to write, but I had a great time. We went to the beach yesterday for 1/2 the day. We rented snorkel equipment and swam just off shore to view colorful fish & coral. One little boy was so funny with his head sticking out of the sand - the rest of his body covered with sand. At about noon Jody & I returned to Lahaina to get some ice cream & finish 1/2 of our walking tour. After that we went to the Old Lahaina Luau and it was just fabulous. We were greeted with a personalized program & lei. We even had our pictures taken. The feast contained mahi-mahi, pork, chicken & steak, as well as 3 desserts per person! It was a neat show too. Very fun & enjoyable. Had a great time. This morning we went to Pic-nic's in Pa'ia for a picnic lunch. We left the condo around 7:00 AM. The road to Hana is extremely windy & dangerous, especially on the one lane bridges that are on curves in the road where you can't see if someone is coming from the other side. One bridge had a sign for cars to beep as they drove through. Water was on the road at times flowing off into the forest or small waterfalls. Jody & I stopped at a botanical garden on the way in and loved it. It was gorgeous & had a view of a waterfall. We were able to take breath-taking pictures of cliffs, sea cliffs, waterfalls, tropical plants, flowers & even a mongoose & some Hawaiian cows. We also saw Oheo Gulch with 7 pools and waterfalls. It was so pretty. We saw a black sand beach - it was fun to take ou shoes off and walk in the unusual sand. What fun! We also saw Charles Lindburgh's grave. Then we headed back to the condo. We stopped by the Post Office, grocery, and Maui Tacos on the way home. Noe we're pooped & we have to get ready to go to the Haleakala in the morning. Now I shall sleep & have wonderful dreams about this precious beauty of an island called Maui.
Anna
November 19, 2000
1:00 PM:
I'm sleepy so after a nap I'll write more!
Jody
9:45 PM:
Wow! What a day! Anna and I got up at 2:00 AM (Yes! That's right, 2 AM) to go watch the sunrise at Haleakala Crater, the highest point in Maui, at 10,023 ft. above sea level. We started this morning at sea level. I took just over 2 hours to get there, but we read to allow 4 hours, so we were early. We took a little nap after reaching the summit. Like the Hana Hwy, there were many hair-pin curves. Going up it was dark so we couldn't really see anything. Around 6:00 AM we went to the observation point, which had a building to shield us from the wind. It was extremely cold and windy! Just before the sunrise, we went outside to get unobstructed pictures of the sunrise. It was magnificent. We took several pictures then decided to go back down to Kula, at the Kula Lodge for breakfast. We both enjoyed banana pancakes with macadamia nuts. After eating this we were both STUFFED! We had a beautiful view of the West Maui Mountains and Maaleah Harbor from our table. After breakfast we drove back up te volcano, wich took about 45 minutes. This time the views were much more beautiful. We took many pictures on the way back up. We again arrived at the top of the crater. The view into the crater is breath-taking. We walked around this area for quite a while soaking it all in. We again went to teh summit building to take some daylight pictures. From the top, we could see 3 of the islands: The Big Island, Lani'i and Molokai. We were above the clouds looking down through them at the beauty that surrounds the island. It was definately worth the trip up the mountain. After taking it all in, we headed back to the condo for a much needed nap. By this time we'd been up for about 11 hours and it was only 1:00 PM. After getting up, we went back to Lahaina for shopping & dinner. We at at Bubba Gump. It was a neat place. We walked around Lahaina town for a little while longer before coming back to the condo. We are tired & stuffed. Tomorrow we plan on relaxing on the beach and doing some more snorkeling.
Jody
November 20, 2000
8:00 PM:
Anna & I spent the morning at the beach after doing some laundry. We went snorkeling at Napili Bay and saw lots of beautiful fish...one even chased me around the bay. All was beautiful. We went to Alexander's in Kihei for dinner. It was great! We came back to the condo to wrap up things and begin packing for our trip back home. We hate to leave this wonderful place called Maui!
Jody
I was so exhausted from getting up early for Haleakala that I didn't write yesterday. Jody and I had a wonderful day yesterday at Haleakala. We at Banana Foster Pancakes with macadamia nuts for breakfast at Kula Lodge - it was delicious & the big windows made taking in the spectacular view easy. We saw the sunrise on the summit at 10,000 ft. It was extremely cold & windy, but the view was very pretty. The views on Haleakala were great! We were above the clouds looking into the dormant volcano crater, crater cones, and rare plant & animal life. We saw the silversword plant - it only grows 2 places on earth. One is Haleakala & the other a volcano on another Hawaiian Island. We ate at Bubba Gump's - service terrible, food good. Cool decor.
Anna
November 21, 2000
3:00 PM:
Sadness is upon us. We're sitting in the Kahalui, Maui airport waiting for our plane. We love this island and hate to leave. After checking out of the condo, we went to Lahaina for lunch. We ate at the Aloha Mixed Plate, which was delicious! We drove over to the Banyan Tree for more pictures. We stopped along the way to the airport to take pictures of sugarcane and pineapples growing on the side of the road. We stopped at Jamba Juice for a smoothie. Then drove to the ocean one final time to watch the kite surfers. With great reluctance, we drove to the airport where we wait for our flight to Honolulu, then hopefully on to Atlanta. It has been the vacation of a lifetime, we only hope it isn't the only one we get to take like this. Maui is paradise on earth and we hate to leave. Mahalo Maui for the great memories.
Jody
Sitting here in the Maui-Kahalui (OGG) Airport I reminisce about our trip of a lifetime. Maui was more beautiful than my dreams. What a great vacation! On a dream trip with my dream man! Today we ate at the Aloha Mixed Plate. I had the Aloha Mixed Plate and Jody had the Terriyaki Beef Mixed Plate. Neither one of us could finish our huge lunch plates! My lunch plate had 2 scoops of rice, a scoop of macaroni, terriyaki beef, chicken & mahi-mahi! Delicious. The same people who did our luau owns this restaurant. We then drove over to the Banyan Tree for pictures and stopped along the highway for pictures of the sugarcane and baby pineapples. After that we went to a beach near the airport to watch the kite surfers. I hope the pictures turn out well. We also had raspberry & banana smoothies at Jamba Juice! Now we wait to get on the plane for Honolulu!
Anna
6:55 PM (Hawaii Time):
We made it! Our flight from Maui to Honolulu was nice...we sat in FIRST CLASS. The first time either of us sat up there. We were wondering if we'd be able to get on the flight from Honolulu to Atlanta. We did! We are smack dab in the center, but at least we're on! We are heading home now. The flight will take about 7 hours 46 minutes. We leave Hawaii at 6:00 PM on November 21, and arrive in Atlanta at 7:23 AM on November 22. We hope to sleep on the flight so we won't sleep all day tomorrow. The trip has been wonderful and we feel honored and privileged to have been able to go. The first thanks goes to God, for without his grace we would be nothing. Also, HUGE thanks go to Aunt Shirley!!! Now on to Newnan for Thanksgiving and then to Nashville to recover. We have truly been blessed.
Jody
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