March 3, 2004

The Other Side of the Island
Maui, Hawaii

So many people forget that Hawaii is more than just beautiful beaches. Don't get us wrong... the beaches are wonderful! We spent the first few days of our break here in Maui hanging' out on them... (see the journal entry for February 29, 2004) but the other side of Hawaii is the mountains and tropical forests and so...on this trip, we wanted to get out and explore some of these less toured areas.

The rain has been pretty unrelenting... and as a result the hostel's Monday tour for beach time and snorkeling was cancelled. So, we opted to do our own adventuring and walk up to the Iao needle. The West Maui mountains are only a few miles from our hostel in Wailuku and the scenery was spectacular. Tropical flowers, mountain peaks... and pouring rain, but warm rain! What more could you ask for in a day out in a tropical rain forest? We arrived at the entry gates to the Iao State Park only to discover that due to the weather conditions, the park was closed... but we'd seen most of it on the walk up and we still had a good time (and got completely soaked!) On the way down, we met up with a couple, Sharon & Larry, we had met at the hostel the previous day. They were nice enough to let us tag along as they were out exploring the island in their newly acquired rental car! We stopped at a great beach where we saw whales playing very close to the shore... and about 200 surfers trying to catch a wave!! Seeing those whales has been one of the highlights of our time in Maui!

Yesterday we adventured with a group of people from the hostel on the road to Hana. I don't know the exact statistics, but to get to the far side of the Island requires that you traverse some 600 curves and 50 one way bridges. As one might expect, we experienced a bit of car-sickness... but fortunately queasy tummies was as bad as it got!  However, arriving Hana made it all worth it. There was a break in the weather, so we enjoyed an hour or so on Hana's Red Sand Beach... it was clothing optional, which always makes things interesting. Then we continued on to the "Seven Sacred Pools" which is strangely named given the fact that there are actually 27 pools stemming from a gigantic waterfall.

The group we were traveling with hiked up to the waterfall... (about 2 miles both way, but a completely manageable hike for almost anyone and well worth doing!!) stopping along the way to enjoy wild guavas in the middle of a cow pasture. They're actually pretty good... but we didn't enjoy eating the skin -- very bitter and icky tasting. The hike then continued through a bamboo forest... that stuff is impressive!! We now understand why Heide's Dad thought it would be a good idea to eliminate the bamboo growing in the neighbors back yard.... (Although as a disclaimer, we have no idea how it came to be that it actually died out!) And finally reached the waterfall... which is about 300 feet high. On the way back down, we stopped at one of the swimming holes to cool off and swim under the waterfall... all so very tropical!

Although we've only been on Maui for a few days, we've enjoyed our time and gotten a good feel for the Island. From here, we will catch a flight back to Honolulu and then continue onto Sydney, Australia!!! 

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This Page was last update: Thursday, May 27, 2004 at 7:48:20 PM
This page was originally posted: 3/3/2004; 4:05:27 PM.
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