Maui-Part 2 The Road to Hana

On Saturday we went on the road to Hana which is a 57 mile winding road over to Hana town on the south side of the island. In 34 miles the road has something like 600 curves and 50 one way bridges.  It is a long, slow ride sometimes right near the coast.

 

 

 

 

In Hana we had lunch, looked around some galleries, and the Hana bay then started the two hour drive back.

Near Paia we watched wind surfers and saw a gray seal.

 

Then stopped at Mama's Fish House for dinner.  To quote James "it was the best fish entree I ever had"...it really was delicious.

 

We loved Maui and had a such a great time in Hawaii with Pentti and Amy.

We will be on vacation furlough for a while now (I know you don't believe me but it is true). So as they say in Hawaii, Aloha.

Maija & James

Maui-Part 1

We flew to Maui on Thursday morning and spent most of Thursday day looking around part of the island, getting checked into our hotel in Lahaina and relaxing on the beach near our hotel.

 

 

On Friday we went out on a boat to scuba dive (James and I) and snorkel (Pentti and Amy).

We caught an Ono fish on the way to the crater.

 

Molokini Crater

We did two dives that day. The first was at Molokini Crater called Reef's End.  We had 100 foot visibility and saw lots of fish, a white tipped reef shark, eels, sea cucumbers and so much more.

 

The highlight of the day was THE biggest fish I have EVER seen while diving.  It was a whale shark that was about 30 feet in length.  It looked like a billboard as it slowly cruised past us.  You can't tell from the picture how big this fish was. He was about 30 feet away from us.  PS. This shark eats plankton so we were not in any danger...

 

                              Maija

                                     
James

   

Pentti and Amy

The second dive was at Canyon Lands which is close to the shore of Kihie.  The highlight in this area are the HUGE green sea turtles.  We saw so many of them that I lost count.  There must have been at least 30 in the area.  Most of them were around 6 feet long and some were 65 years old.   They would swim around us and one of them actually kicked me when I got too close to it (by accident).

 

 

  James near the turtle

That night we had a really beautiful sunset.

M

Hawaiian Journey by Jenny, Part 2 + PCC

On Wednesday we spent our last day on Oahu. We rented a car again and drove to the North Shore. We went to the Dole pineapple plantation near Wahiawa.

We went to Lanikea beach

 and saw green sea turtles coming up onto the beach.

At Euhkai Beach (the bonzai pipeline) we watched the surfers.  The waves that day were 6 - 8 feet tall!

We had lunch at Giovanni's Shrimp Truck....

then went to Matsumota's for Hawaiian shave ice. This is the original and BEST shave ice on the island.  James and I like to have it the "real" Hawaiian way with ice cream under the shaved ice.  It tastes like a smoothie.  YUM!

In the late afternoon and evening we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie.  At PCC you go around to different "villages" that represent each of the island countries in the South Pacific.  At each villiage they teach a little about their customs and culture.

 The highlight was Pentti volunteering to play drums in the Tongan Village.

PCC also has a great luau and a night show that showcases the different nations/islands and their native dances.

 

Oahu was a new island for James and I.  We loved the North Shore and wished we could have spent more time there. Waikiki was a little too "urban" for our taste. We like a slower paced, more relaxed Hawaii.  Waikiki was a lot of people and a lot of shopping.

We are currently on Maui (we flew here on Thursday morning...Maui blog to come soon).

M

Hang Loose

Yesterday we hung out around Waikiki and our condo.   The beach was really beautiful early in the morning.

 

James did a little paddle boarding.

Pentti took a ukalele lesson....

 

Then we all went out on an outrigger canoe for some surfing which was REALLY fun!

In the afternoon we did some shopping, relaxed in the condo, went back to the beach in the late afternoon and then went out to a nice dinner with dessert after at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. 

Pretty much a perfect vacation day.....

M

Oahu's South and East Shores

Aloha.  It was another gorgeous day in Hawaii.  Yesterday we rented a car for the day and drove to the south and east shores of Oahu.

 Kawaikai Beach

Pentti and Amy

Hanola Blow Hole

 

Maija and James

Makapu'u Beach

 Lanikai Beach

 

James is pretending to be a swimsuit model.  Lankiai beach is where they shoot most of the photos for the calendars etc.  The beach has perfect, white,  powder sugar sand and the water color was amazing turquoise green. 

Hanauma Bay

While Amy and Pentti went to Sea Life Park to swim with the dolphins, James and I went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay Natural Preserve.

James with a sea cucumber

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kane'oho Bay with a view of Chinaman's hat

Ko'olau Mountains

It was nice to get out of the city and Waikiki and see some of the scenery around the south side of the island.

M