The Green Mile

As we walked down the hallway to Gate 5, I said to Janice, this is the Green Mile. I feel like I'm walking to a place I'm dreading, the plane home. But all good things must come to an end, except of course Heaven (which I think may look suspiciously like Maui) and so we headed home. Flight was horrible as I couldn't sleep so watched Long Way Down (really cool show where Ewan McGregor and his friend motorcycle around the world) bumped my watch ahead 3 hours and realized that I'd was heading into Wednesday having missed a night's sleep. The bright spot was the British flight attendant who was hilarious and did the boring speech and announcement with flair and humour. Hope someone else has a chance to experience his wit. Pretty funny for someone from London.

Our last few days were great, just relaxing and trying to soak up as much fun as possible. We had another good afternoon in Lahaina (got to know the staff at Hurley and Quicksilver quite well while someone decided on a shirt). On our last night, we went down for one last beach walk. These night walks became one of our favorite things to do. We'd pirate a couple chairs that someone had left on the beach and sit there, looking at the water, laughing and commenting on how much God has blessed us to be there. The walk would usually end with a race down the beach, challenging the waves to catch us, or some failed cartwheels. They're pretty hard to do on soft sand.

It was a most amazing trip. We are truly thankful that we could do this.

Thanks for Reading.

Day of the Dolphin

I guess the title gives it away but it was too perfect. We decided to splurge on another excursion, knowing that Ocean Rafting was a great trip because it was the one we went on last time we were here and that the dolphin pods had been spotted around Lana'i, where this trip went. One of the cool things about this trip is that it has a relatively small group (around 12) and heads across the channel on a 30 foot, high speed zodiac. We showed up bright and early (bright and early is getting harder) and loaded up with our crew. We had high hopes of dolphins but weren't counting on it, knowing that it only happens occasionally and that there would be good snorkeling no matter what. As we headed out across the channel, our captain, Timothy, told us that it was shaping up to be a Brochure Day, the weather being perfect and the water being calm. As we motored out, I realized that it was at this point, almost exactly 14 years earlier, that I turned to Janice and said, "if we ever have a girl, we should name her Makena." This story, on the boat, garnered Makena a lot of attention. There were only 10 of us on the boat so there was lots of room on the pontoon for Makena and I to ride it out.

We sped across to Lana'i. At one point, we hit the brakes and spun a quick 180. I thought "dolphins for sure." Sadly, it turns out it was just some dumb kid's Happy Birthday balloon floating in the water and our crew, ever the environmentalists, swung around to pick it up. Another boat saw us do the big u turn and though the same as me so radioed but had to be disappointed too. We soon came to our first snorkel spot.

It was called Armchair because the hillside on the island looked like a giant armchair (apparently someone had a great imagination). There was a big finger reef jutting out from the shore. It was about 6 feet deep over the reef and around 50 feet off the edges. Lots of fish and quite good but with a strong current. After about 20 minutes, someone called "Turtle!" Now, we're a bit spoiled and have seen lots of turtles but flippered over with everyone else to have a look.

So, there we were in 40 feet of water, away from the boat, away from the reef, and the captain, on lookout from the boat, calls to Shawn, who is in the water with us, and gives him the SHARK signal, which I learned in scuba school. He was trying to be subtle but finally yelled "I don't know if that's a shark or a dolphin." Some tried to swim away but, seeing 3 or 4 fins, I was quite sure it was dolphins and encouraged everyone to stay, realizing that if it was sharks, seeing as how we couldn't make it to the boat anyway, the more people around the better. Well, it was a pod of huge, adult spinner dolphins who swam right up to us and past us. It was amazing. As they swam past, I was lagging behind because I had my beautiful Makena in tow. I thought that was the end of dolphins for me but no. Janice said "look behind us" and there were another 6 dolphins swimming past. It was a thrill of a lifetime.

We got back in the boat and headed off to Manele Bay, further down the island. We all said "that'll be hard to top." When we got there, there were probably 100 dolphins, jumping, spinning, circling. We saw a baby dolphin with it's mother. We anchored, hoping the would stay but sadly, they swam off. That was the end of dolphins for the day but how cool it was.

Our last stop was at a place called Sweetheart Rock. It was really neat. Janice, Isaac and I all swam through an underwater arch in quite rough water. A little spooky but awesome.

We loaded up and motored home, and just when we thought it was all over, Captain Timothy stopped the boat in the middle of the channel, in 300 feet of water, and offered us one last chance for a swim. He said the water is supposedly like silk here. I thought "yeah, whatever," but he was totally right. It was amazing. (have I used that word enough).

We were totally bagged when we got home but had a great day.

The Long and Winding Road

Well, today we made the long drive to Hana. Even though I've done it twice before, it all seemed very new (and very windy) even so. We had planned to see a variety of waterfalls and other important locations told to us by Maui Revealed. Apparently some things have changed. The highlights were Wainapanapa State park, where we saw some cool lava tubes and the black sand beach. We saw a guy drying several hundred pounds of marlin on the hot lava rocks. That was pretty cool.

Hana is an amazing small town, actually quite a bit bigger than I remembered. Some amazingly cool homes. Word has it that Opra lives here but who cares:) It would be a cool place to live for awhile. We made it to Oheo Gulch, sometimes called the 7 Sacred Pools, but they have never been sacred. The name was invented by the owner of the Hana Hotel in the 50s because he thought tourists would find it more appealing then it's real name. The pools were a fun swim but didn't beat the amazing ocean here.

By the way, there will be some of our best pictures coming later after I download from my SLR. I forgot the card reader so can only get pics from my little instant camera. The underwater ones will also need to be scanned in when we get home.

Also, just to make things interesting here, it's Shark Week on Discovery Channel. Can't wait to get back in the water.

Scuba Dive

On Monday I did my long awaited scuba dive. I opted to go with Maui Dive Shop as they seemed really reputable. We met at 7 and had a little intro course. After getting geared up, we headed out to Wahikuli Beach for our dive. The act of breathing underwater is amazing. It's a little scary at first as you deflate your BCD and sink to the bottom. We all had to do a few tests like filling our masks with water and clearing them and tossing our regulators aside and then recovering them before we drown. We saw some HUGE turtles resting in the sand and a few squid. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great spot so we saw lots of sand but not tons else. All in all, though, it was really cool.

We had a couple of good days with gramps, the best part was probably playing at our own beach, rolling up and down with the waves. Gramps liked watching the kids but didn't really want to go in the water.

We're deciding if we want to go to Lanai with Ocean Rafting. Apparently, several people have seen dolphins. It's the fun trip we did last time so we're tempted. More decisions.

Tomorrow, Thursday, it's off to Hana.

Gramps is Here

I went to the airport on Thursday night to get dad. Had a good flight but didn't come in till 10:00 (which was 1:00 Vancouver time). We basically got home and went to bed. Had a relaxing day on Friday, hanging around the pool and doing a little shopping. I also booked my dive which I'll do on Monday morning. After last trip's disaster, I went with Maui Dive Shop so there would be no more errors. I'll update that part on Monday night.

Today's big event (Saturday) was the long awaited trip to Molokini. We booked with Pacific Whale Foundation. The staff was great. One of the crew, a guy, was named Makena and actually gave Makena his name tag as a souvenir. It was a perfect day. Relatively calm and totally sunny. Got some great pictures. We were quite disappointed in Molokini though. For a place that's billed as "not to be missed" there weren't ton's of fish and it was very crowded. The water was really clear but that's about it. We then motored to "Turtle Town" the secondary destination. It was really good. Lots more fish, some turtles and just off shore from Tiger Woods' house. Didn't find any golf balls though. The sad part was that gramps didn't go as he was feeling sick the night before and when I woke him up at 5 am, he said to go without him. That was sad. I would recommend Pacific Whale but would actually skip Molokini.

Stopped in Lahaina on the way home and watched a great Keiki (kids) hula show. The kids were good and the musicians were awesome.

Makena meets Makena

After 14 long years (since we came up with the name) Makena has finally visited Makena Beach. We got there today and had lots of fun playing in the waves (which were a little big and powerful for some's liking).

The day started off early as we made the trek to La Perouse bay for what was supposed to be some of the best snorkeling in Hawaii. It was really cool driving through the lava flow. it's amazing what millions of tons of sharp rock can do to a farming area. We hiked out to the snorkeling spot called "The Aquarium." It was VERY windy and the water was quite rough except in the protected coves. Getting in was hard because of the sharp Lava. I cut my foot pretty bad. The snorkeling was okay but not anything compared to Honolua Bay. As we left, we encountered a parks guy putting up a CLOSED sign and found out we're some of the last people to be allowed in that area because it's going to close Aug. 1 because of it's cultural significance to the Hawaiian people (I guess it's less significant if we go there or maybe they're afraid that several dozen tourists a day will damage the rock hard, razor sharp lava). Anyway, glad we made it. After that we headed back to Makena beach and then drove home through Kihei, reinforcing our conviction that I'll never stay there again and that Napili is the best place in the world.

Rest day tomorrow and gramps comes tonight.

Long Way Round

Today we headed out early for Honolua Bay, supposedly one of the best snorkeling places on Maui. Last time Janice and I were here, we missed it and went to Slaughterhouse. This time we got it right. And the place lived up to its reputation. It was amazing. We took a whole roll with the underwater camera. The coral was amazing and the fish superb.

Highlights: 5 turtles including one with only 3 flippers. A 10 foot moray eel who looked about ready to bite my arm.

After a couple hours we headed down the road to the blowhole. It's a less known spot but really cool. The ocean has undercut the lava here and there's a 1 foot hole/tunnel that goes 20 feet down to the ocean. As the surf comes in (and believe me, the waves are huge here) it shoots up the blowhole, first as a rush of spray and then as a big dump of ocean water, sometimes 30 feet high. It's a short hike with tricky footing in spots but worth a look.

Here we had to decide whether to make the trip around the west part of the island. Most guide books recommend not going that way but our book Maui Revealed (www.mauirevealed.com) said it was okay except for the windy (as in curvy, not blowing air), steep, cliffy one way sections where you have to back up till the other guy can squeeze by. But, encouraged by a little green food stand in a remote village that apparently sells the best banana bread on the planet, we forged on. The road lived up to its reputation. I thought it was fine, Janice thought it was freaky, but with Jack Johnson blasting on the ipod, we successfully navigated the road all the way around to Kahului. That's where the fun ended because we had to then go to Costco and trek with the traffic all the way back to Napili.

Ended the day with spaghetti and the movie Nim's Island (great movie).

Tomorrow, rest day.

Beach Day

Have I said that Napili Bay is the best beach in the world. We went down for a few hours of swimming (it's like the world's biggest salt water pool, crystal clear and perfect sandy bottom). Swim out 100 metres and the reef is there for snorkeling. After beach time, we went into Lahaina to shop around and have an early dinner. Lahaina is really cool. Lots of great shops to look in but you soon realize that half the "touristy" stores are owned by the same guy because they have all the same stuff at the same prices. Hawaiian mafia I think. One place to avoid: Hilo Hattie. Talk about a tourist trap.

We had planned to eat at Moose McGuillicuddy's but remembered it wasn't on the water so we opted for Bubba Gumps. It was awesome. Isaac and I shared the giant shrimp dinner thing and a burger. The kids liked the waitress so much, they actually left her their own tip! Isaac bought a puka shell necklace and we headed home late. Lots of Lahaina left to explore.

Beach Day

Finally a day of hanging around, playing at the beach etc. Actually, a little too much beach. so much for sunscreen. Makena is burnt but fortunately not too bad. We have to slather it a little thicker. Lots of snorkeling, boogie boarding and Monastery Tag (Google it) for which Napili Beach is ideally made. I can believe how long the kids can roll around in the waves filling their bathing suits with sand. Almost 6 hours worth of beach time. Gotta moderate a bit. Problem is, Napili Bay is about the best place in the world. On the south end, where we enter, there are great tide pools. In the middle, there's a reef offshore so there's a bit of a break onshore that make for good skimboarding, boogie boarding etc. The far end is quite calm, crystal clear and great for snorkeling and swimming. It's practically perfect in every way:)


Went to Kaanapali for a look around and had pizza and a movie back home. Another great day.

What a great day. It started a little weird. Isaac and I went and picked up our jeep (yahoo) and looked at the cargo space which was the size of a small cooler. our plan had been to go to costco and then drive the 45 min to Napili but this clearly wasn't possible. we piled the suitcases on top of everyone and under their feet and headed for our place. It's awesome!!!

We headed to Napili and dropped off our stuff. the place is awesome. Huge ceilings, tile floors and lots of space. Mind you, it's not the Sheraton but that was never an option so for us it's perfect.

We got a bit of snorkeling in but it was kind of murky, UNTIL WE WALKED DOWN THE BEACH. We found a great spot and Makena saw her first humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Also saw a huge pufferfish and a pencilfish at least 2 feet long. Not much in pictures today but more tomorrow.

Finally Here

We made it!!! It's been a long wait but we're finally here. With the exception of a run in with a couple of weird nuns in the airport, the trip was great. We had a Westjet VP on the plane who is the epitome of why Westjet is such a great airline. Staff great, leather seats. Great.

The most amazing thing was, as we approached the plane, Makena waved at the pilot through the window. He motioned for her to come to the cockpit when we got on the plane. We did and he gave the kids a tour of the cockpit. They even got to flip a few switches. They were great.

Our arrival was less than Aloha. We caught a cab to our hotel and all the guy did was make us feel bad about the fact that our hotel was close to the airport. He complained, complained, complained and dropped us off without a word. Welcome to Hawaii. I'm sure it's going to get better.

In the morning, we pick up the jeep:)