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.