Sunday in Maui dawned with some cloud cover and a misty type of rain. Between periods of cloud and rain, the sun shone. That is pretty well how the weather remained for the entire day. What also remained for the entire day was a rainbow. There was a rainbow, sometimes two rainbows in the sky over the ocean for the entire day on Sunday. I took so many photos but really they do the sky no justice.
Sunday was also a rather lazy day for us. We enjoyed breakfast on the lanai. Then sat on the deck chairs reading by the water's edge for a few hours in the morning. For the afternoon, Sue had been invited to a tour by her time share company, so we walked along the strip of stores toward the hotel where her meeting took place. We grabbed some essentials at the grocery story and I left Sue to attend her meeting.
Back at the condo, I worked on chopping up veggies for a big stir fry, read, and watched a bit of Coronation Street. I tried to sit by the ocean front again but it was really too rainy for that in the afternoon. Sue's meeting lasted a bit longer than anticipated but she returned for dinner and we enjoyed a few rounds of Uno before bed.
Monday morning was a very early rise. We were up and out the door by 4:30 as we were heading to Haleakala to greet the sun. Haleakala "is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian Island of Maui" (Wiki). There are a limited number of roads on Maui. Essentially, there is a track of roads that lead almost all the way around the edge of the island and one road that crosses Maui in the middle. If you imagine a figure 8, that is what the road map would loosely look like from a birds eye view. So, Sue and I had to travel back to the airport town and then head west toward Haleakala National Park. The road up the volcano is windy and often there are hairpin turns to follow as you make your way to the 10 500 foot elevation. The journey up was completed in the dark. We travelled above the clouds. We got to the top of the volcano by about 6:30. There are Park Rangers and a parking lot (which was full) at the Visitor's Centre. So many people had journeyed to welcome the sun.
A rocky hill leads higher than the Visitor's Centre and Sue and I climbed up this par a wee bit to grab a spot to observe. As the darkness of the night slowly gives way to the light from the sun, the sky changes from black to gray, purple, to blue, red, orange, and yellow. It is a truly difficult thing to describe and the photographs really do not do the sunrise justice. As the sky gets lighter still, the sun starts to make its silvered appearance. Then, quickly, the sun is rising and it seems like in no time, the sun has joined us for another beautiful day on Maui. As the sun rises, two of the Park Rangers sing a traditional chant to welcome the sun. If you are interested in hearing this beautiful chant, I have linked a YouTube video to the chant on my Blog.
Now, in the light of morning, we got a wider look around. Sue and I were standing on top of a volcano, looking down on the clouds and the crater that is what remains of the volcano. It was very rocky at the top and the dirt had a reddish brownish tinge to it. We climbed to the top of the rocky hill to enjoy the stunning vista.
After watching the sunrise and enjoying the view, we tailgated in the back of the Jeep and had our breakfast.
The journey down the volcano was more scenic as it was full day light by now. The vegetation is sparse at the top of the volcano. There are some low lying shrubs. We saw some Nene, which are birds, that we were cautioned to avoid as the cross the road at will. As we descended, we passed groups of bikers who were participating in the bike the volcano tours. The vegetation got thicker and there were more trees the lower we drove.
We stopped at a cafe for a cup of coffee at the bottom of the volcano, as we were closer now to highways. I saw a lemon tree on the cafe property! I am fascinated at the amount of fruit trees that are randomly growing here.
Next on our to do list was to drive the Highway to Hana. This road was snakes along the northern coast of Maui. This highway is 104 km long. It takes about 2.5 hours to travel, without stopping due to its windy, and at times, narrow roadway. There are reportedly 620 curves on the road and it travels through scenic and beautiful tropical rainforest.
At Boss Frogs, we had been given a CD that acted as a tour guideas we wound our way toward Hana. Each track explained about the history of Maui, its people, and the road and bridges we crossed, or about the different types of trees that we were passing by. As with the sunrise, words can not adequately describe the views on the Highway to Hana. Needless to say, every turn, every bend offered a visual delight. There are hundreds of different shades of green. We say bamboo, banya, Norfolk or cook pine, painted or rainbow eucolyptus, banana trees, palm trees, trees with different fruits growing from them, and so many other interesting species of trees that I do not recognize. As we crossed over the narrow bridges, we often saw deep, green valleys, and rocky patches. Many times there were beautiful cascading waterfalls.
Our main stop along this route was at Black Sands Beach. This turn off of the main road led to a camping area, beach area, black sands, and some caves. It was also a great place to look north east over the Pacific Ocean for miles. And the beach was really made up of black stone and black sand. The contract between the black sand and the lush greenery that was growing by the side of the ocean was stunning.
The final leg of the journey took us to Hana. This town is small and considered untouched by too much civilization. It was a good pit stop before we turned around and wound our way back via the Highway to Hana.
On our return journey, we were delayed by about an hour due to construction on a bridge. Traffic was stopped both ways. Since there is no alternative road, we all waited. Sue and I took this a good time to break out the Jeep Owner's Manual and figure out how to remove the freedom top. This is essentally like having a huge sunroof. After our delay, the return journey was completed with the sun shining in on us.
We made a quick Starbuck trip where I was able to get a new mug to add to my collection and then headed home.Dinner was a quick egg and toast and then it was off to bed. It had been a long and fantastic day.
Today was definitely a party for my eyes
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