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Thursday 9/23/21 -Day 0 : I had to rush all morning, preparing to leave for the airport. It felt like I was slotting everything in 1 hour time slots on my calendar: 9 am Covid Test, 9:40 am Rabies shot (long story!), then home to pack. I finally left at 1 pm for the airport, hooray, narrowly catching the number 9 bus to Powell Street Bart, then connecting to Coliseum Bart.
I was pleasantly surprised upon realising Coliseum Bart connected to Oakland Airport which meant no need to take a Uber (and one less step in the journey).As soon as I got on the latter train the white surroundings felt calming, different from the clacking brown of the San Francisco city Bart trains. Peaceful. I watched a pigeon diligently preening itself on a telephone pole as the train moved away. The train puttered through about 10 stops eventually spitting me out at Oakland Airport. Immediately I spotted Jamie and Aleks ( who had been on the same train!). We headed together to the check in counter , then to the Hawaii Pre-Clear desk before meeting Gemma in the Escape airport lounge to start out our trip with a white wine and appetisers (complimentary of our American Express credit card rewards).
We boarded the half empty flight, all sitting in rows across from each other, I read Sally Rooney’s Where Are You Beautiful World for several hours before listening to music, Gemma worked on her laptop the whole way across.
We arrived in Maui’s airport (OGG) at 7 pm , rectified Jamie’s fabulous Vaccine Card situation ( haha) and headed through the COVID checking, baggage claim , and to the rental van , a proper beast of a wo-Van, a 2007 Honda minivan (with a charger from at least a decade prior, not compatible with iPhones).
We went to Down To Earth, (the only other grocery store than Safeway that was open at that time) , to get food/snacks for the next 4 days. I got oak milk, yogurt, muesli, tiny bananas, plums, bell peppers, salad, coffee and tofu rolls. Gemma got a whole cart of things, Aleks and Jamie a few items. We headed to the Air B&B- Luana Kai Resort (940 South Kihei Road )and spent the evening eating grocery food, and planning for the next day.
I kept saying Haleakala and Maui wrong , until Jamie kindly corrected me. The name “Maui”comes from mythological legend. According to legend, the demigod Maui was on a fishing trip with his brothers when he snagged the ocean floor with his fishing hook. He told his brothers to paddle as hard as they could and an island rose from the sea into the sky. Maui repeated this several times, creating the Hawaiian Islands. In Hawaiian folklore, the crater at the summit of the 10,00 ft volcano Haleakala (“House of the Sun”) was home to the grandmother of the demigod Maui. According to folklore, Maui’s grandmother helped him capture the sun and force it to slow it’s transit across the sky so as to lengthen the day. Hawaii has a rich history of folk lore, based largely on the Tapu religion that likely originated among the Tahitians and other Pacific islanders who landed in Hawaii between 500 and 1300 AD.
Friday 9/24- Day 1 – We got up at 6:15 am, much to Gemma’s dismay, and got a slow start , deciding on the Road to Hana as none of us slept particularly well. We drove half an hour to Paia , the start of the Road to Hana stopping at some pretty beaches on the way. The Road to Hana is a 6 hour drive from Paia to Hana , with lots of stops for waterfalls, hikes, viewing points in between. It has a carousel set up , and it is not possible to go back if a stop is “missed”. We had downloaded Gypsy ( A GPS narrated audio driving tour) , and this nice man ( we named Pedro) narrated stops as we went past, belting out a large “ding”for the top five most important stops. We passed Twin Falls for a wonderful hike, then tried to stop at Bamboo Water Fall ( but there was no parking). Luckily we got parking at the Arboretum, where we saw lots of native plants including Ginger, and some cool Rainbow Eucalyptus trees.
The walk was 0.9 miles out and back and there was a strong smell of cow manure at the end, ideal for happy plants. We departed for the road again, stopping a few times at view points , then around 1 pm stopping for lunch at Half Way to Hana food stand . I brought my lunch but couldn’t pass up still warm banana bread , which seems to be a touristic snack for Road to Hana as multiple shops were selling this, made from tiny local delicious apple bananas!
After lunch we proceeded to drive further, before deciding to go swimming at the beach in Hana , the current was strong and I watched carefully as Aleks and Jamie went in to waves , one of which went right over Jamie’s head! We stopped for gas, I checked out a farmers market to see local Hawaiian produce, then onwards to the final stop of the Wai’anapanapa State Park ( we didn’t have reservations for the black sand beach) and got to the park 20 minutes before closing time , alas they would not let us in!
So we turned around and started our long return journey, the same way we came, – listening to Pedro give a full narration of the history of Hawaii, the culture of hierarchy and the battles fought against the Spanish. We stopped to use the bathroom and I picked 2 yellow unidentified tree fruit from an overloaded tree. It was getting dark now and we hastened toward home , deciding to get dinner out once back at a sushi place. We got back late around nine- Aleks was an amazing driver despite the many hairpin turns ( over 600 according to Pedro!) , and scary passes. I had taken 2 dramamine and it made me incredibly sleepy and woozy, as we were walking the mile to the restaurant from the Air B&B I realised I was in absolutely no state to have dinner and ended up walking home for fresh air and rest, then ended up eating my leftover yucca, quinoa salad, beans and kale that I brought from home. The girls arrived not long after 10 pm and announced a plan to do a beach day the next day.
I felt relieved in a way – knowing it wouldn’t be a full walking day, which was fine by me! Jamie and Aleks let loose and stayed up until 2 am excitedly talking about life in the way that close friends do. Me and Gemma went to bed around 10:30pm, the dryer clicking and clacking in its quest to dry beach towels.
Saturday 9/25- Day 2 We slept in until 8 am-ish , I got out of bed quietly so not to wake Gemma around 6:45 am , watching the gentle morning wash in through the balcony. I heard birds and went down onto the grass and beach to identify them – the Indian Dove? via Bird Net. I wandered back, the girls were awake starting breakfast – Jamie made coffee and we sat on the balcony discussing plans for the day. We decided to do a hike Lahaina Pali Tail from Maalaea – a supposedly flat trail that was anything but! Aleks and Jamie didn’t quite have proper shoes and water supply, and so after a valiant effort, they decided to cut back early to get food and explore and me and Gemma finished the 5 mile hike. It took us about 3 hours – up a steep winding switchback towards the summit of windmills .
The unforgiving sun was beating down on us and the red sand but we caught a break at the top and stood there admiring wind power turbines starting and stopping. They lazily turned, as if they were waiting for the world to run out of oil. We ate lunch quickly , I didn’t have time to do my Invisalign as we were rushing to meet Aleks and Jamie in order to make a 2:30 pm stand up paddle board experience.
We made it just in time , meeting the man from the surf shop who delivered the Stand up Paddle boards to us via the Baby Beach access. Jamie had a Sunscreen Situation , after a reminder from a local man near us that any non- reef sunscreen would carry a hefty fine (and can damage the environment). We dipped a towel in the sea and wiped off with great care the offensive sun screen , replacing it with reef safe formula, ( only realising afterwards that the original formula was Reef Safe!) before attending to the paddle boards. They are heavier than they look ,Aleks quickly got the hang of it carrying it on her head like a true local. We all gingerly tested out our boards, standing up like toddlers , being wary of the sharp and precious coral below. I fell twice. Jamie and Aleks took to the paddle board like a pro.
Gemma, after mastering the board, eventually lost interest in the SUP after a good while , deciding to switch to snorkel and I soon followed. We followed some fish lazily coasting through the coral until Aleks found a giant sea turtle which we followed for a good while , respecting it’s distance. After returning the stand up paddle boards at 4:30 pm we drove to pick up delicious Taro Burgers from Moku Roots , and dairy free gluten free pizza for Gemma, we took our dinner and had a “picnic” on the beach , watching sun set before Aleks and Gemma excitedly went skinny dipping in the inviting ocean. I stayed behind, as I’m not one to go into any ocean in the dark, respectful of the ocean’s current as it lapped it’s dark tongue at us under the full moon. I turned my attention upwards, trying to figure out the stars in the sky. Were there stars here I couldn’t see in San Francisco from my roof top?
Sunday 9/26/21: Day 3– We got up early at 6 am for breakfast , coffee and bathroom, with a 7 am departure time to head to Haleakala State Park – I didn’t want to hike on dramamine, and my stomach churned picturing the 90 minutes of hair pin curves ahead. I put my sleep mask on and listed to Mistborne by Brandon Sanderson on audiobook, breathing in and out slowly to control the nausea. Apparently there was some good commentary on Nene’s ( the Hawaiian goose, and official bird of the state of Hawaii) that I missed , as Jamie eagerly told me when I dared to take off my sleep mask at the top. We arrived at the summit and me and Gemma started off for our 11 mile hike on Haleakala Crater Trail.
Haleakala is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the island of Maui! It last erupted between 1480-1600. According to the United States Geological Survey Volcano Warning Scheme for the United States, the Volcano Alert Level for Haleakala As of 3 June 2021 was “normal”. Phew.
The summit is popular with tourists and locals alike who arrive to the summit for sunrise between the hours of 3 am-7 am. The park has put a reservations permit system in place to help with preservation efforts. It sells quickly ( $1 for limited 50 spaces) out on line and I would recommend to anyone else attempting this to get the permit weeks in advance ( unlike us where we attempted for multiple days in a row and did not get a permit!). However, going at sunset does not require reservations ( and is just as good, if not better!)
The Haleakala Crater trail on first glimpse reminded me of Tongariro in New Zealand – winding stretches mostly down hill of red volcanic rock, interspersed with dessert plants ( including the silver sword – a critically endangered and fragile sword like succulent plant that lives only on the slopes of Haleakala ) and under direct sun for the first half. Gemma stopped to do some bouldering. She’s very good at bouldering and I marvelled at her ease on the aggressive looking red rock.
The first half of the hike went quickly, and eventually shot us out into the cloud layer which in time transitioned into a misty , but not cold, green belt of plants , entirely different from the first half of the hike. We found Haleakala cabin , and stopped at the picnic table for lunch , observing some people feeding a neme. Gemma educated them by referring to the park’s Nene Recovery Program ( Do Not Feed the Nene). It also had a limp. The Neme.
After a leisurely 45 minute lunch we headed back on trail , still in the cloud layer and it started to rain, and mist , the type of rain which covers but doesn’t necessarily wet, although I had donned a Hefty garbage bag as a rain jacket at this point, having forgotten my own. Gemma had much more sensible apparel. The trail got steeper until it was a long winding staircase for 2 miles back up to the end of the hike, eventually spitting us out into the Park Head trailhead. We lay there exhausted as Jamie and Aleks arrived to pick us up and tell about their day at a nudist beach, stories including an oyster bar and a nice store to get delicious snacks. Jamie took artistic pictures of a nudist man bathing next to a nudist turtle. At this point we rushed up to the Summit of Haleakala to watch sunset – making it there at 5pm with an hour and a half to go until sunset. Jamie and Aleks had kindly picked up the delicious snacks – pecans, nutty things, vegan jerky, and chocolate macadamia nuts to eat and hard lemonade and Coconut Porter from Maui Brewery to drink which was amazing. We found our viewing spot in a little nugget cove out of the wind, with beautiful Haleakala observatory to our left and the sun straight ahead. I learned that the summit of Haleakalā is one of the most sought-after locations in the world for ground-based telescopes due to the remarkable clarity, dryness and stillness of the air and it’s distance from bright city lights.
We ate dinner ( which was left over lunch and ate delicious snacks, I was so grateful to Aleks and Jamie for bringing these!) Jamie and Aleks went on a 1 mile bathroom trek returning in time to watch the sunset go down , stemming into glorious shades , we listened as a man proposed to his girlfriend and everyone clapped. I attempted to set up Gemma’s Go Pro, my go pro, and my camera to capture sunset and I’m not sure I did any of them correctly. Aleks couldn’t resist a sunset zumba and Gemma and Jamie soon joined in dancing to cumbia music as the crowds dispersed and the sunset burst into more colours displaying a beautiful blowhole to the city lights below under the dulcet tones of Marc Anthony “Vivir la vida”. It was perfect.
We stayed to watch the stars come out ( Haleakala Summit is one of the best places on Maui to stargaze). I observed them brightening as the sky got darker and we heard the hum of the observatory open while Gemma , the Physicist amongst us, delivered a fascinating lecture on the early universe and inflation and I was remembering what I learned from the Katie Mack book “End of the Universe”.
It was dark by then and we headed down the mountain, stopping for cows now and then , and laughing. I fell asleep until arriving back to straighter roads . Dramamine situation averted!
We decided to stop at “Amigos “ , Maui’s best Mexican restaurant for 11 years in a row( and probably the biggest toilet key in Maui which appeared to have been a walking stick at some point). I used it as such. They may have been having an off night as Gemma’s order came with rice and cheese and mine came with no rice and it was a bit comical, yet delicious.
We ate and headed back to the Air B&B , discovering a poor toad, dead with a bloody tongue on a mysterious palm leaf. A big fellow, maybe he fell from a tree after a long life. We wanted to move him to a more respectful place but Jamie wisely pointed out we probably shouldn’t touch him. We got ready for bed, me and Aleks and Jamie exploring the yellow unidentified fruit I picked up in Hana- initially a google search pulled it up as a loquat. Aleks gingerly cut into it before tasting then proceeding to zealously devour it with me and Jamie belting in laughter, I haven’t laughed that much in a while, I was crying with laughter. (I’m not sure why it was so funny, but the entire situation vaguely reminded me of the Canadian news channel anchor who made a terrible mistake with artichoke dip). Gemma entering amidst this chaos, seemed mildly perplexed at the situation, and more concerned about the sounds pounding from the dryer. I uploaded my go pro footage so I could use the go pro the next day and we went to bed, knackered from a long but satisfying day.
9/27 Monday Day 4 – We got up at 7am , I joined Jamie on the balcony for a bit discussing sea birds before we started to get ready for sea scootering. We had to leave at 8:30am to be there for 9am, met the owner and guide Tristan, who was very enthusiastic and passionate about the ocean. We spent 30 minutes going over safety and expectations before trying to snorkel and rapidly progressing to using the sea scooter machines. I mounted my go pro on the scooter and took a life vest, my anxiety over water growing as we scooted out past swimmable water. I watched as Gemma, Aleks and Jamie took to the water like ducks to water.
I was hoping the scooter would be helpful as a buoyancy device. It was anything but.
I was trying to hold my arms in front of me to guide it , the scooter seemed to want to go any way but forward until I figured out how to reign it in . They are surprisingly powerful, like miniature underwater Dyson hoovers. We got to the reef and observed some purple fishes, starfish, and half a dead lobster before finding a giant turtle sleeping on the ocean floor . By this time Jamie had her fill of the water and decided to join the guide on the paddle board while the rest of us scooted around. I tried to dive but didn’t feel comfortable, and chatted with one of the trainees for a while, (he had just arrived to Maui not too long ago and spent the mornings doing 2 tours from 7-11 am then has the rest of the day to enjoy, to dive to surf- not a bad gig!) I broke off conversation with him to head back to the paddle board and then the experience was coming to a close as we scooted back to shore to rinse off and depart.
Our flight back to San Francisco was at 4 pm and we had to drop the rental van ( which served us well despite it’s eccentricities) off to Anjali’s friend , so we missed out on Mackenna beach and went to grab lunch at Vegan Sprout Cafe . I got a boba tea which was interesting, Gemma was mildly underwhelmed but satisfied with her lunch without sour cream. Aleks and Jamie were happy , all chattering about the sea scootering experience. We got our food to go and headed back to the air b&b to eat our last lunch on the balcony, and pack , with a hard deadline of leaving at 1:30pm . Aleks sadly lost her Maui hat and went to Safeway for a replacement. We said good bye to Maui as we left the rental car, ( good bye big mama van! ) hopped into 2 separate Ubers ( due to the space requirements for COVID pandemic) for the 20 minute ride to the airport. I checked all my water bottles were empty ( as I always do) before proceeding through security, only to find that erroneously I forgot a full 2L hydration bag in my ruck sack, ( I was wondering why my bag was so heavy!) which I had to go back through security and empty on the grass outside, choosing to water some brown shrubbery, before reattempting the whole process.
We made it to a underwhelming Priority Lounge, helped ourselves to free water and promptly left to eat our own food in the airport. After boarding the plane I wrote this, then slept most of the way home . Such an amazing trip and I’m so grateful to have these amazing ladies as friends.
Good bye Hawaii, good bye Nene!
Aloha Friday, no work til Monday , some wonderful memories to keep us going through the week ahead!
hollypeppercorn 