Ahui Hou, Maui!

After our trip to Dragon's Teeth, we came back for one last hotel swim before our departure the next morning. This ship was a major highlight for our kids. Son1 was in pretend heaven, and Son2 sensed that 1.5 foot deep water was just his speed.

We swam until sunset. This is one of Maui's hallmarks, these bright orange sunsets. The picture doesn't do it justice. The sun looked like fire blazing on the horizon.

Sunset on North Ka'anapali Beach

We savored our last romantic dinner, scallops in a lavender coconut reserve. DIVINE!!


The next morning I snapped some photos on the way to Kahului Harbor, where we met the Superferry for our return trip to Honolulu.

Molikini Crater, where Hubby dove two tank dives

Haleakala Crater...See, we were high above those clouds at the summit!

As we say in Hawaii...Aloha! Ahui Ho! Goodbye, until we meet again! We said our final goodbyes to the Maui Coast from the back of the Superferry.

Alone at Dragon's Teeth

Sunday morning Hubby scuba dove Molikini Crater, alone. Though I am also an advanced scuba diver (certified to make deep dives to 120 feet) I am terribly reluctant now that I am a mother. So he went alone. Molikini Crater is three miles off Maui's coast. It is a sunken crater that is today a marine sanctuary. Hubby dove twice. The first time was the deep dive, and the second was the more shallow dive. I was relieved to hear this dive was overrated. It is supposedly one of the best dives in Hawaii. Hubby saw black coral, which is rare, and only available at deeper depths. It is protected, and illegal to take unless you posses a commercial license. There was other excitement. He missed the three white tip sharks that three of the six divers saw. My point exactly.

On the way back to our hotel, he picked up lunch at CJs Deli in the Whalers Village. Mmm so ono! This is just some of what he brought back.

Pineapple fried rice

This burger was called Name That Burger. Look at the enormity of the bun in comparison to the container!

We chowed down outside on our lanai, again. A playful Son1 knocked over some of our drying poolwear. It slid straight off our balcony into someone else's lanai. Son1 volunteered to retrieve the items. I teamed up with him and ushered him through the tall ginger plants. I can make him out in front of me, can you? Those ginger plants were so high they were taller than me!

The boat captain called. Hubby forgot his scuba booties on the dive boat. What a drive back for the booties! We packed up the family and set out for South Maui to meet the boat.

By the time we arrived we had two sleeping crocodiles, again. Stopping in South Maui was a bust. Better to grab some naps in the car than land ourselves two grouchy kids, so we kept driving toward North Maui, toward Kapalua. I had read about a spot called Dragon's Teeth and wanted to see it for myself. After some confusion (well, I was confused, but Hubby totally knew we were in the right spot), we parked our car right off of a golf course. The only way to get to Makalua-puna Point was to walk on the course, along the edge of the greens. It was a looong walk straight down to the ocean. It was too long of a walk for the kids, anyway. Thus, I traipsed down to the point by myself, in solitude.I reached the formation alone. The waves slapped Dragon's Teeth intently, and the ocean water spewed high in the air. I dared not to look over too far. I had this strange feeling someone was behind me. No one was there. This exact motion of salt spray slamming against the coast had etched the lava into Dragon's Teeth.
The lava at Dragon's Teeth is different than most Hawaiian lavas. It is light colored, dense, and fine grained. It is also bleached white in some areas. The lava last flowed when the West Maui volcano erupted. These holes were eroded by the ocean.
And here is my hand at Ansel Adams photography...sort of...I was also attempting the settings on my camera. :)

Saturday in Ka'anapali, Maui

We stayed on beautiful North Ka'anapali Beach at the Westin Ocean Resort Villas. Ka'anapali Beach is one mile long just north of Lahaina. In 2003 it was voted #1 on the list of America's Best Beaches. We knew none of this, though. I called and made reservations using Hubby's hotel points, and this was the only property available. No wonder the lady on the other end of the line thought I was a nut for checking other availability.

After a long day on the Superferry and then a long drive up to Haleakala the day before, we decided Saturday was a hotel day just to relax. Hubby was hoping for a nice breakfast out. The room was equipped with a full kitchen, and I convinced Hubby our kids couldn't tell the difference between a fancy shmancy breakfast or the fruit, yogurt, and peanut butter we brought. Really, they didn't care what they ate, as long as they could get into the pool. In the midst of this discussion our kids disappeared. Just to prove how unphased they are by anything but water, here is where we found them.

In the end, Son2 took a nap, Hubby finished a grad school paper, and Son1 and I fed the koi fish in the pond. The night before we had been the only ones in the keiki pool, but today we found friends with cool floaties.

Hubby called. His grad paper was done and Son2 was up. We headed back to the room to collect the rest of the family. The day before we bought a lemon coconut cake for my birthday at Costco. It wasn't quite my birthday yet, but it was my birthday weekend, and we wanted cake. We didn't have a candle for me, so we sang, and blew out the decorative orchid on the cake. Simply an example of how silly we get.
After lunch we played in another pool. This was the first time Son1 has been big enough to ride the big people slides by himself. He thought he was sooo cool. Hubby and I took turns water sliding and playing motor boat until the big people slide closed.
The keiki pool stayed open much later. This was our favorite. The pool was black bottom, and super warm, because the bright sun keeps it nice and toasty. The pool was only 1.5 feet deep. In the middle of the pool was a pirate ship that spouted water out of the cannons and out of the portholes. The porthole to the right is also a slide. All three of the boys went down together a few times. They like to do things together, those three!

We were hungry all over again. Hubby really wanted us to go out for a nice romantic dinner. Gently, I suggested this was a potential nightmare. Gently. A little too gently. We showered everyone up, put the boys in their matching shirts, and headed for dinner facing the sunset, overlooking the gardens and koi pond. Romantic, huh? Mmm hmmm, for less than five minutes. An emotional meltdown, food throwing, and ear piercing shrieking five minutes later, I was in the room with an overtired little boy, alone. I tugged on his pajamas, fished out some food from the refrigerator for him, and finally put him to bed. As I was closing the door to the bedroom, I heard a knock on the door. There stood Hubby and Son1 with boxed dinners, and a sweet grin on his face. Yup, that's Mr. Romance for you.

Son1 watched a DVD in the living room, while Hubby and I scraped dinner out of those cardboard boxes onto plates, and set the lanai outside with linens. And guess what? We had the same romantic view from the restaurant, only several feet higher in the air. Except it was far more romantic. One child was sleeping, one was occupied, and we were alone, having surf and turf by sunset.

Haleakala Crater

* Read about our trip to Maui on the Hawaii Superferry.

The Superferry docked at Kahului Harbor, Maui. We were already sitting in our car when we docked, and disembarked quickly. Our hotel check in time was not until 4pm, and it wasn't quite 10am when we arrived. A few minutes in the car and the Sandman had his first victim. (You know the lullaby!)

Son1 looked at me with heavy eyes. "Mommy, the two crocodiles are very sleepy." And what do you know, he was next to go.


Well, this made our decision easy. The best way for these kids to nap without a hotel room was in our car on a long drive. There was only one place I wanted to see this weekend anyway, Haleakala Crater. Off we went!

A looong time ago the Haleakala volcano built itself up, and then went dormant for several hundred thousand years, just like the other Hawaiian volcanoes. Meantime, two huge valleys formed on either side by erosion, 5,000 feet into the core of the volcano. They met back to back at the summit. Haleakala then became active for a series of final volcanic eruptions, starting from the summit, and filling these two canyons with lava, and raising the summit floor. The volcano became extinct, and sank under it's weight back into the sea. Unlike the Big Island volcanic craters, this crater was formed by erosion.

The road to Haleakala has tons of switchbacks. The landscape changes between the foot of the crater to the summit drastically. Between 2,000 and 4,000 feet elevation we saw cattle and horses in the upcountry. The green rolling hills were a surprise in the tropics. The drive was beautiful, and reminded us of the California wine country. Our favorite trees were these purple Jacaranda trees. The purple flowers were so intense and bursting against the crisp blue sky. They only bloom this time of year.
I am not sure what this tree is called, but I call it the trumpet tree. These Lily trumpets were humongous, like bananas hanging from the tree.
The higher we climbed in elevation, the more the vegetation changed. Soon we saw plants with shorter green leaves and stubby pines. The clouds moved rapidly with the trade winds, which blow westward, toward the earth's equator. Our kids awoke about this time, and Son1 thought we were seeing lava steam, like we had on the Big Island. When he realized we were driving higher than the clouds like an airplane he was in complete awe and three year old wonderment.

We stopped at the Leleiwi Lookout. It was a five minute walk from the parking lot. We were over 8,000 feet high. The temperature dropped an average of 3 degrees for every thousand feet above sea level, so it must have been about 50 degrees. We sustained the change in altitude so quickly, and could hear our breath getting shallower as we walked. The rest of the trip we made sure everyone was hydrated, because dehydration is also common. The body has not had much time to adjust. The ascent was nearly two miles high in a matter of several minutes.

We stood at the guard rail, and were greeted by the brimming crater, with the clouds rolling in. The unique formation of the crater, the altitude, and the trade winds all contribute to why the cloud scenery can look different in five minutes. Since the atmosphere is so thin at this level and the sun is quite bright, it is also pretty easy to sunburn, in the cool 40 to 50 degree weather. (Of course, those are midday temperatures!)

Pitching rocks into the crater

High above the clouds

Leleiwi Lookout

The Silversword plant is now unique to Hawaii, however, a California bird brought over it's seeds over a million years ago. The silver hairs allow the plant to retain water and repel the bright and warm sun at this altitude. Silverswords live nearly 50 years, flower once, and then die.

People used to pluck them out of the ground for decorative purposes, and they became an endangered species. Today they are protected and the fine for picking them is more than a vacation on Maui!

We continued up to the summit for the majestic view inside of the crater. The colors were vibrant, and the cones in the middle were glorious.

Since I am not a professional photographer, here is a photo from someone who is.

We finally made it! The final point of the summit was over 10,000 feet high. The blustery wind bit through the kids, but it felt good to us. Son2's nose looked like a cherry.

This is my favorite picture. It captures the absolute wonder of the moment. Hubby is holding Son2, and talking with Son1 about all that is below. They are talking about the clouds that roll in, and the crater below. We all talked again about Who made all that we saw.

Intelligent. Unbelievable. Incredible. Boundless. Indescribable. Marvelous. HE truly is Amazing!

We climbed back in the car, ready for our descent. There was only one more sight to see, but not really see, Science City. It is closed to the public. One of the Farmer four has made it inside.

Experts from all over the world come to this astrophysical complex operated by the Department of Defense, University of Hawaii, Smithsonian Institution, Air Force, and Federal Aviation Administration. The air at the crater is clear, dry, and still, without lights, and located above one third of the atmosphere. Haleakala is one of the most superb locations in the world for ground-based telescopes. This area offers the fourth best viewing on the planet. Some of the telescopes operated by the Department of Defense are involved in researching man-made spacecrafts, monitoring satellites, rockets, and laser technology. Others research celestial objects.