Road to Hana

By 8:30 am in the morning, we had come back from a very refreshing whale watch tour. We decided to spend the rest of the day just by driving around and seeing Maui. So we decided to go to Hana and see the waterfalls, blank sand beach at Wainapanapa State Park. We had parked the car next to the Banyan Square (looks magnificent!). And across the street, there is little place called ‘Maui Swiss Café’, that we decided to have our breakfast! They have the best Crepes!

And then we were again back on the Road to Hana. This was a long and beautiful drive. You could see vast Pacific torquoise water, wild horse, and beautiful waterfalls. The road was full of one-lane and tiny bridges. One part was ‘the scariest’ with a hairpin turn and the narrowest single lane, you can’t even see if there is any other driver coming from the other side; and if you look below, you will find yourself at the biggest cliff of your life! As we passed that part, we decided not to return on the same path and you don’t have to as other routes are available!

We loved this beautiful horse in the mountain ranch that was as gentle and lovely as hawaiin people. You could see un-manned fruit stands with fresh tropical produce. One can find the best banana breads at many stops on the way. As we got closer to Hana, the sun was already high up; we stopped by to have some sugarcane juice. With $5 per glass, it was bit pricey but heavenly! With some more hairpin turns and curvy mountain road, we had some great view of Bamboo forests, great waterfalls, and Hawaiian flowers and then we reached Wainapanapa State Park. Spent quite a bit of time there enjoying the black sand beach, the caves, the blow hole and water. On our return trip as the Sun was leaning more towards evening, we stopped by this small place where we had the best tacos and thai food(Yes!) when we were the hungriest. Reached hotel around early evening and we retired for a good night sleep.

Some good tip on your Hana trip:
http://www.govisithawaii.com/2008/03/19/tips-for-driving-the-road-to-hana/

Whale watching near Lahaina

We had already bought tickets online from Pacific Whale Foundation, a non-profit organization that does quite a bit of whale research. We had to reach Lahaina, a port city almost close to dawn! It was still chilly in December. As we were witnessing the first sunrise of ours in Hawaii while waiting for a whale to pop up, I decided to go downstairs of the boat to get a cup of coffee- I heard our tour guide speaking with excitement, "please look at 10 O'Clock…." I ran upstairs and after that as they say 'is history'. I saw the beautiful sight of whales, closest in my life, between the position 10 and 2 of the clock! I guess, it was lucky day for us, the whales were all ready for the show; we knew all the new vocabulary of 'breach', 'slap', 'blow','fluke','blow spy' etc.
The humpback whales come back to Hawaii every winter from Alaska to mate, calve and nurse their babies. They take the same route. Humpbacks may use acoustical cues, currents, and temperature

changes and even the earth's magnetic field to find their way. They even sing! More information could be found at http://www.pacificwhale.org/

As we reached the shore, we couldn't forget about the amazing trip. We stopped by the store and I bought 'Humpbacks of Hawaii - Long Journey Back' by Greg Kaufman and Paul Forestell. The book tells a lot about Humpback whales.

We landed in Maui, Hawaii

After an eight and half hours flight, when we reached Honolulu, we were kind of tired. But, the excitement of being in Hawaii, kept us up. Honolulu airport looked kind of small compared to other mainland airports in USA and this Pearl City which is part of Oahu island of Hawaii, looked amazingly beautiful! This city is the lifeline for all the islands. For next eight days, we will be visiting this airport again and again to hop between islands.

It was getting dark and we were already on the Hawaiian airlines which was taking us to Maui. The Pacific Ocean looks beautiful at sunset. It was a short flight about 30-35 minutes. We picked up some food on our way to hotel and went to bed early as we had to wake up in the morning before dawn to go for whale watching that Maui is famous for.