Aloha!

Okay, I'm way late updating folks on the details of our trip.  So, here's the run down:

Saturday, we left our house at 3AM after dropping Cole off at Grammy and Grampy's the night before and getting just a few hours of sleep.  Everything we our flights went quite smoothly (although nothing you can do about the LENGTH of the flights!) and we arrived in Maui at 2:30 PM.  We stopped by the Walmart near the airport and stocked up on food.  We arrived at our condo around 4:30ish.  We went for a quick dip in the pool, then were off to  find some pizza (since the brats we bought at WM were frozen:-).  

On Sunday, we drove to the middle of the Island (near the airport) and went part way up the "Road to Hana" and stopped at the Twin Falls and Seven Pools.  We walked up a very broad path and made it to the first pool and fall.  This one was pretty crowded and you had to wade through rocky water to actually get to a good view.  Since we were wearing tennis shoes...this wasn't a fun option.  We were on our way back to the car, when I noticed someone that I hot spotted earlier on the trail, just now making their way up to the first fall.  I quickly asked them where they had been and discovered there was a second fall on a much smaller trail (Ah, Twin Falls...makes sense, huh?).  On the smaller trail we only ran into two other couples (much less busier) and we found a much nicer pool and fall.  This one we both got in an swam...we didn't worry as much about leaving our camera on the rocks while we swam as we did at the first fall.  As we were getting ready to leave, another couple approached the fall from a tiny path above the fall--opposite how we came in.  Well, apparently, there was more to see, so we scrambled up a steep path and after loosing the trail a few times made it to an isolated pool and fall.  Again, we swam in this one.  This one was the best one yet.  After that we made more attemps at finding another pool and fall.  We are pretty sure we skipped on our way to the last one, but we could never quite find it.  In the end, we saw 4 pools and 4 falls...so so much for the Twin Falls and Seven Pools!

Our next stop that day was lunch at Mama's Fish House.  A very expensive lunch, but the best food we ate the whole time!  And, the best view.  This restaurant is situated right on the beach, with palm trees growing right out of the sand and some of the bluest water.  This was by far the best view on the island.  This was a celebratory lunch for Nick's birthday.

After lunch, we toured the small town of Paia.  We did some shopping and picked up a regular film underwater camera.  Yes, it took us a few minutes to remember how to take pictures, wind the film etc.  We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool and then grilled out. Yum.

Monday, we got up early and drove about a 1/2 hour south to a beach where we met our Kayaking tour (we had signed up for this the day before after inquiring about renting kayaks on our own and being told some stories off stranded couples at sea...hmm...think the sales guy was working overtime).  We kayaked out to sea and then our guide anchored all of them together while we spent some time snorkeling in the water.  This was my first snorkeling experience and it was helpful to have a guide explain and give some tips.  We swam with turtles! Way, cool and snapped some pics with our underwater camera (haven't developed them yet, so we will have to see).  Funny story, another couple offered to take a pic of us and while doing so the gentleman leaned a little too far back and oops the whole kayak capsized...poor wife!  Meanwhile, I had their camera, so I snapped some pictures for them:-)  We kayaked over to a second spot to snorkel, this time we swam right over some sleeping sharks!  Yes, I was floating on top of 5 foot long (completely harmless) sharks!

The rest of the day, we found public access to the Kaanapali Beach (one of the nicest and pictured above).  This became our favorite beach spot and we came back here several times. That night we went into Lahaina to eat dinner and walk around the shops.

Tuesday, we drove up to the north side of the island on the west coast side (confusing, huh?) and drove to the famous blow hole.  We parked and walked down a rocky slope until we reached a rocky flat area which had a hole carved out of it from the water washing up underneath it.  As waves come in, the water gets pushed up through the hole and it looks like a whate's blow hole.  It wasn't very high that day.  Somedays it is as high as 60 ft.  Nick wasn't satisfied until he was standing right above it looking down into the hole.  Needless to say, he didn't stay dry for long...That afternoon, we rented our own snorkel gear and snorkeled around the Black Rock (again pictures above).  We also spent some time on the beach and pool.