Safari So Good

It seems odd to wake and realize it is Christmas Day. There is another rainbow – a vibrant full semi-circle that sits on the horizon of the ocean. A breathtaking site. I think of my kids and grandkids and hope they are having a good Christmas.

I make breakfast this day, for a change—biscuits (canned, but still good), sausage gravy, sausage, scrambled eggs, and fresh papaya. It was quite good, if I do say so myself.

We go Snorkeling one last time at Kaanapali Beach/Black Rock. Saw lots of different fish and a couple young turtles.  Mary and Peter try paddle boarding. It was crazy crowded.

That evening we drive the short distance to Dukes Restaurant, which is on the beach. We indulge by sharing another piece of Hula Pie per couple. The damn things are huge, but we have absolutely no problem cleaning our respective plates.

A rainbow a day. This one is coming right out of the ocean.

You can see the whole thing (my I-Pad didn’t quite capture each end and I was afraid to go get my camera because rainbows come and go so quickly).

It’s a gecko on the wall next to our table! Not an unusual site anywhere that is open to outside.

Dinner at Duke’s on the Beach – we can see the ocean from our table.

Our last morning – a Mauimosa for breakfast.

OMG – candied bacon! Because plain bacon is just not fattening enough.

At the airport. I forgot to show you my new suitcase. Got this from my son and daughter-in-law for Christmas. LOVE it!

Christmas in Hawaii was wonderful, but I did miss the family.  Mary and Peter are good travel companions.  They are easygoing and such a sweet couple – will definitely travel with them again if they are willing to put up with us!

Until our next adventure — Aloha A Hui Hou Kakou!

We eat breakfast again at Slappy Cakes and it does not disappoint. Midday, Mary decides she wants to go shopping, so we head to the Outlets. Mary finds a lovely wrap for her bathing suit and I snag a cute T-shirt from Kate Spade at 60% off.

Christmas Eve we head to Lahaina for the best Luau on Maui – The Feast at Lele. Unlike most Luaus, this one is a sit down service Luau, not a buffet. There are 4 entree courses, each accompanied by the dance which represents the region from which the inhabitants of the islands come; including Hawaiin, Tahitian, Samoan, and New Zealand.

We watched the sun set as we enjoyed drinks at our table on the sand. The beautiful dance of Hawaii actually chokes me up as it is so moving and the Hawaiin women dancing so incredibly beautiful.

Welcome drinks! Let the party begin!

Michael with a sunset backdrop.

We received real flower leis when we arrived.

Michael and Peter at our table. You can see the stage to Peter’s right.

Nothing like a Hawaiian sunset.

Colors

One of 4 entrees – shrimp w/ papaya, seafood stew, chicken w/teriyaki sauce and mango.

Old people doing the Shaka (hang loose) sign is kind of funny, right?

Day 4 – SCUBA DIVING!

Michael, Peter and I signed up for SCUBA diving before we got here.  We chose a two tank dive with Lahaina Divers to the Molokini Crater. It is about a 1 1/2 hour boat ride from Lahaina.  The ride out was a little rough, but we were graced with several whale sightings –  at least 12 or 14 whales in couples.  They would ‘blow’ then show their backs, then flip their beautiful tails up in the air and do a deep dive.  What a show.  We were on a Dive boat, not a whale watching boat, but the Captain still slowed so that everyone could see the whales.  We also had a few dolphins come by and follow us a little ways, playing in the wake of the boat.  One of them flipped completely out of the water and did a fancy spin for our viewing pleasure.

Once we got to Molokini, we geared up and headed off the boat in small groups of about 6 each.  Our Dive Master was Mark.  Visibility was about 90 feet – spectacular!  Michael and I were underweight (go figure) so we struggled a bit before we got stabilized with extra weights added to our BC (buoyancy compensator) vests.  The dive was good – we saw lots of fish and two eels.  We then came up and took a 45 minute break which included sandwiches and chips, then we put our gear back on (empty tanks were switched with full tanks) and headed back down again.  We went to an area call “The Aquarium” because of all the different fish one can see there.  There were hundreds of colorful fish.  We also saw a Crown of Thorns Starfish, which I had never seen before.

After 44 minutes down to depths of 65 feet or so, we surfaced.  I have never been so tired in all my life.  I have been a certified SCUBA diver for almost 40 years — that means I have a truckload of experience (that’s the good part), but it also means I’m pretty damn old to be lugging SCUBA tanks on my back up a boat ladder.  When I sat down to take the vest and tank off, I realized I was exhausted.  It was at that point I had a revelation that my SCUBA days may be over.  While the two dives themselves went very well, the aftermath was a whole different story.

The 1 1/2 hour boat ride back was fine and we saw more whales.  It was when we got off the boat and had to walk the two blocks back to the car.  Yikes!!!  I was practically crawling by the time we climbed our sorry asses into the car.  Fortunately Peter was willing to drive because I started having auras (a visual precursor to a migraine).  By the time we drove the short 15 minutes or so to the condo, my chest and mid-Section were feeling like someone had beaten me with a couple of two by fours.  At first, I was worried I had decompression sickness, but Michael looked  it up and those were not my symptoms.  By this time, I was dizzy, a bit nauseous, and exhausted.  So I went to bed (it was 1 pm in the afternoon) and pretty much stayed there for the remainder of the day.  One exception was when I got up for a little while and tried to transfer the 80 pictures from my memory card to my I-Pad and inadvertently deleted all 80 of them!!!  Those included my shots of the whales and dolphins.  That’s why you should not attempt to do important work when your mind is not functioning correctly.  Since I don’t have any of my pictures, I will try to google images of a few of the things we saw in the water.

UPDATE!!! – MY BRILLIANT HUSBAND – THE COMPUTER GENIUS – FIGURED OUT HOW TO RECOVER MY DELETED PHOTOS, SO HERE ARE THE BEST OF THE BUNCH… 

It was a dark Sunday morning. This church, across from where we parked in Lahaina, was decorated for Christmas and having early service.

Pulling out of the harbor in Lahaina.

Peter next to his gear.

Michael looking ready to go!

An ocean-view shot as we head out of the harbor.

SCUBA gear – hooked up and ready for diving! It is even heavier than it looks.

This is the regulator computer – tells you how much air you have, how deep you are and how long you have been under. This is your lifeline. We start at 3,000 lbs and must surface when it gets in the red. The air has not been turned on yet, so it shows 0 air.  3,000 lbs of air can last about 45 minutes if you are an efficient breather.

Here is the ‘blow’ of two of the whales we spot on our 90 minute ride out to Molokini Crater.

I took lots of pictures – hard to choose my favorites. I love how the water is dripping from his tail as he does a deep dive.

OMG! We also get escorted for a short time by a small pod of dolphins.

The picture of them underwater is fuzzy – but you can see they are right next to our boat.

This little guy entertains us – I missed the spinning shot!!!

Mark, our dive master, reviews some safety instructions before we anchor.

Michael and Peter at the bow heading to Molokini.

After the dives, I relax on the upper deck, heading back to Lahaina.

Coming into Lahaina – love the colors on the mountains of beautiful Maui.

We saw all these types of fish!

This is a Crown of Thorns Starfish – we saw one just like this.I finally started feeling a little better in the evening and the four of us walked to L&L Hawaiian Barbecue and had some dinner.

Day 5 – Kayaking

We had to get up at 5 am to drive the 50 minutes to Kihei to meet our Kayak guide at 7 am.  It was dark when we left the condo and lightened up as we traveled south on the island.  We met our guide, Greg, at Makena Landing Beach Park.  This was a kayak/snorkel tour, so he spent a few minutes showing us how to get in and out of the kayaks while in deep water.  I have never attempted this in the 16 or so years that I have been kayaking, so I was dubious to say the least.  We were his only customers on this day, which was nice as we could choose what we wanted to do.  We headed out toward open water and talked a little about whether we might see whales.  We paddled a very long way – a mile straight out according to Greg.  These were rental kayaks and as such, both Peter and I were pretty uncomfortable.  Peter was having back issues and I was having hip issues.  The seats were not what we’re used to, so that was one problem.  Nonetheless, out we headed and when we saw a couple ‘blows’ in the distance, we all perked up and paddled a little farther to see if we could spot the whales.  We did!  They showed their backs and flipped their tails for us before taking a deep dive.  We waited and watched and saw them again a bit later (or maybe another set of whales), but that was it for whales.

It was still dawn when we arrived at the launch.

Another view of the kayaks.

A view of Molokini, the volcanic crater where we SCUBA dived the day before.

Michael looking for whales.

Greg, our guide. This guy is 57!

This is Peter.

And here is Mary – out in the open ocean!

When it came time to snorkel, I was so uncomfortable with my hip hurting, I decided I would go back to shore and wait while Michael, Peter, and Mary snorkeled.  (To be honest, this would also avoid the embarrassment of not being able to get back into the kayak once I got out.)  Lucky for me, Mary had just started feeling seasick and Peter’s back was getting worse, so the whole group decided to return to shore a little early.  Is it bad to be happy your friends are as miserable as you?  By then we were tired and quite hungry and headed to the breakfast place Michael and I and our family group had gone to in June of 2017 when we were all here.  It’s called Nalu’s and is just a wonderful little breakfast place with the very best food.  By the way, Nalu means surf.

French toast for me!

Mary and Michael ordered the Eggs Benedict. Peter got an omelette (no pic).

We are now safely back at the condo and relaxing on the lanai as the afternoon wind sways the palm trees around the grounds.  I LOVE HAWAII. 🌴🌴🌴🥰

We started the day early by walking to Slappy Cakes – a breakfast place just a 10 minute walk from our condo.  We had a wonderful breakfast then walked to Snorkel Bobs to get Mary some snorkeling equipment for the day.

We drove to Kaanapali Beach, found a spot on the sand near Black Rock and geared up for snorkeling.  The fish were plentiful.  We saw almost every fish on the chart.  I was headed back to shore when I spotted a sea turtle.  He was in fairly shallow waters and was eating the seaweed and kelp that was breaking off the rocks.  I called for Michael to come see.  He got a couple of pictures (not great cause he had a pretty cheap underwater camera), but you can see the Honu (Hawaiin for turtle).  I was very close and had to keep paddling back away from him to keep from touching him.  It is very bad to touch the turtles – humans have bacteria on their bodies that cause big tumors to grow on the turtles.  I called Mary and Peter over to the rock to see the turtle as well.  We were all so excited that we got to see a Honu!

Honu! He was pretty big.

Not a great camera, but you can see him.

Michael’s underwater selfie

I have to digress for a second.  I’m sitting on our small lanai writing this and I realized there was a rainbow reflecting off my I-Pad screen.  I turned to see a complete vibrant rainbow over the complex.  It is, of course, raining very lightly, which is why we have another rainbow.  I tried to take a screen shot but the rainbow reflection doesn’t show up (Duh)!!!

After we got back to the condo and cleaned up, Michael and I went shopping at Whaler’s Village.  Mary and Peter decided to hang back and relax.

At Hula Grill, we shared an appetizer and an entree – both of which were terrific.  Our table was facing the beach and it was a perfect Hawaii day.  Since we shared our food, we decided we could splurge on dessert.  It was a great idea because it was the most delicious “Hula Pie” (like mud pie, but with macadamia nut ice cream) and it came on a special plate.  Oh, yeah, and I had a Lava Flow with mango juice – yummy.

Lava Flow and calamari appetizer (and Michael’s Diet Coke)

Big sporks for a big pie!

Seriously! And look at the adorable plate it’s on!

After lunch we went shopping.  Michael had said he wanted to buy me some jewelry for Christmas from Na Hoku, a Hawaiin based jewelry store.  I have a few pieces already and they are all so beautiful.  I saw a new piece on Facebook that I wanted to look at.  It was incredible (and Michael bought it for me — I’m so spoiled).  There were matching earrings, so he got those for my next birthday.

The story behind the design.

I chose white gold. Here is the necklace with one of the earrings! Love Them!

We then went to Tommy Bahamas where I got Michael a really nice Hawaiin shirt for Christmas – no comparison to the jewelry, but it looks really nice on him (that should count for something, right?)

We’re now just relaxing at the condo and Mary is going to make us dinner in a while.  Aloha until tomorrow…

Today we drove to the top of the Haleakalā Crater.  This volcanic crater is over 10,000 feet up into the Haleakalā National Park.  It is a long windy road with many switch backs.  As one gets closer to the top, the curves get closer to the edge and the drop becomes steeper and more harrowing.  But, it was well worth the white knuckles, gasps, and clutching that took place in the back seat where Mary and I were.  There is an observatory at the top that is run by both the Department of Defense and University of Hawaii for space monitoring and scientific research purposes.

Dawn

A view of the other side of Maui from the grounds of the condo.

A lily pad in the pond.

A vibrant hibiscus.

Michael and I at the Visitor’s Center at the Haleakalā Crater.

The view from the Visitor’s Center.

We are at the top of the world!

Michael at the Haleakala Crater Summit.

Mary and Peter walking up to the observation room.

At the Kula Lounge, where we ate lunch.

After we left the crater summit, we were all hungry and we happened on a restaurant off the side of the road.  Once we were taken inside to a table, we realized the restaurant sat on the edge of the mountainside and the view from our table was spectacular!  As a bonus the food was quite good as well.  After lunch we wondered the grounds – it was so pretty.  We then headed back down the mountain to visit the Surfing Goat Dairy, where we tasted (and bought) goat cheese!  Yumm

This is a chameleon that some folks found near the restaurant.

Michael and Peter on the grounds of the restaurant.

Feeding goats at the Surfing Goat Dairy

Look at this cute guy!

We couldn’t feed these little ladies fast enough!

This is Aurelia – she works at Surfing Goat Dairy.

We stopped at a stand and bought star fruit, papaya, pineapple, and mangoes, then ate them for dinner.

We arrived in Maui without a hitch.  With little fanfair, we got our car and found the nearest restaurant to have a late lunch.  It was a place called Da Kitchen.  Every item was huge and most included both rice and a delicious macaroni/potato salad.  There was light rain and, is often the case, a rainbow to go with it.  As we drove toward our condo on the Kaanapali coast, the rainbow got more vibrant and spanned across into a full semi circle.

The condo complex – Papakea – is quite old, but the grounds are gorgeous and we have a bit of ocean view from our lanai.  The building our condo is in is the third building – the Koa Building- and we are in Unit K105.

We settled in and then all 4 of us walked to the very close Times Market to buy some staples.  We got back, all headed to the front door, but Peter was having difficulty getting his key to work.  Mary tried it a couple times and Michael was offering suggestions (as he originally unlocked it when we arrived), but to no avail.  Then suddenly Michael says, “Let’s try the next building over!”  That is when we all realized we had stopped one building short and we were trying to get into J105!!!  Thank goodness no one was in the condo – we had made such a fuss at the door!  As we wondered across the lawn to the next building, we were all laughing and feeling quite silly.

All of us were tired from the journey—the day of travel can be draining and none of us are spring chickens, so after relaxing for a bit on the lanai, we went to bed early.  Maui is 2 hours earlier than California, so Michael and I are awake and up at 4 am on Day 2 as I write this blog.

The rainbow from our lanai

Michael coming out of our condo.

Bird of Paradise

Another Bird of Paradise

Love the flora of Hawaii

Mary and Peter near our condo.

The best of Hawaii – palm trees and rainbows

Another view from our lanai.

For the first time, we are spending Christmas away from home.  Our kids are grown and have their own families, so there is no real dependence on us providing a holiday gathering place.  We have convinced our dear friends, Mary and Peter, to join us on the adventure.  We leave the Wednesday before Christmas and return the day after Christmas.  We have a two bedroom, two bath condo on the beach at Kaanapali!

We have a dog/house sitter coming and our security system is secure, so no worries at home while we’re gone.

We already have reservations for a Luau on Christmas Eve and dinner at Dukes for Christmas evening.  Michael, Peter and I are going SCUBA diving at Molokini – a marine life conservation area three miles off the coast of Maui.  We also plan to go kayaking and to hike the Pipiwai Trail.

Looking forward to a warm Maui Christmas — more to come!