Hawaii 2015: Maui
Tuesday, 17 November 2015 19:33![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iguana
I thought splitting Haleakalā off into its own post would make writing up Maui a fairly short exercise, but I had forgotten just how much there was to see and do there! This is a very condensed summary, but hopefully I can get across how lush, exciting, and unique the island is.
Mokulele
We had a daytime flight from Big Island to Maui, and a nighttime flight back, both on the wonderful tiny airline Mokulele. Their aircraft are nine-seater prop planes and all the seats are window seats. We were assigned seats to allow for proper weight distribution!
The highest altitude we reached looked to be still a little lower than the 4000m peak of Mauna Kea on Big Island:
Mostly we were below cloud height, giving us fantastic views of the sea. We even think we spotted whales down there!
Our flight circled Maui in order to approach Kahului airport from the North. It was a great way to see the island; we were level with the hillside of West Maui as we descended.
After the flight finished, the curtain to the cockpit was drawn open and our pilot said hello.
On the way back in the dark, we were lucky enough to have a clear night, and after gazing out the window for some time, got out my camera and fiddled with the settings to get a photo of Orion, which was always the easiest constellation to identify in Hawaii (oh, the clear skies!) and happened to be on my side of the plane.
We had a daytime flight from Big Island to Maui, and a nighttime flight back, both on the wonderful tiny airline Mokulele. Their aircraft are nine-seater prop planes and all the seats are window seats. We were assigned seats to allow for proper weight distribution!
The highest altitude we reached looked to be still a little lower than the 4000m peak of Mauna Kea on Big Island:
Mostly we were below cloud height, giving us fantastic views of the sea. We even think we spotted whales down there!
Our flight circled Maui in order to approach Kahului airport from the North. It was a great way to see the island; we were level with the hillside of West Maui as we descended.
After the flight finished, the curtain to the cockpit was drawn open and our pilot said hello.
On the way back in the dark, we were lucky enough to have a clear night, and after gazing out the window for some time, got out my camera and fiddled with the settings to get a photo of Orion, which was always the easiest constellation to identify in Hawaii (oh, the clear skies!) and happened to be on my side of the plane.
West Maui
Maui is formed from two heavily eroded and (very) dormant volcanoes; West Maui volcano on the west, and the larger Haleakalā on the East. My Haleakalā entry shows how you can see the entirity of West Maui from the side of Haleakalā, but as far as I know it is not possible to climb it.
Instead, we had a day trip clockwise around the circumference of West Maui in our hire car, including the rickety part of road on the North East corner that was single-lane, untarmaced in places, and had numerous blind corners with steep drops on one side. I was breaking a sweat and I wasn't even driving! Fortunately in the one place we met another car coming in the other direction, there happened to be some locals at the corner who were coordinating traffic.
The first sight we saw were the Dragon's Teeth at Kapalua. These were five- to six-foot daggers of rock pointing up from the floor at the coast. As with the rest of the island, they were the result of lava flows pushed in awkward directions as they cooled by the sea and wind.
In other places we saw blowholes (trying their best, but the tide was not on their side) and honeycomb rock:
As we drove around the island, the landscape turned from green and lush to green, lush, and mountainous.
We got back to Kahulua just as it was getting dark, which very rather good timing. I suspect had we known about it at the time, we would have gone to the Flatbread Company for dinner, as we would do on the next visit, because it did actual real pizza!
Maui is formed from two heavily eroded and (very) dormant volcanoes; West Maui volcano on the west, and the larger Haleakalā on the East. My Haleakalā entry shows how you can see the entirity of West Maui from the side of Haleakalā, but as far as I know it is not possible to climb it.
Instead, we had a day trip clockwise around the circumference of West Maui in our hire car, including the rickety part of road on the North East corner that was single-lane, untarmaced in places, and had numerous blind corners with steep drops on one side. I was breaking a sweat and I wasn't even driving! Fortunately in the one place we met another car coming in the other direction, there happened to be some locals at the corner who were coordinating traffic.
The first sight we saw were the Dragon's Teeth at Kapalua. These were five- to six-foot daggers of rock pointing up from the floor at the coast. As with the rest of the island, they were the result of lava flows pushed in awkward directions as they cooled by the sea and wind.
In other places we saw blowholes (trying their best, but the tide was not on their side) and honeycomb rock:
As we drove around the island, the landscape turned from green and lush to green, lush, and mountainous.
We got back to Kahulua just as it was getting dark, which very rather good timing. I suspect had we known about it at the time, we would have gone to the Flatbread Company for dinner, as we would do on the next visit, because it did actual real pizza!
Big Beach
The next morning we had our first morning at Haleakalā's summit, when it was just thick cloud stopping any views. After we enjoyed the resulting rainbows we decided not to go down into the crater, and instead headed back off to West Maui to visit the ʻĪao Valley. This was formed from erosion from the West Maui volcano by a river, and with a little bit of nautiness, allowed us to ascend a good way up along a path through rainforest to get some great views of the valley.
In the afternoon we went to the appropriately named Big Beach, which thanks to Maui's geography, is always sunny. We enjoyed the sun here until it set, ready for our hike into Haleakalā the next day.
The next morning we had our first morning at Haleakalā's summit, when it was just thick cloud stopping any views. After we enjoyed the resulting rainbows we decided not to go down into the crater, and instead headed back off to West Maui to visit the ʻĪao Valley. This was formed from erosion from the West Maui volcano by a river, and with a little bit of nautiness, allowed us to ascend a good way up along a path through rainforest to get some great views of the valley.
In the afternoon we went to the appropriately named Big Beach, which thanks to Maui's geography, is always sunny. We enjoyed the sun here until it set, ready for our hike into Haleakalā the next day.
Hana Highway
On the first trip to Maui we stayed in Hana, a small village on the far coast of East Maui. With Haleakalā in the way, the only road to it was Highway 360, better known as the Hana Highway, which snakes heavily around the beautiful northern coast of the island.
Along the stretch of road are numerous attractions, mostly waterfalls from the many rivers that have carved out the gulches we had to drive around. All of the bridges over the rivers were single lane, having been built long before tourism had come to the island.
Other highlights were Coco Glen's, a roadside shack which sells coconut cream ice creams - they were delicious! - and Ka‘Elekū caves, by far the best lava tube we came across in Hawaii. There was a small entry price but for that we got strong torches which made exploring the cave.
At Waiʻānapanapa State Park there are some crystal clear fresh water caves set back a little from the beautiful coastline. We went there at just right time for the sun to be shining into them, and had a lovely swim. The main pool lead into two caves, one small enough that you could just about make it out after your eyes adjusted, and another one that soon became pitch black. At the back of the second it felt possible to climb out of the water, and apparently with a torch and possibly some scuba gear you could get much further in, but we didn't try that.
Further around from Hana is the ʻOheʻo Gulch, part of the Haleakalā national park, which is most famous for its named-for-tourists Seven Sacred Pools, but also featured a beautiful bamboo forest, which you could walk through to reach a very tall waterfall.
On the first trip to Maui we stayed in Hana, a small village on the far coast of East Maui. With Haleakalā in the way, the only road to it was Highway 360, better known as the Hana Highway, which snakes heavily around the beautiful northern coast of the island.
Along the stretch of road are numerous attractions, mostly waterfalls from the many rivers that have carved out the gulches we had to drive around. All of the bridges over the rivers were single lane, having been built long before tourism had come to the island.
Other highlights were Coco Glen's, a roadside shack which sells coconut cream ice creams - they were delicious! - and Ka‘Elekū caves, by far the best lava tube we came across in Hawaii. There was a small entry price but for that we got strong torches which made exploring the cave.
At Waiʻānapanapa State Park there are some crystal clear fresh water caves set back a little from the beautiful coastline. We went there at just right time for the sun to be shining into them, and had a lovely swim. The main pool lead into two caves, one small enough that you could just about make it out after your eyes adjusted, and another one that soon became pitch black. At the back of the second it felt possible to climb out of the water, and apparently with a torch and possibly some scuba gear you could get much further in, but we didn't try that.
Further around from Hana is the ʻOheʻo Gulch, part of the Haleakalā national park, which is most famous for its named-for-tourists Seven Sacred Pools, but also featured a beautiful bamboo forest, which you could walk through to reach a very tall waterfall.
Redwood trail
Part-way up the slopes of Haleakalā is something entirely unexpected - on top of the fantastic view of West Maui and a paragliding school (where you simply drive up to where you want to start gliding from) there is also a California Redwood tree forest.
This obviously isn't native, but was instead planted in the 1930s to prevent erosion following deforestation of the native trees for ranches.
We did just one trail here, which gave us more views of West Maui before surrounding us with trees. As we got further along, the weather began to close in and clouds/fog crept started swirling towards us. By the time we reached the top of the path, it felt very desolate.
From here, we walked back to the car and drove to the airport, where we were off to Kauaʻi!
Part-way up the slopes of Haleakalā is something entirely unexpected - on top of the fantastic view of West Maui and a paragliding school (where you simply drive up to where you want to start gliding from) there is also a California Redwood tree forest.
This obviously isn't native, but was instead planted in the 1930s to prevent erosion following deforestation of the native trees for ranches.
We did just one trail here, which gave us more views of West Maui before surrounding us with trees. As we got further along, the weather began to close in and clouds/fog crept started swirling towards us. By the time we reached the top of the path, it felt very desolate.
From here, we walked back to the car and drove to the airport, where we were off to Kauaʻi!
