Fall in Maui

Well, hello to everyone from Maui, Hawaii!

I know it has been a long time since my last post, and it isn’t because we haven’t done anything exciting. I have just been too busy between my consulting business, doing house renovations and just enjoying “retired” life!

Janice and I have been wanting to go back to Hawaii since our first time here in almost seven years. Since I still had quite a few frequent flier points from my trips overseas for work I figured it was time again to try and use as many up as I could so I offered to try and book flights for Janice’s sisters as well. Her sisters Linda and Susan took me up on the offer. Susan’s partner, Darrell agreed to join us taking Diane’s vacant spot.

While my original wish was to go to the big island (Hawaii) I just couldn’t find any flights that made sense time wise or otherwise. But to Maui the selection was much better. Unfortunately while I could get flights to Maui at a reasonable point level I couldn’t find anything back so I ended up booking flights back via WestJet.

Since my points are with American Airlines and since they serve Calgary which was mutually the most convenient I booked flights from Calgary to Kahului, in Maui, via Los Angeles. And then back via Vancouver. When you book flights on points the airlines seem to take every opportunity to make the flight as unpleasant as possible and sure enough the airline sent a flight change not even a month later having us go to Dallas-Fort Worth before going to Los Angeles resulting in a very long day of travel. In addition I booked a condo for us to all stay in (http://www.noelani-condo-resort.com/) as well as arranged for a mini-van rental. Both offered us the freedom to do as we wished for a reasonable price. With regards to the condo I booked a 3 bedroom unit (302 - http://www.noelani-condo-resort.com/302/index.html) which gave everyone their own bedroom with the complex being centrally located in the West Maui area plus provided us with an ocean side view from both floors. Susan’s daughter, Shannon, along with her husband Jason and daughter Cypress decided they would join us for part of our stay.

It was decided that a week would be long enough and, based on flight availability, I booked us all departing Calgary Tuesday, September 20th and retuning the following Tuesday. So the five of us met In Calgary and went to the airport first thing Tuesday morning for our 6:55 am departure for Dallas-Fort Worth. As luck would have it US Immigration turned Darrell back as they had finally discovered that he had a past conviction from about 30 years ago, even though they had let him into the country as recent as just 2 years ago. While a real bummer we had no choice but to continue without him.

We finally arrived at Kahului airport at 7:05 pm, local time, picked up our van at the Alamo car rental agency and then drove to the condo. I had brought my car GPS with us and it brought us there without any problems.

Our first full day began leisurely starting with getting familiar with our surroundings. Here is a picture of the condo from ocean side (ours is the second from the right being the 3rd and 4th floors) and then a view from the condo.

At 8:30 we attended an orientation given by the local concierge, Bruce. This was followed by a drive into Lahaina to get groceries. Upon returning to Noelani we then spent time around the pool swimming and just getting familiar with the facilities. I went to the nearby beach and did some snorkelling. While I saw a lot of reef fish being near-sighted did not lend well with enjoying the experience to the fullest! Late in the afternoon the resort hosted a Mai Tai party which we all attended.

The next day we decided to take the drive to Hana which is note worth due to its very tortuous highway with 620 curves (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hana_Highway). While only just over 80 kilometres it takes close to 3 hours to drive! While Janice and I had made the trip our first time to Maui this time it wasn’t raining which, while it made driving, a bit easier, had the negative effects of sharing the road with a lot more traffic and the many streams coming off of the mountain were far less spectacular as there was no fresh run off. After stopping at the Haleakela National Park facility west of Hana for lunch, picked up at CJ’s Diner on our way ( a very good value by the way with a very generous sandwich, pineapple quarter, a drink and dessert all for $12) we then began the drive back.

As Shannon, Jason and Cypress were getting in that evening we drove back to Kahului and looked around and then had supper before heading over to the airport to meet them. Once they arrived we all packed in to the van and drove back to the condo.

Janice, Susan, Linda and Shannon all wanted to do some shopping at the Whalers Village Mall at Kaanapali (http://www.whalersvillage.com/). So I took them there and then walked over to the local golf course to see about booking a tee time for Jason and I as Shannon said he had hoped to be able to try some golfing here and who was I to deny him the opportunity. As it turns out they had a special on as they are in their off season and one of the two courses had recently been aerated. So for $99 each (including a cart) plus $49 each for club rentals I booked a spot for 6:51 Monday morning for the two of us. After we all made the trip to Laihaina to get some more groceries and to check out some of the other shops at Cannery Mall. I took the opportunity to skip over to Snorkel Bob’s (http://snorkelbob.com) to check out their prescription goggles. I liked what I saw and bought a set. Upon returning to the condo I went right out and tried them out at the beach by the condo and was amazed at how well they worked!

One thing about staying at Noelani is that there is seldom a day where there are no green turtles grazing just off shore! Here is a video Jason took of one who momentarily got a bit too close to shore and had a bit of a time getting back through the surf!

On the 24th we all packed into the van and headed out with our planned objectives being driving up to the top of Haleakala and/or going to the aquarium in Maalea, depending on the weather. Once we were far enough east to see the volcano and the fact the summit was clear that decided our first destination for the day! The last time here Leonard, Sylvia and I had made the drive only to find the summit covered by heavy cloud and with an extremely strong wind blowing! Here is a picture from then:

And now:

In the afternoon we spent an hour or so at the Aquarium in Malaea. While many of the exhibits were very interesting I wondered why such places seen to so dimly lit. When we got back to Lahaina we stopped off at Snorkel Bob’s again so I could rent a set of swim fins and a snorkel (we had brought one with us but I found that it let in too much salt water).

The next day we drove west a little ways to the public beach at Kapalua Bay and which is rated as a good snorkelling site, and in that regard I was not disappointed! While I did not take any pictures here are a few examples of what I saw amongst all the reef fishes, corals and other sea life I saw:

Moorish Idol, Coronet Fish, Parrot Fish, Picasso Trigger Fish and Slate Pencil Sea Urchin

In the afternoon Janice and Linda went shopping in Lahaina and the rest of us went to the beach at Kaanapali  where I went snorkelling at Black Rock. While I did not find this as spectacular as at Kapalua Beach I did manage to get very close to a couple of sea turtles!

Well, here it is Monday afternoon and our trip is almost over. This morning Jason and I went golfing. we paired up with a couple from California, near Palm Springs who spend about 2 months here every =August-September to wait out the high heat season back home. Jason struggled the first couple of holes but then we changed roles as I had major problems with my fairway woods. Even so we enjoyed ourselves as it was a real pleasure to golf on such plush fairways (or at least when we were actually in the fairway!).