The Road to Hana
Saturday
Today was our day for the iconic “Road To Hana” trip.
The vacation planners and the guide books all suggest doing this trip because it is so scenic. Many people tell you that it is a very frightening road trip.
After our excursion yesterday around the far north west portion of the island, this trip was not nearly as frightening, even though there was much more traffic. We could count on one hand the number of cars we encountered yesterday, but today was a regular traffic jam.
The road runs across the north side of the east portion of the island. It starts in the low flat lands betwen the two mountainous sections of the island and follows the coast around the island.
It twists and turns offering fabulous views of the ocean, the shoreline and the jungle. Many places, the road gets very narrow
and there are places to pull over to allow the cars coming from the other direction to pass.
There are many one lane bridges where traffic takes turns from each direction.
We drove past lush valleys with running streams and waterfalls.
We were definitely not disappointed.
At one point, we stopped at a park called Wai’anapanapa Park. The view of the coast from the overlook here is incedible.
I have a little wooden box about 3 1/2 inches square that holds a compass. On the cover is this :
The Road to Hana exemplifies this sentiment, as it is definitely not the destination.
Hana is not a typical tourist spot. There are no high rise hotels, no mega resorts, no trendy shops, no chain restaurants, and the beach really isn’t all that great. But I could live there. I don’t even recall seeing one gas station! We only saw maybe three locally owned and operated places to get something to eat, and we assume that most of the few homes scattered throughout the vegetation surrounding Hana Bay are bed and breakfast type residences.
I did see one hotel/condominium, and it was not right on the shore, but back at least 500 yards away from the water on the opposite side of the road.
There is a large concrete dock/warf that is slowly deteriorating.
One section is cordoned off with metal pipe railings to keep people from falling through a hole in the concrete decking – but there is no railing anywhere else.
It looks like it was used in years past for loading ships as there is a rail system in the concrete floor of the dock. Those days are long gone and it sits and crumbles into the ocean.
TTFN
TropicalCastaway 