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.
We decided to explore the northern end of Maui (actually, it is called “West Maui”) today. “Explore” is the optimal word here, because we found ourselves a bit more off the beaten path than we were comfortable with. More about that later . . .
From the resort in Kihei, we drove north towards the flat neck of land that separates the two major portions of Maui. Rather than crossing this neck of flatlands, towards Kahului and the airport, we drove around on the highway that hugs the coast.
We passed what looked like an old sugar mill, rusting away.
Unlike the old mill on the way to Kahului, this one looked like there was lots of current activity – almost like it was still in operation – but yet it was still quite rusted and decayed.
Later, I learned that this is the electric generating station for all of Maui.
Apparently, they have a bunch of diesel generators here that generate power for the grid. And in spite of the way it looks, it is very much still in operation.
We drove past the port town called Ma’alaea on the coast to the left of the higway and the hills/mountains of west Maui rise up on the right, green and rugged!
Like huge soldiers, there are large windmills marching up the hill in a line.
These windmills are more visible from further away, like back at the resort in Kihei.
In this area, we saw quite a bit of chain mail on the hillsides to keep falling rocks off the highway
Past Ma’alaea, we came to a tunnel – the only highway tunnel, on Maui – that bores through the mountainside for a few hundred feet.
After emerging from the tunnel, we could clearly see the southern end of the island of Lanai,
This was a much better than the view from the resort,
Island of Lanai peeking around the edge of West Maui
and before we arrived at Lahaina, we could see the entire island.
When I look at a map, I get the idea that the islands of Kahoolawe and Lanai are quite small, but my first impression is how large they are and with tall mountains rising in the middle of each. In fact, when I first saw Kahoolawe from the balcony of the resort in Kihei, I thought it was the Big Island. I guess it is all a matter of perspective – as these are much smaller than Maui, or the Big Island!
From the warf area of Lahaina, the island of Lanai fills and dominates your view to the west, and to the north, you see the island of Molokai protruding around the far northwest corner of Maui.
In Lahaina, we played tourist and walked around the town visiting the usual spots,
the Baldwin House,
Moku’ula (that once was a lake with an island that was the residence of Hawaiian Royalty, but now is just a fenced in area of tangled weeds),
the warf with the lighthouse that is supposedly the oldest lighthouse in the South Pacific, the old court house,
the Customs House,
and the park that has a single banyan tree that covers over an acre.
We learned about the history of Lahaina,
the rebuilt corner of the ruins of King Kamehameha’s fort built out of coral blocks quarried out of the coral reef
(but don’t wear any sunscreen not bought from an approved Hawaiian vendor as that sunscreen will damage the reef), and of course,
we did the typical tourist thing – walking through the shops on Front Street looking at knick-knack souvenirs made in China or Japan, or Mexico (and priced at twice as much as you can get the same thing on line)!
One of the reasons I wanted to go to Lahaina was to go to the Lahaina Civic Center. Each year around Thanksgiving, a college basketball tournament is held there – the Maui Invitational. Almost every year, the University of Arizona plays in this tournament, and most years, they dominate and win the tournament.
After tiring of playing “tourist”, we left Lahaina and drove north to Hanaka’o’o Beach. No particular reason for this beach, we had passed many others, we just picked this one at random and it was easy to get into from the highway.
At the southern end of the beach where the parking lot is located, there is a wide grassy area overlooking a rocky beach area good for snorkeling. There are restrooms here, with an outdoor shower pole, and picnic tables. The lifeguard station is also here.
As we walked down the sidewalk towards the beach that is a 20 to 30 foot wide sandy beach, we passed a group of 6 or 8 people sitting in a line of beach chairs back under the trees in the shade.
They were wearing Hawaiian shirts or mumus, and each had a flower lei around their neck and were intent on watching a person on a surfboard/paddle board paddling out from shore.
After getting about 30 yards off shore, the surfer sat up on the board and emptied the contents of a jar into the ocean.
Then he or she threw a few handfulls of flower petals into the ocean and the people on the beach all clapped. They were there to witness the scattering of someone’s ashes – probably a friend or a relative.
There was not much wave action as the water was relatively calm. Possibly because this is a long gentle slope out from the beach. We tested the water – cool to start with, but after a while it was almost comfortable.
Then I built a few “sand castles” on the beach –
a girl sunbathing,
a turtle,
a crocodile. Rather hastily made, and not my best work, but it was something!
After another swim, we went up to the shower and rinsed the salt and sand off with fresh water. Then we had a bit of lunch at the picnic tables, after which we headed north again.
Past Ka’anapali we picked another random beach – D.T. Fleming Beach Park. From here, we had a great view of the island of Molokai.
There was a bit of wave action and I was able to catch a wave and body surf for about 20 to 30 yards.
Others with a boogie board were able to stretch this out to 40 or 50. As we were hanging out in the water, we saw a large dark shape approaching under the water. It was a very large turtle; possibly 5 foot across it’s shell. He stuck his head up for a second and then went back down and continued on past us and up the beach. A little while later, we saw two more smaller ones – each one about 3 foot across.
After spending about an hour at DT Fleming Beach, we continued north around the northwest end of the island.
coast of northwst Maui looking south towards Lahaina
There seem to be fewer sandy beaches on this end of the island, it is mainly rocky shoreline, but it is quite beautiful.
And sparsely populated. We went from a wide well paved highway, to a two lane (one in each direction) country road, to a potholed, narrow dirt and gravel track. At many places the road became a one lane dirt road barely wide enough to get past. We hoped that someone wasn’t coming from the other direction, and if they did, we hoped to be able to find a place to pull over to allow them to squeeze past. It was a wild and rugged drive, but the scenery was absolutely fabulous. From the road conditions, it was obvious why the car rental companies didn’t want you to drive their cars here.
And if you did, you would do so at your own risk. Many times, we contemplated turning back, but could not find a place we were comfortable with making a u-turn, then the road would improve, then get worse, then improve, then get worse. We kept thinking that we were closer to the end than the beginning, so we continued.
The entire distance around West Maui is less than 100 miles, but it took us more than 8 hours of driving plus the time we spent at Lahaina, and at the two beaches we stopped at, it was a long day!
We walked along the beach to a farmers market we saw yesterday on the way to the resort. Purchased a papaya, some bananas and some potatoes.
Po’olenalena Beach with Kahoolawe and MolokiniWest Maui from Po’olenalena Beach
Drove south on Kihei Road to various beaches – Makena Beach, Kama’ole Beach Park III, Polo Beach, stopping at each to gather a little sand and do some swimming. The water is a bit nippy initially, but once we are in, we get used to it and it is almost comfortable.
We return to the resort around 2:30 for lunch and a nap.
Got up at 4:00 AM to catch the bus into Kona – My neighbor gave me a ride to the bus stop in Waiohinu. Rode the bus to the airport in Kona, where I caught a plane and went to Maui.
I arrived on Maui at 12:30 PM. Picked up the rental car and bought lunch at Panda Express.
Went to a canoe club at Ha’aloha Beach not far from the airport while I waited for Alanah to arrive. She landed at 2:30. We drove to the town of Kihei and to the timeshare resort we will be staying at for the next week – the Maui Beach Club. A fifteen minute drive!
The resort is right across the road from the beach. Our room has a balcony facing the ocean. We are on the 6th floor – the top floor – and the view is fabulous! We can see the islands of Kahoolawe, Lanai, and Molokini from our balcony!
View from room of West Maui with Island of Lanai peeking around the corner.
Organized stuff around the property in preparation for being gone for a week.
Installed an 8′ pocket door track at the side of the gazebo that faces Holowai Street. I have attached two doors that each are 24″ wide to this side of the gazebo. I built one 24″ wide door and hung it from this track so that it slides past the two stationary ones. I need one more 24″ door to complete this side.
I put the generator and my power tools into the backmof the Ford Escape to lock them up while i am gone.
Raining and overcast this morning until around 10:30 AM.
Trimmed the low hanging branches over the garden steps in the yard at Holowai. Also next to the shed over the path going to the shower. Added these to the pile of branches by the chipper. Took the tarp off the chipper and checked that it had gasoline. Grabbed the handle of the pull rope, put my foot on top of the chipper to hold it in place and to steady myself and pulled on the rope trying to start the chipper. A whole bunch of rusty, dirty water came out of the chamber where the blades are at. Guess the tarp is not as waterproof as I thought! Tried again. Nothing! Not a cough! Tried again with the same results. Checked to make sure the switch was on and the choke was on. Tried one more time. Nothing. Checked the gas shut-off valve. Closed! Turned on the gas valve and gave the pull rope another pull. no more water is being discharged from the chipping chamber, but the starter is not starting! Tried to prime it by putting a little gas into the air filter intake port. When I pulled on the pull rope, the rope broke sending me flying backwards and landing on the ground on my butt!! OUCH!!!
Got the chainsaw and proceeded to cut the branches in the pile above the chipping area!
In the afternoon, I took the fence boards, the 2 x 6’s, the 4 x 4’s and the 4 x 6 that were delivered a few weeks ago, over to the Ahi lot and stacked them under the gazebo.
I moved the concrete mixer from the front of the lot on the pathway to under the gazebo and covered it with an old tarp. On Wednesday, I am leaving to go to Maui for a week, so I probably should organize and secure some of the stuff laying all over the place!
Spent the morning cutting the tall grass at the Ahi lot. On both sides of the driveway, it was 2′ high and spread out 2′ from the driveway. There was tall grass spread out in the rocks on the Hilo side up to the pile of old logs. On the Kona side, there was an area towards the property line that was probably 50 feet long and 30 feet wide with 2′ tall grass.
I cut all this down with the clippers and added it to the parking area at the bottom of the driveway. I also trimmed some of the low hanging christmas berry tree branches over the driveway and parking area.
Previously, I spotted a table saw sitting in the tall grass at my neighbor’s property, rusting away. I asked him about it. He told me that he had never used it. His brother had purchased it at a yard sale and given it to him. Then he said, that if I wanted it, I could have it. I gave him 20 dollars for it if he threw in an old plastic 55 gallon drum that was laying beside it.
I can use the barrel to catch rain water from the roof of my shed, if I ever get around to putting up a gutter!
When I plugged in the saw, I found it had a dead short in the motor. The contacts had rusted/corroded completely closed. I fugured that I could try to find someone to rebuild the motor for me, or I could just buy a different motor! I found a used motor on-line for $95.00. I knew that I would spend that much getting it rebuilt, so I purchased the motor on-line.
That is the motor I picked up from the post office yesterday. I installed it today. I also used a lot of lubricant on the height and angle adjustments to free them from the buildup of rust. They both now work.
There’s no rip fence, so I clamp a board to the top with a couple of small bar clamps.
Using the table saw, I cut a kerf in the edge of a dozen 2 x 4’s to use as the side rails of the doors. I also have built a 2′ x 4′ wooden planter box for the plants I had growing in the one gallon pots – I think they are papaya and bell pepper, as that is what kind of seeds I remember putting in the pots. I have put this wooden planter next to my “tire garden”.
On the road out to the ocean at Honu’apo, there are a couple of plumeria trees. I broke off a few branches and have planted them in two places at the ahi lot. They are starting to sprout leaves!
When I was in Hilo the other day, I bought two macadamia nut trees, two Norfolk pines, a hibiscus plant and an ulu tree (breadfruit).
The Norfolk Pines
I have built wooden planters for each of these about 16″ square and transplanted them from the original 1 gallon pots!
The Ulu
I’m not sure yet where I’m going to put the macadamia nut trees!
Took a roll of roofing over to the Ahi lot and rolled it out on top of the gazebo. I’m laying it lengthwise. This made almost two runs. I figure it will take five runs. Returned to Holowai and picked up the second roll. Took it to Ahi and rolled it out. I now have two full runs and two runs that are about 3/4 of full. I have rolled these out so that the sun will help them lay flat and rearranged the old boards to hold them down so the wind does not blow them off.
I poured some concrete on a shelf at one side of the outdoor shower.
There was a double rainbow today.
Both the upper and the lower extended from the ground on the left to the ground to the right!
I went into town and picked up a motor at the post office that I had ordered. Then I got gasoline for the generator, the chipper, and the chainsaw. And a little bit in the car! $4.85 per gallon!
Al this between intermittent rain showers on and off all day.
Clear skies and sunny day this morning, but everything is wet from the rain yesterday.
Had two fried eggs for breakfast – something I haven’t had in a while as eggs were $10 per dozen. Got a dozen for $5 in Hilo yesterday.
Took a roll of tarpaper over to the Ahi lot and put a layer of tarpaper on the roof/deck of the gazebo. I sealed the seams with the last of the plastic roof cement from buildng the shed and gazebo at Holowai.
The view from on top of the gazebo is absolutely fabulous!
I placed a bunch of old boards on top of the tarpaper to hold it down until I can get the cap sheet installed.
As I was doing this, I was attacked by fire ants! They must have been in the roll of tarpaper, or on the old boards!
They attacked my arm, then both arm pits, my neck, my back! UGHH! It was sudden, and it was fierce!
I grabbed a bottle of water and poured it on my arms and my back to cool the burning until I got the lumber in place. I quickly went to Holowai and took a shower!
Then I went down to Honu’apo to soak in the tide pools. – Saltwater cures everything! – I saw that on a poster with a surfboard.
I stayed there for over two hours.
On the way back, I stopped off at the park in Waiohinu and filled up a few water bottles that I had with me.
It is raining now, and has been since about 4:30 PM.
The sky is covered in clouds and I cannot see the shoreline!
TropicalCastaway 