As usual, we had multiple motives before heading out on the road. Obviously, we needed to check out the stunningly beautiful, lush tropical landscape (the quintessential Hawaiian paradise) the guidebooks promise. That task was pretty easy. But, more intriguing, we had been assigned to an investigating mission. The land trust Andrew works for has recently given him a new project that involves scoping out properties in the region and talking to local people to assess the role that the land trust can play in this area, if any. For reasons that will come up later, this task will prove to be quite difficult, but extremely fascinating.
We spent three whole days exploring, so instead of recounting everything mile marker by mile marker, I will save us all time and just focus on our most memorable five moments (kind of in chronological order):
1. Waikani Falls. To paint the picture, the Road to Hana is a narrow, winding road that hugs the coastline on one side and the cliffs of Haleakala on the other. Cars pass through gulches on many bridges
that are sometimes in excess of 90 years old, so naturally, they are one-lane across. Waterfalls cascade from the cliffs, providing the streams of tourists (the "lemmings") with excellent photo ops. While Andrew and I were often times among those tourists, we would sometimes venture off the road on foot to try to catch a closer and more private look. We did so at Waikani Falls, also known as "The Three Bears" (a papa, a mama, and a baby). Although we did not have to go too far off the road, we were completely alone at the pool at the bottom of the falls. Luckily, the water was calm enough for my first waterfall swim! Though it was cold, it was such a thrill to be in the crystal clear water in the middle of paradise!
2. "Camping" in Style. We had planned to camp the first night in Hana at a State Park, so it was quite a shock when we arrived at the ranger's office, asked for a permit, and were told that we needed to pick up a permit in Wailuku (4 hours in the opposite direction!). With camping (legally) out of the question Andrew began brainstorming other options: camp at a property TLC owned; call our host for the next night a day early; go back home, etc. As none of these being too appealing, he opted for another course of action. From a pay phone (definitely no cell phone service out here) he called the president of the board from the land trust who he'd met only once and asked if we could stay on their property in the area. Luckily, luckily (this cannot be emphasized enough) with our last 50 cents, she anwered her phone and said, 'sure, come on over'. We followed her directions and what we found was a magnificent estate. Their property is approximately 80 acres, with a view overlooking the ocean. The house is a stunning lodge, with a wrap around deck, and a room specifically for ping pong (Andrew won, boo.)
About 20 minutes into our stay there, as we were heating up our dinner, what we thought was a huge blast of wind shook the windows for about 10 seconds. The next day we found out we were actually at the heart of an earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale!
3. Infinity Pool. We spent most of our second day at Kipahulu, a part of Haleakal
a National Park. The park is most known for it's Seven Sacred Pools that are connected by waterfalls and lead out to the ocean. The setting was admitting beautiful, but the masses of people that go to this spot make it zoo-like. A lesser known, and more idyllic, spot in the park is the Infinity Pool, which sits atop a 200 ft. waterfall and overlooks a richly green valley leading to the ocean. It's hard to describe the beauty of this spot, even in pictures. But we spent most of the morning jumping in and out of the pool and sunning ourselves.4. May's Landing. As I mentioned before, part of the reason for the trip was to talk with some local people about the issues surrounding land conservation in the Hana region. Andrew had set up a meeting with a guy named Ricky who is essentially the 'gate keeper' of the community. Although he's white (a 'houle' as we're called, somewhat derogatorily) Ricky runs a non-profit with the children of the native Hawaiians that has earned him trust and respect. We met up with him on our second day and after showing us around his workshop (his organization teaches kids skills to help with home repair and building extra space/rooms for multigenerational Hawaiian families) he took us to his "office". His so-called office happened to be a spot in the ocean off of a property called May's Landing. We jumped in off the rocks (10ft or so) into the amazingly warm ocean where we talked about the land issues plaguing the area, meanwhile being carried back and forth (Andrew estimates nearly 15 feet) with each wave. Clambering up the small cliff while the waves rolled in was the only difficult part.
5. Mahi Mahi. Ricky and his wife Kersten had graciously offered to host Andrew and I at their home for the night. Being a home builder for 30 years, his home was magnificent, but it was the meal they fed us that really, really stood out (oh yea, it wasn't the next day until Kersten told us that at one point Ricky had owned a restaurant in Paris - go figure). We started with an appetizer right from their garden of passionfruit and lychees, both delicious. Then we moved on to lychee margaritas, much to my delight :) For dinner we had a sesame encrusted mahi mahi over a bed of fresh vegetables and noodles. And finally, for dessert we had homemade sorbet. This hit the spot, to say the least.
Luckily we'll have several more opportunities to return to Hana, but we had an amazing time our first run-through. On top of all the above activities we also spent some time at Hamua beach (easily one of the best in Maui so far) where we had a great time bodysurfing for the first time. As you can see, much to be done in Hana - we are both excited to spend more time there.
Mahalo for reading!
Have a wonderful Fourth of July!
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