With our free (kind of) sign-up trip from the timeshare company that I bought into in December, we flew to Maui on Saturday, May 24, and will fly home late on Thursday, May 29 (which it already is nearly everywhere in the world except here). We had a layover in Portland first which had non-potable water because of E Coli contamination.
We took a propeller plane from Vancouver to Portland. I didn’t know they were still used on commercial flights.
It’s been a wonderful trip. I thought that five days wouldn’t seem like much, but we’ve seen and done plenty. I would have liked to have visited the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, especially since we were here for Memorial Day weekend, but that’s on Honolulu; and the plane tickets between the islands were too expensive. (There’s no ferry from Maui to Oahu.)
There are many climates on Maui. The mountainous rain forests of the West Maui Forest Reserve are visible just behind our condo in Ka’anapali on the northwest shore. There is also desert both in the foothills of the reserve as well as near the beach.
Cacti!
We plan to drive to Haleakala Volcano (elevation: 10,000 feet) in a national park on the southeast side of the island tomorrow before driving back to the rental car place and then boarding our 10:45 pm flight back to Vancouver. I’ll probably add those photos to the blog tomorrow night at the airport.
That’s the island of Molokai behind the kids. The island of Lenai is also nearby and visible from Maui’s northwest coast.
We went to a fantastic luau on Sunday night.
The pig for the luau was cooking under here.
I guess they chopped it up before they cooked it.
The orchid leis were too pretty to throw away, so Laurel found a way to preserve and display them in our condo.
We all rented snorkel gear on Monday. Charlie tried on the face mask while still on the beach and didn’t like it; so he never did snorkel. I snorkeled a little bit while close to shore, but I kept getting water in my mouth like I wasn’t closing my mouth tightly enough around the tube. Laurel went out far and saw loads of fish. The reef comes right up to the shore, so even though I was only a few feet out, even I saw some colorful fish. Laurel saw many more.
Charlie spent nearly all his beach time with just his feet in the ocean. Laurel insisted he come out with her a little farther, but he got into baby chimp mode.
We also saw some large turtles swimming near shore, but I couldn’t take a picture fast enough.
No photo would do this place justice. On Tuesday we drove south to Makena State Park and had fun in the huge waves at Big Beach.
The black sand of Onueli Beach – only about 1/2 mile north of Big Beach, but a very different place.
Today we intended to go on a long hike – Lahaina Pali Trail – but lost the trail pretty quickly. That was probably a good thing because we didn’t have nearly enough water for the wretchedly hot day. Lahaina means “cruel sun,” and it was sure true today.
We did get some spectacular views though from up on the hill.
We then drove to the town of Lahaina and spent a good portion of the afternoon in the shade of this banyan tree. It’s a type of strangler fig and has 16 major trunks. So everything you see here is the same tree.
Then we went on a 2-hour “cocktail cruise” that started from Lahaina Harbor. The breeze on the boat was such a relief. Do you see the rainbow here?
Charlie was thrilled to see a number of dolphins swim near our boat.
Travels with Charlie and Laurel 
Hi there, Hope all is well with everyone. I have been behind on my email correspondence. The pictures are fabulous!!! And, so is that irresistible dress 🙂 Hi to Laurel and Charlie!