Hello everyone! The past few weeks have been busy to say the least, between an amazing week long vacation to Hawaii with the wife, work, and fitting in time to go through the 500+ photos and videos taken while on the trip. But, I am finally able to sit back and share our adventure.
As listed in the title, this will be part 1 of a 3 part blog series detailing our adventure while in Hawaii. We wanted to do more traveling, and mix our newfound love for diving into these trips. So, after some research we decided on a trip to Maui. It is not near as busy as some of the other islands, but still makes for a very worthwhile trip. With 17 different climate zones, mixed landscapes, from a desert climate on parts of the island, to massive forests full of life, to the coral reefs of Lanai, and finally the ocean that can be seen from just about everywhere on the island it makes for a great trip.
Arriving on Maui we were greeted with the refreshing 85 degree heat and humidity, coming from Utah’s late fall weather was definitely a shock at first but is wonderful after the first day or 2. We grabbed our little rental Nissan Frontier and headed to our hotel in Lahaina where we settled down and enjoyed our first day there with no plans, but to relax.
To start our week, we wanted to get at least one good hike in, knowing that we had things planned for the rest of our time there. So, after doing some searching we found a trail named Waihe’e Ridge Trail, near Wailuku. It was listed as a moderate (which has since been changed to a hard) 4mi out and back trail with a 1,600ft elevation climb. Luckily we got there nice and early so parking was not an issue, and started on our way. Filled with steep inclines and switchbacks around every corner, it proved to be a great hike.
Along the way it is amazing to see the sheer amount of color and beauty in the plants there. Both deep and bright greens, yellows, vibrant reds, and pinks lined the trail and out over the forest. It is also awesome to see life out of death with nothing going to waste in nature.
We stopped at this crazy looking tree, with branches going every which way, and some going back into the ground. Then, we noticed a carving that said “UPRISING” along one of the branches the went horizontal then back into the ground. Which was very fitting seeing the baby fern’s as they rose up out of the ground, wound up in a spiral, growing towards the sunlight.
Once we reached the top there was a feeling of relief and joy. We could finally take our packs off and take a quick break and admire the view from the peak. A sea of green life as far as you could see, down the the ocean, mixed with the everlasting low cloud cover that perpetually sat at the peaks of these mountains.
That was the perfect start to the trip, and later that evening we had a catamaran dinner and sunset trip. Food and drinks were delicious and we were greeted with a pod of Spinner Dolphins that hung out on the bow of the ship for the start of our trip (videos will be in blog 3). As we finished dinner and started to head back to the beach, the sun was beginning to set over the island of Lanai. With a few clouds in the sky and calm waters it was a sight to be seen. Coming out of the head I looked through the small window and managed to capture a quick shot before heading to the deck to watch as the sun moved behind the island, lighting the clouds up in hues of orange, purple, and red.
One of the many one-lane bridges that we crossed.
The next day was a full day adventure where we would be driving the 52mi road to Hana, which conveniently features 617 hairpin curves and 59 one-lane bridges. Luckily we got up and early to get on the road before the crowds started to show up which was perfect because there was almost no one on the road and allowed us to stop anywhere we wanted.
The first stop we made was at the Upper Waikani Falls (AKA 3 Bears). with the sun still being low it allowed me to do this long exposure of the water pouring over the falls into the pool below.
Upper Waikani Falls
There were a number of other falls throughout the drive, and it’s amazing to think of just how much water is raining down on the mountains above to allow the sheer amount of water to flow from these falls.
One particular tree that I wanted to see while we were in Maui was was the Rainbow Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta). Interestingly fact, this is the only Eucalyptus species that grows in rain forests. Once you see it in person, it is hard to believe your eyes! Yes those vibrant blues, greens, reds, and blues are real.
Our next stop was at Wai'anapanapa State Park featuring an amazing black sand beach, and the Hana Town beach. The waves coming into the cove at the state park were crashing onto the lava rock with enough force to blow water high into the air.
Next up was Wailua Falls, again, the bridge went right in front of these falls making it easy to get out and admire with little effort.
Wailua Falls
Finally at the end we stopped at the Haleakala National Park for the 1.5mi hike to the bamboo forest within. It was a muddy trail the entire way with standing water everywhere. Thankfully we wore our water shoes and getting a little wet wasn’t too bad.
On the last few days we got 2 dives in off of the coast of Lanai (check out blog 3). At that boat ramp, there was an old pier named Lahaina Pier that was slowly being taken back into the ocean that was perfect for a B&W shot. After that, we stopped by the Banyan Tree in downtown Lahaina which was planted back in 1873 and is the largest Banyan Tree in the US.
Finally, with a late night flight back to Utah, and a full day with nothing planned we decided to do some walking around and enjoy what time we had left on the island and the gorgeous weather and take some more pics. Afterwards, we made the drive to Haleakala National Park. This is the peak of Maui at over 10,000ft and overlooks the volcanic crater that once created the island. Unfortunately, it was cloudy at the peak and left little to be seen, but it is crazy to go from such a lush forest full of life to what looks like Mars, all in less than 1.5hrs.
Looking to the West and seeing the Pacific on both sides of the island coming down the road to Haleakala.
After all of that, we made the drive back to the airport to get ready to board our flight back to Utah. I hope you enjoyed part 1 of this series and come back to check out part 2 which will be released soon. It will be highlighting some of the wildlife found in Maui that is endemic and not found anywhere else in the world. With that I’ll leave you all with the sunset from our last night on Maui.
Maui Sunset