Our table at Fred's
Heading out at Paako Cove
Paako Cove Beach Scene
My little friend for the evening.
The wedding conch shell at wedding beach. Blown at the end of the beach ceremony I sat near.
Ten second timer shot of Byron and I.
Kayak trip trying to catch up to the whales. We never did-they are fast swimmers.
Paako Cove entrance-sneaky little beach.
The loot in the treasure box we buried for my parents.
Leilani's - Byron's new favorite fish taco. How we love thee!
That's a smiling fish taco kiss there! Fish taco heaven.
Resort hammock we borrowed for a few swings.
Scouted out our beach after checking into our hotel. It looks different. They've had a lot of erosion. Water looked choppy so we sat on our towels and read books, napped a little. Great afternoon.
Headed to Fred's for some of Byron's favorite fish tacos. I ate yummy tortilla soup. Table on the balcony with a view of the ocean. Enjoyed the stray cat playing in the garden. Home for showers.
Feb 21 Saturday- Granola and fruit with yogurt for breakfast on the beach. Tried our beach for snorkeling but it was pretty murkey. Packed up and headed down to lava rock beach; Ahihi Bay. Parked in the Ahihi Kihau Reserve parking lot and snorkeled upshore towards a small bay. While the water was warmer in the bay it was not as clear so we headed back out and were rewarded with nice clear water. Saw an octopus scooting along and followed him until he ran into a lady friend. The two octopi reached out and twisted around each other then flashed bright white as they mated before our astonished eyes. We were taken back and absolutely thrilled with their little show. They quickly scooted apart and went on their separate ways within seconds. So amazing. Most likely a once in a lifetime experience. We laid around on the lava beach for a while. Byron went out snorkeling again after a rest. I had had enough after the first two hours and read on the beach. Home for showers and a rest.
Got all cleaned up and headed up to Big Beach for the sunset. It was not to crowded tonight. Enjoyed the boogie boarders playing in the waves. We were entertained with a bongo drum hippie playing the sun over the horizon for us. Chatted with a metal detector guy who wouldn't fess up to finding anything good. Watched the Little beach nudies file out for the night. Laid out our towels after walking down the beach and hung out. It was pitch black on our way back to the car. The stars were out but only a sliver of the moon. Glad to not get attacked on the dark forest path. On our drive out of the lot some scooter guy had troubles and couldn't find his keys. We stopped and offered a flashlight but in the end weren't able to help him. Glad he didn't decide to attack us as well. He pushed his scooter to the road behind us.
Feb 22 Sunday- Slept in. I love life at the beach! Started the day trying to snorkel but it was to choppy. Headed to a new beach after our granola's. Maluaka Beach is down Mckena Landing and head left. Awesome snorkeling off the coral on the right hand side. Saw eels, turtles, and tons of fish. The boats visiting turtle town dropped their tourists off right where we were. We saw a ferocious yellow headed moray eel at this site. We ate lunch at Coconuts before beaching. Coconuts has the most delicious cold slaw! We dined at Fabiani's Pizza for dinner. The red velvet cake was delicious.
Monday Feb 23- Slept in...liking this pattern. Granola on the beach of course. We have vanilla yogurt over the hawaiian granola and top it all off with mangos, bananas, pineapple, and whatever other fruit we have on hand. So good. Or maybe it's just that we are eating it at the beach. The beach out front of Days Inn looked clear so we headed out for a snorkel. We saw a cool spotted eel, turtles, puffer and two dead lobster. We were so glad to have a good day on our beach again. There was change out there with the sand level being so different but it is still a great place to have a look around. We ate at Maui Taco for lunch. My pork was good. Byron really liked his shrimp taco. The pineapple salsa was great. We headed off to hike the Waihee Ridge Trail. It was a gorgeous hike. We sweat like crazy in the hot humid air but the view up the canyon into the rainforest mountains was beautiful. Lush green vegetation. We passed through at least four different plant zones on our hike. Awesome pine trees, spectacular eucalyptus, who knows what the others were but I loved it. There was a double waterfall off to the right as we headed up the trail. We hiked up into the clouds through mud and slick trails. At the top of the 2.5 mile trail was a picnic table. So we sat and enjoyed a clementine before racing back down. The sign said they locked the gate at 5:00 and we didn't want to be locked in for the night.
We drove the backway from Waihee Ridge to Lahaina. It was a route we had never taken before. Very narrow roads but gorgeous views. Lahaina was a fun evening. The Banyan tree did not disappoint. I also enjoy the ukulele store and of course hawaiian ice. We ate at Captain Jack's - my Reuben was great. I got a henna tattoo of a turtle. It looks awesome. We checked out the glass blowing guy but decided to keep looking for a less expensive gift for Carter. We did find a cool girfriend for Ally's owl Wilfred. She will be excited. That was her special gift request so job well done there. There was the funniest old lady was crossed paths with. She was crossing the street way in front of our car. She stopped half way and would not pass until Bron had waved that he saw her. It felt like she was the boss of the crosswalk. Putting her hand up in the air to stop us. Makes one wonder if she has been hit before.
Feb 23 Tuesday-zzzzzslept in and woke in the mood for cinnamon rolls. We treated ourselves to gooey pecan rolls and chocolate milk. I only ate about half of mine they are so large. We picked up subways and headed out for a new hike. We hiked up the Na'ili'ili Stream on the Four Waterfalls Hike. On the way we stopped at the Hookipa Lookout and enjoyed the surfers and whales jumping. Quite the show. It was raining a bit and then a lot so we hung out in the car watching the ocean while the storm passed. Byron bought a coke on the way to make up for the terrible coke he had had the night before. The rain eventually passed and we headed out for the hike.
On the road to Hana mile at mile 6.5 is where the train starts. We parked and hiked through the bamboo and across an irrigation ditch. The bamboo is younger than the Piwai trail but very cool. The ditch had an old piece of lumber across it to aid us. The ditch water was flowing fast probably from the rain, I was glad to not have to leap across onto the slippery mud on the other side. We kept going and came to the stream and shortly found the first waterfall. It was a pretty fall with a good size swimming hole at the base. We decided to look for the next waterfall and headed off in the wrong direction. We hiked up a treacherous mudslide gripping for our lives onto the bamboo trees to hold us up. After a bit I realized this laser game hike thrrough the mega roots and mud was not the right trail. We had to unhike all the hard stuff we had just passed through but downhill this time. I only biffed it once on the mud slick.
Once back at waterfall one we inquired as to perhaps where waterfall two might be and some helpful young men pointed us in the opposite direction as we had tried. They also told us while chatting that their roof had been blown off their hostel last week in a mega tropical storm. Wow- glad we weren't here last week.
We had to use some rope to scale up the face of a muddy rock but finally made it to the second waterfall. Gorgeous tall waterfall into a large pool. The fall split into two falls halfway down the rock face. I loved this one. Time to find the third fall. We climbed up a jerry rigged ladder with rope hanging over the edge and managed to pull ourselves up to the third waterfall. This is more of a serious of little falls that surprise you as you hike up jumping from rock to rock up to the base of a large narrow and long pool. You swim across this third pol to get to the fourth waterfall.
We did jump from a rock ledge into the pool of brisk refreshing water. I used my flip-flops as paddles as we swam across. There were ropes to help drag yourself out of the pool and up the waterfall face. Byron had to bury our backpack in a bush and camouflage it with leaves so we could swim without our gear and cameras. The fourth waterfall was really cool. Nice long tall drop into a great swimming pool. We had a good swim around and sat under the falls enjoying the beauty of the world.
To get back to the third fall we jumped off the top of the falls and back into the swimming hole. Then swam back across to where our gear was hiding. The hardest part was climbing back down the slippery ladder but we both did okay.
We stopped at waterfall number two and ate our Subway sandwiches. Somehow I got a call from my mom that came through. Seems impossible but go AT&T. It was a great hike and I would do it again in a heartbeat. We hightailed it out of there and got out before dark. We made it back to the Hookipa Lookout and noticed a line of people on the beach. They were all standing there looking at these rocks. The rocks turned out to be about thirty turtles resting on the sand. Apparently they do this every evening. They have had as many as 68 turtles in one day before. It was so neat to watch them come in and out and sleep in the warm sand. We sat at least an hour enjoying the Honu's company. A definite highlight for me. I also walked along the beach and found some sea glass.
We headed up to Makawao to eat at Poli's for dinner. Shared a steak and shrimp fajita. Pretty good. Overall it was a great day. Came home and Byron ran some laundry while I fell asleep.
Wednesday Feb 24-Granola on the beach after a good sleep in. Read our books for a while and did a little sun tanning and shade sitting. Enjoyed the people watching and watched for whales. Headed to Maluaka Beach for some snorkeling. Sea was to rough so we played in the waves and floated around a little listening to the whales and dolphin noises. Byron found us some shaved ice and ended up with three so we gave one to our neighbors in the sand. Turns out their wedding day was today. Left their family behind and came to HI to get married. We toasted them with our shaved ices.
We showered off at the McKena Beach and Golf Resort showers and headed to get ready for whale watching out of Lahaina. We grabbed our stuff, a Maui Taco and raced so we wouldn't miss our boat.
We got so lucky, we saw a cute baby breach then a bunch of double breaches and single breaches. Even trumpeting which is when the whale makes a trumpet call as it's blowing air from its blowhole. I got a few great photos and we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. It was great when they lowered a microphone into the ocean and we got to listen to the whales singing to each other. Such a forlorn song but how cool!
We ate in Lahaina at Cool Cats for burgers and shakes. Ran into Sydnee Bennett and Megan Anderson eating with their families. They both grew up in my stake and I was in Irael with Megan. We did a little Lahaina shopping for Ty and Carter and headed back to the hotel. Great day today!
Thursday Feb 25- Ate leftover chocolate cake and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Headed out to bask in the sun for me, shade for Byron and read a book. I saw a close whale sighting and raced for the kayak. Byron took his time and by the time we got out there, twenty minutes later, the whale had moved on. We made a safe launch through the wave brakes. We paddled around for a couple hours, saw a few breaches and tail splashes. Nothing to close though. Lots of wind and waves. Enjoyed a trail mix and had fun. Entry back to shore not as smooth. I dumped out but we made it in wet but not injured. We cleaned up and went to lunch. Byron needed one more trip to Fred's. It was already 4:30 by now so we ate linner. Carna asada taco was good. Byron loves the Pescaro Taco. Decided to try a new beach. Paako Cove aka Secret Beach. You find the gap in the lava wall past Big Beach and walk on in. We've passed it many times and never noticed it before. Byron snorkeled and straight off saw a turtle and found a hat. I had tons of whales to watch. Lots of breaches and was fully entertained by the photographers and wedding going on at the beach. Gorgeous night. We stayed until past sunset and took a few timed photos. Had a good time racing from the and trying to leap into Byron's arms in time for the timer.
Spent the evening preparing a treasure box to bury for my parents to find when they came in a week. We found the perfect spot at our new favorite beach to dig it in. Filled it with goofy stuff like brochures, microwave popcorn, DVD's, a condom, snacks to eat. We hope they have fun following the map we drew for them to find the treasure.
Packed up and sadly prepping to fly back home. I may cry a little at our departure. I love me a good trip to Maui.
Waihe'e Ridge Trail hike.
Cute little old church. This was a drive by photo. Turned out okay for a shoot and run.
Sunset at our hotel. Gorgeous views.
Henna tattoo art. Sunburned feet.
Baby flap and momma's tail fin. Double!
Success! I can't get enough of the whale watching. Love it.
Byron watching the whales. Can't he find a big hat anywhere?
Lahaina Ukulele store. Fun stroll looking through the shops. 
Four Waterfalls Hike
First Waterfall.
Wait....will this rope actually hold me?
Bamboo Forest - in love!
Love the rustic ladder. A little slippery when wet, and it's always wet.
Waterfall Number two
This is the map to get to the Four Waterfalls Hike. I threw it on here so I wouldn't forget when we go back next year.
Found these guys hanging out on the beach. Not rocks.
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