Maui - Nov 18-25

Highlights of the trip

• Being with hubby
• Met a brother and sister randomly
• Help a family that locked their car key in their van with everything in it in a very remote place (raining and winding)
• Scuba diving, saw whales with dolphins and sharks

I joined Elliot in Lincoln a week before the trip. Together, we flew to Maui, Hawaii. We arrived at night and rented a car to eventually check into the Banana Bungalow Hostel in Wailuku. We were in a shared room with an Alaskan and a German. Our real first day in Maui, we tried to do the Haleakala Crater hike with the hostel, the weather was terrible (cold, windy and raining). Instead we went to Kihei and stayed on the beach and played volleyball with the hostel friends.

The next day, we went diving with the Maui Diamond II. Our first dive was Puka Puka, 84ft, we did not see much… but our 2nd dive was at Red Hill (Puuolai) 47ft and this one was amazing, we saw a really gigantesque Hona (sea turtle), a reef shark, amazing fishes and the coral reef were beautiful. Heading back to Maalena harbour, we saw a whale and calf jumping and dolphins jumping across them- just a magical day with pro-divers on the boat. The next day, we attempt the Haleakala crater again but the weather was again horrific. While waiting for me, Elliot met Max and Katie, siblings from Phoenix. We decided to have breakfast with them and do the Road to Hana with them. We parked their car on the highway (bad idea because it got broken in when we got back) and off we go hike the Seven pools of wonder. Their mother could not deal with the issue because it was late at night and the adults were drunk…

After our first day at the hostel, Elliot decided to check us into a private room (16), way better situation for old people like us… So on Nov 22, we checked out from the hostel to head into a condo in Lahaina, Noelani. Our new friend Katie was supposed to leave on Friday so we decided to touch base when we arrive in Lahaina, so we did and hung out with Max and Katie till they left (their mother changed Katie’s flight). ChElliot went to Honolua Bay where we met Jimmy, the local that allow tourists to snorkel there, it was a fishing town before the tsunami of Alaska hit them. He will be building his new house in March 2017. We saw a huge turtle again that was hanging with us at the surface

The next morning, we woke up super early to again attempt the Haleakala crater and SUCCESS! We finally made it and the weather was amazing! We parked our car at around 8000ft and after an hour of hitchhiking, a family of 4 from Seattle picked us up and I sat on Elliot for the ride. We convinced them to also do the hike - they were like rockets flying up the mountain with no sweats. The hike was incredibly hard!!!! The altitude change really affected ChElliot and the fact that we both were not in great shape due to our age and my hip injury… After 6 hours (20 miles, downhill, straight, uphill), we finally made it alive! Saw different ecosystem and weather conditions.

After the hike, we were both so exhausted that we bought food from the Farmers’ markets and we went home, ate and jumped into the jacuzzi to relax our muscles. The next morning, we finally slept in and had a very slow morning. We head to Honolua Bay again to find my wet shoe and Jimmy showed us different fruits and trees on his land. Afterwards, we went to the Olivine pools and snorkeled in the tides where it was not very safe but yolo! After the adventure, we helped a Cali family (Siraj, Debbie and Ally) for 3 hours because they locked their car keys in their van. Siraj and Debbie also work in the oil industry with Exxon Mobil. After the rescue (they stayed in our car because it was raining and cold), we head home and slept.

The last day, Elliot surfed and then we checked out and went to Makawao, drove around to see the scenery and stayed for the sunset. 

And the nightmare begins.... our flights get cancelled...