Hej Hej
So as promised here are a few shots from our trip to Hawaii. We went for 10 days and spent 4 nights on Kauai and 5 nights on Maui. I think both Ben and I preferred Kauai, it was smaller, so lush and green (but it does get a lot of more rain) and just more of a laid back feel to it.
There were even chickens and roosters running around everywhere - including in between the buildings of our hotel.
Our first day there was a bit cloudy and drizzly so we decided to go up to see this canyon - Waimea Canyon. Unfortunately a lot of the view points were a bit foggy but we got to the end of the road and did this short mile hike and it cleared up a bit. You wouldn't want to do this hike if it was raining though as the path was more like a clay bank so it would be pretty slick.
This is looking back at the peak we hiked up to.
On our way back down the mountain road it cleared up and we were able to finally get a decent shot of the canyon.
And then since it was sunny when we got back to the coast we stopped at the Salt Ponds Park and enjoyed a swim and some sun while being serenaded by families out for a Sunday picnic at the beach singing karaoke.
The next day was beautiful and so we decided to head up the east coast of the island and check out the Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge and Lighthouse. That was quite a good stop - especially if you like looking at birds, which we do. We saw two Nene - cousins to the Canada goose, quite a few Moli or Layson albatrosses, which are huge. We were lucky enough to see two take-off from their grassy slope of a runway. We also saw blue-footed boobies and a 'Iwa or Great Frigate birds.
After this stop, we continued up to the North Coast where we stopped at Tunnels Beach, called this, because there is a very cavernous tunnel across the street from the beach. The waves were pretty big at this beach and it was very large so you could be quite spread out from others. I also had a very delicious mango smoothie made fresh for me from a small truck (you can tell which memory stand out the most).
Our last day we were schedule to go on a boat cruise up the Na'Pali coast which is supposed to be amazing but unfortunately it was somewhat windy and rainy on the west coast that day so our trip was cancelled. Instead we checked out Wailua Falls on our way back to the east coast where our hotel was. We saw this fantastic rainbow on our way there.
The story of Maui was humpback whales. We saw them everywhere. You couldn't look out at the ocean without seeing a spray or an arched back. Our first day in Maui we were pretty laid back, Ben actually did a little work and I spent the afternoon at the beach of our hotel. The second day we went on a day long snorkeling trip to Molokini Crater and to the Island of Lanai. Here are the first visitors of the day...
This was a great day. We had beautiful weather and saw tons of whales, including seeing them breach jumping out of the water and some impressive tail and fin slips. We went snorkeling at two spots and enjoyed lunch on the boat.It ended with me getting an impressive sunburn on the front side of my body though. Unfortunately, I was almost the colour of my bright pink shirt.
On our third day in Maui it was overcast so we decided to head out and do a little shopping. Nothing exciting to report. The shops are pretty much the same anywhere you went on Maui (or so it seemed) full of touristy things. When we got back to the hotel it had cleared up so we enjoyed some beach time. That we went to a show that was a bit cirque-du-soleil-like and learned about the legends of how Hawaii and Hawaiians came to be. Afterward we enjoyed a fancy steak supper at Ruth's Chris Steak house.
On Sunday, Ben decided to take a surfing lesson in the morning. He did really well getting up right away, unfortunately by the time he got to where I could take a picture of him the waves look a bit puny (and they weren't huge to start with but hey this was a group of beginners).
In the afternoon we went up to the north west coast and spent the afternoon at a beach with even bigger waves and proceeded to watch surfers and boogie boarders fall off their boards.
This was our last full-day in Maui and we experienced another great rainbow and a fantastic sunset that night (this is a real photo and hasn't been doctored in anyway).
Now some of you may be wondering why only Ben went surfing and for those people who were observant you may have noticed that I am slightly more paunchy (and busty) in these photos than I was when you last saw me. To let you in on a little secret, Ben and I are expecting and will grow our family by one in mid-August. This put a little crimp in our Hawaii vacation as I was pretty sick most of the time and ended up going to sleep at 8pm or so each night. And of course, there were no shared bottles of wine on our Lanais but we still had a great time (and I'm now finally feeling a bit better).
Sorry for the lateness of this post. Next post will include photos of the Olympics. It will probably only take me another month to get to those!
Ciao,
Erin
Ben and his mom ready to start the Triathlon.
Emerging from the cold water
Another day, another shot with Grandpa.
