Aloha from Maui!

Aloha everyone!  Today J. and I are wrapping up in Maui and heading for Oahu's north coast.  Maui was a fun island!  I'll be honest, some of the things that were hyped up here, were not as good as I'd hoped, but some were waaaay better. For instance, when we checked into our hotel on day 1, the Royal Kahana "upgraded" us to a two bedroom suite which was absolutely the grossest hotel room I've ever seen (and I don't generally mind budget accommodations).  I can't say enough bad things about it, do not stay there people!  I freaked out and told them it was unacceptable, so they then sent us to another room which was only marginally better and only because the bed wasn't super saggy in the center.  Yuck.  So I got on the horn with our travel agent, we threw some money at the problem, and after one irritating night at RK we moved to a significantly better condo at this place called the Mahana.  *cue heavely angels*  It is literally right on Ka'anapali beach which is this long stretch of super-perfect sand, where we can walk a few hundred feet in either direction for incredible snorkling and nice waves for swimming.  The beach also happens to be about 20 feet from our room and we have a perfect ocean view.  We can also see the island of Molokai, and this part of the ocean is where whales come to give birth so we're seeing whales all over the place.  It is such a 180 from where we began, and the trip has been divine ever since!

Once we got settled- really settled- we started exploring the North coast of Maui with the top down in our Jeep (a small upgrade from J!), which has an incredible cliff-hugging drive with these semi-secret "Olivine Pools" which you have to basically have to climb down a cliff to get to- but which were absolutely awesome in person.  And the Hana highway?  Pretty cool even with this season's lack of rain (no seven sacred pools this year!)- we saw an ancient temple, lava tubes and arches, a black sand beach, and let's not forget how we followed our guidebook's instructions and did some off-the-tourist-road hiking to find an amazing waterfall and perfect swimming hole with NOBODY there!  Whale watching?  Better than I ever thought possible!  Our boat ended up being surrounded by three whales for about an hour, so we got to get within 10 feet of humpbacks, watching them play and breach.   We've mostly done cheap or free things here to account for the extra hotel expense, but with so many natural wonders, that's been easy to do.  And of course, the restaurant scene here is outstanding!  Overall, I give it an A++!  So here's some of the highlights from our five days of Maui-mooning:

[caption id="attachment_2110" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Our room with a view!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2111" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Olivine Pools- Secluded Secret or Death Trap?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2112" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Whale tail!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2113" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Yes, there are THREE whales in that photo!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2114" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Luau!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2115" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Piilanihale Heiau, the largest ancient temple in Hawaii."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2116" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Poised on the edge of a lava tube! "][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2117" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="J. braves the icy spring water for a shot at our "private" waterfall!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2118" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="I savor a sunset and watch the big boys surf near Mama's Fish House (home of the best seafood ever)."][/caption]