Magical Hawaii - Maui, Big Island, & Honolulu
Maui
After a month and a half into ship life we realized that we were allowed to do our own “overland” trips and meet up with the ship at a later date. We were in San Francisco about to sail for 4 days to the Hawaiian Islands. Ashley had the brilliant idea to fly to Hawaii instead of slowly floating there. I was on board immediately. We booked flights for $92 a piece from SFO to Maui! At that price how can you say no. We would depart in 2 days. Then we checked the weather… apparently the islands were due for a winter storm worse than they’d seen in 20 years. The forecast said it would be over by the time we arrived in 2 days.
We descended into Maui on a beautiful sunny day, snow covered the top of Mount Haleakala, and there was no storm in sight. We were feeling very excited about our decision until a helicopter got in the way of our flight path and the pilot had to do an extreme maneuver so as not to crash into it and kill us all. We were very grateful for his quick reflexes. So we circled the island again landing a bit jarred but happy to be on solid ground.
We headed straight for the rental car counter so we could see as much of Maui over the next few days before we would meet up with the ship again on the Big Island. They provided us with a Jeep Cherokee and we promptly took off, wind in our hair, cares behind us.
We stopped for lunch at a little roadside place next to the beach, and were seated about 20 feet from a beached sailboat - hope that guy had insurance. The storm we had narrowly missed really rocked the island and sailboats were littered along the coast. We drank a Maui Brewing Big Swell to pay homage to the literal big swell that brought so many boats crashing into the shore. There were a lot of sad sailors moping about that day. We headed on to our hotel in Lahaina to witness a stunning sunset with a mai-tai in hand.
The next morning we woke up to the fullest rainbow I have ever seen. No matter now many rainbows I see they always make my jaw drop. After a breakfast of chocolate covered macadamia nuts we went to check out Baby Beach, which our waitress the day before had told us was a great place to spot sea turtles. Sure enough we spotted 2 massive sea turtles as soon as we dunked our heads underwater! That was the closest either of us had ever been to a sea turtle and these two were huge, about 4 feet in length. We were positively giddy with the encounter. After our fill of turtle oogling we headed to lunch with an old friend of mine, Brendan, who lived in Maui at the time. We caught up over a few beers and fish tacos, and he shared some island tips with us!
While the flights to Maui were cheap, the accommodations were NOT. We splurged our first night at a hotel then decided to make it a true adventure and go camping down the Road to Hana. On Airbnb we found a company that rents out camping equipment complete with tent, air mattress, blanks, pillows, a cooler, and a lantern. Sign me up! We picked up our camping gear and began The Road to Hana, which is hands down one of the best coastal drives in the world. It winds through dense jungles, waterfalls appear at every other turn, and the black volcanic cliffs drop off to the sweeping ocean. It’s the type of the drive where it’s hard to focus on the road because the surroundings are so beautiful but you have to concentrate on the road because it’s full of twists and turns.
We stopped for some delicious thai food from a food truck on the side of the road. Hana is a very primitive area; not many restaurants or hotels, hence the camping. We pulled up to Waianapanapa State Park (say “why noppa noppa”), pitched our tent by the light of a lantern, and we watched the stars begin to appear. I had been dying to see some night sky beauty because our ship’s lights are usually too bright to do much stargazing. While Ashley snuggled up in our makeshift bed I setup my tripod and camera to take some night photos. There were maybe 4 other tents near us, and I was the only person outside my tent, it was bit eerie in the dark with no lights but the stars. Finally the clouds rolled in and with them, the rain. I took shelter in our tent and fell fast asleep to the sounds of rain pattering on the tent.
The next morning when we woke up we began wandering around the campsite to check it out since we had arrived in the dark. The first thing we stumbled on was a cemetery… about 30 feet from all the tents. Of all the odd things I’ve seen in campsites, this was a first. It was an old cemetery marking the resting spots of natives from over 100 years ago. Why would it be a campsite now!? We continued to explore the area which is know for its black sand beach, blow hole, and lave tube. The black sand beach was very striking against the teal color of the waves. We walked into the lave tube and stopped when we came upon 5 girls sitting motionless on the wet sand staring out into the ocean. They all sat in the same position with their legs crossed, hands in their laps, eyes staring straight out into the ocean like they were in a trance. Our footsteps were very loud on the volcanic gravel and they definitely would have heard us come up behind them. But none of them moved a muscle or said anything for at least a minute while we curiously stared. It was like we had walked in on some strange ritual. Ashley and I looked at each other in alarmed silence and backed out of the lava tube to let them continue with whatever it was they were doing. It’s best to leave witches be. We decided to take a break from this strange site and take a day trip to Seven Pools.
We shook off the heebie jeebies and went to explore Seven Sacred Pools, which are fresh water swimming holes connected by a series of waterfalls. We hiked through a dense and seriously tall bamboo forest and passed several beautiful waterfalls. Finally after a few miles we came to Waimoku Falls which is about 400 ft. tall. I just loved all the wild trees and interesting flora we observed. After our beautiful sunny hike we headed into the town of Hana for some live music at a restaurant - happy to be among the living before we headed back to our campsite. That night we slept restlessly knowing more about the ground we laid on. It poured rain again, and it was the kind of night that no matter how bad you have to pee, you’re not leaving the tent. We woke early the next morning and spotted several mongoose rummaging around the campsite. I’m used to seeing raccoons and squirrels at a campsite, but mongooses were new to me. They’re an invasive species in Hawaii and prey on native species and apparently campsites.
We packed up our camping gear and bid this weird and beautiful place adieu. We headed back towards the airport in the same direction we came, but after all the rain we encountered, the waterfalls near the roads were roaring and overflowing over the road in some places. Hana is one of the wettest regions in all of Hawaii and we were discovering that first hand. We kept humming the tune to Jurassic Park because everywhere we turned we could picture a T-Rex tearing its way out of the dense jungle. I has that kind of vibe.
Big Island
We flew from Maui to Hilo and decided to rent another car. We walked up to the first rental car desk to discover that they had no cars to rent. We checked the next rental desk- no cars. The next, no cars, and on this went until we reached the 6th counter and they had cars to rent, but they wanted to charge us $700 for 2 days. Um I don’t think so. We were telling the lady behind the desk about our trip thus far and told her we had camped at Waianapanapa, and she stopped her typing, looked at us, and said, “You girls are crazy, I’m from there, and I would never do that.” We exchanged glances and agreed that we do crazy things sometimes. She asked, “Did you have any visitors?” I answered back matter of factly, “Yeah, there were a lot of mongoose around.” “No.” she answered, “Night walkers.” Ashley and I looked at each other stunned. We told her how shocked we were that the campsite is right next to the cemetery there. She told us, “You must have good juju if you didn’t have any visitors.” Ashley explained that she works in hospice pretty much as a death doula and perhaps that is why she has “good juju.” I was bit unnerved by this whole exchange, but I was grateful to have Ashley on my side in case we came across any other spirits. After our conversation this friendly lady told us she would give us her employee discount on a rental car, oh and the only car she had was a convertible Mustang. Done.
We set out bright and early the next day to drive to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to set foot on the precarious ground of Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Much of the park was closed due to the massive eruption in May 2018. We were there Feb 2019. We wandered through a fern forest and through a valley of sulfur rich vents that reeked. We looked down into the gigantic crater of Kilauea which had crusted over since its last eruption but it certainly hadn’t gone dormant. Fissures leaked steam all over the surface of the crater hinting at what boiled below us. At this point in the afternoon it was warm enough to put the top down on our convertible. After a few days in rainy Hana we were glad to have the sun on our cheeks as we coasted down through the park from the top of the volcano to where it melts into the sea. There are miles of volcanic rock fields. We got out and walked over some of the course lava rock that used to be liquid lava. We picked up a few pieces of the jagged rock to feel it in our hands and pocketed them. Of course, you’re not supposed to remove anything from a National Park (Ashley may have been unfamiliar with this rule, but I was aware of it). I almost always adhere to this rule when visiting parks, but something about the lava rock had really taken me (and Ashley). This would be a decision we would come to regret. More on that in our next blog.
We loved our unique experience at Volcanoes National Park, but we parted ways in order to drive around the other side of the island to visit Kona. We had a beautiful drive and arrived in time to watch the sunset on the beach while we perched on some rocks and dipped our toes in the tidal pools. We found Kona Brewing Company to have delicious beer and food for dinner. We had to make our way back to the other side of the island to Hilo where we were staying and had a starlit night drive. The next day we popped over to Rainbow Falls, which we thought was one of the more spectacular waterfalls we saw the whole trip. Finally we had to return our convertible and meet up with the ship again so it could take us on to Honolulu.
Honolulu
humuhumunukunukuapua'a
Ashley grew up going to Honolulu so it holds many memories for her. She showed me some neat shopping areas. Of course we visited the ABC Store for some new swag. Knowing my proclivity for snorkeling Ashley took me to Hanauma Bay to spy some fishies and corals. However, like many spots where we snorkeled, the marine life is dying or dead and sadly is not as vibrant as it used to be. As an aquarist and grower of corals it breaks my heart to see dead reefs. But the high point was that we spotted a humuhumunukunukuapua'a - say that 3 times fast. It’s the state fish of Hawaii. We finished up the night at a luau complete with amazing dancing and a delicious spread of food.
On our second day in Honolulu we got back on the MSC excursion train. We visited Pearl Harbor with about 40 other people from our ship. We wandered through the emotional exhibit and watched videos about people’s experiences both in Hawaii and Japan. After a heavy day full of tears it was time for some cocktails on Waikiki beach. After stopping at the convenience store for some Malibu rum, coconut water, and mango juice, we parked ourselves on the beach and soaked up some sun rays along with the rum.
When we reboarded the ship that night we joined out dinner table crew to catch up with them about their time at sea and our time on the other islands. It turned out that the weather was so bad crossing from California to Hawaii, that the captain nearly turned back. There were swells that splashed up 10 stories onto the ship, and there were vomit bag placed in public areas because apparently they were needed! Woof. We were so glad with our decision to fly to the islands and luckily miss the angry seas. At dinner we were sharing how much we loved seeing Kilauea and Mauna Loa. Ashley mentioned that she kept a few pieces to take back to her nieces/nephews to show them real lava rock. One of our table mates said, “Oh no. Did you really take the lava rocks? They’re said to be cursed.” Ashley looked at me worried, “Oh great, a curse is just what we need while sailing across the world.” While I did feel a bit guilty for taking something from a national park, I pretty much shrugged off this curse business. However, the events over the next few days and weeks would make me wish I hadn’t. Read our South Pacific blog to hear why!
