We had signed up to see the sun rise up over the volcano, but apparently, due to a recent court ruling, we're not allowed to be up at the top (in the park). Ok... that sucks! What did we pay the $60 per person for? Well, let me tell you. If you look at a Map of Maui, there is a road coming down from the eastern volcano that looks like this: WWWWWWWWWWW...lots of switchbacks. We rode bikes, with a top speed of 33 mph down that. The view was amazing. The ride was incredible. All-in-all we had a great time. Coming down to the tree line you hit a patch of jasmine and you swear that you're in heaven. Plus, perhaps the best part, is Uncle Russ, the tourguide. This 58 year old guy, been a surfer, and a hippie for 40 years. It takes about an hour to get used to the way he talks... you can definately understand every word he says... its perfect english. However he has his own slang that makes it almost impossible to understand WTF he is saying. As the day progresses, you begin to understand his madness (is that a good thing?) and his hippie-biker-surfer-ish starts to make sense. I can tell you that us Ring-a-dingers put our poptops on to protect our coconuts so we could letter out and really ring-a-ding down, man.
After that we decided to go to the Western volcano/peak. There is a state park in the valley carved out from the water through caldera. It is the spot that receives more rainfall than any place in the US: 400 inches per year, so, of course, its a rain forest. Compare that to 20 miles away which is a vast desert. The part itself was disapointing because we were wanting to get some hikes in, and there were no hikes to take. Just a little mile paved loop throug some gardens. The pictures and the scenery were amazing, though.
After that we decided to go to the one winery on the island. We ended up getting lost and frustrated and not going. But we found out later that its closed on easter. We ate a little deli sandwich on a beach on the south shore between the two volcanos, and then headed back to our hotel... at about 2:30.
We did stop at a local fruit stand, and got raped on prices compared to the supermarket. But just before that we saw some whales flipping around in the water off shore. It was pretty neat.
When we got back to the hotel we put on our swimwear and headed to the beach were we swam and sat out for a little over an hour, then headed back to the hotel were we ate cheese, drank wine and took pictures of the local wildlife.
At sunset we walked 30 feet from our hotel room to catch the sun disapear behind some clouds while whales flipped up out of the water in the foreground. One of the most amazing things I've seen.
Enjoy the pictures... we're exhasuted and going to head to bed right now to try to get up early to CATCH the sunrise on the volcano tomorrow.
The Pictures:
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| Hawaii - Day 2 |
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