Last Day

It was a pretty long day....left our hotel around 10:30 am...we didn't have to board our flight until 10:10 pm. Now what do we do? 

I am now sitting on the plane, it’s 2:00 am and I can’t sleep. I'm stuck in the middle seat which can’t recline as we are the row in front of the emergency exit...this can’t be good...so I’m working on this post.

Back to our day. We did some final shopping at the Cannery Mall, stopped back at the aquarium as Yu had lost her sweater there and .they had it...she was pretty happy. We thought it might be a good time to explore Paia some more and perhaps try eating at Mama's Fish House which everyone seems to like. Well that was a mistake...the people! Wowzers...and of course the restaurant was completely booked for the rest of the day...we did  manage to park in the beach acces parking lot there which was pretty cool and watched several turtles cruising around....and up the coastline it appeared to be a great day for windsurfers. This made up for all the things that didn’t work out. Photographing the turtles were very tricky as they would only stick their heads out of the water a tiny bit and the camera didn’t pick them out under water. We could see their shadows lots. Very cool.

We needed to find food and took the long way back into Paia and no parking to be found! So ended up at a Mexican restaurant in Kahului which was awful and Brent couldn’t eat anything as everything was cooked in peanut oil. So we headed for the food court in the mall. We were shocked that there weren’t more places to eat before heading to the airport. We ended up returning the car around 4 and just hung out at the airport.

Photo credit Yu

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Today is definitely a low energy kinda day. Did some laundry ...getting ready to leave tomorrow night ☹️ 

It’s been two weeks of good memories and we have met some great people that have contributed in one way or another. It isn’t easy working in hospitality or retail, especially at Christmas time. Extra kudos to them! I hope that they got in some quality time with their loved ones. I for one am very grateful.

Mahalo to you all.

It was decided to go to the aquarium for something to do. I have taken so many photos the past two weeks that it was really hard to get motivated. So this is what I got this afternoon 

Window washing....aquarium style

...measuring turtles 

...swimming with the fish and sharks 

...face is so cool

Snack time

....colors are so different 

Unicorn fish

Aquarium was pretty cool for a low key kinda day 

Hana Tour

Awoke at 5 am to catch a shuttle to Kahului at 6:25. The driver of this shuttle must have still been sleeping as he didn’t know where to pick us up. Good thing Brent was keeping an eagle eye out for the shuttle! ...and it was slightly raining of course...

This was a great tour around the crater through the rainforest, along the ocean to Hana and beyond. Best part was Brent didn’t have to drive and he could also enjoy the view as once again there were some amazing sights. Kimo was our driver and liked to repeat himself several times. Quite often it was in the same sentence... and everyone is related to everyone. Kimo had many cousins and aunties and he grew up around Hana. Makes one wonder if some of his stories were true?! He gives the true meaning of “hang loose”...grew up surfing and living day to day.

I did manage to get just a “couple” of photos so enjoy the ride with us 😉 a lot of them are through the van window!

Rainforest is so lush

Coastline

Roads are narrow and windy

African tulip brought here by “Lord what’s his name” 😂

Lots of pictures of wave action...so cool...hard to take these as it was pouring rain! I had ducked down beside this van and of course you couldn’t see inside for all the “smoke” 😉

Every once and awhile structures pop up...and cousin so and so lives there 😉

You’re about to see a waterfall or two or three 

Brent and I would pass the camera back and forth...so whatever was on his side he would take the shot...like this one

Rainbow eucalyptus...very cool tree

Roadside bbq chicken...sooo good...better than the lunch we got served

Food trucks everywhere!

These shots were at Black Sand beach

Kipahulu Falls...stopping here was crazy busy...it was like if I could stop in the middle of the road I would...people and cars and tour vans and the road was barely passable! But the Falls were so cool

The road after this point was full off potholes and very bumpy...gotta' empty your bladder before proceeding!

Car rental companies warn you of driving on this portion...you are not covered!

Start of yet bother rainbow and one last waterfall

....gulp...my side of the van...

...yup you guessed it....punch bug!

Kimo stops the van..hops out...and picks some fruit

There seems quite a number of churches...

...animal of the day...mongoose

...and lots of horses...Kimo had trouble telling the difference between a colt and a filly...but “he's ridden lots”

A very stark difference from the rainforest

What a great day....