Adventures with Liz

Maui: Days 16, 17, 18, 19

Sorry I haven’t posted in forever; there’s no internet in our condo and we’ve had full days so I’m just too exhausted at night to walk to the internet café.

Maui is lovely. Our lodgings are the best of the whole trip. We’re in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo with a kitchen and living room. The pool is right outside our back door. It’s awesome.

We flew in on the worst flight of my entire life; there was an intense amount of turbulence. On the way to our condo, we stopped at the Iao State Park to see the Iao needle and a traditional Hawaiian garden.


Tuesday we had to be up really early, as in 5:45 a.m. early so we could be to our boat by 6:30. We went on a snorkeling cruise sponsored by the Pacific Whale Foundation to Molokini Crater, one of only three submerged volcanic calderas in the world. A reef grew inside the caldera, so there was a lot of coral and fish. On the way to our second stop, we had to sail through “confused” waters…which made for some excitement and a lot of people getting seasick. Our second stop was not quite as exciting, but we amused ourselves by going off the slide and just enjoying the water.

We made use of our kitchen and had taco night that evening and had taco night. It was nice to have a relatively home-cooked meal since we’ve been eating out so much.

Wednesday we got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Maui Ocean Center, an aquarium that raises animals like sharks and turtles to release back into the ocean. After that we went to Honolua Bay to snorkel. At first, we thought it was going to be terrible because the water was really murky and there was nothing to see close to the beach. But when we swam out and towards the cliff walls of the bay, we found a lot of coral and tons of fish. I saw a ton of cool fish, including two huge eels and a giant school of big silver fish that surrounded me. It was a god last snorkel.


Yesterday we drove to the top of Haleakala, which means “House of the Sun” in Hawaiian, and is the tallest Mountain on Maui and the third highest in the Hawaiian Islands. We stopped at several different lookouts, each with an amazing view. The Big Island was visible from the top. We also got to hike up a couple smaller hills at our stops for better views. On our way home we stopped to watch windsurfers. If there was one water activity I wish I could do, that would be it. It’s awesome to watch, and looks like a lot of fun.

Today is a free day, so I think the plan is to go to the pool or the beach or something to get in one last day of sun, and then maybe some shopping before dinner tonight. Luau tomorrow, then home Sunday. I can't believe the trip is almost over. I'm kind of glad to go home; I'm tired of always having a set schedule and living out of a suitcase. But I'm not really ready to leave either because...well...it's Hawaii. I'll be back in boring Ohio instead of having huge mountains on either side of me and the ocean in front of me. Oh well. Have to get back to reality at some point, I guess. I'll post about the end of our trip when I'm safely back in Cleveland.

posted by Liz @ 5:23 PM