Kamaole Beach Royale Resort Kihei

... the same room and there they were all again. It was a group of about 40 people and they were about to take a bar tour. So we jumped in. The lady leading the group clanged a bell and everyone would yell BAR TOUR! Of course people thought we were crazy as we went around the ship yelling BAR TOUR. It was fun ...

... augenblick kamen mir drei einheimische, triefend nass, entgegen und ich fragte sie ob dieses land ihnen gehöre. Der
älteste lachte und sagte nein aber wir können ungeniert auch im fluss baden gehen, da sei weit und breit niemand zu sehen. Es brauchte nicht viel überzeugungsarbeit und schon kletterten wir in unseren badeshorts und mit einem handtuch bewaffnet über den zaun. Hinter den bäumen sahen wir dann das paradisische naturbecken ...

... and stopped for a break at Kapalua. There are lovely beaches in this area, places like Napili Bay and Ka'anapali.





After having a look at the beaches to the north, we stopped in Lahaina. Lahaina is a nice place, an historic old whaling town with lots of small shops and many restaurants and bars. We did some shopping there and explored the town on foot ...

... but easy to swim against if you have fins. Lots of great life up against the wall, and beautiful schools of fish in the more open areas. We drove up the 30 to find a second snorkel spot, but the sun was setting. Beautiful amazing views dominated the drive, and we pulled over and just enjoyed the scenery. In the distance, we could ...

... very close to the airport, so all went well. Not surprisingly, our luggage has gained weight...one bag went a little over the edge (51.5 pounds), but Hawaiian Airlines looked the other way. We've been flying Hawaiian a lot this trip, and I think they do a very good job. We landed at Kahului on Maui, got yet another rental (a real gas hog Chrysler, this time) and set out on the Road to Hana. For those that don't know, the Road to Hana is one of the "must-drive ...

... so we wanted to make the most of it. This trip, we explored the entire island. Beaches/Snorkeling Other than the reserve areas, snorkeling seems best in the morning (aka before 10am) when the water is more calm and there is more visibility. In the afternoon, the waves are huge and it's much cloudier probably because the wind pushes more sand around. It ...

... carefully to the teacher chant and keep the rhythm on a huge gourd drum. I was interested to hear the clear difference between singing and chanting. Although he did change pitch a many times, there was a monotone element to the whole thing. It was definitely not sung - much less so than something like a Gregorian chant. Another interesting element was the way the dancers answer the chanter at different times - antiphonal chanting! After demonstrating different ...

... system and gave his usual spiel of weather and flight times. Then he said, "Those of you who have flown this route before know that, at this time of year, we can encounter a fair bit of turbulence. Please keep your seat belts fastened. If we do encounter turbulence, we will wake you up to make sure your seat belt is secure." Great. Hilary slept for a few hours, but I don't think I did more than doze between periods of turbulence. I've been through worse, but turbulence ...

... place. Luckily we went to look at an apartment that was renting through a real estate agency, this lady Burnice gave us the chance. Our place is great, it's like a mini house. They call them Ohanas because it is attached to the main house, sort of like a guest house. The people that owned the house were really cool, the kid was a local about 22 years old. We were stoked, but still needed jobs to pay for our new home. Still, no more crazies or wet dogs. Home sweet home.

... It was so warm and sunny all the time there (didn't rain once during the entire 10 days we were in Hawaii). From Kaanapali, we were able to take day trips (next entries) around the island, seeing some of the sights of Hawaii's famous natural beauty.