2012-5-31  to the up country:

The next day we decided to head up Haleakala with a stop at the beautiful gardens of Ali`i (Chang) Kula Lavender.  It looked like all we were going to see would be clouds.

But it cleared up somewhat by the time we got there.  It is home to about 55,000 lavender plants and 45 different varieties of lavender, olive trees, hydrangea and protea on 10.5 acres.  In addition to the free garden to wander around in, there's a gift shop with lots of lavendar items like lavendar tea and lavendar chocolates.

Lavender flourishes in the chronic drought conditions of Kula, which has an average annual rainfall of less than 25 inches. It sips most of the moisture it needs from the mist that often settles over the Kula mountainside in the late afternoon.  At 4000' elevation, it's a cool respit from the tropical sun.

There are even beautiful views down to the valley from the gardens.

There are plenty of chairs and benches around the garden for just sitting and enjoying the cool scenic grounds.  I understand it's a popular place for weddings.  I can see why.

Just another gorgeous view.

After spending so much time in Kauai where chickens are so common that I hardly notice them anymore, here on Maui they got my attention since I didn't see many.  Had to include this picture for the Kauai lover in me.

I believe this is a variety of protea.

There were other beautiful flowers everywhere, too.  Here's just one of them.

On our way out I took one last picture of the lower gardens.

From there, we continued on up Haleakala.  From the Visitors Center, we saw what many call the crater, but it's really just an eroded depression some 7 mi across, 2 mi wide, and nearly 2,600 ft deep with some interesting looking volcanic cones in it.  It is definitely an other worldly landscape.

A short ride from the Haleakala Visitor Center is Pu'u'ula'ula summit.  At 10,023 feet elevation, the oxygen levels up there were noticeably thinner.   We could even see the Big Island off in the distance.  But probably the neatest thing here is the Silversword garden.  They're an interesting plant that is native to the island of Maui and grow at an elevation of 2,100-10,000 ft.  

On the way back down we stopped at a couple pull offs and I hiked a short distance for another view inside the "crater".

Another view of the cinder cones.

 

Love the variety of photographic oppurtunities around Maui!

2012-5-30  Kapalua:

Today we attended the island orientation/excursions talk by the pool. As we walked there, we were treated to a good view of the 2 islands off the Southern coast---Molokini (the middle island) and Maui county's unpopulated island of Kaho'olawe behind Molokini.  Kaho'olawe is the smallest of the 8 main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Islands at about 11 miles long and 6 miles wide and already has quite a history.  Kaho'olawe gets almost no rainfall and most of it's vegetation that had been cut down years ago when early Hawaiians used it for firewood and agriculture.  Later wars between Hawaiian rulers led to more destruction there.  In the 1830s it became a penal colony but many prisoners starved or tried to swim across to Maui to find food.  Then it became a cattle ranch for a few years and finally suplet to the USArmy in 1941 where it was used for military training and bombing practice.  The bombing continued until 1990 even though in 1981 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.   In 1994 it was finally given over to the state of Hawaii who turned it into a reserve and are now trying to restore it.

It was our 3rd day here; time to hit the water!  I had picked up a great Snorkel Maui, Lanai and Molokai book from Walmart and scoured it to decide where we should go.  We decided to head up to Kapalua Bay.  The ride up to the northwest side of the island was interesting.  Even got to go through a tunnel.

I chose Kapalua Bay because it was listed as a perfect place for beginner snorkelers and has lots of sandy beach.  Carolyn had said she was going to try snorkeling so I chose accordingly.  She ended up just sitting on the beach reading, but the bay didn't disappoint the experienced snorkeler in me!  I will be going back here next Feb.!

Just to the left of the above picture was my first snorkeling discovery---this sea turtle very close to shore. 

I'm thinking this guy is a cigar fish. 

There were several varieties of triggerfish here!  Here's one I've never seen before.  I think it is a Gilded Triggerfish or possibly a filefish. 

I would guess this to be a blue-eye Damselfish.  Never seen one of these guys before, either.

These convict tangs seem to be popular on all the islands.  This school was right by the shore.

We found a little shady spot at the far left of the beach.  I took a break from snorkeling long enough to check on Carolyn.  The water was a very comfortable 78 degrees or so.

Then I headed out a 2nd time--heading back to the far right side of the beach which had much better snorkeling then the left side.  One of the first critters I saw this time was this red day octopus.

Another view of the octopus from the other side.  I hung around awhile hoping it would swim again, but it just did it's camouflage act.

So I was off to find more interesting sea life.  Here I found a Multiband Butterflyfish.

 

Here's another Kind of triggerfish I've never seen before.  I'm pretty sure this one is a Lei Triggerfish.

Although I've seen trumpetfish several places, not just around Hawaii, this one definately had some of the prettiest markings.

Another new species to me.  I'm guessing it would be another type of filefish?

 

Here's a little guy I saw for the first time last Feb. on Kauai and didn't know what it was.  My snorkel book says it's an Arc-eye Hawkfish.

I believe this is a whitemouth moray eel, but it didn't open it's mouth for me to know for sure.

And one last picture at Kapalua Beach as the sun dropped lower in the sky.

By 6 or so, we decided it was time to start heading back.   Even got treated to this tiny bit of a rainbow.  We didn't encounter any rain our whole trip (another big plus after always going to rainy Kauai in Feb./March!).  Figures, we go to Kauai when there's lots of rain and don't see many rainbows and go to Maui when there's no rain and see a rainbow!

We got into Kihei in time to head to the beach and wait for sunset.  This time we stopped at  Kamaole Beach Park I.

We noticed this outdoor roller rink by the park.  Made me want to relive my younger days and go skating.  But we just watched awhile then went and ate.

One last sunset picture from Kamaole Park I.

Another beautiful way to end the day.

2012-5-29--to Iao Valley and riding around S. Maui

 I was surprised to see all the sugar cane growing all over the island.  I had totally forgotten about that from my other trip to Maui with my Dad in 2006.  In addition to being Hawaii's only producer of raw and specialty sugar, today  Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company  generates enough electrical power to handle all its plantation needs and provide 7-8% of all the electric power used annually on Maui.  Probably would have been fun to tour the factory, but we didn't get around to it.  Maybe next Feb. when Ken and I return for a little over 2 weeks instead of our usual Kauai trip.
                              
 One of the places Dad and I did go to and I thought Carolyn would enjoy was the Ioa Valley.  Located in Central Maui just west of Wailuku. It is a 4,000-acre, 10-mile long park and is home to one of Maui's most recognizable landmarks, the 1,200-foot Iao Needle. The Needle overlooks Iao stream and the park has paths for easy hiking and sightseeing.  At least I thought the hiking was easy--Carolyn had a different opinion.

There were other parts of the park that I actually found more interesting then the "needle", such as this little garden.

 This is a view back toward the parking lot from about half way into our "hike".   I also don't remember there being a charge for parking before, but there was a young man there collecting $5/car.  Hope he wasn't just a clever entrepreneur!

 Aside from its natural tropical beautiful, sacred Iao Valley has great historical significance. It was here in 1790 at the Battle of Kepaniwai that King Kamehameha I clashed with Maui's army in his quest to unite the islands. Even with Iao Needle serving as a lookout point, Kamehameha defeated Maui's forces.

 More of the lush foliage.

     The Puʻu Kukui summit area at the valley's head receives an average 386 inches of rainfall per year, making it the state's second wettest location after Mount Waialeale on  Kauai. Much of this rainfall ends up flowing into the Iao Stream.

After wandering around Iao Valley for awhile, we headed back to the south side and drove down past Wailea to check out that area. 

At one spot, we even stopped and dragged out the beach chairs and watched the ocean for awhile. Not sure what the name of this "beach" is, but it was a quiet peaceful place.

 As we were driving around, we came across this cute little church in Kakena---Keawalai Congregational Church.  It was founded in 1832.  The land it's on was purchased in 1864 for $80.  In the 50's, the climate of the area changed from fertile lands to the parched land it is now (global warming back then?) so many of the congregation left for easier living.  Renovations began on the church in the 70's and continued little by little even today.  Hawaiian tradition and culture are carried on here by using Hawaiian language, music, and dance in it's services.

I have no idea what kind of tree this is next to the church, but I thought it's flowers are really unique.

As we continued south, we came to vast lava beds.  An interesting change of scenery that reminded me of the landscape of much of The Big Island.

Heading back towards Kihei, we stopped at a few more places.  Here I was intrigued by the 2 types of Cardinals hanging out together.

We also saw 2 little critters run across the street in front of us.  So I followed them to try and get a better view.  We decided they must be yellow mongooses.  Here one is keeping an eye on me from a distance before it took off into the brush.

I don't even remember where we stopped to catch this sunset, but it was one of the better ones we saw this trip.

Looks like one of the Kameoli Beaches

Just another view of the changing cloud colors of the sunset.Not a bad start to our trip!