Feb. 20, 2013: Honolua snorkeling---

 Woke up early again (for me!)---7 am, so I thought it would be a good day to head up to the west side.  My goal was to snorkel Honolua Bay.    There weren't any surf advisories for that side of the island, but high winds were still blowing!  The winds started before we got to Maui and haven't stopped.  Gusts of 50m/h, but it seems like it was gusting the whole day! But snorkeling at Honolua turned out to be quite good!  Here was our first view of the bay from the overlook above.

 I had read about the dirt path and the locked gate, so this didn't phase us.

 I did not read about a river we'd have to cross, but we forged away!

Almost immediately upon entering the bay, I came across a school of these guys.  I had never seen them before.  I guess they are a goat fish, with a pretty striped tail. (Bandtail goatfish)

 If memory serves me correctly, this is a pearl wrasse?

 A lei triggerfish.

 An ornate butterfly fish

 something like an oval butterfly fish?

The largest trumpet fish I've ever seen!

 The largest coral head I've ever seen!  And there were a bunch of them out there!  I stayed to the right of the bay, but looks like the left side has good coral, too.  Wish I could have stayed out longer!  But there were lots of areas of fresh water entering into the bay and that water was COLD.   Those areas of fresh water and salt water also made temporary blurry areas.

 Gold ring surgeonfish?

Belted wrasse. 

 Puffer?

 blue striped snapper and long nosed butterfly fish?

After sitting around gazing at the beautiful bay for awhile, we headed back up the trail.  The short walk was really beautiful.  Here's just one part of it right before crossing over the river again.

 Love this tree in the middle of the rain forest.

 Back by the car, there were a bunch of these interesting Dr. Suess looking plants!

We continued past Honolua and checked out more of the west side, starting with this overview of Honolua Bay showing off the coral heads I was snorkeling around (the bottom right of the picture).

 Saw these interesting flowers near the overview, too.

 The rugged coastline was beautiful.  Reminded me a lot of the Oregon coast.

 Another gorgeous view.

 We made it to our turnaround place---the blow hole.  I'm always amazed that people have to be "reminded" of dangers!

This was as close as I got to the blow hole, but there were plenty of people looking for the WaterPark.  There was also a couple talking right behind me about how they never take pictures of scenery and don't see the point.  If they take any pictures, it's got to be of people they know.  I can't imagine not taking pictures!

 Heading back now, marveling at the red cliffs and the blue water.

 Honolua deserved another picture.  I was so happy I was able to go there in the winter!

We tried to go snorkel at Kapalua Bay, but after driving around waiting for a parking spot for quite awhile, I got out to take some pictures, then we continued on.  We will be back! 

 By now it was time for lunch/dinner.  I had been to the Maui Brewing Company with my Dad years ago and looked forward to going again.  So that's where we went.

Nachos and fish and chips (and Bikini Blonde beer for me).  Yumm!!!

Then we tried to go to Kaanapali Beach, but could only find one of the parking lots and it was, of course, full.  So rather disgustedly I consented to heading back to our side of the island.  I did enjoy the views along the way!

 Even got cheered up by this rainbow!

 The ever changing views as we drove along are mesmerizing!

We even drove through the marina and found this whale interesting.  I'll have to admit I've been a bit disappointed in the whale sightings so far. Seen a few spouts, but no breeching.

 We ended up at Wailea Grand for sunset.  As we headed to the beach I found these plants interesting.  The flowers looked like stephanotis (sp), but  I have no idea what these pods are.

 The beach was pretty.

 There was even a couple getting wedding pictures taken, so I took one, too.  Note the whale spouting in the background!

Not your typical sunset picture.

OK, more typical.

 Even saw the "green flash"!

 Another pretty flower as we headed back to the car.

After a dip in the pool and jacuzzi, it was back to the room.  Edit through the pictures, and back to McDonald's.  My excuse is to upload these pictures, but they make a pretty good hot fudge sundae, too!

Feb. 19, 2013:  Makena Landing snorkeling--

Figuring we would be awake early, we agreed to do the "owner update" at 7:30 am in exchange for a $100 certificate for an excursion.  That went quickly and easily --- 45 minutes and we were out of there.   Considering it was in the unit below ours, it was quick and easy to get to also!

Their excursion presentation was starting soon after we finished the update, so we listened to it, too.  Turned out to be a good thing---we won the buy one, get one free coupon to the luau at the Hyatt.  So we used the $100 certificate from the update to buy the other one.  Free luau for us!!!  So next Monday we're off to a luau.

Just a few pictures of our 2 bedroom/2 bath condo at Worldmark Kihei.  Looks like they refreshed the rooms with new furniture, bedding and pictures.  Looks great.

a few pictures put together in a rough pan:  Here I was standing by the lanai door.

another rough pan from the middle of the room looking left towards the sliding doors to the lanai and around to the front door at the right: master bedroom to the right of the sliding lanai door, kitchen in the middle, 2nd bedroom to the left of front door, 2nd bathroom left of 2nd bedroom.  

Feb. 18, 2013----STL-DFW-OGG, the long travel day!

The much anticipated, and dreaded, day finally arrived.  Our marathon flights began at 7:30 am, 3:30 Hawaii time.  All started ok---we made it from STL - DFW on time and looked like we'd leave there on time, too.  But, of course, that wasn't going to happen!  After teasing us with a plane at the gate and announcing boarding soon, they decided to check out the plane and found mechanical  problems.  For some reason, they think the brakes should not have a hydraulic leak.  So they ended up pulling the plane and sending us to another gate.  3 hours late (resulting in about 5 hours layover instead of 2), we were finally on our 8 1/2 hour non-stop flight to Maui.

At least the views from the plane were somewhat interesting.

We were suppose to see sunset from Kihei, but ended up seeing it from the air while we were on our appoach into OGG.

Picked up our Budget rental car (a new Ford Escape) and headed straight to our resort---Worldmark Kihei.  I reserved a 2 bedroom twin/no view unit since I had to waitlist the first 8 or so nights and those are the configured rooms that WM Kihei has the most of.  The waitlisted days started filling in 4-6 weeks before our trip even though I started the waitlist 13 months out when I booked the last 9 days.  About a month before our trip, I got all the days and was able to combine them into one reservation for the whole trip.  Yea!---we didn't have to change rooms and only ended up having to pay one housekeeping fee!  About 6 months before our trip, some friends decided to join us for part of the trip.  Won't they be surprised when they end up in twin beds when they arrive next Wed.?!  Anyway, we checked in, unpacked, then headed out for food---Safeway, too tired to go to a restaurant.

2012 Maui Sisters' trip:

May 28-June 4, 2012:

When my sister suggested we take another sister's trip, I immediately thought of where we should go----Maui!  I had Hawaiian airlines miles which were about to expire and  I had lots of Wyndham points left over after getting our Kauai weeks this past Feb. for half off.   So I called Wyndham and had them place a Wyndham week into Trading Places for me in exchange for a 2 bedroom condo in Maui from May 28 - June 4th.   All I had to do was pay for my flights to/from STL-PDX. 
The day finally came and I was on my way to PDX.  My sister, Carolyn, picked me up and we headed back to Dallas, Oregon, for a couple days.  Then we spent the night before our Maui flight in a hotel by the airport.  On the 28th (Memorial Day), we were on our way bright and early (to me!) to catch our 10:30 flight to OGG.  Since Ken and I usually travel to Hawaii from STL all in one day with a couple stops and long layovers, this travel day seemed to go fairly quickly.  Only long part was the 2 1/2 hour layover in Honolulu.  Originally we were suppose to fly non-stop to Maui---one of the big reasons why we picked Maui over Kauai, but Hawaiian decided to eliminate that flight and keep an extra 8000 of my miles that I used to book the non-stop instead of a connector flight---I was not too happy about that, but Hawaiian was!  The only good things about it were the views of Honolulu and Maui county as we flew over them.

2012-5-28 PDX-HNL-OGG and Maui Hill Resort:

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

 2012-5-30  Kapalua:

2012-5-31  to the up country:

2012-6-1  Ulua beach and Lahaina:

2012-6-2  Molokini and sunset at Kameoli:

2012-6-3 Maluaka beach and sunset cruise:

2012-6-4 time to go home:

 It was a great trip.  Possibly the best "sisters'" trip we've done yet!  Wonder where our next sisters' trip will be?!