Last Day

Well the sad day had to arrive sometime...its travel day. We packed up and tidied up the condo and got on the road. We didn't fly out of Maui until midnight so had a long day of driving ahead of us.  We decided that Iao Valley would be first stop.  Once again at noon on a Friday the traffic crawled between Lahaina and the turn off to Kihei but we got through it and made it to the valley.  Very pretty and peaceful

After some time wandering the paths we headed south.  Drove all the way to La Perouse Bay ...driving through the lava fields reminded us of the drive north from the Kona airport on the big island...desolate but still beautiful.  La Perouse Bay feels like the tip of the world

After that we stopped at Big Beach.  They've got lifeguard stations there now which was a new addition from our trip several years ago.  It's a beautiul beach that every visitor to Maui should see

We fought the traffic into Paia where we bought a couple of last minute souvenirs.   We were going to eat there but all the restaurants were just too busy so we headed into Kahului. We had dinner at a ramen house in the Maui Mall which was really good then we gassed up and returned the car to Enterprise and headed to the airport. Security lines were long but very efficient.  Flight to Portland was smooth and we slept the whole way.  We caught our connecting flight to Seattle where we are right now waiting for the last leg of our trip home. All in all a fantastic Maui vacation!  Aloha!

Day 9

Thursday dawned with blue skies and sunshine so definitely was going to be a beach day.  We decided first to go to Napili Bay.  We were able to snag the last space on the road by Napili Shores...only 9:30 and you could tell that everyone was anxious to get back out and enjoy some sunshine. It was very busy. I have to say it's certainly a gorgeous beach

We claimed a patch of sand near the seahouse and started snorkelling...clarity wasn't very good so gave up after a bit.  We headed back to the car and decided to head north up the coast.   We stopped at the look out over Honolua Bay and watched the surfers for a while                                                                                                          

You can't see them very well in the pictures but we counted 58 surfers!

 We stopped at the carvers stand near the entrance to the path down to the bay where we found a Honu carving we really liked....it was a little too pricey for us and would have been tricky getting home so we passed. He had some lovely pieces though.  Our next stop was Molule'ia Bay (Slaughterhouse Beach).  Another beautiful spot.

We stopped again at a spot ooverlooking D.T.Fleming beach park where someone was nice enough to offer to take our picture

We then headed home to spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sunshine from our little beach and the lanai.  We watched Honu and whales and just soaked up our last full day.  We have really enjoyed the Kuleana and will definitely recommend it as a lovely quiet place to stay...time to start packing as tonight we fly out at midnight.  Don't know where the road will take us yet....maybe upcountry maybe Haleakala...I'll sign off today with a final peek at the view from our lanai....

Day 7 and 8

I decided to combine day 7 and 8 as both days involved one of our favorite things to do as a couple...golfing. I had a tee time booked at Royal Kannapali on Tuesday for 110 each through golfnow.com.  This was prepaid to get that price and non refundable.  Needless to say the weather on Tuesday was a bit daunting lol.  Pouring rain and windy.  If you watched any of last year's Hyundai Classic in Kapalua it was very similar.  Oh well we were going to make the best of it...we wouldn't be able to play golf if we were home and at least the course wouldn't be crowded lol.  It truly is a beautiul course with a very nice clubhouse.  We always try to buy some kind of souvenir from courses we play on vacation and this time it was magnetic ball markers that clip to your hat.  Kelly took my camera into the locker room to take a couple of pictures of player's lockers for me lol.

They loaded our cart with extra towels and away we went.  Boy I've never been wetter playing golf but on the other hand I've been colder.   Because of the weather we hardly saw another golfer on the course and it was like having the whole course to ourselves.  The one and only thing I truly hate about golf is being pushed by people behind me.  Yes I understand about keeping the pace up and we make sure not to dawdle but in the end we all paid a lot of money for a round and let's face it...the majority of us are not pga quality. Anyway mini rant over...despite the rain and wind we truly did have an awesome outing. The pictures I took don't truly flatter the course because of the weather but I'll post them just the same.

After getting back to the condo, wringing ourselves out and getting some dry clothes we decide to go out for dinner.  I really wanted to try Star Noodle but there was going to be an hour wait for a table so we decide on Bubba Gumps which I know sounds a bit corny but is a favorite of mine. After food and a couple of drinks I can feel muscles stiffening up and I could probably lay my head on the bar and go right to sleep so we head for home, but not before picking up this little gem of a sign in the gift shop.

Wednesday morning's tee time is at the Elleair at 6:52 am so off we go bright and early.  We stop at Starbucks in The Cannery Mall and Kelly had a funny experience.....it's raining so he let me off at the curb to run in while he waited in the car...the police came up to him while I was inside and told him the parking lot was for waiting and to move....I wish they'd do that at Walmart in Kelowna lol.  Back on the road and it's still raining plus we see lightening and hear thunder so we're thinking oh boy here we go again.  But by the time we get to the course its just a little misty.  We're paired today with a couple of members who are really nice.  Time to tee off and it's barely getting light but away we go.  You can just see your ball resting on your tee...good thing we hit straight up the middle and didn't have to search for the ball.  Third hole in and one of the guys hits a hole in one...wow its pretty cool to see that happen. It rained a little off and on but was still a great morning.  The one guy told us that he hadn't seen weather like this in 14 years but were pretty happy because there has been such a draught and they really need the rain.  All in all a nice course and really reasonable prices.  We booked it for 79 dollars each through golfnow.com.

Golf done so head home for the afternoon...the ocean actually looks pretty calm along the way so we have hopes of snorkelling at the beach in front of the condo and finding some turtles but alas, once again the ocean is against us lol...it is very murky from all the rain so we will not be entering the water. I've tried to show how murky it is in these couple of pictures

We did have a pleasant afternoon just hanging out catching some sun when it peeked out from behind the clouds and swimming in the pool.
 I was able to get a nice picture of the view from our lanai... this has been a great spot to sit and we've been able to watch lots of whales.

There is always a bright side to something and the bright side to rain is...rainbows!!

We had a beautiful sunset this night as well...

Another wonderful couple of days on vacation.  I've been writing this this morning on the lanai enjoying my coffee and snapped this picture

We're back to blue skies and sunshine so we're grabbing our snorkel gear and heading to the beach!

Day 6

We woke up to wind and rain this morning.  I still walked down to the water to watch the surf and look for whales and turtles.  Nothing this early except for these guys...

Two of them were on SUP's and one on a surfboard.  We can watch locals playing in the waves for hours, it's so entertaining and it has been a silver lining to this somewhat stomy weather. Over coffee we decide that today we'd go to The Ocean Center and even though we had decided not to rent golf clubs in Kihei because of the traffic, we might as well go there now too seeing as we would be in the area and because Wednesday's tee time was at the Elleair, returning would be easy.   Off we head to Maalaea and the Ocean Center....there was a slight hiccup to our plan though...EVERYONE on Maui had the same idea...

It took about 5 seconds for us to decide that there was nothing on earth that could induce us to be shoulder to shoulder inside with that mob.  We continue on to Kihei to the Maui Golf Shop in Longs center and pick out clubs.  59 dollars each and we have them until Wednesday afternoon.  Thats a  substantial savings over renting them at the courses. We drive to Elleair just to make sure we know where we going as our tee time is 6:52 am on Wednesday.  By this time it's time for some lunch...and I have been on Maui for a week and still haven't had a fish taco.  Coconuts it is...soooo good...seafood chowder and fish tacos... what could be better?  I'm all for driving into Wailea but Kelly's back is getting sore again so we head back to the condo.  Spent the afternoon on the Lanai watching whales and reading.  Had dinner in again and relaxed with bloody marys and The Following on tv. As I'm finishing writing this it's gotten fully light outside and I see patches of blue sky peeking through the clouds...golf in four hours!

Day 5

Day 5 dawned nice and early again...finished my blog entry and wandered down to the water with my coffee....the waves aren't quite as high as they have been so we decide to go Kapalua Bay and try some snorkelling.  We got there around 9 am and lots of parking still available. What a beautiful beach...

The water was a bit rough which made entry quite comical and I had some issues getting my mask to seal because of all my hair but eventually managed to start snorkeling.  After getting out far enough to see it wasn't too bad.  Visibility wasn't the greatest and you really had to pay attention that you weren't washed into the rocks but I saw lots of fish and wsd happy to have finally snorkelled.  After getting out of the water we put away the beach gear in the car and go for a walk along the Kapalua Coastal Trail...I decided that if I ever win lotto 649 I'm buying a place in The Residences at Kapalua lol.  Views from the trail were beautiful. We watched whales playing and just enjoyed the view.

We only walked as far as The Bay Villas because Kelly's back started acting up.  We figured he pinched something sleeping in that awful bed and the swimming motion made it worse. Headed back to the condo had a light lunch and parked myself on the sand with my book and watched the waves.  Kept a look out for whales and turtles but nothing today.  Kelly's back wasn't getting better so we walked into Honokawai to try and find a drugstore.  The walk was nice but the clouds we'd been watching finally hit shore halfway through our walk.  Boy we got wet lol but that's ok because its still warm.  Dinner tonight was fresh monchong from The Fish Market marinated in their ginger soy marinade and sauteed in a little olive oil and asparugus broiled with onions, chopped pineapple, and a tiny sprinkling of raw Hawaiian sugar.  After dinner we settled in to watch the grammys which is the only "awards" show I watch every year.  My favorite performances this year were Willie Nelson with Kris Kristofferson, Merle Haggard and Blake Shelton, Robin Thicke with Chicago and Metallica performing One (my favorite Metallica song) with Yang Yang.  All in all another great Maui Day.  Hoping that day 6 brings the sun back and Kelly's back ferling better!