West Maui - Christmas Eve through New Year's Eve

After our adventures in Central and East Maui, we finished up the trip at The Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort where we had a one bedroom villa with full kitchen and a view of the pool, ocean and Molokai island from the balcony.

On Christmas Eve, we had Captain Steve's Deluxe Dolphin Lanai Snorkel scheduled from 7am - 2 pm.  We left from Mala Boat Ramp on our way to snorkel off the island of Lanai.  It's very common for spinner dolphins to swim between West Maui and Lanai, but we only saw one small pod swimming off the side of our boat.    We did see many whales - also common in the area between Maui, Lanai and Molokai.   The big excitement was seeing a group of whales all pursuing a female.  I can't remember what our guide called this show off battle, but there was a lot of splashing happening.   Once we got to the coast of Lanai, we anchored in two different areas for some calm snorkeling.   I was reminded that I like deep water snorkeling (like this), since I don't have to worry about my body getting too close to coral or the sea urchins attached to it.  I was also thrilled with William's growth since our last Hawaii snorkel three years ago.   Being a stronger and more confident swimmer made it a lot easier on mom!  And it was a treat to have a snorkel buddy.  John isn't a snorkel buddy....he just swims off and ditches the group.   William and I had the same speed and risk level!   

On the way back to the resort we saw this amazing horizontal rainbow!  It was the brightest, biggest rainbow I've ever seen.  I took a lot of pictures of it out the window as we were driving.  I believe this is a golf course fairway.

Of course we had to wear our matching pajamas for Christmas!  We had Disney pajama pants like always, but I ordered pineapple Christmas tree shirts from Etsy.   We started Christmas Day with pancakes made by William and a POG mimosa for me!   Our Christmas evening meal was pre-ordered for pickup from a local restaurant (prime rib, garlic truffle mashed potatoes, creamed corn, Hawaiian rolls and red velvet cupcakes).   Before dinner we had cocktails - Williams' POG Powerade and the adults' Old Fashioneds.  We were pleased to find a tasty pre-mixed cocktail at Safeway.

Starting the days after Christmas, it was a mix of work projects and beach/pool time.  On the 28th, I knew I'd be busy the entire day with work, so John and William booked a fishing trip.   I treated myself to a Starbucks when I dropped them off at the boat launch.   And I moved my home office from the kitchen table to the balcony!   When I picked the guys up they let me know I needed to drive straight home!  There was fresh fish in the backpack that needed to get on ice while we planned out dinner.  I forgot to take any photos of the fish the night we made/ate it, so the below is the leftovers.  We had about twice that much before!  I'm not a big fish fan, but this was quite good.   Mild like swordfish.     

One day, William and I spent the morning together with brunch and mini golf at the hotel.  We mostly ate meals in our villa, but did enjoy several poolside burgers and fries and one afternoon walked to the resort next door to get our only shaved ice of the trip.  We lamented how it was a huge missed business opportunity for there not to be poolside shaved ice at our hotel's pool!

We did a few more beach adventures from the hotel - renting snorkels for the week and stand up paddleboards for a day.    Due to winter weather, the surf was pretty rough and made both the snorkeling and the SUP challenging.  But both were on our wish list, and we are glad to have done it.  No pictures since I don't have a water resistant camera or one of those cases for my iphone.   We flew home early on New Year's Eve morning and got home early on New Year's Day.    It was about 20 degrees when we got home, and the snow started later that day.    

Wai'anapanapa State Park (Black Sand Beach)

One of my very favorite parts of the trip was the last thing we did in East Maui before retracing our route on the road to Hana back to Central Maui:  our reservation at Wai'anapanapa State Park, which is an amazing black sand beach, gorgeous cliffs, caves and a blowhole.   You do have to reserve a fixed time to go here.  We had a 7-10 am slot while the sun was rising.   We could arrive anytime but had to leave by 10 am.   Since we were packing up from our Hana VRBO, we didn't get there until closer to 7:30 but it was still pretty quiet until 8.  A lot of these pictures are similar, but I loved each of them!   

The black sand was mostly black pebbles.   Along the water's edge they were very soft and smooth and I loved getting my feet buried and rinsed, buried and rinsed.   Away from the pounding water, the rocks are larger and sharper, so had to go back and forth with my Keens.   From the parking lot, you walk down a boardwalk/steps to the beach/cove.   To the left of the beach you can hike back up to the cliff and overlook.    To the right of the beach you can explore the caves.   On top the caves is the blowhole.   We got drenched by it and laughed and laughed!   Then I was able to get a photo of it from the opposite cliff side.   This was just a magical place!

William found this scrap of wood or reeds that looked like a shovel and did a lot of digging in the sand and surf!  

Hiking up to the cliff area and viewing the blowhole from across the bay instead of next to it.

Haleakala Coastal

 We spent two nights in Hana at a lovely Vrbo that had plenty of space for us to stretch out, laundry to wash some of our dirty hiking clothes, and a couch to snuggle while we started our week of family Christmas movies.    Hana is usually a quiet, rural town.  There were cows (soon to be Maui beef!) grazing in the pasture across the street from our house!  Add to that winter and COVID, and it felt nearly deserted.  There were no real restaurants or shops in town, but there is a food truck scene.   We ate two dinners and one lunch there - luckily discovering the good Thai food truck after the first night's bad taco truck.   (Who has ever had to throw away a plate of tacos because they didn't taste good?!  Who knew that was even possible?!)

The afternoon we arrived was overcast, but we briefly went to Hamoa Beach.   If we had been there in the summer, we would have set up our chairs and stayed all day!  It was beautiful and calm.    Instead, William waded in wearing pants, sneakers and socks, since he had not heeded my advice about Keens for the day's roadtrip.   

Our full day there was to continue beyond Hana to the coastal entrance of Haleakala.   The road was just as/more twisty and windy with rock slides and wet roads thanks to all the rain.   The parking lot was a giant pool of mud, as well!  I wonder how easy that was to get off the rental car when we returned it.....Since we had waited out the rain before lunch and driving, we only had about 2.5-3 hours in the park before it closed.   Luckily this hike was much easier than the summit hike!   We did the Pipiwai Trail which is a 4 mile roundtrip to a waterfall , bamboo forest, and then more/bigger waterfall (Waimoku Falls is the biggest)!   It was absolutely astounding.  It has been raining, so the falls were full.  There was also running water on some parts of the trail.  And others were muddy messes.  But we had our waterproof hiking boots so were much better equipped than those wearing sneakers that got soaked or flip flops that got slippery.

After we finished the Pipiwai Trail, we did the short Kuloa Trail to the Oheo Gulch/Pools.   Those cascade down into the ocean.   At some point swimming was allowed in the pools.  Not sure if COVID is also a reason it isn't currently, or if it's just the rain.   But they were closed - and justifiably so - when we were there.

As we returned to Hana after our adventures we were greeted with this rainbow!  We'd made it to the end of the earth and back!