Maui

Kahului
February 12, 2005 - Our flight landed on Maui island Kahului airport at 11:30 pm. We spent the first night in a hotel near the airport. January, February is the peak season in Hawaii since it is winter almost everywhere else in the US at that time. While it is snowing in New York & Chicago it is sunny and 75-80 F (24-27°C) in Hawaii.

Kihei
February 13, 2005 - The second day we moved to a one bedroom in the condo complex Kamaole Sands in Kihei. It is across the street from Kamaole Beach Park 3, a very nice yellow sand beach.

Taylan immediately checked if we had the Sci-fi cable channel in the condo (we did!) which is more important than the toilet and the shower in the room for him...
South Kihei, Wailea are some of the best places to spend the vacation in the island in the winter time. The north side of the island is quite windy so that most of the resorts, hotels and facilities are built in the south side of the island which has calm waters compared to the North.

Maluaka Beach
February 14, 2005 - We called this beautiful beach “The wedding beach”. There were three newly-wed couples in their bridal gowns and tuxedos with some formally dressed friends and photographers on the beach when we went there on Monday evening. It seems to be a popular spot for weddings.

Makena - Big Beach/Little Beach
February 14, 2005 – Big Beach (officially “Oneloa Beach”) is one of the most beautiful beaches we have seen. All yellow sand, nice surroundings, no buildings on or beside the beach… Apparently it was only one beach initially, but a lava flow divided the beach into two parts that are now called “Big Beach” and “Little Beach” (Tiny looking beach in the left in the picture).

Natural protection area beyond Big Beach in Makena

Molokini & Turtel Town
February 15, 2005. We attended a snorkeling tour in the Molokini crater. Molokini is a volcano crater that is partially under the sea level which makes it one of the most beautiful snorkeling and scuba diving locations in the world.

Corals, fish and shark in Molokini

The tour left at 6.30 am. We saw some whales on the way to Molokini, breaching and splashing some water. The boat reached the island around 8.00 am. People are not allowed to walk on the island since it is a bird sanctuary. The underwater scene looks great in the Molokini crater…Unfortunately I can not say the same for over the water since there were more people than fish in the sea when we went there.. All kinds of fish, sharks and other sea creatures are the owners and regular visitors of this beautiful island. We went to see “Turtle Town” after Molokini crater. Turtle town is in front of Maluaka Beach and turtles come in here for cleaning.

There are small fish which clean the turtles by eating off the algae, etc. from their shell. We saw some turtles and took some pictures. But I guess the turtles get totally fed up with the number of people staring at them so they were coming to the surface for taking a deep breath and then going back to the bottom.

Kaanapali
We went to Kaanapali Marriott to attend a Luau. Dancers performed the hula dance, Tahiti and other Polynesian dances. Although the dances were local/Polynesian almost none of the dancers were locals but definitely some beautiful ladies and some strong but fat guys!!!

Here we also learned how the locals originally used to open coconuts with a stick. The coconut has another thick cover other than the hard shell around it. They poke a hole in the outer shell by thrusting the coconut on a sharp stick and then peel off the shell around it. Kaanapali beach beside the hotel was great. The palm trees on the beach in the sunset were one of the scenes that we will not forget for a long time.

Lahaina
On the way back to our hotel we stopped in Lahaina, an old whaling village. Now it is a small tourist town with a lot of luxury shopping places. We were fascinated by the Banyan Tree (Ficus Benghalensis) that we saw there. They claim it is the second biggest Banyan tree in the world with more than 100 feet of diameter. Banyan trees have aerial roots/shoots hanging down from all branches. These thicken into additional trunks once they touch soil. This Banyan Tree was first planted in April, 1873. It is now over 60 feet high, has 12 major trunks and a huge core. It stretches over a 200-foot diameter area.

Next page - The road to Hana