Maui: Scenic Views, Hairpins Turns and Banana Bread

We woke this morning to overcast skies and rain! We ate breakfast at the hotel and decided to drive up the west coast of Maui and hope we could dodge rain showers. Our first stop was to the Dragon’s Teeth at Kapalua. This is a strange lava formation that the wind and sea has shaped into sharp points all along it’s edge.

Dragon's Teeth at Kapalua

We were also excited to see Sea Turtles swimming down along the edge of the formation apparently to eat algae or barnacles. They are huge and graceful in the water. It was funny to see the big waves sweep and tumble them and then to see them swim right back to their task.

we were so surprised to see the sea turtles along the cliff edge

The next stop was Slaughterhouse beach which we accessed by walking down a long staircase of concrete steps.

Slaughterhouse Beach

Slaughterhouse Beach

a little school art on this trash can

Just past this beach was another turnout for Honolua Bay. This has the reputation for being an excellent snorkeling spot but today the wind was too brisk and the surf too rough. We accessed this beach by walking through a beautiful jungle of trees and vines while walking along a path. We saw a rooster and a hen also along this path as we neared the water’s edge.

Honolua Bay

Honolua Bay

Don't take the benches!

As we drove on, we stopped for a view of Punalau Beach and the coastline but we didn’t go down to the beach.

Punalau Beach

Punalau Beach

Our last scenic stop was to Nakalele Blowhole. This is a lava shelf that the surf has pounded underneath and made a man sized hole. The surf shoots up through the hole and at times shooting 70 feet into the air. It wasn’t very active today and certainly wasn’t shooting very high in the air. We did a lot of climbing over rocks and boulders to get down to it. We also found a “heart shaped” hole in a nearby rock wall which was a perfect surprise for Valentines Day.

Blowhole

What a fun Valentine's Day find!

Nakalele Blowhole

Nakalele Blowhole

Nakalele Blowhole

Leaving the blowhole, we drove along to see the view of a “mushroom shaped rock” and a beautiful shoreline.

We decided to skip trying to see the Olivine Pools as the rain had really started to come down. Instead we drove on through a series of hairpin turns and one lane road. We drove into a tiny town called Kahakuloa and stopped at Julia’s little shack for some delicious banana bread, coconut candy, and nut clusters. She let us taste everything but the banana bread before we bought it. There were other stands selling banana bread but we had been told that Julia’s was the best and it truly was delicious!

Julia's Banana Bread in the town of Kahakuloa

Delicious Toasted Coconut Candy on the left and Nut clusters on the right (Andy's favorite)

We had rain on us for most of our drive back to the hotel and there were plenty of hairpin turns left before we drove through Waiehu and on to Lahaina. It is Valentines Day and we had planned to go to the Old Lahaina Luau this evening but it was cancelled because of the wind and rain. We called every restaurant we could think of to get a reservation for dinner and all were booked. Our hotel thankfully had a table for us this evening and our meal was good. Danny and I enjoyed dessert the most!

a sweet treat from the hotel on Valentines Day. I'm not exactly sure why they only left one cookie when there were two of us.

Liliko'i Cheesecake to end the day...absolutely delicious!

 Tomorrow is Sunday and we will start it with worship at a local church. Until tomorrow…