Maui: Black Sand Beach and Sunset

Today was a day of rest and relaxation! Danny and I did not set an alarm and slept soundly until about 8 this morning. We ate breakfast in the hotel and went out to the beach. The Bristers also came out to the beach after a lazy morning.

morning on our beach

Ukelele lessons provided by the hotel

We met back together in the lobby later in the morning to go out for the day to explore another area of the Island. We ate lunch at Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie shop on the way and it was delicious!! Andy said he and Laurie had driven by the place many times and never once thought to stop. The pie was my favorite part!!

wonderful lunch spot!

Pie at Leoda's. All of them were delicious!

After lunch we drove down the coast to the Makena, Wailea, Kihei area to see where Andy and Laurie had stayed on their first trip to Maui. We were also hoping to find a portion of beach with calmer water to do some snorkeling. The waves have been really strong which we are told is unusual for this time of year. We have been so surprised to see so many whale breaches even just driving down the road. We also saw a whale slapping his tail on the water over and over again. There was a boat nearby the whale that was getting quite a show!

driving along sugar cane fields

Parasurfing

We found a public beach that Andy and Laurie thought was the black sand beach but turned out to just be a regular beach. Andy went exploring to see if he could find calmer water and instead discovered a secluded nude beach! Danny asked a lifeguard where to find the black sand and maybe calmer water. We found the black sand beach and that is where we spent the remainder of our day, our toes in the sand. Danny and Andy tried to snorkel but said the visibility was too bad because the water was still rough. We stayed on the beach to watch the sunset and then left to change our clothes and go to dinner.

coral everywhere on the Black Sand beach

the surf was too rough for snorkeling

enjoying the Black Sand beach

not just black but other colors as well in the sand

i really enjoyed walking around the tide pools

we found sea urchins and hermit crabs living in the tide pools

Danny, Andy and Laurie set off to explore

sunset at the Black Sand beach

Before dinner, my companions indulged me to help me find an artisan chocolate shop, Sweet Paradise Chocolates that was nearby. The chocolates were delicious!! We ate dinner at 808 Bistro in Kihei and either we were really hungry or our dinner was really good because we all cleaned our plates.

Sweet Paradise Chocolates

An assortment for later

Also had to have some to eat right away!

We are back in the hotel now with the sunscreen showered off, listening to the waves pound the beach below and ready to enjoy another good night’s sleep. Rain is expected for tomorrow but we plan to just wake up and see where the weather takes us. Until then…..

Maui: A day on Oahu

Our second day here on Maui was actually spent on the Island of Oahu. We wanted to see Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial and I had read on the internet that there are a limited number of tickets (2000) distributed every day. Pearl Harbor is on the Island of Oahu. After reading several different ways to visit Pearl Harbor, we decided that we were better off just doing our own thing and making our own agenda so we booked a flight on Hawaiian Airlines over to Honolulu on the Island of Oahu and rented a car. I knew we had to arrive when the Memorial opened to have the best chance of securing a ticket. Unfortunately for us this meant departing from Maui by air around 6 in the morning. This means you have to be at the airport by 5 and the airport is about 45 minutes away from our hotel which means we had a really really early morning this morning!

taking Hawaiian Airlines to Oahu for the day

We were glad that we arrived early and secured our tickets as another couple told Andy that they had been there at Christmas and the tickets were gone really quickly so they had to come back. The person handing out the tickets (which are free) is required to place them in the hand of the person who will use it. This way a big tour bus cannot just collect a bunch to take back to the bus. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for our tour to start.

the outskirts of Honolulu

We were taken into a theater and watched a short but really good film about the attack on Pearl Harbor. We then boarded a boat and were driven out to the memorial.

taking a boat out to the Arizona Memorial

The memorial structure sits directly on top of the sunken USS Arizona. Some parts of the ship sit above the waterline but most of it is below the water. The USS Arizona still holds the bodies of the men that went down with their ship. It was a very sobering thing to see and I was pleased that the crowd there honored the request to speak quietly and reverently while in the memorial building.

U.S.S. Arizona Memorial

There is a wall at the back of the memorial that lists the names of those killed as well as the survivors that later died and were interned with their shipmates. Divers carry their remains down in urns and place them in the ship.

remains beneath the surface

After our visit, we hopped in the rental car and went looking for some brunch. We ended up eating lunch at Whole Foods, an organic grocery store located at the local mall. We drove along the coast under bluebird skies dotted with fluffy white clouds headed north and stopped at overlooks and walked down onto beaches.

Andy, Danny and Laurie stepping out to get a closer look

Laurie

Enjoying the sunshine

Every beach was different and the further north we went, the harder the surf pounded and the waves got bigger and bigger. We saw a few surfers out braving the waves and passed by a surf competition that was causing a traffic jam.

We drove until late afternoon when we needed to return to the airport and catch our flight back to Maui. The flight is actually less than a half an hour and we arrived back near our hotel in time for dinner at Lulu’s, a local bar and grill. The food was good but we were too tired to even consider dessert. We are back at the hotel considering our plans for tomorrow and ready to go to bed a little early. Until tomorrow….