Maui: A Day of Rest, Relaxation and Worship

Today was a day of rest, relaxation and worship as Sunday is supposed to be I guess. Danny and I enjoy visiting new churches when we travel. Today we attended the 8 a.m. worship today at the Lahaina Baptist Church here in Lahaina. Laurie had attended church here with her kids on a previous visit while Andy was involved in conference activities. Today they were having a bake sale to raise money for their mission team who were going to Korea to teach English using the Bible. They are currently searching for a pastor and announced that they have someone coming next March in view of a call. The previous pastor was actually from Monroe and now is the Associational Director. We all enjoyed the music and message very much.

Lahaina Baptist Church

Andy and Laurie dropped us off in town and they went back to the hotel for some beach time. Danny and I did some shopping in town and then had lunch at Longhi's. It was overpriced, in our opinion, but was very delicious.

a description of some of the fish varieties we ate in Maui

After lunch we stopped for ice cream at Lappart’s, a local ice cream shop, and finished our shopping.

fabulous Chocolate Macademia Nut ice cream at Lapperts!

this little guy was so cute while he took pictures with birds

We took the free shuttle back to the hotel and I joined Laurie on the beach. Danny and Andy went in search of a snorkeling spot but the water is still too murky to see well. They saw a few fish but that was about it. Laurie and I saw some turtles close to shore in the waves and a school of dolphins feeding. They had fish jumping out of the water!

We had dinner tonight at Kimo’s with Madelyn and Glen, friends of Andy and Laurie. They met them 10 years ago at the Maui Prince where Madelyn was working behind the desk. She saw that they were attorneys and mentioned that her husband was an attorney and they all hit it off and have been friends ever since! Madelyn is the one who made us our beautiful lei’s that we have worn at most of our evenings out. She works at a florist part time and at Glen’s office part time.

Kimo's for dinner

the famous Hula Pie!

Our dinner was delicious and Andy enjoyed his Hula Pie which he had looked forward to and the restaurant is famous for. Hula Pie is made with Kimo’s favorite macadamia nut ice cream (Lappart’s) piled high on a chocolate cookie crust and topped with chocolate fudge, whipped cream, and more macadamia nuts. You can buy Kimo Pie at other restaurants, but this is where the original started. Tomorrow we will brave the winding and twisty road to Hana. Until tomorrow….

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…

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…..