Ron

A one way bridge over a waterfall along the Hana Highway, Maui, Hawaii.

The road to Hana has got to be one of the more spectacular drives anywhere!  It is a narrow winding road with over 600 curves (I guess someone counted) and 59 bridges of which 46 are one way.  There are even some stretches of road that are so narrow they are effectively one way.  And if that wasn’t interesting enough – it travels through spectacular tropical rainforest, along the rugged coast crossing over endless streams and waterfalls – the one pictured above it just one of many!  There is a photo opportunity around every curve, everywhere you look!

If you are to drive this road, and you should, bring your patience.  The road is the destination so enjoy it.  There is a good chance it will be wet and raining.  Couple that with the narrowness, locals in a hurry and tourist who aren’t and you have a dangerous combination.  In fact the morning we drove the Hana Hwy. we came across two head on accidents – and we were there during a slow time of year early in the morning.  But, it definitely is worth it!  And, you can continue on around the island past Hana, and except for a rough 10 mile stretch, the remaining road as you circle the Southern part of the island is some of the nicest on Maui, so the return drive is much faster and easier then having to return on the Hana Highway.

If you are thinking of driving the road, I have two strong recommendations that I though I would share.

First, I would stay at least one night in Hana.  This gives you time to explore the Seven Sacred Pools and other attractions in the area,  and breaks up what otherwise would be one really long day of driving.

Second, I would make sure I had a guide book, preferably Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook.  Actually all the Hawaii Reveled  books are excellent if you are visiting other islands, I highly recommend them.  So why is a guide book so important?  Even though you will drive past many spectacular waterfalls and sights, many of the best ones are out of sight from the highway – in some cases, just out of sight.  But, the guide book will tell you right where to park, and where to walk to see some wonderful sights that you would otherwise miss.  Not only waterfalls, but some great little side roads that bring you right down to the ocean in some really neat places.

The Maui Revealed folks also sell one of the best smart phone apps around – perfect compliment to the book.

As we drove the Hana Highway, we found that the same people kept stopping at the same odd places we were – it became very apparent who had that book and who didn’t.  I even asked people, and sure enough, the had Maui Revealed.

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Hotels along Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii.

This was a sunset earlier on during out recent trip to Hawaii.

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Janine at Wailua Falls, near Hana, Maui, Hawaii.

This beautiful waterfall is just along the side of the road a few miles past Hana – one of many.

They do pay their price for all this lush beauty.  A wet year in Hana can bring over 200 inches of rain, and a wet month of March can bring almost 60 inches!  And I thought we got a lot of precipitation!  A bit north of Hana it is even wetter.  I know a few times we had our window wipers on high and still couldn’t see because so much rain was coming down.  On the plus side, all the waterfalls in the area were really pumping!

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Seven Sacred Pools or O'heo Gulch, Haleakala National Park, near Hana, Maui, Hawaii.

Well our last few days in Hawaii were busy.  Two days down in Hana and a couple of trips up to the Haleakala Crater.  Gotta say the drive to Hana was beautiful!  But, the highlight was a visit to the Seven Sacred Pools just a short distance past the town – just flat gorgeous!  As is the hike above the pools to Waimoku Falls. Both should be at the top of any visitors list of things to see while in Maui.  While there, we were lucky enough to have one of our few sunsets.  If you look close you can see the highway just above the upper falls.

This was Saturday night.  We are now back in Alaska where the forecast is for lows down to zero and winds of 50-60 mph.  Standing in this stream in my shorts and sandals seems like a different life time!

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A surfer at Ho'okipa Beach, Maui, Hawaii.

My plan was to post a beautiful sunrise photo from the top of Haleakala this morning.  Well, we got up at 4:00 a.m. and drove to the top only to see thick clouds, heavy rain and wind.  O well.  At least I wasn’t one of those people who got up just as early and paid big bucks, to coast a bike down the mountain in the blowing rain.  They didn’t look happy.  Too make it worse – off to the West, you could tell the beaches were in nice sun.  I wonder how many of them uttered the words “we could be laying on the beach right now!”

So, I decided to post this photo from yesterday afternoon.  The waves were pretty good – lots of surfers and windsurfers – fun to photograph!

This weekend we head to Hana before flying home on Monday.  Might make one more try for sunrise on the mountain before we fly Monday morning.

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Sunset from Haleakala Summet, Haleakala National Park, Hawaii.

This place is famous for it’s sunrises, but sunset can be spectacular as well.  Having clouds above and below you at the same time is really cool!

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Kahekilli Beach, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii.

Finally, our first sunrise / sunset!  Clouds are helpful for a sky of color – we have just had too many of them.  Except for this evening in Maui on Saturday night.  We had just enough for a bit of pretty color.

I actually stacked two graduated neutral density filters for a total of 5 stops in order to bring out some detail in the foreground.

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Kalihiwai Bridge, Kauai, Hawaii.

As you drive towards the rich green North Shore on Kauai, the scenery just gets greener and richer.  This bridge reminded me on the canopy tours in Costa Rica, only this one was big enough for cars!  This was a classic stretch of road I just had to go back and walk in for a photo.

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Nukoli'i Beach, Kauai, Hawaii.

Janine at sunrise on a beach in Kauai.  See, I still know who my number 1 model is!

This is one of the things I loved about Kauai – huge areas of undeveloped beaches and land.  This was in front of the first place we stayed – here, you could literally walk or run for 3 miles before you came across another building, or at times even another person.

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Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii.

Janine and I were watching and photographing some surfers on the outer edges of Hanalei Bay earlier this week.  There was only one other person on the shore of this beautiful bay – the girl pictured above.  The setting was so perfect that I just had to find the nerve to ask if I could hire her to pose for a couple of minutes.  Fortunately, she agreed.

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Janine on the Kalalau Trail, Na Pali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii.

After flying over the amazing Na Pali Coast, we just had to hike it!  Unfortunately, without a permit, you are only allowed to hike the first couple of miles to Hanakapi’ai Beach seen below, but that was enough to give us a great taste.  I would love to come back and either backpack or kayak the whole thing.

As with most days we have had in Kauai, we had crazy weather.  We started out in a heavy rain.  I mean, like standing under the garden hose on full blast kind of heavy rain.  But, as you see here, we also had some nice sun.  Down on the beach we had sun and more heavy rain, then back to mostly sunny for the hike out.  When it rains, it rains hard but often only lasts a few minutes.

There are lots of warnings, and the trail can be fairly slippery when wet.  We were in running shoes, and that seemed to help, but it really was slick in places, often next to some extreme drops.

As enticing as the water was on the beach below, the waves were really pumping.  There was a sign at the beach mentioning that heavy surf and strong currents had killed many people there – in fact they had a hash tag tally carved into the sign showing the number of people killed – it was at 82!  That was sure effective – I did not want to become 83!

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Na Pali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii.

Another new one from my helicopter charter – wow this coast is awesome!

So, we didn’t have a room in Kauai for the last two days of this portion of our trip (which have now turned into 4 days) – we figured we would just wing it.  Well, winging it worked out well, we ended up at an amazing resort – the Westin Princeville / Starwood for just $110 a night for a studio with kitchen and washer and dryer.  We are about as close to the Na Pali Coast as you can get without camping – this is a really beautiful area!  The resort itself is also very nice.

So, how did we get such a deal?  By naming our own price on Priceline.  They break the island down to a few different areas – Princeville is one of them.  The top hotel type in this area on Priceline is 3 and a half star – although this place should be 4.  I did a bit of research, and so far, anyone who entered 3 and a half star, Princeville area is getting this resort, usually for about $110 to $115 per night.

Of course, there are no guarantees on the actual hotel with Priceline, and as the busy Winter season hits around December 15th, this property might drop off the list, or might require a higher bid, but it is worth a try, especially for a property of this quality.  And, to have a kitchen, and washer / dryer is a big bonus.  And, no resort fee, and free wifi in room!

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Rainbow over Kauai, Hawaii.

This was from an amazing helicopter trip over Kauai!  Doors off, flying through rainstorms and rainbows – what a great time!

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Nukoli'i Beach, Kauai, Hawaii.

Since I pimped my Anza-Borrego workshop on Friday (it is now full by the way – thanks)! – I am falling behind on sharing Hawaii photos, so I decided to do a rare weekend post.  This was from sunset two nights ago.  The trip is going great – more to come.

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An oil sheen from the USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

On the surface (literally), this is a beautiful subject – the dramatic kaleidoscope of colors and patterns is a ph0tographer’s dream.  But, these colors are from oil that to this day still seeps up from the USS Arizona.   The USS Arizona is a battleship destroyed during the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in which 1,177 lives were lost on this ship alone – most of which are still on board in a watery grave.  To say that a visit to the USS Arizona Memorial is a moving and somber experience would be an understatement.

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Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Well trip from Hell is a big exaggeration – A series of inconveniences would be more accurate.  But that just didn’t sound nearly as good in the title for this post.

It started with our flight.  We got the very last row in the plane – you know, the one where everyone who uses the bathroom stands right next to you and constantly bumps into you as people try to pass each other in those wide isles.  Especially the really drunk lady who visited the restroom every 10 minutes!  On top of it, those seats don’t recline, and the lady next to us couldn’t have been sicker if she was in the hospital.  Finally, the airlines ran out of that thing they call a meal.  But, our luggage made it and we didn’t crash!

Next, our shuttle driver dropped us off two block from our condo.  Not a big deal if we didn’t have 157 pounds of gear in numerous bags.  We drag our gear down the sidewalks and make it to our condo only to find out it hadn’t been clean since  the previous guest.  After a bunch of run around it became apparent that despite being hungry and tired, we needed to find a different room for the night.  We found one, two blocks away – now the 157 pounds felt like 257 pounds, but we made it.

Next morning came and  our condo was still dirty.  Facing check out in our current room, we decided we better cancel our condo and find a room.  This is supposedly a slow time of year here, and a bad economy, but we had a heck of a time finding a place that wasn’t full.  Hotwire finally saved the day.

So, like I said, just a few minor inconveniences.  But we only had a couple of days here and we spent the first two finding rooms or awaiting check in with our bags, but now we are off and running and hope to get as much as we can for our last two days here.  This was just after sunset last night.

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