Hawaii March 19-24, 2012

Who would have thought that in mid-March we would still be getting snow at our house, but that’s how our trip started the morning of Monday, March 19, 2012. We woke up to snow falling with about a ¼” already on the ground.  After eating a quick breakfast and packing a few last minute things, all that was left was for our ride to arrive.

Dave and Kristie were running a few minutes behind, but we still arrived at the airport with and hour and a half before we were supposed to fly out. I was checking a bag, so Nate and I said we would meet Dave and Kristie at the gate. After checking the bag we found them standing outside the security line, and as we walk up Dave says “We can’t go . . .” They had discovered that Kristie had forgotten her ID, and didn’t even have a credit card on her or anything saying who she was. At that point there was not enough time for them to even get home, let alone back before the flight.

I suggested that we talk to security to see if there was anything we could do, since we had nothing to lose at that point. “We have a code 1 on lane 5” the security lady called over the speaker phone. The rest of us were told to go through security and for the next half hour Kristie was at the mercy of the TSA.  They did let her through after some intense screening, just as our plane was starting to board.

After flying for about 40 minutes a guy about 10 rows in front of us got up to get into his bag, and when he opened the overhead bin a hard violin case came flying out across the aisle and hit a woman in the head. The flight attendants asked that any nurses or doctors make themselves known. Kristie got up and went to help. Kristie said the woman wasn’t badly hurt “probably just a concussion . . . she’ll be fine.” she told us casually as she returned to her seat.

The rest of our flight was uneventful. We landed in Oahu and then after a quick layover had a short flight to Maui where we met up with Jana and Sammy.

Our first order of business was to get our rental car. We had made a reservation for one car already but wanted to get a second car or upgrade to a van.After learning it would cost just as much to upgrade to a van we decided the 2 vehicle option would be best.

The weather in Maui was perfect. It was in the low 80’s and not a cloud in the sky. We made the 50 minute drive from Kahului to Kaanapali. When we checked in they actually upgraded our rooms to the garden view which was nice.

The girls were starving so we decided to eat at Maui Fish Market which is just 1/3 of a mile up the road.  We then had to hurry to catch the end of the sunset.  Venus and Jupiter have been very bright in the night sky. Venus is the brighter one that is higher in the sky.

 We decided to get to bed at a decent time since we were going to get up at 3 AM to drive up the mountain for the sunrise.

Since Nate had been up to Mount Haleakala for the sunrise before, we knew to expect the cold, so we bundled in the warmest clothes we brought, which for me was just jeans and a sweatshirt.  The road zigzags up the mountain and I was getting a little carsick from all the corners, but I managed to make it to the top.

There were a ton of people at the top and it was so crowded that we decided to hike up the short trail to the peak so we would have a better view. Almost right away you feel winded. At an elevation of 10,000 feet, the air is getting thin and it’s harder to breath. As the sun rises over the clouds people cheer and then fall silent as you hear the natives below sing a chant, welcoming the new day.

Thought it was odd that there was a sign telling you not the drink the toilet water . . . wasn't going to.

Jana called Nate "Nay-nay" when she was little

Sammy & Jana

Glad she was outside :)

Kristie loving the rocks

The inside of Mt. Haleakala

With the wind blowing slightly and the temperature in the low 40’s we are ready to head back down to the car to warm up. After stopping a few other places to take pictures we decided to head back down the mountain. As we are driving down we pass many people on bikes. When we were about 2/3 of the way down the mountain Jana asked if we could pull over because all the corners were getting to her too. We happened to stop right near some eucalyptus trees that were really neat.

Before heading back to our condo we stopped for some breakfast in town, then back for some beach time in the sun.

Then we decided to ride the Sugar Cane Trane. It’s a 6 mile long track that goes between Kaanapali and Lahaina. You ride on an old steam train and get some local history as you ride along too. The train goes by golf courses and behind houses; there was even a really cute chubby Hawaiian girl that waved at us from her backyard as we went by. For about ½ the ride you can see the ocean, and we kept our eyes peeled for whales and saw some spouting and splashing going on.

After we got back it was time to get ready for our luau. We went to the Royal Lahaina Luau, which is the same one we went to last year, but this time we got to sit right near the side stage, which was cool because we got front row viewing to some of the dances and even the fire knife dancers at the end.

Wednesday  was the most memorable day, but not for the right reasons. Nate wanted to go snorkeling in the morning to check out his new under water Go-pro case before our afternoon snorkel trip. I woke up with a sore throat so I decided to stay back, and Jana and Sammy rented gear to go with him.

I told Nate that he should try to be back in a hour and a half so there is a little time before our tour. As they headed out I got myself ready to go to the store for some throat numbing spray, but when I went outside I discovered it was raining and windy. I decided to just wait it out in the room and hope for a break in the weather.  While talking to my mom on the phone Jana called and said they were headed back, telling me that “the bad news is we lost some things, but the good news is we are alive. . .” She said Nate would tell  me about everything when they got back. This is what happened:

Jana and Sammy had walked across the street to rent their equipment and I (Nate) headed to the car to meet them. I planned on going to Honolua Bay, which is fairly protected from wind and waves, but there is a hike to get there. Because we were short on time, I decided to go to Mokule’ia Bay (also known as Slaughterhouse Bay) instead. When we got to the beach there were bigger waves than I would normally snorkel in and we were the only people there, but since Jana and Sammy had just rented gear for the day then I decided we would try it and come back if visibility was terrible.

As we started snorkeling, it actually calmed down and was perfectly fine out there. I saw a small octopus almost immediately, then was videoing fish and an eel I found with my new GoPro camera. While I was watching the floor, the sand started to kick up and I could see the currents starting to give the fish trouble swimming. Waves started to really pick up, and I told Sammy and Jana that it was time to head for shore. The waves very quickly started to get bigger, and Jana had one flipper pulled off and then the other by the crashing waves. I managed to recover both of Jana’s flippers and then heard that Sammy had lost a flipper. I couldn’t find it, and tried to help Jana get to where she could stand again. Jana handed me her camera so she could swim better. As I was helping Jana I looked down and realized that my GoPro had come off of my wrist strap. I couldn’t look for it now, I had to get Jana to where she could stand.

Once Jana could stand I gave Sammy the camera and she was getting out of the water, and just then lost her other flipper.  I had attached a float to the wrist strap of the GoPro, but that was attached to my wrist and my GoPro was somewhere down in the sand. I headed back where I had just been, and after 5-10 minutes I caught a glimpse of it. At this point the waves were crashing hard enough that I couldn’t see the camera anymore, and it took two attempts at diving for it before I got a hold of it. Once I had the camera, I looked up and saw that Jana was further out in the bay than I was. 

The first thing I said to her was, “You are supposed to go to shore!”  Jana’s reply was “I’m not going anywhere.” At first I thought she was being stubborn, then realized that she was trying to go in, but was slowly being pulled out into the bay. She was still holding her flippers but couldn’t get them back on. I swam over to her and she gave me her flippers so she could swim better. I was now holding two flippers and the GoPro which didn't help swimming. I could tell Jana was starting to panic and I kept trying to keep her calm. The waves were now sometimes as large as 4 feet high, and there was no way we could keep our head above them. All we could do was try to take a breath before the wave would crash over us. The current was pulling very hard away from shore and even when it was shallow enough for me to touch I couldn’t stand still because the water was pulling too hard. We tried to swim sideways to the current, but were just not making any progress. Jana tried calling to Sammy for her to get help, but the waves were too loud and Sammy couldn’t hear us. Both of us had swallowed some sea water and were coughing and struggling to stay on top.

Suddenly I realized that we were actually making some forward progress, but it wasn’t in the direction we wanted. We were heading away from the middle of the beach, towards the extremely sharp jagged rocks that give Slaughterhouse it’s name. At this point rocks were better than being swept to sea and we continued moving forward while being crashed by the waves. Jana’s snorkel and mask were pulled off by I told her to just keep going. Once we got to the rocks Jana managed to climb up onto one, and I told her to climb as high as she could get. With the flippers and camera in my hands, I couldn’t climb up onto the rock. I was now next to the sharp rocks with a very large wave coming my way. I knew this wave would slam me into the rock and do some major damage, so my only option was to swim straight at it to get away from the rocks. The wave yanked off my snorkel and mask and they were now hanging on my neck. The water was now churning with so much air bubbles and sand that I couldn’t see what was below. As I started trying to swim over to the sandy area, now in only 4 feet of water, I started to hit my legs, knees, and hands on the sharp jagged rocks as waves crashed into me. I tried to put my mask back on to see, but found that it didn’t really help. Once I got into shallower water I was able to stand and stumble my way through uneven sand and jagged rocks and finally made my way out of the water. A local had showed up and let me hand the camera and flippers to him so I could take mine off.

As soon as we got out of the water we saw that there were other snorkelers just getting into the water. We told them that they couldn’t go out there because it was too dangerous, and then warned everybody else headed to the beach as we left. When we got to the car we high-fived and through our stuff in the trunk as it started to blast rain.

In total we lost an entire snorkel set: 2 flippers, a mask and snorkel. They ended up charging almost $100 for the lost items. We were very lucky to only have some cuts and bruises on knees and hands from the rocks. Lesson learned: Don't snorkel if it looks ugly!

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We ended up leaving the condo a few minutes late, and then got stuck in some slow traffic due to construction, so we were a little late checking in for our tour, but they waited for us. Once on the boat we headed out of the harbor. On our way to find a snorkel spot the captain spotted a mother and baby whale ahead of the boat, everyone rushed to the front to see. All of a sudden the whale jumped out of the water and landed with a huge splash, then a minute later did it again. After the second jump I was ready with my camera, but I’ve discovered that whales usually either jump two times in a row or two different whales jumped since we would always see two jumps.

When we were getting ready to snorkel Nate said he would take Dave out and help him, and I was going to take Kristie with me. Shortly after getting in the water I spotted a turtle, and Kristie, Jana, Sammy, and I all followed it for a while. Kristie was having some issues with her snorkel so I brought her back to the boat. Dave was also having issues with his mask sealing to his face due to his mustache, so he wasn’t in the water long. Nate and I headed off together, and we ended up following a turtle for quite a while. I was getting thirsty at that point so I headed back to the boat. Nate stayed out for the remainder of the time which was only another 15 minutes.

After snorkeling we headed to find more whales. We did find a group of aggressive males trying to impress a female (apparently) but unfortunately that didn’t involve jumping. At some point it got really windy which made it challenging to hold my camera still for pictures.

A young whale that jumped out of the water. The head is on the right

As we were heading for the harbor the whale was waving goodbye to us

For dinner we headed into Lahaina to eat at Bubba Gump’s. I was feeling really sore and tired but I wasn’t sure if it was from a full days activities or my cold. In the morning I found it was because of my cold. I woke up with a fever and I was really achy. My head was full of pressure and stuffed up. I laid on the couch and Nate went and bought me some DayQuil.

The girls decided to get a pedicure done so the rest of us went and laid in the sun. After the girls were done we decided to head to the Maui Ocean Center with enough time that we could eat a late lunch at the restaurant there as well as watch the feeding in the large fish/shark tank.

Frogfish

Seahorse

Tiger Shark

Divers feed the puffer fish in the large tank

After going through all the exhibits of the aquarium we were going to shop in Lahaina but most everyone decided they were too tired and so we went back to the condo for a quiet evening.

Friday we did our shopping in town and enjoyed some amazing burgers at the Cool Cat Café. We also made sure to enjoy our last sunset at the beach before packing and getting ready to leave.

Jana and Sammy played tennis

Jaws of a 18'-2" female Great White Shark

Saturday morning while eating breakfast I got to see a whale jump out of the water. It would have been an awesome picture, but I didn’t have my camera with me … of course.

After saying good bye to the girls we headed for the airport. Their flight wasn’t leaving till 6 hours after ours, so they had a shuttle take them several hours later.

It was sad to leave, but I was happy to get back to my bed. Plus Nate had caught my cold, and it’s better to be sick at home. Until next time … ALOHA!