One Week in Maui – Day 6 & 7

Previous: One Week in Maui – Day 4 & 5

December 12

Haleakala National Park

Sunrise at Haleakala Volcano Summit

A bucket list item for Em was to catch a legendary above-the-clouds sunrise over the Haleakala volcano at Haleakala National Park. Doing so not only checks off a bucket list item, but also checks off one more National Park for us.  This is the 32nd National Park we have visited together.

An early arrival is necessary to ensure getting a parking spot by the observation deck, and to ensure seeing the full transition from dark to light before the actual sunrise. The colors in the sky and clouds before sunrise are part of the spectacle. Sunrise was happening at 7:30 a.m.  To be at the viewing area by 6:00 a.m. we needed to leave the hotel no later than 4:00 a.m. I had secured our $1.00 reservation via recreation.gov.  The ranger at the park entrance will not let people in before sunrise without a reservation.

Of course, the weather Gods don’t really care about us mortals. It is a craps shoot as to whether the weather cooperates and permits a viewable sunrise.  But hey, we’re usually up and out by 4:00 a.m. anyway, so what the heck.

The drive to the National Park was uneventful.

But once past the entrance, the drive to the summit is long and winding, with endless switchbacks.  Fortunately it was dark out so I couldn’t see just how scary the ride was (that came later when we drove back down in daylight!).

We could see the outside temperature gauge in the car steadily going down as we got higher up. Finally at right about 6:00 a.m. we hit the visitors center parking lot.  But we noticed the road could continue on upward.  So we decided to check that out, and it’s a good thing we did.  This half mile road leads to the parking lot at the observation deck.  When we arrived, we found only one parking spot remaining!! We were very lucky.  If we didn’t get that spot we’d have to drive back to the visitors center and see the sunrise from there.  That would be probably be ok, but the real experience is to see it from the highest point…the actual summit.

With some time to kill I ate breakfast in the car, and then we put on warm layers of clothing.  It was in the 50’s but very, very, very windy. The wind chill was significant.  At around 6:30 a.m. we headed out and up the small hill to the enclosed observation deck.  We staked out a nice spot in the front.

We figured on staying here, where it was warm, to observe the pre-sunrise colors until the sun was just about to rise, then we’d watch that outside with no glass between eye and sun.

The weather Gods were very good to us on this day.  There were no clouds on the horizon, and visibility was clear.  There was a heavenly, dense layer of cloud beneath us.  The sun would rise over this layer, as this was our horizon.  It was spectacular…and very much worth the early morning and effort.

After sunrise we walked the very short trail near the observatory that we couldn’t see in the dark.

It was really just too windy to enjoy much hiking at the summit so we didn’t last long and got in the car to drive to the visitors center. There were lots of cars and people there.  The overflow from the summit were here at the visitors center.

We spoke with a ranger and determined that with the cold wind it was not a good day to do any of the hikes here, so we decided to just hit some of the short trails off of the pull-outs along the main park road as we headed down. These allowed for some fantastic views into the massive volcanic crater.  It was like observing the landscape of Mars.

Our drive down from the summit exposed what we missed on the way up in the early morning darkness.

After our trip to the Haleakala National Park we headed back to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours.  Afterwards, we spent the afternoon discovering the beaches within walking distance of our Maui Coast Hotel in Kihei.  We discovered a nearby coastal trail that weaved in and out of several beaches, rocky coastline, and oceanfront hotel easements.

After about a mile of walking and enjoying the views and looking for sea turtles, we turned back to hit a beach.

Kamaole Point Beach

We laid our hotel-provided beach towels out onto  Kamaole Point Beach, pretty much across the street from our hotel.  The water was awesome here.  We swam and body surfed in the warm waves, and dried out on the beach. It was a relaxing afternoon.

It was only fitting that we soaked in a gorgeous sunset to balance the gorgeous sunrise we got earlier.

We enjoyed dinner poolside at the hotel, listened to the band, and enjoyed the pools and hot tubs before heading up to bed.

December 13

Pa’ia

Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge

On our final day in Hawaii we requested, and received a 1-hour delayed check-out at the hotel. After a lazy morning we checked-out at noon and proceeded to do some exploring by car.  Our flight was at 9:00 p.m., and the rental car was due back by 6:00 p.m. so we about 6 hours to explore.

First stop after driving around Maalaea Harbor, just north of Kihei was at the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge, around 1:00 p.m.  This is a coastal salt marsh, and one of the few remaining wetlands in all of Hawaii. We just saw it on Apple Maps and decided to check it out.

It’s definitely not a top tourist attraction as there was nobody else here.  Too bad…there is a beautifully constructed Kealia Coastal Boardwalk to walk above the marsh. We got treated to many bird sitings here, as well as occasional detours out to the parallel running, and deserted beach along Maalaea Bay. It was very hot so we were glad they had a couple of pavilions along the boardwalk with some shade.  We learned a bit about Mauian avian wildlife and the danger of human development to their existence.

From here we drove to the cool town of Pa’ia, which some consider to be the beginning of the Road to Hana. We drove through here the other day but didn’t stop.  Today we explored the town for some lunch. The main part of this hippie-chic town, known as Lower Pa’ia is just about 3 blocks and is heavy on local arts, boutiques, and low-key vibe restaurants. It is quite congested, and finding parking can take a bit of effort.  There is free parking in a large, crowded lot just on the edge of town, but we lucked out and got a recently vacated spot in the town center.

We just walked the streets looking in store windows until we found Café Mambo.  The window for lunch was just about to close…just made it. We took an open-air window seat at this modern eclectic restaurant and enjoyed a great sandwich with great, friendly service. Our server gave us some inside scoop on where to see sea turtles on nearby beaches.

After lunch we grabbed some unique ice cream next door at Artisan Ice Cream.  This small boutique ice cream shop is all organic and has some unusual flavors like Honey Lavender and Lilikoi Butter…and it is very good stuff!  We couldn’t choose just one flavor so we each got the ice cream flight!  Again, very friendly service and quality food in Pa’ia.  From here we walked to the nearest beach to town, Paia Bay Beach just to check it out while eating our ice creams.

Sea Turtles of Maui

From here we got back in the car and drove up to Hookipa Beach.  We had gone to Hookipa Lookout on our first day in Maui but we did not stop at the beach below the lookout.  It is here that we got our first look at sea turtles on a beach in Maui.  We saw some on Kauai at Poipu Beach the week before but not here on Maui yet.

But by comparison, the number of sea turtles we saw here at Hookipa Beach were nothing compared to what we saw as we continued beach hopping between Hookipa Beach and Baldwin Beach, all right outside of Pa’ia. OMG…the turtles!

Baldwin Cove

We counted over 40 sea turtles at two of the stops.  Our day culminated in a visit to Baldwin Cove Beach.  This is a popular destination for locals, and very large beach and parking area.  We felt like we entered the scene of a 1950’s beatnik beach party.  There were drum circles, topless women, not-too-competitive volleyball, and the smell of marijuana in the air.  There weren’t too many kids here…seemed more adult-oriented.  We settled in on the black rocks at one end of the beach and watched sea turtles and crabs. It was a spectacular day, and this was a perfect way to end our Maui adventure.

Baldwin Beach is only about 15 minutes from the airport, so we left around 5:30 p.m. and headed that way.

End of our week in Maui.