I brought the idea of heading back together for some thorough investigation and he was game. It was great, we drove back out there, almost to Hana (2hrs) after having bought underwater flashlights and a mask for him. We took our time in the frigid water, searching around for underwater passages, which i wasn't even sure would be there. We found TONS. and it was glorious. He was a great search buddy. A little more comfortable with diving, he led the way most of the time, finding air pockets and then taking turns pointing the lights straight down as a navigation aid, etc. Eventually after finding a giant, completely otherwise inaccessible cavern, we took a long dive down and back up and out a different pool than we had started in!!! It was crazy. I drew a map showing the different areas we explored and routes for others.
-Joe
;)
The map (click picture to see it larger.)
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We slept in some this morning. We got up at 7 and relaxed a little. We left Hana around 8:30. We stopped along the way to pick up two women hitchhiking into town. Made the ride more interesting. They both had very unique names, of course I can't remember either of them now. :p
One was from North Dakota and lived in Minneapolis for a while. She's been on Maui for a year this time. The other girl was from Philly and has been on Maui for 6 years. We had a good time chatting with them.
Once into town, we dropped them off, then headed back to Down To Earth, a completely vegetarian grocery store. Their deli options are great, so we had lunch there. Then it was time to head to the airport and drop Laura off.
It sounds like she left and got back to LA without a problem and a nice smooth ride. When we left the airport though, we headed back to North Shore Hostel. We are staying here for a couple nights. We've been mostly working. Tomorrow we'll probably head to the nearby I'ao State Park for a hike. If we want to just have the weekly rate for the rental car, we'll have to return it on Friday, so we may head to the Big Island then. Mary is meeting us there on Monday. It would be nice to get settled a little before she comes.
-Miranda
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We left @ 6:30 am from the far West side of the island to drive a massive figure 8 pattern to the far East end.
We went for a few short hikes to small waterfalls, and along little creeks. They were all nicer than most found scattered all over us, rathen than mile after mile of them.
Stopped for lunch at a roadside bus-cafe 'Cafe Romantico' All Vegetarian, All amazing food, I had great focaccia slice, Miranda had a good samosa and Laura had a quiche.
Afterwords we went to the Waianapanapa State Park. Took a loop trail that visited some freshwater cliff-pools and heard stories of a Water-cave that eventually comes out up the side of the cliff a ways a way!! I just had to try this.. . But i could not get Miranda or Laura on board. After I was already treading water in the pool, prepping to swim into the caves myself, another girl (A stranger) was entering and offered to try out the adventure with me. We swam in, me holding a small flashlight above my head.. After about 40 feet of cool cavern with deeper than can touch cool water, We had to climb out of the water a bit, then slip through a hole smaller than 2ft in diameter. This hole dropped us into another freshwater cave (couldn't touch) so we swam 50 feet in there to a steep volcanic lava tube, after managing to rock-climb a bit out of there we appeared out of a cave exit in the cliff wall about 50 feet up and 100 feet from where we started. This was so much fun, I managed to talk Miranda and then Even Laura into attempting it with me a second time, and they both did well and had fun. Supa Cool. Checked out he black beaches and shore-caves a bit.
Final big stop was the seven-sacred pools area- this was an amazing 4 mile hike, Stupendous bamboo trail walk, super high waterfall, river-pools, bridges, all great.
Aloha cottages in Hana rented us a great 2 bedroom full amenities 70's cabin for $100, so that worked sweet.
We looked for dinner, but only found pasta for $23 a plate... Decided on store-bought dinner, veg burgers,chips and hummus, and ice cream cost $29!! Expensive groceries, but cheap considering options. Was a great big 5-star day.
-Joe
A day late, but Laura and Miranda on top of Haleakala. Super windy!
An amusing sign at one of the stops.
Joe in the awesome bamboo forest.
Laura and Miranda in front of the super high waterfall.
The main room/kitchen of the cottage.
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This morning we got a later start than planned. We wanted to leave around 6 to start the road to Hana. We didn't actually leave until around 7. Once we got closer to Lahaina, we realized that the crater looked clear of clouds, so, especially since we got a late start, we should head up there instead. Unfortunately, it's a bit colder up there, and we did not bring our jackets... The views were amazing and the 'crater' was very neat looking. We didn't stay super long since it was in the low 50's and insanely windy.
On our way down, we spotted a Zipline company. We decided to check it out. See how much it was, how long, if they had openings, etc. Turns out, we could go with the people that were getting ready. So, no waiting at all! It was a bit pricey, but we went anyway. It was tons of fun. I didn't bring my camera, but I got a number of photos and videos with Laura's cell phone. Don't think I'll ever be able to get it on the blog... but she might email them to me. We'll see.
Now we've just been resting at home and getting some things caught up. We did find out that the guy that owns the place found someone for tomorrow night, so we're packing up tonight and leaving in the morning for the road to Hana. Joe has a place rented out there tomorrow night and then we'll be in the North Shore hostel the following night. It will be nice not having to drive in and out of here everyday for the rest of our stay.
-Miranda
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We woke up at 5:30am in order to get to the harbor we were leaving from by 6:30. We were going on a snorkeling adventure out to Molokini. A crater about 2 miles off the coast of Maui. On the way there, we saw a few whales. We got to the spot before other boats though, which was nice. We got to snorkel for an hour. The water was super clear. There wasn't a lot of underwater geography, but there were lots of different kinds of fish. Some we hadn't seen yet.
From there, the plan was to go to Turtle Arches, to see some turtles. Apparently the surf was pretty high in that area, so we went to a different spot instead. On the way, we saw two adult whales breaching off in the distance. Very neat!! They breached at least 3 times.
The spot we went to for snorkeling was amazing. It was probably half a mile off the southwest coast of Maui. The geography was great and the visibility was really good also. We saw quite a few turtles and lots of fish.
Once we were done with the snorkeling, we did a little whale watching. We saw a whale calf practicing breaching. Once we were in shore, we decided to check out Paia for surfing/boogie boarding opportunities.
The water ended up being a bit messy, but Joe and Laura went out anyway and had a lot of fun. Afterwards, we had a yummy dinner at a Mexican restaurant there in Paia, then headed home to conk out for the night.
-Miranda
One of the turtles I saw
CLICK FOR VIDEO:TURTLE
One of my favorite fish, the Black Triggerfish. Apparently known as the Hawaiin Parana because when they used to allow the feeding of the fish, it would bite fingers trying to get the food faster. Fortunately (for a number of reasons) they don't allow the feeding of fish anymore.
CLICK FOR VIDEO:BLACK TRIGGERFISH
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