Kapalua Coastal Trail with Carrie

Monday was Carrie's last day on Maui, and the weather was pretty icky.  A kona storm had blustered through over Carrie's last days on Maui, but we made due with the weather.  We ditched our plans for the beach and headed up to Kapalua to stroll the Coastal Trail.

The trail hugs the edge of the Kapalua coast, which makes for some epic whale watching.  It seems as if the whales love the stormy weather, because we watched several pods across the ocean breach and tail slap.

We crossed through a lava field then climbed down to check out some tide pools.

After exploring the tide pools, we headed back up to the trail and continued walking towards the Ritz Carlton to check out Dragon's Teeth.

Also at Dragon's Teeth in Kapalua is a mysterious stone labyrinth overlooking the ocean.  I did some minor online research, and it appears that the labyrinth is new within the last 30 to 60 years, but no one seems to know who built it--or why.

Portions of the maze were completely flooded that day, so we admired the design without walking it.

{waves crashing up against the lava cliffs}

{water beading the leaves along our walk back to the car}

As we headed back the way we came, the sun began to peek out of the clouds.  We hung out on the boardwalk above Ironwoods Beach to watch a view brave surfers ride Shittys, the surf break at Ironwoods that yup, you guessed it, is usually pretty shitty.

{Ironwoods Beach}

I had a great last day with Carrie, and it was so sad to see her go.  It's always fun playing tourist, and I got to tour Maui with one of my best friends.  It was hard to end my staycation, and it was harder to see Carrie go.  We vowed not to let three years pass in between visits.

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Staycation with Carrie

It was a blast hosting Carrie on her first trip to Hawaii.  I took five days off from work, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing tourist and showing Carrie the sights.

We got Hula Pie at Kimo's:

Looked at flowers at the Alii Lavender Farm up in Kula:

{protea}

{flowering succulents}

{valley view from up high}

We also watched the kite surfers at Ho'okipa:

And we made sure Carrie got classic tourist drinks, like this Lava Flow:

We both conquered our fears of creepy crawly seafood when Kimo's sent out a complimentary appetizer:

{yup, we ate them all}

And there were many, many nights of games.  We played Sorry, Uno and Settlers of Catan.  And one night when Carrie hit the hay early, Bryan and I went downstairs and played a round of (dreaded) Canasta with Will and Jess.  T-Bone kept us company.

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Whale Watch with Alii Nui

My Portland friend, Carrie, arrived late last Wednesday, and I was incredibly excited to host her first trip to Hawaii.

On her first full day on island, we went on a whale watch on the magnificent Alii Nui.  

We launched from Maalaea Harbor which boasted views of the West Maui Mountains and windmills.

Our first up-close whale sighting was this Humpback Whale doing some "tail slapping."

After the tail slapper slid underneath the surface, we came across a mother, her calf and a male escort whale.  The calf seemed curious about us, and swam over to explore the boat.

Seeing these whales up close and personal from the water is incredibly impressive.  They are massive and majestic, and I feel so fortunate to be able to see them every winter as they migrate through Maui waters.

This other whale wagged its tail side to side, as if it was waving hello to all of us.

The "footprint" left by whales after they have surfaced:

The crew of the Alii Nui kept telling us how fortunate we were.  Not every whale watch is like the one we were on.  We were were blessed with tons of action and up-close encounters.

This small pod of whales seemed to really enjoy checking us out.  They swam up to the boat, surfaced, "spy hopped" or poked their heads out of the water to get a closer look at us, and then swam under the boat to look at us on the other side.

Maui is a sanctuary for Humpback Whales, and humans are not allowed within 100 yards of these protected animals.  Motors must be turned off when approaching whales, and all vessels must be well outside the 100 yard perimeter.  The pod of whales shown in these photographs approached us after we had turned our motor off, and while they were under and around us, we were unable to turn on our motors and jet back to the harbor.  Not that anyone on the boat was complaining.

After about fifteen minutes or so of hanging out with us, our pod of whales spotted another group of whales close by and took off in their direction to investigate.

Captain Jim waited for the whales to be at a safe distance before we started the motor and headed back to the harbor.  Only then did I allow myself a glass of complimentary champagne.  An epic whale watch with an old friend is most certainly the best way to start a stay-cation.

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