Bryan, Carolyn and I took off for Hana Wednesday morning. We loaded up the Green Monster with groceries, wine, beer, beach towels and games and headed towards the Hana Highway.
Before we started down the infamous winding, narrow road to Hana we made a pit stop in Paia for grub (our favorite: Flatbread Pizza Company) and trinkets (new shark tooth earrings by jeweler Tiffany Chou and a pareo from Otaheite purchased at my favorite boutique: Wings).
After our stop in Paia, we hit the road again for Hana.
{Carolyn}
{Rockin' the new shark tooth hoop earrings}
{Bryan: our fearless driver}
About an hour and a half after leaving Paia, we had made it to our cottage in Hana. The cottage itself is a little outside of the town proper, nestled off the main road in the middle of a flower farm.
{our home away from home--with a hot tub!}
{the cottage interior}
The cottage was super homey and well equipped for our stay. It's a two bedroom place with a pull out sofa in the main living room. The guest book was filled with glowing reviews, and we added our own entry before we left this morning.
Upon arriving at the cottage, we were immediately greeted by the sweetest Pitbull puppy girl. She squealed in delight upon meeting us. Her snorts, squeals and whines almost sounded as if she was trying to mimic human speech. We had never heard a dog make noises like her, and we were all tearing up from laughter. She became fast friends with Bryan.
After saying hello to our new friend, she took off back to the main house, and we set off for a late afternoon adventure to Wai'anapanapa Park to check out one of my favorite beaches on Maui: the Black Sand Beach.
Wai'anapanapa was only a 5 minute drive from our cottage, and we swooped right into the parking lot a little after 4 pm. I led Bryan and Carolyn down the pristine and crystal clear waters of the lava tube pools.
{a spring fed freshwater cave}
{picking my way down the short rock wall to take a dip}
{I urged the photographer to snap a photo and quickly! before I hustled out of the cold water}
After my quick dip in the pool, we walked down to the black sand beach. Bryan and I kept talking about how lucky we were to have had such amazing, sunny weather for Hana.
{gorgeous, sunny afternoon at Wai'anapanapa's Black Sand Beach}
{a sea arch at the edge of the bay}
{Bryan and Carolyn}
{Bryan taking the plunge}
The beach at Wai'anapanapa is a volcanic black sand beach formed many, many years ago after lava from volcanic eruptions flowed down to the ocean. The lava cooled and shattered upon impact, and the fragments continued to smash against one another until they became fine grains of sand. Although, as you can see from the photo above, there are still large fragments of lava that have been worn down to large pebble sized pieces that are rounded and smooth to the touch.
{red toes, black sand}
{can you spot the sea glass?}
{Maui girl accessorizing: gold dipped cowrie from Rockabella jewelry, tie-dyed fabric hair fastener, sea glass and a palmful of black sand}
{I love it here!}
{sandy}
We played in the sand and in the waves, then we checked out this small lava cave at north side of the beach.
{a private view of the thrashing ocean from inside the sea cave}
I then climbed up the rock wall and up through a natural skylight in the cave to see what I could see.
{Bryan decided to follow along}
{Carolyn cheering us on}
{selfie from the top of the climb}
Once the sun started to sink down, we left the Black Sand Beach and headed into Hana town for breakfast groceries from the famous Hasegawa General Store. We attempted to do dinner at a Thai restaurant that was raved about in our cottage guest book from many previous visitors, but it was closed! Tarnation. We ended up getting a pricey but satisfying dinner at the Hana Ranch Restaurant (poke appetizer to share, seared ahi for Carolyn, chicken parmesan for myself and a full ribs dinner for Bryan).
We returned to the cottage completely stuffed, but ready for a night of Sorry, Uno and Yahtzee.
After games, we retired to our rooms and fell asleep listening to the rain.
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