Day 10

Sunrise in the Helicopter
Flight to the Volcanoes was awesome,
Our Flight to L.A was delayed 4 hours, we missed our connection flight, will be a ruff nite, should be Back in Bako around 9:00am Monday

Day 9

Attempted to ride Helicopter over the Volcanoes
Went to Lava Java for Breakfast, it was very good, I read it was a hot spot for the locals, it had ambience, great food, and a decent price. The Helicopter ride to Volcanoes was canceled due to weather on the opposite side of the Island, the pilot said he had to fly eleven thousand feet to avoid the storm, that wasn’t safe so the eleven forty five trip was canceled (we rescheduled for Sunday.) Came back o the resort, went swimming with the girls, when they napped I went down to the point were Captain Cook, has his memorial, I guess he died there, Haven’t had time to understand the full story. When I arrived to the area the locals said you had to Kayak out to the point or swim, there was no roads that go out to the rocky point. I had a beer, and enjoyed the surroundings. Evening time was approaching so the girls checked out the shopping and I checked out the Kona Brewing Company. Time to head out.

Day 8

Black Sand Beach, Green sand Beach
We started out the day going to a Seahorse farm, the company raises exotic seahorses and ships them around the world, there goal started to take the strain off the capturing of wild seahorses, non professionals capture the seahorses and try to sell them, in doing so they kill seventy five percent in the process, This company has put a dent in that figure. The girls loved this place, they would let you interact with these unique creatures and view a wide verity.
We headed south to see the colored beaches, after two plus hours and a road that requires you to “violate your rental car agreement” we arrived at the southern most point in United States, upon arriving we came up to a plateau that dropped some forty feet strait into the ocean, we walked up cautiously and noticed some crazy guys jumping off the edge, when my camera was out they even jumped though a lava tube that emptied out into the ocean, my testosterone level was raised to the max, four-wheel’n to get here, and forty foot dives through lava tubes, it was amazing. About a mile away we reached the famous “Green Sand Beach” I captured one of my best shots here, it was a remote and stunning place.
We drove back for hours to make it to a snorkeling trip we booked previously. This wasn’t any ordinary snorkeling trip it was a night snorkeling excursion with the giant Manta Rays(my clip). It was amazing to swim with these giant docile creatures. Three Reys flocked close to were we were, there size was six to ten feet wide. We couldn’t get the girls out of the illuminated night water, amazing to say the least .
Girls are up, lets Go!

Day 7

jOuRNeY to the “Big Island”
We started early, I was trying to the drive the “back way” to the Maui airport, it was the opposite direction that most tourists go. The map read, 4x4 vehicles only, not recommended for rental cars, I thought that the way to go. I needed to convince the girls on how much they would enjoy that direction. They were half asleep; I don’t think they cared at the time when I headed north. It was very exciting drive mostly locals drove the scarce road, we went through some small villages and drove eight miles on a single lane road around eight foot wide that had some three hundred foot drop offs. It was a great trip around this disserted treacherous part of the islands, even the girls enjoyed the exciting drive .
Off to the Big Island. We made it in no time, some fifty minute flight that you climb then descend. Arriving at the Big Island was very different from Maui, Maui had a lot of red dirt, seemed dry around the island. The Big Island was say, “Big”, you didn’t feel that you could get the so called “Island Fever”, everywhere you would look you would see black volcanic rock, there appeared to be no dusty dirt, just vegetation and black volcanic rock minus and dirt, so far I’m liking this more than any other island, very intriguing.
Girls are up, let’s go!

Day 6

*Black Rock guys photos here
Lets go to Lahaina
We set out to go were the girls could shop, the small fishing town called Lahaina was the perfect fit, I dropped them off at Hilo Hatties a Hawaiian chain , Paatico (Baylee) loves the store, they offer you a chance to open real oysters, chances are real big you’ll get a pearl. I took the jeep to the center of town, the giant Banyan tree is the center of attention, its one of the largest trees I have ever seen, I guess the tropical heat allows it to grow like crazy over the years. Tons of tourist flock to touch and get photos of the tree, I did the same, trying to capture the tree differently than most. After picking up the girls and eating at BJs I dropped the girls off so they could shop till they drop. I went out to “Black Rock” with my camera, I took some great shots of the locals jumping of the thirty foot rock. The group of kids wanted me to email them the photos so they could put it up on there MySpace page, I put the photos on Flickr so they could have. Time to go, off to the exciting “Big Island”

Day 5

Swimming with sunburns, 4x4 jeeping

A balmy clear day it was, as a group we decided to go snorkeling again, we enjoyed swimming right next to the sea turtles so much we wanted to go again. We started out by our resort, and snorkeled for about ten minutes when Alaya (Bethany) spotted a eel in the side of a rock, it came out, as a tropical fish (not sure on its real name) came too close to the rock, this is pretty scary to see an eel so close, about six to eight feet, eels have a look that is so prehistoric, they seem like they want to strike you at any impulse. After snorkeling down the beach some half mile we came close to “Black Rock”, I guess it’s called that because the volcanic rock is very dark, (that take intelligence to figure that out). “Black Rock” is known for its great snorkeling and a nine meter ledge that divers flock to. After seeing all the amateur divers jump , I said I could do that, so I climbed up the very sharp volcanic rock, jumped off, and hit the tropical water,it was like I weighed three hundred pounds, It was very exciting, hopefully I can get my camera to capture some of the excitement .
We arrived back at the room and the girls wanted to take a bath to get the salt water off, so I decided to venture out with the awesome 4x4 jeep, I drove ten or so miles north of the Island and found some great coves, I found a private road, it was narrow and the road changed from pavement to red dirt, I mean blood red dirt. The road narrowed and I had to turn around as it was thick with variation, I put it in four-wheel drive and tried to claim a steep hill, I think by now I was violating my rental agreement. Oh well I was cautious, so I drove out by this cliff and it was probably three hundred foot drop to the ocean, I still had it in four-wheel drive so I idled up to the rock ledged with one tire about six inches away. Took some shots with my camera, and got my adrenalin rush that I can’t do with the girls,
Back to the resort 10min up, lets go

Day 4

Looking for gigantic Sea Turtles
We rented snorkeling gear from Maui dive shop. On there recommendation went snorkeling at a place called “Black Rock”, A`lay`a (Bethany), Paa`ti`co (Baylee), quest was to swim with the giant sea turtles, we arrived at the spot and noticed the water was warmer than the resort pool, it was very comfortable, Snorkeling around there were much tropical fish to see, the parrot fish was amazing with all its pastel colors, the yellow tangs with there glowing colors. About 20 minutes snorkeling around we spotted our first turtle, it was large and very colorful, we were amazed that you could swim up to it feed it some algae, it was so docile . I always wanted to grab hold and let it pull you through the water, I did just that, grab her sides of the shell, and tried to hang on, she would wiggle away , after she propelled me through the water about two meters, it was very exciting. We snorkeled for about four to five hours, I got fried from the sun, the girls put on “fifty block” and was safe and sound by the unrelenting Sun.
Minutes up, time to go

Day 3

Swim Day
It’s pool time, the Westin has a great pool, Paatico (Baylee) and I think it is better than Hyatt pool, only because of the very long water slide, It was very fortunate day, getting a drink up at the tiki bar, the cheerful Hawaiian said the Bloody Mary’s Hawaiian style are on special today, Great !, that’s a good sign, since yesterday I bought the most expensive Mai Tia of my life it was 10.25, Alayaa (Bethany) explained its rated #1 Mai Tai in Maui. Im sure we will have an opinion on it before the inebriation sets in. It was good, Maybe great as we taste others, I wished they would of served in a real glass,$10 for a plastic cup is just wrong I guess they figured I would drop it by there five enormous pools. Went to eat at place called Tropica, fifty feet from the sandy beach and a view of a tropical sunset, it was outstanding, we had Mahi Mahi, with a salad. We always like o take a small walk after a meal, so we walked along the Hawaiian styled boardwalk, very balmy and breezy. Paatico was very tired, she broke the record for going down the slide thirty-five times, a previous seven year old, had the record of thirty three, congratulations Paatico Five minutes up, lets move on.

Day 2

HANA
It was early but the direct sun was bright and welcoming, the sunrise over the Pacific comes early, I went for a drive since the girls were still a sleep, I was up at 5:45am, sounds early but when you factor in 3hours for the time difference it was late. Went by an enormous cruise ship in the shallow harbor the Cruise ship had Giant flowers painted on the side, very Hawaiian. When I picked up the girls, we decided to take the road to Hana, probably the top ten most beautiful drives in the world, it was not easy, hundreds of turns, hundreds of bridges and rude local drivers, but the drive was well worth it. We decided to change our names for the remainder of the trip so Baylee picked the names while on the drive to Hana. She decided my name was Kahuna, Beth’s name would be Alayaa, Baylee name would be Paatico. We had a great time at the end of the road, the large monkey trees with there hundreds of vines touching the sky, Paatico (Baylee) acted like a monkey in these trees. Heading west, so we can check in at the hotel Westin.My five are up lets go

Day 1

It was off from Bakersfield to the very passionate San Francisco, the city known for its extreme personality. The day was very non San Franciscan, the weather was clear with a soft wind, the sun blazing like it was happy to get out for the summer in the Pacific Northwest. The flight to Maui was a four plus hours, very fast for a flight some 2300 miles from the main land. It should take, let see, 2300mi / 4x60min + 15/60 = 541 mph, sounds like we found the jet stream to give us a much needed tailwind. Since my lovely wife went through a travel agent, you would think when we boarded the plane we would have seats together. Then again I was happy there still a career in this field in the day of the internet.
My seat was 20 rows from the girls, I was next to first class, I learned that I need to get a higher education to afford to set in first class; they had service that kept the drinks flowing the full four hours. The passenger I sat by was very interesting, she was flying to Maui to meet with her boyfriend that was in the military, he worked at some unclassified atoll. Her Family was from Malaysia, and worked in fabricating synthetic glass beads, her family had a house in San Francisco and Malaysia and she traveled to see her boyfriend every other month. We made it to Maui, time to get the baggage and find our hotel the infamous Maui Seaside hotel. My ten minutes are up that gives me time to watch a little Maui news..

ProloguE

The intention of this lackluster blog is to see how effortless it is to set up a public blog, post using minimum amount of time (5-10min) a day. Practice writing and learn something while exploring away from home. Tools used, Hp Laptop, Apple Macbook, Digital camera, Aircard. Account at Blogger.com.

* PHOTO SLIDE SHOW
* Weather In Maui