Happy Hawaiian Holiday - day 12 - our B&B on Maui

Today is our last full day on Maui. We went to Wailea Beach (see photo in previous post), truly one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and it is a public beach (all Hawaiian beaches are public, even if in front of a private residence or fancy hotel). Our B&B provides beach umbrellas and chairs and a cooler. The beach is less than a mile away as the crow flies, and less than two miles by car to ample parking. The beach crowds have been very light (school is in session and the pandemic has reduced tourism).

Our B&B is overall very nice, here are some outdoor shots. It is nice enough inside, just be sure to jiggle the toilet handle (and no one spends time in a hotel room when in Hawaii, anyway). There is a putting green and a saltwater swimming pool, although we have not used them.

There are a bazillion chameleons or geckos or whatever they are. They are not skittish, easy to get photos. Assuming these photos are of the same species, notice the green color on the plant and the brown color on the concrete.

Happy Hawaiian Holiday - day 11 - Hawaiian shopping mall

It was a slow day today. Slow is good, we're on vacation. We went to a shopping mall where they have an actual, open Sears store. I haven't been in a Sears store in a few years. There is a non-profit bookstore at the mall and I bought a used book, a novel about a mainland couple transplanted to Hana. The book is signed by the author. Could be a first edition because I doubt there have been many editions.

 

For dinner, we went to the Lava Rock Bar & Grill. We could not get a reservation, but we got seats at the bar right away. We both got steaks. They came out on wooden platters with a sizzling hot flat hunk of iron. We raised the temperature of the bar a few degrees as the steaks continued to cook.

Tomorrow is a beach day. How exciting can one vacation be?

Happy Hawaiian Holiday - day 10 - Lahaina

Lahaina is on Maui's northwest coast. This picture shows some boats on the water and the Hawaiian island of Lanai.

The drive from Kihei is about 25 miles. It is pretty much bumper to bumper, 50 miles per hour, mostly one lane each way. The road is well maintained, but busy. The road runs along the coast with great ocean views, but for all the traffic, there are practically no services between Kihei and Lahaina. No gas stations, no drug stores and no banks. We were looking for a bank to get quarters for the B&B's washer and dryer. The traffic lights near the towns are agonizingly long. Near the towns there are two lanes in each direction, and by the time a light turns green, there are 30 cars backed up in each lane.

But, we made it to Lahaina, which has a long strip of stores selling artwork (Susan loved the art galleries and bought a couple prints), clothing, food and drink, etc. We found a Tommy Bahama store with a bar, with a stunning view. The photo was taken from across the street, but this is pretty much the view from the bar. Men's Hawaiian shirts sold for well over $100 and I did not buy clothes, but I have been planning to buy a shirt in Honolulu. A young woman "Cassie" was singing lounge music, and she reminded me of Buffalo native Ani Difranco ( https://www.righteousbabe.com/ ), so I passed Ani's name along. Any up-and-coming female singer should be familiar with Ani.

We had dinner at Fleetwood's, owned by Mick Fleetwood. Mick was not present. Great seafood, lobster tacos, kanpachi and stuffed prawns. Like all places we have been, the crowd is well spaced due to Covid restrictions.

Happy Hawaiian Holiday - day 9 - Wailea Beach, 100% Maui coffee, vegan food

In the morning, we visited the famous Wailea Beach. All beaches in Hawaii are public. In this case, this white sand beach is partly in front of the Four Season resort, one of the world's great resorts, but there is no charge to use the beach. Our B&B provides beach umbrellas, which are really helpful in the (almost) equatorial sun.

 

I spent last night souring the internet for coffee farm tours on Maui. I found one, an elaborate tour with breakfast or lunch at O'o Farms. I had hoped to see another farm, but I previously blogged about visiting a farm in the Kona area on the big island. The Maui-based O'o tour costs $94 per person, and that's more than I want to spend. In my searching, I found MauiCoffee.com, which mainly points to their "The Coffee Store" retail shops. However, they have a roastery in northern Maui, in the upcountry. near Haleakala. The web site says to contact them first, but they also showed operating hours. I sent a Facebook message but did not wait for a reply. The distance was about 25 miles, not really all that far. 

A GPS always helps, but in this case, it was crucial. We set off from Wailea and veered off the main road toward the little town of Haiku. This roads were good but winding and we eventually got to an altitude of about 1200 feet. We turned a couple times in the Haiku area and the GPS insisted we make a left turn off the paved road and travel another 0.2 miles. We found the loose stone tire tracks and proceeded past a rooster farm. Yes, at least a hundred rooters were pecking around little triangular shelters. We found out from the coffee guys that this farm (unaffiliated with the coffee) was involved with the cockfighting industry. Cockfighting is illegal in Hawaii (if only a misdemeanor), but raising fighting roosters is not illegal. Most likely, the roosters are exported, probably to Guam.

So anyway, we proceeded down the tire tracks to the end, in front of a barn and residence. We got out of the car and saw a business registration sheet on the window for "The Coffee Store". We looked into the doorway, and two men were in the room full of equipment and supplies. Jordan and Jay greeted me and then Susan came into view. Jordan's wife had just mentioned the Facebook post, so they had some warning and I confirmed my name. Jordan was actively roasting beans, and while we were there, he opened the oven and poured out hot, roasted coffee beans. The aroma was amazing. In this case, he was roasting Mokka beans, a specialty bean found on Maui.

Pure, 100% Kona coffee from the big island is the most expensive Hawaiian coffee, usually $40 per pound or more (retail, roasted). Pure, 100% Maui coffee is a bit less expensive, $30-35 per pound. South American and African coffees sell for about $20 per pound. Hawaiian coffee is good, but I doubt anyone would says it's twice as good. The higher price is apparently due to high labor costs and presumably environmental regulations and taxes.

This roastery acquires beans from Hawaiian and South American areas and roasts various pure and blended products. We purchased two pounds of Maui beans, a standard pure bean and a Mokka Peaberry blend (but 100% Maui).

We drove to a nearby vegan restaurant.

Pictured are the owner, Cindy, and Gary. We went to the same high school in Liverpool, NY. I have met Cindy's bother, so it was nice to get a chance to stop by. We bought a couple salads.

Happy Hawaiian Holiday - day 8 - church in Maui, a little more about Hana

 

I attended the Sunday service at Trinity Church by the Sea Episcopal church. The islands are well populated with free range chickens. This guy was very vocal during the service, probably related to the cock that crowed after Peter's denial of Jesus. The Gospel reading from Mark 8 included, "...let them deny themselves and take up their cross," so there ya go.

This church holds services outdoors year round (see the altar in the center of the photo), which has helped during the pandemic. Maui is instituting new restrictions on gatherings this week, but institutions (restaurants, churches) are still at 50% capacity, so I think this won't impact the parish. The new restrictions are aimed at private gatherings, since most spread is "community spread" and generally not from tourists who jump through a few hoops to get to the Hawaii in the first place.

From day 7, here are a couple more photos from the Road to Hana tour. The first is a bamboo forest, and the second is from inside a lava tube, looking at the ceiling at lava stalactites, sort of like upside-down Hershey's Kisses. There were also stalagmites, but my photo is unclear. There are some living creatures in the tube, mostly insects. We saw a pretty cool cockroach, but I don't have a photo.

Happy Hawaiian Holiday - day 7 - Maui's Road to Hana

 

The Road to Hana is a generic term for exploring the eastern half of Maui along the north coast. The route is about 64 miles. Considering the distance, there is not a large number of separate things to do. Anyone can drive along the route, but we hired a driver due to the winding, narrow nature of the route. This is a magnificently scenic winding road through bamboo forests with ocean views. There is a lava tube (like a cave formed by cooled lava) with lava stalagmites and stalactites and ancient, rock eating bacteria that are one of the first life forms on earth. There is a black sand beach (lava cinders) and great banana bread.

Along this route can also be found a high concentration of locals who are tired of the ways in which heavy tourism can impact the human and natural environments. Of course, somewhere along the line, someone has to cut down a few trees to become a local, but without question, Maui struggles to deal with the constant swarms of tourists, even as tourism drops due to COVID-19. We saw a couple instances of locals indicating displeasure with tourists, including some gesturing toward our marked tour van.

The high point of this drive is to find a waterfall pool in which to take a dip. The waterfalls are not necessarily huge, but the attraction is to be one with the natural environment. However, the road is barely two lanes wide with no shoulders, so parking is limited to small pull-offs near the accessible waterfalls. By accessible, I mean, the ones visible from the road to which one can walk without too much trouble.

Recently, Maui has posted "no parking" signs near the known waterfalls because otherwise, careless would-be swimmers cause gridlock. There just isn't enough room for all the vehicles wishing to stop. The police write costly citations. We drove past people taking photos of their vehicles parked in front of the signs.

So, how did we get that photo? That's Gary in the middle of the pool next to Susan, with Lauren on the low ledge in the back about to jump, and our tour guide on the right (Dan took the photo). According to our guide, he and his boss explored streams along the route and found a hidden waterfall, unknown to most people. Apparently, there is no definitive guide to waterfall pools along the route. This spot had no parking restrictions. The guide said that occasionally, other tourists will follow his groups to the water, but the spot remains uncharted. We were at the spot for about a half hour with no other visitors. I tasted the water coming down one of the trickle falls on the left side of the photo. It was magical.

In all seriousness, tourism can be damaging. A local guide can help to minimize the footprint, but not everyone can afford a guide. My group is not rich, but we are privileged enough to have been able to hire the guy who could legally and safely show us the way. We left no trace aside from a few shifted rocks and a footprint or two through the bamboo forest, but only a few people will ever get to do this. Eventually, this swimming hole, too, will become popular and then restricted. Gary can provide details privately.

Happy Hawaiian Holiday - day 6 - thoughts on Big Island

 

Certainly nature's handiwork, but not exactly the picture that comes to mind when mainlanders think of Hawaii. The photo above shows an area of lava rock with tufts of grass. This is porous and rough lava rock, with little visible soil. As I understand it, a volcano erupts and pours out lava across a wide area. It's not just a river of lava that runs to the sea, but an area of many square miles "flooded" with feet of lava. On the Big Island, one imagines these areas are generally not developable because of the risk of future eruptions. (Then again, people in hurricane zones don't seem to be deterred by losing everything they own every twenty years or so.)

On our last day on the Big Island (the island of Hawaii, part of the state of Hawaii), we drove to Kailua-Kona (near the airport) for breakfast. A wall on one side of the street caused lots of splashing. Greg got a good shot of Gary.

We then went to the airport. Greg left for home while Dan, Lauren, Susan and I went to Maui. Inter-island travel is pretty smooth, especially with TSA pre-check. Hawaiians are pretty conscientious about wearing anti-virus masks. We found the Krispy Kreme, the doughnut chain no longer available within a hundred miles of Rochester, NY.

Maui is not covered in recently hardened lava fields like the big island. However, the drive from the airport to our B&B was two-lanes each way, bumper to bumper, at 45 MPH. Again, apart from nice views from specific spots, Hawaii doesn't look like I thought it would look.

Gas is over $4 per gallon.

We arrived at our B&B and tried to view the sunset over the ocean, but distant clouds blocked the view.