Head in the clouds

We need to come back with tans so a beach day was in order.  What is great about Maui is that you can visit a different beach each day.  Today we choose Makena State Park which is also known as Big Beach.  This beach is very popular with locals on the weekends.

We got the car packed up including lunch from 808 Deli and made the half an hour trip to the beach.  Once we got there, it was a short hike to our spot.  It was very windy today which made for very rough waters.  Too rough for us to go in.  We spent the next few hours reading, napping, eating and just relaxing.  All of a sudden, a big cloud came over and started dropping rain on us.  That was our cue to leave.  On the way back to the condo, we stopped in at Secret Beach.  This is a beach that unless you have read Maui Revealed, you would not know about it.  The beach is hidden by a huge lava rock wall and the only way you can find it is by looking for the telephone poll marked E2-3.  Once you go through the little walkway, you are rewarded with a spectacular view.  We got back to the condo and I was greeted by a beautiful gift basket from Darren, Allison, Shayla and Sienna.  Thank you guys.  We had a quick dip in the pool before retiring to a couple of loungers beachside.

Most people go to Halelaka National Park to experience sunrise at the top of the dormant volcano.  We wanted to do something different so we decided to head up there for sunset.  The drive which takes about one and a half hours can get very dangerous at times.  There are many switchbacks and at some points, there is nothing between you and falling down the side of the volcano.  We started the trip at the bottom with a temperature in the mid 80’s and as we drove through the clouds, we reached the summit where the temperature was now 55°F.  We quickly got our warm clothes on and started up to the viewing area.

When we first got there, there were a couple of guys that were taking photos of each other doing various poses.  One of them was a pose where it looked like the guy was jumping off the side of the volcano when actually he was just jumping down to a ledge below.  I did not get that shot but I did get others that they did.  We tried to recreate some of the poses ourselves but unfortunately we are not as young as those guys were.  The sunset was extraordinary and it truly was an experience.  Once the sun went down behind the clouds, it got really cold fast so we decided to leave.  The trip back down the volcano is even more dangerous in the dark.

We got back into Kihei around 9pm and had a hard time finding a restaurant that was open.  Mental note … make sure to have dinner early.  We ended up picking up dinner from Ruby Tuesday which we enjoyed back at the condo.