Maui – Day 4 – The Highway to Hana – Hey, no hurling on the shell, dude, ok? Just waxed it.

A long day today – the free tour left at 8:30 to tackle the highway to Hana.  This drive is, if not single lane, at least single lane bridges, really, really slow, really, really scary (depending on your driver (ours was driving, singing and operating the MP3 player)) and really, totally, incredibly beautiful.  The road winds round half way up the mountain, leading to James Bond hairpin curves across lush gulleys and over waterfalls.

We stopped off at Wai’anapanapa Park, swimming at Pa’iloablack sand  beach.  Nearby is the cave where the princess and her attendant were killed by her jealous husband as she fled his cruelty – every year the water in the cave turns red in her memory.  Or it might be the shrimp… you choose.  The first of many leaps into the waters started here – a mere 4′ leap into the pool below, which, despite being heated by magma, was damn chilly.

No blood today

And on to (as if by contrast) Kaihalulu red sand beach… by way of a 30′ leap into the sea below.  Well, the jump was optional, but since everyone else was doing it…

We found another pool to leap into – not so tempting since it was full of leaves… but it’s got to be done… although I am now limping from cutting my foot on the way in.  And I should point out that lava comes in two forms pahoehoe (nice and smooth) and ‘a’a (rough and rocky.  Here, it’s mostly ‘a’a, and my feet, which used to be rock hard from karate training, aren’t what they used to be!

And then on to Haleakala State Park and a hike up into the mountains through ‘Ohe’o Gulch.  We walked through banyan trees (which Matt nearly fell out of when the branch he was swinging from broke – I swear our tour guide is a gorilla) and then through tall bamboo forests that almost shut out the light… and to the end of our trek, the stunning and ethereal Waimoku falls.  Rather than leaping into the water this time, we opted to stand under it.  More on that rather profound experience in www.registereddisciple.com.

And then the long and winding route back, packed 15 into a mini van.  Mind you, I felt sorry for the four in the back of a pickup truck… especially when it rained.

A long, and probably perfect day….. Maui is stunningly beautiful, really laid back and diverse.  I didn’t make it to most of East Maui.  I didn’t make it to the summit of Haleakala volcano.  So I might be back one day…