Humpback Whale – Page 2 – Todd and Cindy's Travel Blog

Hawaiian Adventure Big Island Post 1

Whether it’s a short flight or a long flight, it sure seems like a full day at the airport. On Friday, we arrived at the airport in Maui 2 hours prior to departure, but then had an hour delay… 35 minutes later, we landed in Kona. Aline and Dave arrived a day earlier and said they would pick us up. Upon arrival, we were lei’d by our friends. (Leis are a play on having our luggage with the toilet paper delayed when we first arrived in Maui).

After a quick stop at Costco and getting settled in our condo, we met up at Bongo Ben’s – our Happy Hour spot. …so great seeing our friends again!

We are once again truly enjoying our time on the lanai, right on the ocean front. Lots of surfers and boogie boarders take advantage of the water conditions. Bringing your dog surfing or SUPing is common here !

Parasailers float by, and usually get dipped prior to getting back to the boat.

Numerous paddle boarders and swimmers make their way past following the Iron Man route.

Canoes from solos to tandems like this one out training.

We even get locals fishing out front.

Tuesday was a great day for aquatic action. Lots of Spinner dolphins played in the water.

And there was whale action too. The whales are quiet here compared to Maui, but still exciting to watch.

The days seem to start off sunny, then the vog (volcano fog) sets in, before clearing for sunset.

Last year we enjoyed the company of Naia almost nightly at Bongo’s. She was the bar manager. A few weeks back, she left Bongo’s for another bar manager position at Umeke’s….a lot farther walk for us, but we made the trek Tuesday. It was great seeing her again! She is lovin the new job…

And of course Todd had to try the fish tacos and said they were great !

We have gone snorkeling a couple of times in the lagoon nearby. It is shallow, but we do see quite a few fish in the area.

For St. Patrick’s Day, we met up with Aline and Dave and headed to Quinn’s (the “happening” spot for St. Paddy’s Day). We recognized PonchoMan performing on the stage when we arrived; he’s one of Naia’s friends.

Although we were told it would be about a 35 minute wait to be seated for dinner, it turned out to be only about 10 minutes. Dave and Todd ordered the Irish Stew, Aline ordered the Rueben Potato Skins, and I got one of the last three Shepherd’s Pies. We all enjoyed our meals…and the company.

After eating, we hung around out front where the music was playing for a bit longer. The next group performing we actually met as we were heading to dinner…Lots of fun.

Todd has been spending lots of time at sunset learning to use his new camera !

Hard to believe we have been on the Big Island for a week already, and a total of five weeks in Hawaii…getting used to this Island Life…

Hawaiian Adventure Maui Final Post

After what we were told was a highly unusual whale tour Tuesday (hanging on for dear life in the 4 foot swells while protecting our cameras), we decided to give it another shot. We booked Saturday…what a difference! The weather was clear, waters were calm and no one got wet.

Although we didn’t see any huge breaches, we were treated to numerous sightings.

We saw a lots of dorsal fins breaking the surface,

lots of pectoral fins waving,

and lots of tail slaps.

The next 2 pictures show the scarring on the back and tail of this male that looks like he has been fighting pretty hard for the attention of his possible mates !

Two of the most exciting sightings included a whale peeking out of the water close to the boat,

AND a whale actually swimming right under the zodiac we were on. When there is a whale, the water turns turquoise and the white is the underside of the whale. Without actually jumping in the water for a really good pic, I tried my best to capture it, leaning over the side of the zodiac.

We can see why whale watching could get addictive (talked to lots who go out multiple times each vacation)…

Monday we took a drive to Haleakala National Park and took the long windy road up to the summit. After the Road to Hana, Todd said this drive was a breeze.

Haleakala summit is 10,023 feet (3,055 m) above sea level and the temperature dropped dramatically.

The volcano is currently dormant. In the picture below you can see two volcano peaks on The Big Island peaking through the clouds !

The views are stunning, even if the clouds get in the way.

One of the most interesting plants we saw was the Haleakala Silversword, only found here on the summit. It lives for 15 – 50 years and only blooms once.

After some pics and a walk about, I said, “Okay, enough of this cold, back to the warmth.” The temperature was about 20°F cooler. On the way back down, we stopped at The Visitor’s Center (9,740 ft / 2,969 m above sea level).

Each stop along the way down offered different views. Kalahaku Lookout (9,324 ft / 2,842 m) was impressive with the colours and shapes of the land.

It was interesting watching the clouds roll in as we drove through them. Our last stop down was at Leleiwi Overlook (8,840 ft / 2,694 m).

Tuesday night was a partial eclipse of the sun. The moon was to cover 68% of the sun. Unfortunately, clouds got in the way for a really clear view. The video is a time lapse of what we did see over a 2 hour period. You can notice about ½ way through, it gets really dark (eclipse time), then lightens a bit for the sunset.

Wednesday we drove towards Kihei to go to the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge and walk the boardwalk through the marshlands. Just our luck – the boardwalk was closed for repair… So, we carried on south to Makena Beach State Park where we got out to walk the beach.

It was extremely windy, but the landscape was beautiful with volcanic rock sticking out of the sand.

While in the area, we made a pit stop at Maui Brewing Company’s brewery. We didn’t do a tour, but enjoyed sitting on their patio for a couple of pints of small batch beers craft beers that are available only at the brewery.

Todd contributed to his t-shirt collection. Too bad he didn’t buy it at the beginning of our visit, his beers would have been $2 off…

So, we spent our last day on Maui very low key – some packing and prepping for the morning exodus. We did walk into town so we could get a couple of Red Dirt Shirts (very Maui…).

Then we did our final stop at The Hard Rock. Todd has been quite impressed with their display of memorabilia. He asked if it was actually real and it is. This Tony Iommi jacket (Black Sabbath) is insured for $200,000 by Hard Rock.

The car above the bar was an actual functioning boat at one time – amphibious vehicle…

Usually, I post a lot of dinner pics from restaurants we have eaten at, but this trip so far, we have eaten just about all out meals on the lanai after sunset. Can’t really justify the cost of eating out and the views from the lanai are beautiful, plus Todd is an amazing chef!

We have definitely enjoyed our time at this waterfront condo in Lahaina. Maui has been beautiful – warm, sunny, gorgeous sunsets, lots to see and do, and also very relaxing.

Next up – the Big Island where we will meet up with our friends, Aline and Dave.

Hawaiian Adventure Maui Post 3

Monday was another drive to the east side of Maui for a Costco shopping venture. Before Costco we continued on Hwy 36 to Hookipa Beach. We had read it was a great surfing area with a good lookout point. We were not disappointed.

Next, we stopped in Paia to visit Mana Foods. The health food store looks like a shack on the exterior, but the interior is full of every kind of health product you could want. We have been on the hunt for White Flower (a Chinese liniment) and were directed here. We had read Paia was a sort of “hippy” town; again, we were not disappointed…lots of interesting people.

Gotta love Costco when it comes to some great deals – 4 pack LED bulbs came to $1.79 with the Hawaiian government rebate – we will be bringing some home with us.

And they had a UPF 50 wide-brimmed hat for $12.99 (that is an amazing price!).

After we returned to the condo unit, we walked into town (for some exercise and for me to purchase some jewelry I’d had my eye on…). After the purchase (Plumeria pendent and earrings – very Hawaiian), I treated Todd to a couple beers…

Our happy hour bar this trip is the Hard Rock – great prices and great staff. Murph is our usual bartender – originally from Chicago, he has been loving Maui life for 9 years.

Tuesday – so excited – Whale watching tour with Captain Steve’s! We arrived 40 minutes early…and we weren’t even the first ones at the pier. Unfortunately, the water was REALLY, REALLY rough. One woman we talked to said they have been on this tour multiple times over the years and 5 times this vacation and it has never been this rough. We got soaked as the large zodiac skipped across the water. Swells were over 4 feet…not great for our inaugural whale watching trip.

We did have a few whale sightings.

But it was really difficult getting good pics with the vessel bopping over waves and the salt water spraying onto the cameras.

We couldn’t keep our cameras out and ready for the breaches, pectoral fins splashing, and tail slaps…it was a continual “ohhhh, did you see that”, camera out of plastic bag, shoot picture, camera back in plastic bag for protection….

Looking back at Lahaina, we saw a brush fire.

When you book a whale tour, you never know how the water conditions will be or how many whales you will see….luck of the draw, but it was a great experience and we would do it again (and bring the underwater camera and some towels…). *Trips were cancelled for the remainder of the day…

Wednesday we decided to drive the infamous Road to Hana (42 miles, 600+ turns, many of them hairpin turns and 54+ one lane bridges). We actually drove past Hana to the National Park to do some hiking and see Waterfalls and the Pools of Ohe’o (aka Seven Sacred Pools). Unfortunately, it has been a fairly dry winter, so the falls were not that spectacular.

The plan was to drive straight through to the National Park and do stops on the way back, which turned out to be a great idea as we missed a lot of the crowds at the stops.

We both clearly remember Black Sands beach at Waianapanapa State Park from our drive in 2005. At that time, only us and a couple of other people occupied the park and beach area.

Our first view of the beach looked quiet as we remembered the way it was in 2005

Unlike 2005 it was very busy today !

There was people climbing up a rock pedestal and jumping into the ocean.

One of the few stops at a waterfall that actually had water was Upper Waikani Falls (Three Bears).

We made a slight detour to Ke’anae village to Aunt Sandy’s snack stand for some of her famous banana bread (mentioned in numerous travel books and websites) – sadly, she was closed by this time (late afternoon). Thirsty and having our fill of the twists and turns, we headed to Paia to stop for some food and a cold one…no parking anywhere (guess there was a lot of thirsty people). 9 hours later, we pulled into the condo just in time for sunset.

Todd did a time lapse photo video of our sunset !

We have done the Road to Hana drive twice now…don’t think we need to do it again…

Booked another whale tour…hoping it will be better…