I tried for over half a year to book a parking spot for dawn on Haleakala in Maui. The only way we were able to do it was to book with a tour group. I chose Haleakala Sunrise Tours | Visit the Crater, Kula, Makawao, Paia, Haiku (haleakalaecotours.com). Their guide was full of information and told us many stories. I thoroughly enjoyed it because of him.
Silversword: Argyroxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephalum – Wikipedia
It took a day to see everything at the Maui Ocean Center | Aquarium of Hawai‘i | Encounter Hawai‘i’s Marine Life. Plus we booked a gourmet meal for lunch at their Seascape restaurant Dine With Us | Maui Ocean Center. I booked ahead. The 3D theater was amazing. The whale’s nose was inches from my face Humpbacks of Hawaiʻi Exhibit & Sphere – Maui Ocean Center. I only wish there was an adults only day. The screaming children are too much for me. Gone are the days when parents made their children behave in museums and zoos.
We visited this small wildlife preserve, Maui Bird Watching | Friends of Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge, in South Maui several times. It is close to the airport and Whole Foods. The blurry Sleepy Orange is a life butterfly.
The Manawainui Gulch under the Piilani Highway was formed by Haleakala’s waters carving out a deep chasm into the earth. The Manawainui Gulch is often dry unless there’s heavy rainfall, but the views of the southern slopes of Haleakala alongside the massive chasm are stunning. This area is very windy and it’s dangerous to get too close to any of the cliff edges. As you can see, were now on the dry side of the Island.
Piilani Highway is a road with bad reputation. We found it fun to drive. The road is rough and unpaved at times. It’s a good idea to honk around blind corners. Hawaii Route 31 is 61 km (38 miles) long, running from Kipahulu to Ulupalakua. It’s a twisty, up and down roller coaster. The toughest section of the road is about 10km (6 miles) long, where the road sometimes narrows to a single lane in sharp bends. In some areas (such as at Lelekea Bay) it’s just a one-and-a-half lane bumpy road hugging the sea cliff around a blind curve. The hairpin bends are completely blind, but there is almost no traffic. Occasionally the road is closed to traffic due to landslides. Traffic is light.
Piʻilani (“ascent to heaven”) was born ca. 1577 and ruled as Mōʻī of the island of Maui in the later part of the 16th century. At the time Maui was an independent kingdom within the islands of Hawaii. He was the first Aliʻi to unite the island under a single line.
By noon we arrived at Kīpahulu District – Haleakalā National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) around noon (still on the Hana Highway). I did not hike the steep 2 miles up to Waimoku Falls because it was only 3 months since my broken hip. We did the lovely half mile Kuoa Point loop trail by the O’heo Gulch instead.
We saw Frigate birds over the beach and over Alau Island Seabird Sanctuary.
Legend: The dark red sand at Kōkī Beach was produced by the nearby cinder cone hill of Ka Iwi O Pele, meaning “bones of Pele.” According to Hawaiian legend, Kōkī Beach is where the volcano goddess Pele fought her final battle with her older sister, Namakaokaha’i, the goddess of the ocean.
Wialu Falls is visible from the Hana Highway.
I wanted to try Maui beef but didn’t get to try it. This article tells about the beef and lists restaurants that serve it: High Stakes
Midway along the loop road to Hana we stopped at Division of State Parks | Waiʻānapanapa State Park (hawaii.gov). We purchased tickets in advance. The highlight there were the Brown Noddies. The Hawaiian cemetery there is private.
I was looked at other tours on YouTube. Most people only go to the beaches. There are so many beaches, many are almost empty. I found the gardens and other places mostly empty too. Very serene.
We set out before dawn to drive the Road to Hana. Marc did well taking the curves in the dark. The views were spectacular and the drive was an adventure. It was lovely to catch the sunrise with the clouds.
We use the Loop Road to Hana Audio Driving Tour | Self-Guided Audio Tours (shakaguide.com). I learned a lot about historyof Maui from the tour. The stops were all described well and in advance. The car’s connection to GPS is used to regulate the tour. The music was a little kitsch and the narrator over exuberant, but I enjoyed it. From Pai to Hana is ~64 miles. It took us about 16 hours to do the whole loop with stops. I left out the garden of Eden for another day. The Hana Highway (HI-360) has 620 curves and 59 bridges. After that the 38 mile long Piilani Highway is a road with bad reputation in HI (dangerousroads.org). The sharp hairpin curves of the 2 roads often terminated at a one lane bridge by a waterfall (on the wet side of Maui). Check it out on Google maps or Google Earth Pro to see all the curves. Hana Highway changes name to Piilani Highway in a gulch just before on the Alelele Falls on the southern tip of Maui. The ruler Pi’ilani began building a roadway to encircle the entire island Piʻilani – Wikipedia
The waves at the Ke’anae Peninsula were spectacular. The colors blue, aqua, black, and green are stunning.
The Ke’anae Peninsula was created from an immense lava flow originating from Haleakala Crater. Legend has it that a Maui chief ordered the building of Ke’anae peninsula into farmable land. Workers hauled, by hand, soil from the valley above to fill in the entire area. On April 1st, 1946 a tsunami wiped out the entire village. There was an 8.6 earthquake that originated in the Aleutian Islands chain off the coast of Alaska that caused a 100 ft. high tsunami near the epicenter in the Aleutians, but it had lost most of its energy and was 35 feet by the time it hit the Ke’anae Peninsula. In 1946 and there wasn’t any such thing as a tsunami warning system in the Pacific at the time. Tragically, 20 children and 4 teachers were pulled out to sea. A positive outcome from this tragedy was the development and implementation of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. (from Visit Keanae Peninsula | Take Hana Tours to Keanae Maui (tourmaui.com)). Also see Visit Keanae Peninsula | Take Hana Tours to Keanae Maui (tourmaui.com)
Sherry Felix - port4u 