Hawaii - Part 1

We made it to Maui and back - although Ben could have stayed a few more days :) Rather than do 1 huge post about the whole week, I'm going to break it into chunks - starting with the first 4 days on the island. I had told Ben weeks ago that I had two requirements for this trip. I didn't want a schedule and there was no way I was going to cook, even if our condo had a kitchen. We rarely eat out, just the two of us, and I was REALLY looking forward to enjoying three meals a day without having to do the work or deal with the distractions, i.e. demanding children. We were going to be staying in Kihei (on the southern-eastern coast of the island) for the first four days. We dropped all of our stuff off at the condo and drove around town. We got some shopping done for key essentials: specifically bottled water, milk chocolate covered coconut macadamias and sunscreen. This was the first beach we went to the next day. It was called Big Beach (since it is nearly 3/4 of a mile of flawless white sand beach) There was hardly anyone there and the water was gorgeous. Not quite as warm as a bathtub, but definitely much more swimable than the frigid waters of Oregon. We went to Makena Beach the next day, which is in front of the old Maui Prince Hotel. Ben did a ton of snorkeling, and decided it was much better snorkeling than anything we did in St. Maarten on our honeymoon. We took pictures on an underwater camera and haven't developed those yet! There were tons of Butterfly fish, Triggerfish, and we even saw a few of the Hawaiian state fish, the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. There were about 20 different species of fish swimming all around, and if you went down underwater, you could hear the singing of the whales in the area. The next few days were spent sleeping in, getting breakfast, laying out/snorkeling at various perfect beaches, getting lunch, shopping and going to the movies. Ben got a little distracted finishing the books 'Hunger Games' and 'Catching Fire'. If you are looking to spend interactive time with your spouse, don't give him this book in the middle of a vacation. But, amid the beaches, and reading, and relaxing, life was wonderful. On our last full day in Kihei we went on this 5-mile hike to a waterfall. We had to cross two precarious, swinging bridges and wade through two streams to get there but it was gorgeous. This area was a private plantation, but was pretty undisturbed rainforest. The foliage was amazing and there were a few humongous Banyan Trees. We spent most of our time at the beaches during brightest late AM to early PM hours for tanning and to warm up after snorkeling. But we made a few special trips down to the beach to catch the sunsets of the Kihei coast. This picture is us enjoying the sunset (and each other) on Kalepolepo Beach, which was just across the street from our condo. Aren't we so cute! Our silhouettes even make a little heart. Awwww! Coming up next - our drive to Hana.