Hawaii,
Sunday, 2012-2-3
The flight took off from the runway going east, and then
turn northwest over the Richardson Ocean Park, and gave us an excellent aerial
view of the park. and then the whole Hilo Bay. As the airplane gained altitude higher than
the cloud, we started to see the majestic Mauna Kea (4,207 m) wearing a cloud
skirt. We could also see the other volcano Hualalai (2,521 m) behind it. While the top and flank of Mauna Kea was
slightly rugged, the Hualalai had the perfect shape of a smooth shield Volcano.
As we flew closer, we could see the many cinder cones on the flank and the
white speckles on the top of Mauna Kea. With the help of zooming, we could
clearly see the white buildings to be the Mauna Kea Observatories. The
observatory was opened to public, and there was a visiting information center 11
km below the summit to let the visitor acclimate the atmospheric condition
before starting the steep climb on the dirt road. Gradually, we saw clearer of
the volcano, and found its flank was very rough, and we saw some very large, deep
and steep craters.
We flew over ‘Alenuihaha Channel separating Hawaii and
Maui islands, and saw two large shield volcanoes in front. They were probably
Haleaka and Mauna Kahalawai in Maui. As we continue to fly over ‘Alalakeiki
Channel separating the island Kaho’olawe and Maui, we saw the beautiful
crescent moon shape Molokini Island, a partially submerged crater. I saw some
yachts mooring in its water.
Maui island was made up by a doublet of shield volcanoes.
On the west was the older Mauna Kahalawai (1,764 m), and on the east was the
younger Haleakala (3,00m). Between these two volcanoes lay a broad valley called the Isthmus
of Maui. The whole island had the shape of an upper body of a man. Mauna
Kahalawai was the small head, and the rest was the torso. The flight entered
Maui from its southern Maalaea Bay into the Isthmus and landed at the airport
in Kahului in its northern shore. The GPS dongle worked intermittently, and I
had the positions of some of the aerial photos
.
The guide today liked to brag of his skill and experience
of all kind of sports. Our first stop was the Ioa Valley State Park. We took HW
#32 west. It changed name a few times, and was finally called Iao Valley Rd as
we enter the valley. Ioa Valley was the widest valley in the eastern flank of
Mauna Kahalawai. It was a lust, stream cut valley. In the lower part of the valley
where it was wide, the road stayed on the south side of the valley while the
Ioa Stream flowed on the opposite side. Toward the head of the valley, it
became narrow, the road crossed to the north side of the valley, and we were
surrounded by steep and high cliff.
Ioa Needle was the landmark in the park. It was like a
giant phallus with a height of 370 m. Actually, it was the end of a thin mountain
ridge. The full view of the ridge was not clearly visible behind the Needle. At
the top of the trail, we had a good view of the valley and we could see the gentle
slope of Haleakala at the opening of the valley. Following the trail, we reached
the bank of the Ioa Stream filled with boulders of all sizes. It was peaceful
and very beautiful. It had a deep pool and several people were enjoying the
cold water in the pool. On the trail, I saw a grove of guava trees bearing the
yellow mature fruit.
We returned by the same road and passed Kepaniwai Park
Heritage’s Garden. There were gardens representing Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese,
Filipino, Portuguese and other cultures. We then turned south into HW #30
encircling Mauna Kalahui around the western coast of Maui..
The south and the west flank of Mauna Kalahui were on the
lee side of the trade wind, and the lower side of its flank close to the shore
was very dry and bare. We passed the southern tip of the windmills, and saw
many cars parked on a lookout at the ocean side of the road. The guide said
that the people were watching whales in the water. The water surrounded by the
four islands of Maui: Kahoolawe, Molokai, Lanai and Maui formed a shallow basin
with a depth of 100 m which was very preferable for humpback whales. And they
like to winterize here from Alaska. He promised that he would stop to let us
watch on the way back.
As we continued northward, we saw several narrow beaches
on the side of the road. The waves broke a distant away from shore indicating
that the beach might be rocky. There were many cars and people on the beach.
The guide said that many of them were doing snorkelling. Soon we arrived at the
small and busy shopping town Lahania. The harbor was lined with small booths providing
services for fishing and whale watching. A large cruise ship was mooring at
deeper water. And a ferry was running to bring its passengers to shore. There
was a huge banyan tree taking up the space for the whole block. Artists set up
their stalls under the tree. The major street was the Front Street, and it was
lined with shops and stores mainly for the visiting tourists. We strolled for
one hour in this small town with no other attractions but shopping. It
certainly was not what I liked to do.
We had lunch in a Chinese restaurant north of the town.
The rocky beach across the street offered a good view. We saw many yachts
moored in the water, and far behind them
was the smooth shield volcano island of Lanai, and the slightly jagged shield
volcano island of Mloka’i. After lunch,
we continued northward. The guide wanted to open our eyes on the beautiful golf
course in Kapalua. There were many condos in the golf property. I saw a beautiful
red crested cardinal on the lawn in Lahania, and I saw it again on a shrub in
Kapalua. It even posted to allow me to take photo with a powerful zoom lens.
We then drove back on the same road and stopped at
Kaanapali. We walked through the shopping mall toward the beach. It was much
better than that in Waikiki. The beach was wide, clean and without any man-made construction
or obstruction. The high rise hotels were not built too crowded, and there was
ample space between them. The waves were usually gentle, but occasionally large
waves might roll on and break at the beach. But there were not many people on
the beach, and we enjoyed wading there, waiting and getting wet by the next
breaking wave.
We left after an hour, and were excited at several
sightings of the whale from the car. Half an hour later, we arrived at the
whale watching lookout, and stretched our necks looking for the water spout or
the flapping tail of the whale in the horizon. A whale watching boat was also
in the area. I didn’t see any and was disappointedly got into the car 15
minutes later. A member in our tour group was lucky. He captured a photo of a
tail flapping in the air. Many people in the car passed the cell phones and
cameras asking him to make a copy.
We stopped at a park or a garden. The guide said that
there were many rare trees there. I thought that it might be an arboretum. But
there was really not much to see there. Later, I found out that it was the
courtyard of Flyin Hawaiian Zipline. I really didn’t understand his motivation
for stopping there other than the company policy for trying to get someone
interested in zipline adventure.
We were taken back to the airport at 16:40 to catch our
flight leaving at 18:30 to Honolulu. That was the end of our tour in Maui. I
regretted for not having the chance to see and experience the other more interesting
attractions in the island.
More photos could be viewed in lku99999 Picasa Photo
Albums in Google
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