We woke up fairly early in the morning today and headed out around 9:00 to a breakfast buffet in Wailea that was recommended to us by Josh and Jess (it was the restaurant at the resort they had stayed at in 2017). On our drive down we stopped at the side of the road to grab a picture of a humpback whale's flukes (tail) that it kept up in the air for quite a while and wasn't too far off shore. It took about an hour to get to Ka'Ana Kitchen, but it was a great meal with a terrific view. Afterwards we walked down to the beach (Beach #1) before hopping back in the car to head even further south. We were kind of looking for somewhere that we might find sea turtles but I think we were misinformed about seeing them down there. We travelled until the road got pretty narrow (especially with the number of parked cars along the side of the road) and got out to have a look around. We followed a walkway to a beach area near Makena (called Secret Cove) which was pretty small, but beautiful, and with much of the black lava rock exposed (Beach #2).
We didn't stay very long and went back north a few miles to Makena State Park where we took a walk along Big Beach. We got our feet wet with the waves coming in but almost lost our sandals and Beth's hat when we were sitting down and a larger wave washed up (Beach #3). After that we continued our drive back north, staying along the busy, touristy shore for most of the time. We filled up the gas tank along the way, which was pretty expensive, but that makes sense as it needs to be shipped across the ocean. When driving there always seems to be mountains and water in view, which makes for beautiful scenery. On the sides of the mountains you can see gulleys where obviously the lava flowed down many centuries ago. We noted some wind turbines on one of the mountains and we also saw a sugar cane field beside the road.
We decided to visit the Maui Ocean Center and were quite impressed with the presentations we took in. First was a 3D 360 degree short film (which debuted just last week) featuring amazing closeup shots of humpback whales - it really seemed like you could reach out and touch the face of one of the whales. Then we headed over for a talk about sea turtles. They had 4 young (2 years old - they were about 1.5 feet long but grow to be 4 feet long) turtles in a large tank which they eventually release back into the ocean. The naturalist gave great information and fed the turtles pieces of broccoli(!). Finally we headed over to an indoor aquarium display which contains 750,000 gallons of water. We timed it just right to see a diver go into the water with the fish, rays, and sharks. She was equipped with a microphone so that she could interact with us and even answer questions. There was a very good emphasis on conservation and preserving our oceans.
By the time we got back to the condo we were pretty tired so we rested briefly and had something to eat. Then we decided that it was time to explore around the condo complex a little bit. We checked out the pool here and then walked down some stairs just at the north end of the property to a small beach there (Beach #4). Then we took a little walk around the neighbourhood but there isn't a lot right nearby, except some sketchy looking Chinese restaurant. We did go up one street, a cul-de-sac actually, and saw a coconut that had fallen out of a tree. We had to take a picture of that because Lindsay had sent us a video the day before asking us all sorts of questions about Hawaii, including 'did you see a coconut?'.
We woke up fairly early in the morning today and headed out around 9:00 to a breakfast buffet in Wailea that was recommended to us by Josh and Jess (it was the restaurant at the resort they had stayed at in 2017). On our drive down we stopped at the side of the road to grab a picture of a humpback whale's flukes (tail) that it kept up in the air for quite a while and wasn't too far off shore. It took about an hour to get to Ka'Ana Kitchen, but it was a great meal with a terrific view. Afterwards we walked down to the beach (Beach #1) before hopping back in the car to head even further south. We were kind of looking for somewhere that we might find sea turtles but I think we were misinformed about seeing them down there. We travelled until the road got pretty narrow (especially with the number of parked cars along the side of the road) and got out to have a look around. We followed a walkway to a beach area near Makena (called Secret Cove) which was pretty small, but beautiful, and with much of the black lava rock exposed (Beach #2).
We didn't stay very long and went back north a few miles to Makena State Park where we took a walk along Big Beach. We got our feet wet with the waves coming in but almost lost our sandals and Beth's hat when we were sitting down and a larger wave washed up (Beach #3). After that we continued our drive back north, staying along the busy, touristy shore for most of the time. We filled up the gas tank along the way, which was pretty expensive, but that makes sense as it needs to be shipped across the ocean. When driving there always seems to be mountains and water in view, which makes for beautiful scenery. On the sides of the mountains you can see gulleys where obviously the lava flowed down many centuries ago. We noted some wind turbines on one of the mountains and we also saw a sugar cane field beside the road.
We decided to visit the Maui Ocean Center and were quite impressed with the presentations we took in. First was a 3D 360 degree short film (which debuted just last week) featuring amazing closeup shots of humpback whales - it really seemed like you could reach out and touch the face of one of the whales. Then we headed over for a talk about sea turtles. They had 4 young (2 years old - they were about 1.5 feet long but grow to be 4 feet long) turtles in a large tank which they eventually release back into the ocean. The naturalist gave great information and fed the turtles pieces of broccoli(!). Finally we headed over to an indoor aquarium display which contains 750,000 gallons of water. We timed it just right to see a diver go into the water with the fish, rays, and sharks. She was equipped with a microphone so that she could interact with us and even answer questions. There was a very good emphasis on conservation and preserving our oceans.
By the time we got back to the condo we were pretty tired so we rested briefly and had something to eat. Then we decided that it was time to explore around the condo complex a little bit. We checked out the pool here and then walked down some stairs just at the north end of the property to a small beach there (Beach #4). Then we took a little walk around the neighbourhood but there isn't a lot right nearby, except some sketchy looking Chinese restaurant. We did go up one street, a cul-de-sac actually, and saw a coconut that had fallen out of a tree. We had to take a picture of that because Lindsay had sent us a video the day before asking us all sorts of questions about Hawaii, including 'did you see a coconut?'.
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