We woke up and got packed, got some breakfast and took Dave J. to the airport since he had to leave on an earlier flight. Then Steve, Dave and I headed out to drive the last part of the coastline we hadn't done yet. The amazing thing about the Hawaiian island is that since it has a windward (wetter) and a leeward (drier) side, you can find almost any climate! Every part of this island has been awesome, and this area was no different. Not quite as lush, but still gorgeous. This side had had some sweet rocky beaches, and at one point, we saw a mtn side filled with waterfalls all the way down. After bit of driving, we got a little hungry so we stopped at a little shack that advertised coffee and fruit drinks. This shack had no electricity, only a propane fridge, and... a bike. If YOU wanted a blended drink, YOU had to peddle! It sure was good though. After that, we went to the Seven Sacred Pools, hiked around a bit and headed out. We made it around to Hana and just kept on truckin. We drove the whole east side of the island, finishing up the drive as the sun went down. We got some food and headed to the airport. When I went to check in, the lady behind the counter said, 'im sorry, but i don't see your reservation", WHAT THE FREAK! ! ! Turns out,,, I booked my ticket for the wrong date. My flight wasn't untill the following night, which would put me back into SoCal too late to make it back in time to see my first few patients! She said that the flight was overbooked with no chance of getting on, my only chance to make it back in time to get to school was to show up the next morning, be the first one in line, and try to get on a standby flight on Mon morning. So, thats what i had to do. I spent a smelly night in the cheap hotel, got up, showered and was there an hr before they opened, the first one in line then the spent all day waiting in the airport. Booooooo. But, I did make it back safe and sound. And, so ended my wonderfully short little stay in paradise. Here is a little map or some of our journeys
Today we went scuba diving, but we had to get up really freakin early,,, again. 5 am. After rolling out of bed, we headed down to the marina to meet our boat. We loaded up and headed out on the ocean just as the sun was coming up. We got to our dive site and headed out. Our dive was cleverly named 5 Caves because, I assume,,, there were 5 caves :) We saw a bunch of amazing aquatic creatures, got to go into a bubble cave, into a cave with a bunch of aggro sharks, and tons of turtles. Not gonna lie, when a 8 ft white tipped reef shark quickly swam within a few feet of my shoulder, im pretty sure i peed a little in my wetsuit. Our next dive was down to a little wreck. There wasn't as many creatures to see, but it was tons of fun playing around the in wreck. I did have to have a little stare down turtle who wouldn't stay on his side of the fence. After we got back from the dive, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out to the hike our waitress had told us about. We were going to the Iao park, which is where the famous Iao needle is located (an inactive volcano). Our waitress had told us that when we got to the little lookout, we should jump over the fence (with signs saying NOT to) and just stay on the trail until we came out onto a little plateau. We jumped the fence (ignoring all the looks), and headed off into the jungle. It was an amazing hike through the greenest valley I have seen in a long time. We heard there were some wild fruit on the way up. After an hr and a half, we finally made it to the plateau. It was so amazing. We took a bunch of pics, and headed back home. After dinner, we were so incredibly tired that we went to bed by 8:30!!!
We slept in a bit this morning, all the way to about 7:30. Once we were up, we went down to the beach and rented some paddleboards. The thing about paddleboarding is, it's not hard to stand up, its hard to stay standing! We only thought we'd be out there for an hour or two, but we were having SO MUCH FUN, we stayed out as long as we could... 5 hr's straight! What a blast. It took us a while to get the hang of it, but once we did we even caught a few party waves. We were all so sore after, not just from whole-body muscle, but from the multiple falls into the shallow coral just below the surface! Sore muscles, bruised heal, and a few cuts,,, not too bad for a day of fun on some big boards, and little waves. After we returned the boards we headed back, got cleaned up and headed out for some dinner. After walking around town, we ended up walkin into the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. for dinner. We got to sit right on the edge of the little patio which was just on the edge of the ocean and watch the sun go down as we ordered... how romantic for 4 guys :) Whatever,,, our waitress was cute, so it all worked! We asked her for a cool hike, that was somewhere the other tourists wouldn't find, and also wouldn't get our butts kicked by some locals. She told us about one, we paid (gave her a nice tip), and headed home and to bed.
So, last night when we got back, we decided to go to the top of the Haleakala Volcano and watch the sunrise, which was supposed to be awesome. Poor choice of activities. To make it there by sunrise, we had to wake up at 4 AM to make the 2 hr drive in time! Not only did we have to wake up at the pre-buttcrack of dawn, but we didn't get to bed at a good time either since the girls were up late packing. Only us guys were gonna go, so, after only a few hours of sleep, we piled into the jeep and headed to the volcano. The top of the volcano (over 10,000 ft high) was still dark when we got there, and really really cold. It was 36 degrees... in HAWAII!!! We hiked up, watched the sun come up, it was beautiful, took some pics, hiked back down and drove home. We all went out for our last meal before taking the girls to the airport. After we said our tearful goodbyes :) we (the fellas) headed out to the beach to try a little spearfishing for the rest of the afternoon,,, again, and to the same outcome, NOTHING! We did get chased by a small white tipped reef shark for a bit, and see some more turtles. Dinner was good, going to bed early was better.
Today was the last full day the girls were gonna be here with us in Hawaii. They all had lame reasons calling them back to the mainland. So, we decided to do another drive. A little geography on the island might help. Maui is shaped like a bowling pin, the road to Hana takes you about half way around the big half of the bowling pin, and today we drove the whole way around the small half. Now, I gotta say, in the guide book there is all this bla bla bla about how curvy and narrow the road to hana was... No no no. That road was a straight four lane highway compared to this one. There were many areas where only one car could pass (and just barely) and if you came around the corner and there was a car, one of you would have to back all the way up (which was kinda scary if you had to back around some of those spots). I think the book didn't really talk much about it to try and keep traffic down or something, who knows. Anyway, it was B - E - A - UTIFUL. The whole trip was constant neck strain to try and see everything! There was quite a lot of "JESSE WATCH THE ROAD!!!", but, hey, i wanted to see it too :) Our first stop was a little hike down am amazing lookout. We were going to hike down to the bottom where there are some tide pools that were supposed to be really cool,,, unfortunately there was a high surf advisory and it way too high, the water was totally covering them and it would have been a wee bit hazardous to go down there. After that we drove to the Blowhole. This is where the real adventure happened. For a while we just watched the hole spouting 60-100 ft high and the enormous spray from when the 10-15 ft surf crashed into the sea wall, then, we decided to get a little closer,,, oops. When we first got down to the spot we did what all boys like to do, played on the rocks and in the spray. Then we did what only stupid boys do when there are other stupid boys around to egg each other on,,, get really close to a razor sharp lava rock sea wall with giant man eating waves of death are crashing into/over it. There was a bit of a lull so we got up on the top part of the rocks. It was just some smaller swells sending spray over us, so we got a bit closer all the time laughing and having a good time taking pics and stuff like that. The power of the ocean was awesome. A few waves had even poured so far over the edge that we had to grab on to the rocks to balance when it was flowing back into the sea, but nothing we couldn't handle, still just good ol times. You know, the first time i went surfing, Cody, being the sensitive instructor that he was, told me to 'NEVER turn my back on the ocean, or else...', I should have remembered that, especially since i was the closest to it. We were all talking when we turned back toward the sea and all saw it. A massive freakin wave just about to hit the wall. There was a collective "OH SHIT" and that was all the time we had before it hit. We were completely engulfed in the spray, and then the overflow hit us. I had a pretty solid footing, but i felt my feet slipping away from me as the water flowed above my knees. I had no choice but dive out for a hand hold... on the razor sharp rocks! I got a solid grip, and rode out the storm. As the water drained and we mist cleared enough that we could see each other and we realized we were all there, we decided to get the freak out of there. There was some serious glory yells coming from us though, we were STOKED! What a rush,,, sure, it could have ended quite a bit worse, but it didn't, we survived, and now we have a rad story for the parents :) My hands however, suffered multiple boo boos cause those lava rocks took chuncks of skin as payment for my life saving hold. My hands hurt, but it was totally worth it! Well, fortunately for us (and my mom's nerves as she reads this) the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. We ate lunch at a little park and did some snorkeling. We finished up the day in a little town for dinner. It was alot like Laguna in CA, small, clean, artsy, and fun. There was a tree there that took up an entire park! It had branches and roots raining down into the ground everwhere. I had a little staring contest with one of the locals,,, he won. The day even ended with a rainbow. Adventure, blowholes, beautiful beaches, some snorkeling, good food, and great company... What a day!
The amazing thing about the Hawaiian island is that since it has a windward (wetter) and a leeward (drier) side, you can find almost any climate! 
Every part of this island has been awesome, and this area was no different. Not quite as lush, but still gorgeous. 
This side had had some sweet rocky beaches, 
and at one point, we saw a mtn side filled with waterfalls all the way down. 
After bit of driving, we got a little hungry so we stopped at a little shack that advertised coffee and fruit drinks.
This shack had no electricity, only a propane fridge, and... a bike. If YOU wanted a blended drink, YOU had to peddle! 
It sure was good though. After that, we went to the Seven Sacred Pools, 
hiked around a bit and headed out. We made it around to Hana and just kept on truckin. We drove the whole east side of the island, finishing up the drive as the sun went down. 
We got some food and headed to the airport. When I went to check in, the lady behind the counter said, 'im sorry, but i don't see your reservation", WHAT THE FREAK! ! ! Turns out,,, I booked my ticket for the wrong date. My flight wasn't untill the following night, which would put me back into SoCal too late to make it back in time to see my first few patients! She said that the flight was overbooked with no chance of getting on, my only chance to make it back in time to get to school was to show up the next morning, be the first one in line, and try to get on a standby flight on Mon morning. So, thats what i had to do. I spent a smelly night in the cheap hotel, got up, showered and was there an hr before they opened, the first one in line then the spent all day waiting in the airport. Booooooo. But, I did make it back safe and sound. And, so ended my wonderfully short little stay in paradise. Here is a little map or some of our journeys
