Maui #2 (22-24 January 2014)

22 January: Our final 3 nights on the Hawaiian isles were in Wailea along the western shore of the southern portion of Maui. Very comfortable spot with very manicured lawns, golf courses galore, resorts with pools and mellow beach action. Soraya, Dirk, Ella and Reese were staying there as well for their winter holidays in an accommodation next to the beach, so we spent a lot of time with them during our final 3 nights in Hawaii, which was great. Here's a pic at the pool next to the beach that also include Connie (Dirk's mother), and Doug and Leslie (Dirk's step-brother and wife) who were also visiting the isles.

And a pic of Dirk and Reese just thereafter. A great reason for all of these folks to converge on Maui at this time was to celebrate Dirk's 40th birthday, which was to occur tomorrow.

23 January: More beach action today down at the Renner's abode. We considered rallying to the north shore to watch the large swell that was peaking today, but the combination of the kid's not being up for it and the high traffic volume generated by onlookers of the big wave action on the north shore was enough to deter us. The highest wave at Peahi (Jaws) was purported to be 62 foot, and there were a lot of local and global fly-in big wave surfers tackling it (Robin avidly followed the day's proceedings through Facebook, apparently filming for Point Break 2 took place). Further as today was Dirk's birthday, we had a splendid time at the beach catching the large-ish waves of the protected Wailea waters with the kids (and adults) getting in a lot of boogie boarding action. Afterwards, Connie and Jerry (Dirk's father) hosted a great birthday celebration dinner. Here are some pics on the grounds next to their accommodation prior to the feast.

Soraya with her 40-year old husband.

Dirk and his mother Connie.

Us.

And Dirk blowing out the traditional mega-cake...

24 January: Dirk and I during a reasonably inebriated state during the previous night's festivities made a commitment to make the 1.5 hour drive up to the summit of the volcano (Haleakala), which involved a 5 am start to view the sunrise at 6:45-7:00 am. We made it and were well rewarded with a spectacular view just prior to the onset of the sunrise with the big island to the east (lower right of picture), .

And capturing the start of the sunrise rising over the cloud shrouded ocean.

Here's a view to the east with the west Maui mountains in the background and the shadow of Haleakala (10,023 foot shield volcano) outlined with the peak's shadow in the middle left of the picture. Also note the bizarre alpine vegetation in the forefront. It was amazingly cold, I probably have not felt this cold at any time over the 7 months of our trip owing to the general coldness, high wind chill and totally inappropriate beach clothes we were wearing.

The Haleakala crater is huge (can fit Manhattan in it) and a bizarre landscape. Great excursion!

We were back at Wailea by 9 am which left ample time to load the car (Robsie had packed up during the excursion), and then we headed over to Dirk and Soraya's place to have a final frolic in the ocean before making our way back to the airport. Here's Dirk at the end of a boogie board wave ride...

A typical chaotic beach scene with Soraya attending to Reese at the shoreline, Luca and Frankie waiting to body ride some white wash near shore, Sam going out to catch another body surf ride, and I believe me in the whitewash a bit further on...

Sam practicing his surf lifesaving high step exit water moves...

Well we waited until the last minute to make a hasty departure to minimize the amount of time spent seeing our 'see ya laterz' to minimize moist eyes and to allow just enough time for a quick gander of the tail end of the large swell that was pounding the northshore at Hookipa Beach. Big sets were still 2-3x overhead. Here are some typical waves we saw from the lookout.

And as per usual the rugged west Maui mountains provided a spectacular backdrop.

It was an activity filled last couple of days in Maui with lots of beach, waves and pool activity with the relatives. So by the time we arrived to Honolulu Airport after the short flight from Maui, the girl's were plum-tuckered out. Here they are just lying in the international terminal as we got our boarding passes for the flight to Auckland New Zealand.

It was great to spend time with Soraya, Dirk, Reese and Ella one final time before out final stop in New Zealand to our rapidly ending approach of our round-the-world excursion. Once again thanks for all the Bend-ians for the good times!