September 15, 2006 9

South Maui: Beach-hopping

//// By in Travel

Once over at the resort side, we first headed the South side that has the most beaches. What a vastly different scenary from Hana: it’s all upscale resorts, big mansions and golf courses. There’re about 18 mid-big beaches along the South coast, and we chose three to visit. Time for some classic Maui beaches~
DSC01179.jpgDSC01180.jpg
The Waelia Beach is supposedly the best beach on Maui: fine pillowy sand, gentle waves good for swimming, crystal clear water~ But as Four Season resort was right there, it seems as if they owned it. It’s all tourists here. All those emperor tents, everyone using the same hotel beach towels. But the real turn off: it has no tree shade.
DSC01204.jpgDSC01203s.jpg
Drove further down to the Maluaka Beach. The sand were rougher with lots of trash, the waves are stronger! But the good thing is that it has shades. We felt asleep~
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ,

September 15, 2006 4

Moana Bakery and Cafe (Maui: Pa’ia)

//// By in 05: US Other, Travel

The 3rd day we’re heading back outside, enduring the prone-to-car sickness Hana Highway again. Turns out it was the big marathon event where all these contestents kept running toward our traffic (followed by their cheerleading friends on their van with camera on opposite traffic). Narrow one lane road, crazy blind spot turns, and now people are running in the middle of the road!!! My goodness~~
DSC01412.jpgDSC01420.jpg
Back to the wonderful Pai’a town! We have brunch at Moana Bakery, it reminds of some overpriced hipster hangout at Silver Lake. The Scramble Egg Wrap is so-so.
DSC01418.jpgDSC01421.jpg
Mahi-Mahi Egg Benedict, the edge part are very fishy (is it old?). I have the Potato Cake with Tomato Egg Benedict, it’s pretty good!
DSC01177.jpg
Though our breakfast food were not that impressive. We bought their pastries for our upcoming beach hunt journey. OH MY they’re DELICIOUS!!! Very very impressed!
DSC01173.jpgDSC01175.jpg
Passing the Hookipa Beach again, it has the clearest water! Lots of seaweed (?) though…

Tags: , , , ,

September 14, 2006 3

Hana Pt.4: Hana Bay, Hamoa Beach

//// By in 05: US Other, Travel

DSC01142.jpgDSC01143.jpg
Hana Bay, a so-so beach with a dark reddish sand but walking distance from our condo. Most importantly, it has the only decent (and affordable) lunch spot in Hana: Tutu’s Snack Shop!
DSC01144.jpgDSC01146.jpg
Taro Burger is pretty good~ Though after all the hiking and swimming I wished I had a meat patty but I didn’t want to miss the chance to try this. The fries are surprisingly GOOD! So golden and crispy~
DSC01145.jpgDSC01147.jpg
Teriyaki Burger is delicious. Beef Steak is pretty good too~
DSC01148.jpg
The most beautiful beach at Hana: Hamoa Beach.
DSC01150.jpgDSC01152.jpg
Picture 007.jpgPicture 097.jpg
It is still small, the sand is half white half black (they called it ‘salt-and-pepper’ sand) and the waves are ridiculously strong (good for body surfing). We had great fun playing with the waves here but we underestimated the waves and laid down our bags and blankets not far back enough (the sand area is really small). One strong wave hit and it washed over our belongings!!! We had to chase them before being completely pull out to the ocean…how embarassing! So we had to hang dried everything on the tree. Here’s where my newly bought beach tote was proven useful: it is water resistence. So only my belongings were unspoiled by water…^^;;;

Tags: ,

September 14, 2006 3

Hana Pt.3 Blue Pool, Botanical Garden

//// By in Travel

Continue from Pt.2, we’re still on our quest to get wet…^^;; What I like about Hana is that there’re many hidden trails and scenary gems. Following the guidebook instructions for an adventurous find are sometimes more fun than the destination. Our next stop is the Blue Pool. We had to drive the dirt road into the forest…
Picture 069.jpgbluepond.jpg
DSC01070.jpgDSC01068.jpg
I love the hike in the forest, many exotic plants
Picture 066.jpgbluepool2.jpg
Along the journey, there were many many MANY warning signs against you venturing further. Some serious, some prankish looking. We almost get fool by this one huge official looking banner hanged across the trees that saids “Blue Pool Closed.” Seems like the Blue Pool has a deep cultural and spiritual value to the natives, they dislike tourists to disturb it.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

September 14, 2006 3

Hana Pt.2: Quest for swimming

//// By in Travel

When we read the guidebook more closely, we found that Hana doesn’t have a lot of beaches (the big beaches are all over at the resort touristy area) and the ones here are mostly small and un-swimmable. But they have very unique beaches here. Since we were desperate for a ‘vacation’ feeling right away so we got up at 6 am to start our quest to look for a swimming destination.
DSC00991.jpgDSC01004.jpg
Left The very $$$ ocean front resort; A Red Sand Beach that we can’t figure out how to get down to (doesn’t look swimmable anyway).
DSC01009.jpgPicture 018.jpg
Our first quest is to hit the natural pools. We followed the guidebook’s instruction to crawl over a barb wire fence with an ‘no trespassing sign’ (which the guidebook told us to ignore) into the wild grass, passed this strange Portugese Bread Oven in the middle of the field, and hiked down the hill…
venus.jpg
Found the Venus Pool!!! It is so gorgeous~~ but there’s no way down!!! Seems like you can only get down there by 1) diving, 2) rock climbing gear. What a disappointment….we can only admire it from the cliff.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

Older Posts
Newer Posts