HAWAII - MAUI
After a missed flight, and an extended layover in San Francisco, we finally arrived in Maui in the monsoon of all monsoons. Through a flash flood I raced to get the rental car, only to be soaked through and through. We checked in to the Maui Coast Hotel and went looking for dinner. It was all dodgy bars so we opted for a little grocery shopping.
In the morning, the rain had cleared and we headed to Kanaha State Park for day 1 of windsurfing lessons. Our instructor Rich had the beach bum surfer look down pat, but a British accent through us for a loop. We just pretended it was Australian and it all made sense. Veronica got going pretty quickly while I spent most of my time falling and getting back on the board - eventually things go better. There were huge sea turtles where we were surfing and I nearly ran one over.
Next was the Road to Hana - a beautiful winding road on the way to... Hana? Our real destination was the Black Sand Beach of Waianapanapa. It's pure lava and a sacred site for Hawaiians. Definitely one of those places that makes you feel like you're on another planet. We lay on the beach for bit, hiked around, and of course a photo shoot. It looked like rain was coming in so we figured we should get back on the road.
We had the option of retracing our steps down the winding road, or going to what they call 'the great beyond.' A new road sounded more interesting and the map suggested it would be straighter... Well, perhaps the map maker just got lazy. Or based on the sometimes dirt and rock 1 lane road, the map maker had maybe never been. The sun had set so it was white knuckle 3 hour trek back. We had just enough energy to crawl into bed... at 10pm. We're still on NY time.