Hawaii ~ Maui~ The Road to Hana

To celebrate two milestones: Noah's 60th birthday and our 35th anniversary, we decided to go to Hawaii. In order to get to more than one island, we flew to Honolulu and then boarded a cruise ship that would take us to visit four islands in seven days. We have never cruised before, so that was exciting! We didn't have any trouble with sea sickness at all. Sometimes we would barely know we were moving. We cruised at night and were in port during the day where we could go ashore and explore the islands or go on excursions. We went on excursions every day except one.

 

This was coming into port on Maui.

 

Getting closer to the dock.

 

Do you see the faint rainbow in the clouds?

 

The first day we went on the Road to Hana. The road is narrow and curvy and follows the beach. There are a lot of old bridges which were only one lane. So if there was oncoming traffic, we would wait or they would wait. The trees above have various colors in the bark. I forget what they are called. We saw these several times along the way.

 

That is the ocean in the background.

 

You can see the top of the ancient bridge that spans this stream.

 

Gorgeous scenery.

 

We stopped by this beach. The black stones are from volcanic lava many years ago.

 

Some years ago this area had a tsunami, and when it was over, this church was the only remaining building. I wanted a picture from the front, but there were worshipers inside whom I did not want to disturb. Enjoyed listening to their praises.

 

More from the same beach.

 

The view behind the beach.

 

Again the ocean in the background.

 

We saw lots of waterfalls along the way.

 

 

 

Here is a black sand beach.

 

Noah gets his feet wet in the Pacific.

 

This is a lava tube. Like a tunnel in the rocks to the beach.

 

Another waterfall.

 

Do you see the philodendron climbing up these trees?

 

And over the rock?

 

Another beach we visited.

 

The view to our backs. Notice the bridge spanning the falls.

 

This is part of the narrow road, following the coastline.

 

A storm two days earlier had sent rocks off the nearby mountain and washed out a portion of the road. Fortunately we could go around, albeit slowly. Noah was afraid we would have to retrace our route, and given that this was close to the end of our excursion, it was nice to not have to go back!

 

You can see that the coastline is rugged.

And that is all for today.