Maui Trip - Day 4 (Part 5 of 5)

The food or feast (Pa'ina Ahiahi) had a starter course with Chips, Ulu Hummus, Haupia, Julolo, Palaoa, and Guava-Honey Better.  This was followed by a traditional Hawaiian course with Imu Roasted Park, Lu'au Leaf Wrapped Park, Fresh Poke Ahi, Lomi Lomi Salmon and a Pohole Sald.  The main course as Grilled Flat Iron steak, Fresh Ahi Tuna with Garlic and Lemon, Pineapple Chicken, and Uala which was a sweet potato wrapped in banana leaf.  Later in the evening, we had a Pineapple Sponge Cake dessert which was amazing, as well.

After most of the food started done, we started to get into the heart of the Luau.  The Luau is actually somewhat of a history lesson and each of the dances progress through the history of Hawaii from the beginning of time through current events.  The first dance is the Ote'a which is about the early migration of the Polynesians across the Pacific to the "new islands of Hawai'i.

This progresses into the Kahiko which was an ancient way of communicating with the Gods.  This had lots of chanting, traditional implements and was performed with respect for the ancestors.

The third section was about Missionaries and the Merrie Monarch which illustrated changes brought through missionaries to the islands.  This also celebrated King Kalakaua.

Lastly, the 'Auana which was more of the modern hula influenced by immigrants and tourism.  The Hula dancers tell their stories through their moves, subtle eyes, and hula hands.  As the night progressed, it was truly amazing to see the different styles of dance and learn a bit about the traditional Hawaiian history.

The whole event probably lasted 3-4 hours and, though expensive, was truly a unique experience and the boys had a great time.  Highly recommend this to anyone who is going over to Maui!

Maui Trip - Day 4 (Part 4 of 5)

 After the smoked meat ceremony, we returned back to our table.  We had great seats and were happy to have chairs, though the more traditional (and closer) way to see the Luau is to sit on the ground and this short tables.  The first part of the Luau had these dancers up leading us through how to do some proper Hawaiian dancing.

Everyone had to get out of their seats, and we all tried our best to sway like the trees, though it seems some of us were better at it than others.

As the numerous courses of food came out, Tara and I took the opportunity to get a picture in front of the beautiful sunset.  We couldn't have asked for a better night for this view!

In following up with Gavin on how he was liking the food, hopefully you can tell by the response you see above.  I think this means it's super tasty!  These guys were grinning ear to ear the whole night.

Maui Trip - Day 4 (Part 3 of 5)

Before the actual Luau starts, there is this almost ceremonial unburying of the traditional roasted meat.  Apparently, it is smoked for almost 12 hours in this pit under a bunch of layers.  The top layer being coals/dirt.

After scraping away the top layer, there was this thick layer of banana leaves and some other coverage that protected things below.

This layer was slowly peeled off to reveal the meat of the animal below.

Here they are taking the meat from out of the cooking pit and into the tray for carving.  Gavin was quite impressed with the muscles on these guys, even the older ones were fairly built up.  While this was happening, we had some drinks as we watched and there was also a sales area for traditional Hawaiian wood carvings and other art creations.  All really neat but our luggage wouldn't accommodate much on the return journey, unfortunately. 

Maui Trip - Day 4 (Part 2 of 5)

 

After snorkeling in the morning, we cleaned up a bit and headed all the way to the far west coast of Maui up to Lahaina and Kaanapali for what is advertised as the "Best Luau on the Island".  What is also pretty crazy is that Lahaina was the location of a tragic fire that burned down almost the entire city about a year before this.  There is almost nothing standing left within the city and it is mostly closed, however part of this historic Luau is specifically called out to help with the recovery effort, and I think this is viewed as something helpful rather than a distraction for the community.

Once you arrive, they give you each these real flower necklaces which went great with our mostly Hawaiian and floral garb.

Here is another picture of us trying to get the early sunset behind us.

We were led to our private table, and the guys were definitely feeling the vibe of this place.  They were super excited for the full night's festivities.

Maui Trip - Day 4 (Part 1 of 5)

 

Today's first adventure was coming back over near where we were before over to the Ahihi-Kina'u Natural Area Reserve.  There was another area that we had heard was good for snorkeling and we were surely not tired of seeing these amazing reefs yet!

Another short volcanic hike later down this trail and we were going to be at our destination.  It was a beautiful morning with low wind and great sun shine.

Here is Tara just getting ready to go out.  This particular spot did have a nice somewhat sandy entrance, but then it sharply dropped off through some rocks which made it a bit tricky.  It was easier to get in than the previous snorkeling adventure though!

Here is everyone coming in back to shore.  Sometimes it's hard to exit in the same place we started.  This was a great place, though, and we saw tons of fish and coral of all kinds and even a green turtle or two swam by us.

Maui Trip - Day 3 (Part 4 of 4)

 

This was the second "twin" of the waterfall duo and was about a 10-minute walk down from the other one.  It was a bit more of a tame waterfall, but there were all these people doing small cliff jumps from these rocks.  It was hard to tell how deep the water was that they were jumping into and also there wasn't a nice clean take-off point.  We were a bit nervous but lots of people were going so we let them jump.

They did both make it safely down and into the water.  They funniest part, though, was someone else was there and lost some sort of water shoe or something was spent like 20 minutes diving all around trying to find it.  I think it is safe to say that the river had claimed that one forever.  We slowly walked back to the car and continued down the Highway for a bit, but the curves in the road were making Gavin a bit car sick so we turned around and decided to head back to the small town of Paia for some late lunch.

We settled on the Flatbread Company which was like a woodfired pizza place that turned out to be super tasty!  It had great atmosphere, and the kids loved the pizza of course, and were very happy to be getting some food.

After lunch, we headed over to a beach close to our house before turning it in for the night.  I think we ended up back at Keawakapu II Beach Park where the kids seemingly cannot get enough of this lifestyle.

Gage found this little crab guy and somehow managed to get a hold of him without either crushing him or getting pinched.  I think after an hour or two here, we turned it in for the night and made a dinner at home.

Maui Trip - Day 3 (Part 3 of 4)

After about a 20-to-25-minute hike, we ended up at this glorious waterfall!  It was so neat and as we approached the kids got more and more excited and started working ahead of Tara and I.

At this point, the guys had worked their way around to the right and climbed behind the waterfall in this overhanging section.

Then, after some deliberation and probably some trash talk, they jumped in an took a nice shower from the waterfall above. 

You can see that these guys were psyched.  We stayed for a while and then went down in search of the other "twin" waterfall.

Maui Trip - Day 3 (Part 2 of 4)

After getting back to the car from looking at the turtles, we started head East along the Hana Highway.  I was interested in trying to see the Pe'ahi Jaws Surf Break which was a few more miles down the road, but we read that you basically need a four-wheel drive jeep to get there easily unless you wanted to walk about a mile and half.  The vote of the car was no, so we kept on rolling.  The next thing that sounded interesting was the Twin Falls hike, but the lot was full as we passed by and we were sad.  After some encouragement from Tara, we turned around and tried another attempt at the parking and much to our surprise found a parking spot in a lot built for about six cars!  We weren't sure what to expect but this is what the trail looked like.

Not too far into the hike, we got into this really neat bamboo forested area.  The guys really liked these trees.

Tara also really like the flowers and plants that covered the area.  It was pretty neat with all the lush greens and growth everywhere, but we were hoping there would be some waterfalls eventually on this hike.

Maui Trip - Day 3 (Part 1 of 4)

 

Today's main adventure goal was to drive over to the north side of Maui and down the coast on the Road to Hana and find a bunch of awesome things to do.  However, we first made a pit stop at Maui Ono Donuts.

This place provides fresh, hot, old fashioned cake donuts decorated with your favorite toppings on order.  They were absolutely amazing.  I could not recommend them more and I think the kids tore into them quite ravenously as well.

After filling ourselves with sugar, the drive from Kihei takes you across the middle of the peanut shape of the island.  After passing the Kahului airport, the road to Hana basically hugs the beach and winds through the cliffs all the way around the island.  We didn't exactly know what we would end up doing because it was hard to gauge the traffic and what would be accessible.  Our first stop, though, was at the Ho'okipa Beach Park.  It looked like this would be our first opportunity to see some big turtles and we were not disappointed.  Behind us (in the roped off area of the beach) lay about 20 huge turtles.  

Here is a clearer view of them.  They seem to crawl up on the beach and suntan for a bit and then head back.

This is one of the ones that had enough and was slowly making its way back to the beach.  It was good to see them move occasionally, otherwise you could mistake them for being dead.

Maui Trip - Day 2 (Part 5 of 5)

 

I guess there are a few more pictures to share of this sunset just before the sun went down.

There almost isn't anything more peaceful than a gently breeze, the soft sound of waves crashing on the shore, and the twilights of sunset providing a little bit of warm light.

I think I could probably sit here every night and not get bored.  Truly amazing!

Maui Trip - Day 2 (Part 4 of 5)

I guess one of the things Maui is famous for is these stray chickens and roosters that seemingly populate the neighborhoods.  They just roam freely and must not have anything that really hunts them because they don't exactly try to hide.  Later in the week, I got a hat with a rooster on it to help me remember their presence here.

Hoping to get to see our first good sunset, we drove over to Wailea Beach which sits in front of the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea.  You can walk through this beach path and find this semi-private beach for the hotel area.

The area seemed to be a good choice because we had this amazing view.  A few clouds dotted the horizon, but we were still this spectacular finish to the day.

Here we are all together soaking in the orange and yellow views.

Here is one of Tara and I just before the lays rays of sunshine were visible.  This has been a great start to the week of vacation.

Maui Trip - Day 2 (Part 3 of 5)

After returning from the snorkeling earlier in the day, we decided just to chill before heading out to dinner.  This was where we found these guys hanging out and eating an afternoon snack on the porch.

 

There were lots of these birds walking around in the green area around the condo complex.  They were either hunting for geckos or bugs, both were very plentiful around these parts.

We found this awesome dinner location called Nalu's South Shore Grill.  It had this nice indoor/outdoor vibe to it and we were able to get a table after not too long.

I think this was the Pacific Mahi Mahi with some ride and a green salad.  Tara absolutely loved this dish and was eager to see if we could fit in a second trip later in the week at some point.

The guys were both up for the legendary Chicken & Waffle.  They also were not disappointed!  What a great restaurant.  We couldn't recommend it more!