Friday, August 31 -Trilogy Sail to Lanai-

Captain Riley, 3rd generation on Trilogy, his grandfather started the business

 Eating the famous "Mama's cinnamon rolls"  They fed us a lot!

My air supply sled, soon to be without the dive flag (read below)

This morning Sharon and I sailed the Trilogy III to Lana'i Island.  We did the all day trip that included the sail from Maui to Lanai, a van tour of the City of Lana'i, beach time to either snorkel, surf, or snuba and a picnic before sailing back to Maui.  The waves were pretty big but Sharon had taken her Bonine and had no trouble at all with motion/sea sickness. (There were several of the passengers hanging over the back of the boat both going over and coming back)  Going over we saw bottle-nose dolphins and a pair of spotted eagle rays.  The crew was fantastic and by the time we landed on Lanai knew everyone on board by name.  When we landed we hopped into vans that took us topside of the island to see Lanai City. The driver was a local woman who talked about the history of the island, their people and the changes that have taken place when Dole pulled out of the pineapple business on the island and the switch was made to tourism.  There are two large Four Seasons Hotels on the island now.  She also explained that the island was recently sold and purchased by someone else so some changes are being made once again.  But she felt they were all very positive.  After the tour we went back to the beach for the activities there.  I had signed up to SNUBA instead of snorkel.  I'm kind of glad I did because the waves were so big at the beach that I think I would have felt uncomfortable that far out by myself.  The snuba experience was a lot of fun even though I didn't feel that I could go too deep because I was still having a little discomfort in my ears.  The water was a little cloudy but the reef was really beautiful and we did see quite a few fish.  When it was time to come in I did get flattened by a big wave.  Frank, our instructor said it look clear so we were swimming in when Carrie yelled from the shore to swim back out.  Frank and Angie made it over the crest of the wave but try as I did,  I found myself on shore, after a few tumbles, clinging to the dive flag from the air raft that I had been holding on to.  Carrie fished me out of the surf, I showered and was soon eating some of the best barbecued chicken  ever.  The crew did all of the cooking and serving and when the meal was finished we were back on the Trilogy heading to Maui.  It was a wonderful way to spend 8 hours and if you ever sail I would highly recommend www.sailtrilogy  for a fantastic family oriented day with a crew that operates with family values.

My instructor, Frank

Setting sail on the way back!

Sunset at Maui

Thursday, August 30~Sunrise on Haleakala~

The most beautiful views were just before the sun came above the horizon

Brrrrrrrrr!

Sunrise at 6:02

This morning came a little earlier than most.  We decided to make the drive up to the crater of Haleakala for the sunrise.  Matt agreed to drive and Sharon and I went along. We set our clocks for 2 am and met in the lobby at 2:30 for the 1 1/2 hour drive to the summit.  As you can imagine, there was not much traffic at that hour so we made the trip in pretty good time.  The road to the top, however, once you get onto Haleakala Rd becomes a series of switchbacks that can only be rivaled by the mule trail to Kalaupapa.  The drive was quite pleasant by the light of a nearly full moon.  We reached the summit close to 4:15 am and were among the first to arrive.  We knew it was going to be cold and I was not adequately dressed simply because I did not bring any shoes or jeans on this trip.  I did have a long sleeve shirt and my Columbia rain jacket but I could have used a fleece jacket, hat and gloves.  The temperatures were in the 30s and I am quite sure the wind chills reached the 20s before the sun came up.  The winds were unrelenting.  The views however were nothing less than spectacular.  Haleakala, in Hawaiian, means house (hale) of the sun ( a kala).  The most beautiful sight, that I regrettably did not get a photograph of, was the reflection of the sun in the full moon.  The trip was certainly worthwhile!

Wednesday, August 29~The Grand Wailea~

 The Iao needle at the state park on Maui

 The Iao Valley

 View from our room at the Grand Wailea

 The waterfall at the entrance of the Grand Wailea

 The water slides in the pool at the Grand Wailea

 Lily isn't coming, she is going, backwards that is.....

 The lobby of the Grand Wailea

We flew out of Honolulu on GO Airlines this morning for our destination of Maui.  We had to make 2 trips to the airport to get our luggage, 3 strollers, 3 car seats and the 8 of us there.  We drove the truck with all of our gear, Trish, Sara and the kids, dropped them at the airport and then Matt returned and Sharon, Matt and I took a cab back.  GO airlines only had one receptionist and she was not very good.  We stood in line nearly 30 minutes waiting on just one couple to check in.  The flight had to be delayed because she could not get everyone checked in on time.  So if you are flying inter-island you may want to take another airline.  We did eventually arrive and after we got our cars we drove to Iao Valley State Park.  This park gets a lot of rain so it looks very much like a rain forest.  The valley was also the site of a very bloody battle when King Kamehameha was trying to unite all of the Hawaiian islands.  After hiking the trails we headed down to Wailea and checked in at the Grand Wailea.  It is a very pretty resort and very grand indeed even if it is an older plantation style hotel.