For our last morning at Poipu the clouds had arrived and although we had some streaky sun whilst we had our breakfast, by the time we left we were getting intermittent showers. These followed us to the airport.
Our brief 50 minute flight between Kauai and Maui had us collecting our next car just on lunchtime. This time we have a red Hyundai Elantra and already I have decided I would never buy one. Pickup was smooth and after a short delay whilst we “wired up and plugged in” we were heading away from the airport.
Haleakala Volcano crater
Pretty much everywhere you go on Maui you are overshadowed by the extinct (well they think it is – its at least dormant !) volcano called Haleakala. It is an American National Park so we bought our Annual Pass which we will use again on next year’s trip. (This is now our 3rd national park annual park and they are just great value for us in visiting so many of the national parks). Even on our flight in, there was quite a bit of cloud around but you could see the top of Haleakala sticking out above the clouds. It is 10,023 feet tall and on the drive up you are gaining height very quickly.
Way above the clouds !
At about 5 or 6,000 feet we were driving in cloud and fog but by 7,000 feet we were through the top into clear blue skies ! The whole trip up was a series of switchbacks – not in the class of Stelvio Pass – and you could feel the temperature dropping as we got higher. That was until we got through the cloud and the temperature went up again with not a cloud in the sky and very little wind.
Adrienne had a great audio app on her Ipad which gave you a commentary based on where it sensed your GPS reading to be. At other parts it gave a history of the volcano and Maui itself which is made up of 2 volcanos (the 2nd only half the height) with a causeway between. At the Visitor Centre (not quite at the summit) there is an amazing view of the crater of the volcano – just a moon-like black and brown landscape for miles and miles – and so quiet !
Here is some video of the crater –
The summit above
Silverswords
We then went on to the summit which also has the Puu ulaula Observatory 4 or 5 huge telescopes looking into space – certainly no light pollution up here ! After yesterday’s limited photo opportunities we made up for it today. At the top (above ab
out 7,000 feet), there is also a rare plant which grows in the volcanic soil.
It is called a Silversword and is very rare these days. They are doing a lot of work to save it as it grows to a certain point (which can be 50 years) then sprouts a large purple flower which flowers for a couple of months and then the plant dies.
Volcanic rocks everywhere -and not much else !
We stopped at a few more pullouts on the way down to take in the remarkable views.
We made it to the top !
The car managed to make it to the top and back but all the way up it would constantly change gear and it had no guts when trying to accelerate. We stopped part way up and from the burning smells we were worried it might not make it. Perhaps it was just that it was a very new car – it had only done 400 miles – but it certainly hasn’t endeared me to Hyundai !
The speed limits around Hawaii seem to be on the low side. A couple of times today the limit got to 55mph (about 90kph) but generally the maximum has been about 45mph – especially on Kauai. In quite a few areas it is only 25mph (40kph) so you certainly don’t go or get anywhere in a hurry !
Back down the volcano, we headed south west to our hotel destination at Makena. The Wailea/Makena area is a bit up market with numerous big resorts and golf courses and the accompanying manicured surroundings. We are staying at Makena Beach & Golf Resort. Our room is very nice, not huge but with a big west facing balcony over looking the pool, the nearby resort beach and, facing south west, of course, more sunsets.
View from our balcony
We had pretty much missed lunch today – a few crackers in the car on the drive down Haleakala – so we booked in for an early dinner at the resort restaurant – Molokini Bar & Grille. The food was excellent and, thankfully, not the common HUGE size. Adrienne had a lovely steak and I had the fish special, a snapper fillet with miso crust.
We wandered around the resort a bit to get our bearings – it is on a bit of a hill so the floor levels are a bit deceptive as to where things are located and where floor exits bring you. We found the breakfast restaurant which looks to have a great outlook toward the beach.
Another lovely sunset !
Tomorrow we will probably do our trip to the northern side of the island and do the Hana Highway which has the reputation of being another great drive called “The Road to Hana”.