Today Adam and i drove to Hana. I took NUMEROUS bonine (dramamine sub) and actually made it not only all the way to Hana but several miles past to Waimuke Falls (400 foot waterfall) WITH NO VOMITING!!!NOTE: Locals currently HATE tourist being on Hana Hwy and have even gone as far as to paint over mile markers that denote major sites or to black out signs with pertinent info such as ' one way bridge', 'restrooms', 'scenic lookout', etc. It's actually quite dangerous without correct signage. The good news is that it has NOT deterred any tourist, the bad news we all wonder around in circles asking each other where the 'sites' are...the double bad news is that in the one way portions of the road the locals DO NOT STOP for on-coming traffic. We were ok outgoing as we 'hugged the mountain the whole way"; but the way home was super scary as we were on the cliff/coast side and these people just push through space or not! One couple told us that a local tried to charge them $125 EACH to see one of the waterfalls, claiming it was his grandma's property...WHATEV!!! In everything that I have read the beaches and water ways are owned by the PUBLIC in which case this guy was just an ass trying to take advantage of a tourist- which by the way, is his livelihood. Luckily, they didn't pay him but needless to say it is NOT the Hana Hwy mom and dad took us on as kids!!!! The road to Hana was beautiful but treacherous as EVERYONE who has been on it knows but we saw the MOST AMAZING things today. please see!!!
Keanae Arboretum - most amazing, unusual flowers you have seen in your life:
Keanae Pennisula - not only an amazing location but great banana bread (yes, I even ate it as it had NO NUTS!). What is crazy is that on the other side of the parking lot where we parked to take these pics is a KIDS BASEBALL FIELD!!! Can you imagine playing b-ball where if you hit a home run it went into this???
Check out the hibiscus! They grow wild here in EVERY COLOR you can imagine. I LOVED the pale pink!
After Keanae we saw a waterfall on the way to our next major stop. It was NOT accessible from a trail so we climbed LITERALLY over a shack (as in I stepped on the roof to get to the next foot hold) to get to it. There was a deteriorated sign saying 'private property, no trespassing' but of course that did not deter Adam. He was over the shack before I even put my running shoes on! It was pretty cool...here are the pics. In Adam's defense, note that others were there.
Next stop was the red sand beach at Kaihalulu which is just past Hana. The interesting thing about this stop was that it was on the Hana "must see" list published by the Grand Wailea hotel but it is marked as private property; no trespassing. Of course, to Adam that is an invitation to keep going so here you go...we hiked about 10 min over dangerous cliffs (some points no foot holds only roots to cling to by hand!) IN FLIP FLOPS (gasp!) to get to this one but it is a gem! We went swimming here but the bottom was ungodly rocks that tried to tear up our feet. Both of ours are so thick skinned from our lifestyle that it didn't deter us too much. If you swam really close to the rocks the tide on the other side of the coral reef would create a 'draft' that would pull you like a lazy river right along the reef in a safe distance that you didn't bump the reef. All the locals were doing it as well as some not so smart tourist. I'm not so smart sometimes, but not completely dumb, so I 'allowed' Adam and I to try it ONCE and I couldn't enjoy because I was just waiting for the big wave that crashed one or both of us into the reef and scared our faces for life so I quit after the first go...daredevil, yes...but a light-weight daredevil!
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