Hawaii

Landing on OGG (Maui) was unlike any place I'd ever been. The warm moist flower-scented air rushed past me as I stepped out of the small Maui airport at Kahului. We rented a car that evening; and we started our trip to the Wailea part of Maui and to the hotel that I had reserved for us with the lanai facing out to the ocean. We landed at night so for a number of miles we saw nothing but night as we headed toward the southwest part of Maui. As it turned out ~ all those miles of darkness were right in the middle of fields of sugarcane. As we continued our trip, we saw the shave ice stands (my favorite is coconut) and the restaurants and dive shops along with the lighted palm trees. We saw two torches at the beginning of the hotel that we were going to stay at and pulled into it. It was quite a nice hotel with a large area open to the beach; it included a small grocery store and restaurant. We had leased a condo for a week so that we could get the lanai looking out to the beach.

On early mornings, Greg would snorkel on the beach adjacent to the hotel. The water was clear and we saw beautifully colored fish such as the butterfly fish, the angel fish, parrotfish, psychedelic wrasse. We saw the Hawaiian state fish, the "humuhumununukunukuapua'a fish" otherwise known as the Picasso trigger fish . Prepared with snorkel gear we went to the Ulua beach (which is one of the safest beaches on Maui). We saw many beautiful fish. I didn't have the best gear and had problems with the dive mask leaking water; unfortunately, I didn't take it back! I found out later from a friend that lived in Oahu, that I should have had a dive mask made for me to prevent any leakage. Nevertheless, we had a very good time.

One night we went to the open air mall in Wailea that had a Tommy Bahamas store and restaurant and a band was playing, so Greg and I danced. Another night we went to a laua at the Grand Wailea Resort. There was a huge buffet lit by torches of Hawaiian traditional fare (kalua pig, lomi lomi salmon, taro, pupu platter, ahi, poi). Decorating the buffet were gardenias, orchids and tuberose. On the stage were hula dancers performing as well as a Samoan fire dancer. We also took a flight seeing trip to the volcano at the Big Island. We went to Maui twice ~ each time staying a week but a year apart. The second year we leased a condo near Ulua Beach in Wailea, Maui (by using vrbo.com). We loved the condo experience as well. The lanai was above all of the beautiful flowers and palm trees in the back yard, accompanied by the songs of birds; so relaxing. We went to a very large Hawaiian flower show. At this flower show, I bought a lovely little tea bag holder; and now, every time I look at this tea bag holder, I think of Maui.

I tell people now .... after my experiences on Oahu and Maui, not to waste their time on Oahu as most of it is largely commercialized and nothing like the tropical experience that they are looking for, to go to the other islands...