A lot has happened since my last blog entry – I mean, I have ended my volunteer appointment after three months with the National Park Service, tried to squeeze everything into the maximum allowance for airline travel (two suitcases at 50 pounds each plus a bulging backpack especially with my underwater camera case in there plus another “personal item”) and left the Big Island. Traveling again – living out of the suitcase and hitting hotels or B&Bs every other night or so again.

My flight from Hilo took directly to Honolulu, and at the Hertz counter (sorry I could not help myself) I upgraded from a Toyota Yaris (I cannot really drive a car that has the name of a 2 year old that I know…) to another Mustang Convertible for a handful of Dollars, so ultimately it was WAY cheaper than renting one out at a regular rate, and in no time did I find myself at the Hawaiian Village in Waikiki, getting a really sweet deal out of my two separate bookings – a crappy room for the first two nights and a quite good room for the next three nights ended up being upgraded for free to a corner (2 balconies) room in the Rainbow tower steps from the ocean.

Waikiki Beach at Hilton Hawaiian Village, O'ahu, Hawai'i

Some of the other activities on O’ahu you already know:
– The diving that was really just a swimming pool lesson on how to use your fins to make a great circle – OK there were a few turtles thrown in for a few seconds before we had to move on.
– Visiting Bishop museum, which is quite overwhelming especially if you are not too familiar with Hawaiian history and culture and language etc., but it was so good to finally see these Kahili ornaments and the feather capes for the royal Ali’i after so much talking and hearing about them.
– What I haven’t told you about, and it is of course all cheesy touristy stuff, was the Segway Sunset tour along the Waikiki Beaches, Parks and the Harbor. Was it worth the money – probably a little too expensive. Was it fun and a good discovery of the Waikiki / Honolulu oceanfront? Definitely.
– Circle island tour in another grabber blue mustang, this one almost brand new and in the favorite Hertz equipment rather than the run down from the other brands. Well I cannot complain, although the weather could have been a little nicer. Running around in moist swimming trunks all day didn’t do me too good, it seems. At least not my skin…

Segway of Hawaii Sunset Tour, Waikiki, O'ahu

Canoes at Kailua Beach Park, O'ahu

Ford Mustang Convertible in grabber blue

From there it was time taking to the air again, in a full 32 minute flight over to Maui – including a half-circle island tour for free, as we were approaching OGG Kahului airport from the south, which meant going around the northwestern tip of the island with the resorts and the old, famous Whaling Town of Lahaina. Maui Ocean Club by Marriott is one of these time shares that I almost was lured into at Waikoloa on the Big Island during my Hilton Grand Vacations stay for a couple of days. I guess if you are really and permanently into this type of holiday, it might really pay off if you are offered a great entry deal, but this stay as a non-member guest was really sweet – the price wasn’t any different from the hotels that would be in sort of the same category, but it is much less crowded, feels much less touristy – especially in and around the Pools and Waterslides and stuff – and yet you get a full apartment with kitchen etc. instead of a single hotel room.
Another dive should be different, so the equipment was just rented out for a “quick” shore dive. Entry into the ocean was far from easy with fins and camera gear etc., and getting the dive flag untangled and positioned at the bottom of the bayside reef was quite a struggle, but bottom time was >60 minutes in a depth of up to 45 feet, which is clearly a record for me, the air-sucker. No turtles again, but a lot of Humuhumunukunukuapua’a and other nice fish, and so much more relaxing compared to swimming behind an unmotivated dive instructor! The big surprise came at the end: Navigating back to the dive flag is really difficult if – your dive flag is not there anymore. I am pretty sure that was close to the original beginning of the dive, and only two other dive flags that were clearly (like, really clearly!) not ours within miles of sight – while the dive flag could have theoretically drifted off, the dive shop keeper conceded with my theory that someone actually took the flag, which he “unfortunately” had to add to the bill – 39.95$. However, some of the underwater pix turned out quite OK I’d say – can you find the Lion fish hiding in the picture below?

Maui's wild north shore

Diving Lahaina, Maui

The next trip was the reason I was off for a couple of days – no internet at all: There are still places in the world that do not have free Wi-Fi next to your bed (The Alalele Place cottage in Hana) nor a Starbucks within reasonable distance to profit from their free internet access, so I couldn’t update the blog. However, staying in Hana made perfect sense to take more time to discover the beautiful beaches, bays and streams, including countless waterfalls more than already discovered during my travel back in 2008, to swim in the Seven Sacred Pools of the southern section of Haleakala National Park, and to start the Pi’ilani highway going around the island fresh in the morning with the good sunlight in the right direction. The road is unbelievably scenic and, at least in good summer weather with no visible previous rain on the road, really not that hard to negotiate if you can guestimate the width of your car within a range of 6 feet or so, and this was really not a small car 😉

Jeep Grand Cherokee at the beach, Road to Hana, Maui

Waterfall jumping at the seven sacred pools, Haleakala NP, Maui

Famous Bamboo forest on the Pipiwai trail to the best waterfalls on Maui