Maui 2008 - Day 4

On Wednesday (October 1, 2008), we drove to Hāna. Hāna is located at the eastern end of the island of Maui and is one of the most isolated towns in the state. It is reached mainly via the Hāna Highway, a long, winding, 52 mile long highway along Maui's northern shore. There are a number of guides and books published on this famous road. It is indeed long, it is winding, and it can be dangerous. However, the danger factor is based purely on the other drivers. Some like to stop where they should not. Some like to take their eyes of the road. Some like to pass where they should not. In other words, if you were driving alone on this road, you would be in no more danger than any other winding road.

This journey took up most of the day. We left Kahana at 8:00 AM and proceeded onto the Hana Highway at 9:20 AM. We made a number of stops on the way to Hana. One stop was the Hookipa lookout. Ho‘okipa Beach Park is located on the north shore of Maui, Hawaii. It is perhaps the most renowned windsurfing site in the world. The waves here are largest during the winter, and break across a system of reefs that extend across the bay. During the summer the waves are smaller. Ho'okipa is ideal for windsurfing because of its large well-shaped waves and strong winds. The name Ho‘okipa means "hospitality" in Hawaiian. In the morning, there were about 50 surfers in the water.



Our next stop was a bamboo forest. The captain from the catamaran told us about this stop. We saw a few cars parked along the road, just as he described, so we knew we had the right place. Louis and I entered the dense bamboo forest.



It was dark and the bamboo appears to be impassable, but it was not. The further you venture into the forest, the thicker the bamboo trunks were. Eventually you come to a creek with mini waterfalls.



Very serene and beautiful. After a few minutes, we headed back to the SUV and got back on the road.

The next stop was the Garden of Eden, aka Maui Botanical Gardens & Aboretum. The gardens are described as "twenty-six acres of trails alive with brilliant colors, unique flowers, rare trees, and the sweet aroma of tropical blossoms in a uniquely natural island setting." We toured this for about 45 minutes.









We purchased and ate some bananas that were grown in the garden. We got back onto the road as more tourists arrived at the gardens.

As we continued our way to Hana, we stopped at a few waterfalls and snapped some photos.



We started to get hungry and had some local snacks at "Uncle Harry's", a little shack along the way.



I drank and ate a coconut. Jenn and I shared a smoothie of locally grown pineapple, mango, guava, and papaya. It was delicious. At another stop, I spotted a coffee sign. We stopped there and I got coffee and some macadamia nut cookies. The macadamia nuts were grown 20 feet from the home of the nice lady that made the cookies. The cookies were some of the best we ever had.

Finally, around 1:30 PM, we arrived in Hana. As others have said in many of the guides and books, there is not much to see in Hana. It is a very quiet and calm town with not much going on. I think the residents like the fact that their town has not been developed for tourism. We stopped for a while at Hamoa beach. Not much to say about this beach. It was beautiful and the photos speak for themselves.





On the way home, we didn't stop very much. We only stopped to take some photos are use a restroom. I did manage to get some pictures of windsurfers at Hookipa beach.



When we got back to the hotel, we made dinner ourselves. Overall, the drive to Hana was fun and it was very beautiful. The journey is not for the resort vacation type. If you are looking to do some shopping or other non-adventurous stuff, the drive to Hana is not for you. If you love nature and you like to see exotic foliage, beaches, and undeveloped nature, this is for you.