Last Day, We Leave Tomorrow

Paia, Maui

September 27, 2022

The sunrise on the morning of our last day taken from the lanai.  The day is forecast to be less windy.  That will be nice.

My last bike ride around the airport I had to take yet another picture of the Kahului VOR.  It stands for VHF omni range.  It sends out a VHF signal in a 360 degree circle for aircraft navigation.  The plane can pick up a radial signal from this VOR and others so you can either follow the radial to the airport or triangulate your location.  With GPS I’m not sure if these are still used.

Finally I see birds.  I think what we have here are a male and female house finch and, over to the right, a red crested cardinal.

One left the scene.

I hope these show up well, he stayed around for a long time.

And Lynn got a Northern Cardinal.

Sugar Cove beach is where all the activity on the water that we see from the lanai starts.

From the lanai looking toward Kahului.

The path to Sugar Cove Beach.

Packed up and ready to fly,

One last look at Baby Beach.

It’s been great.  Aloha

A Quiet Day and Dinner With Our Hosts

Paia, Maui

February 26, 2022

We came bearing gifts for our hosts and their granddaughters.  Our host’s newly acquired home a few miles up from Makawao.  It’s a 100 year old home built on the 29,000 acre Baldwin property as a retirement home for one of the managers.  I think I’ve got that right.

This addition was added in the 60s by a Baldwin woman and her husband, a retired military person.  I think I’ve got that right.

Polo ponies on the neighbor’s property.  According to our host there are two polo fields nearby.

Our host’s granddaughters like to feed apples and carrots to the ponies.

Watching the sunset from the lawn in front of their home before dinner.

Earlier in the day at Fleetwood Maui East.  Fleetwood, evidently, is a musician of some sort.

Great day.  Tomorrow is our last full day here, darn.

Big Swells and Big Wind

Paia, Maui

February 25, 2022

These probably won’t be ripe before we leave.  We’ll have to get our bananas at the Safeway hunting and gathering grounds.

A picture of a painting of a seascape.  She must have her hat tied on.  It was blowing a storm.

The famous Honolulu meteorologist Guy Hagi said on his morning forecast that there would be life threatening surf, up to 40 foot waves in North Shore locations so naturally we heading to the Hookipa lookout to check it out.

We met a guy watching the sailboarders.  In fact, we were at the exit ready to leave and we stopped for one more look at some really big waves and he told us to park, “the cops won’t give you a ticket”.  So we did and it turns out not only was he a long time board guy but he is friends with the contractor that remodeled out house in Davis.  An interesting fellow and full of surf knowledge.  He showed us where to look to see the riptide, predicted all the sailboarder’s moves and pointed out that the top of the sail is 14 feet so we could gauge the wave height, about 30 feet were the big ones.

He also pointed out that there were two monk seals on the beach.

MFD was out training in the wind.

Another shot of Kahului in the morning from our lanai.

More visitors on their way in.

What a great day.

Board Meeting, Birds, Beach

Paia, Maui

February 24, 2022

I had a zoom Board meeting to attend this morning a 8 local time.  The sun is so bright at the table in the bungalow I moved my computer to the lanai which is more shaded.  However, the sound of the surf and the jets departing the airport made it a bit challenging.  I should say loud.  Oh well, it only lasted 90 minutes.

Lynn had classes this morning so after the meeting I took my bike out to look for birds.  The problem was it was so darn windy.  I saw the usual mynas and doves and the plover that’s always in the same area but not much else.  So I looked for anything moving in the wind.  I found this moth:

Don’t see it do you?  Neither do I.  It looks like an aerial photo of the Mato Grosso forest.  Do we see the moth here:

and here too:

Maybe not here.  I must have been a sight, chasing the moth with my camera:

The wind blew this nest out of a tree.  Wish I knew who built it:

Lynn took some pictures on her walk on the pedestrian bike path that skirts the airport.  I think she cut it short because of the wind.  The wind, for the last few days, has been blowing at 20-30 miles an hour.  And the temps are in the low 80s.  Here’s a departing plane crossing the path she’s on:

It’s been so windy that not too many people are at Baby Beach.  When the wind is at 20 mph+ it blows the sand.  Lynn calls it micro-dermabrasion.  The tide is really low in this picture but it shows the reef that creates the protected area aka Baby Beach.  Good for bringing babies:

Not too many people in the water:

Another great day.

The Plantation at Wailuku

Wailuku, Maui

February 23, 2022

Alas, the end of the trip is near and that means picking out giftees to distribute when we get home.  The first foray was made today to this venue:

We visited here two years ago when it first opened.  They have exceptional gardens and a farm as well as a store:

A bench made from some retired machinery:

Inside the store:

We stopped at the bar for coffee, really:

That gear, suspended on its pedestal, I’d estimate to weigh one thousand pounds:

Miscellaneous hand tool display:

Tool art:

While Lynn shopped I took a seat and watched the geckos:

From earlier in the day.  I am still trying to photograph birds.  The large bird is, I think, a spotted dove and the two smaller are mynas:

Terrible picture of a house finch:

I found these beneath a tree that I saw a Northern Cardinal fly into.  It’s like the dried skin of a squash, it’s lying on the leaves, not growing up from them:

Another piece:

I got excited when I thought I found a bird nest:

What a great day.

Whale Watching Cruise

Lahaina, Maui

February 22, 2022

We drove to Lahaina this morning for an 11:30 cruise to look at the whales in the Lahaina Roads or the ‘Au’Au channel off Lahaina.  First stop on the way was for Dramamine for me.  Fortunately, the drug worked and no seasickness as a result of the rolling boat and diesel exhaust.  We had to skirt around work that was going on in the harbor to get to the boat:

We took our seats and we’re on our way:

And, shortly, there are the whales:

And looking back toward Lahaina:

I should add that the water looks calm but there was about a one to two foot swell that kept me holding on to a rail continuously.  In fact, half the time I had five points of contact with the boat.  Seated, feet on the deck, two hands on the rail.

Back in town we walked around a bit:

The Banyan tree at the harbor:

Not sure what this guy did with the birds but there he was:

And, of course, Mick Fleetwood’s restaurant.  He has also, recently, opened a boutique of some kind in Paia.  We haven’t gone there yet but it’s on Lynn’s list.

Great day.

Recycle, Birding, Lynn takes a walk on the Beach

Paia, Maui

February 21,2022

We took our recyclable waste to the drop-off location down the Hana Highway.  It’s a little past Haiku so we drove by Hookipa on the way.  I am not sure if it was because it was a holiday yesterday or the surf was exceptionally good or both but the place was very active.

It was hard to find a place to park so we were way down at the edge of the action but still:

On the way home Lynn showed me where she has seen a northern cardinal.  While she took her walk I decided to bike back to the spot and see if I could get some pictures.  It was fun but I didn’t get any good photos and I didn’t see any northern cardinals.  I did see two red crested cardinals and, I think, a house finch.  But, by the time I got my camera ready they were gone.  This is the house finch:

That’s it on the curb.  My idea was to get lots of good bird pictures.  That will be a work in progress, it appears.

Lynn, on the other hand, got great pictures of Baldwin Beach on her walk.

Here’s some body surfers, Baldwin is popular for body surfing:

On our first trip here I tried this too.  A wave like this one flipped me upside down and drilled me head first into the sand.  My first and last attempt.

The private golf course as you get near our bungalow:

And, lastly, some future surfers in the water at Hookipa:

Great day.

Get the Sunday Papers and Grocery Shopping

Paia, Maui

February 20, 2022

Sunday morning and we’re in no hurry to get rolling.  It was a beautiful sunrise and and looked like we might get some showers:

So I picked up the tempo, got ready and rode to the Safeway in Kahului for the Sunday papers.  The clouds in the direction of Kahului looked like this:

I got rained on a little as I returned but sprinkling rain at 75 degrees is not unpleasant.  Lynn took her walk while I biked.

After regrouping we went to the Down To Earth market and picked up some vegetarian entrees and then to Tamura’s in Wailuku for the best poke and then to the beach.

Nice day.

Trip Upcountry

Paia, Maui

February 19, 2022

We drove up towards the road that climbs Haleakala but we didn’t take it.  Instead we kept to the right to Kula and beyond.  If we stayed on the road it would take us around the island, through Hana and back to Paia.  We stopped at the Maui Winery and the Ulupalakua Country Store.

These two guys wouldn’t say a word:

She was handing out masks:

Barnyard humor:

Okay, they’re all statues:

Across the street to the winery:

Tree stump carvings:

There are a few trees on the property that are real specimens:

Sculpture, not real:

More information about the Ulupalakua Ranch Store:

There are thousands of feet of rock wall lining the road.  They all appear to be dry set.  That’s a lot of work:

Looking down at Kihei:

Entrance to the Maui Ponderosa:

Downtown Kula:

A great little spot made even more famous by you know who (hint: she had a TV show and her own book club):

What a great day.

Bike and Walk and Read and Beach

Paia, Maui

February 18, 2022

Today we decided to do something different from our daily grind.  No we didn’t.  Lynn had her last art class which went two hours instead of one.  I rode into bike-unfriendly Kahului in search of Xylitol.  I did not find it.  Not at Safeway or Whole Foods or the small independent grocery store.  I’ll try Mana Foods in Paia tomorrow.  Every time I bike into Paia on this trip I pass this thing out on the edge of the airport.  And every time I ride by it I speculate on what could it be.  It sort of looks like an aircraft fuselage and it’s as big.  Could it be for training of some kind?

Also out here today is a private 737.  At least I think it’s a 737.  I looks the same as the Southwest jet that’s been parked out here since we arrived.  Could it be Oprah’s?  Something else to speculate on.

The Southwest jet that’s been parked with the hood up, so to speak.

Lynn always contributes pictures that she takes on her daily walks.  I wish I had as good an eye as her.  An hibiscus (a hibiscus?) for your consideration:

And another:

This is her picture of the beach in front of the Sugar Cove condos:

This is the public’s entrance to the beach at Sugar Cove:

This is another view of the public entrance to the beach at Sugar Cove.  It looks like the owner of the house on the other side of the wall has taken major measures to keep the public who use the beach in front of the Sugar Cove condos off their little stretch of beach.

If I’m not mistaken this is a Pacific Golden Plover.  Many beautiful birds here.

Not as windy as yesterday but still windy enough for the sailboarders:

Another grueling day.  I had to rest up for a couple of hours at the end of it with a book while lying on the sand at Baby Beach.

See you tomorrow.