Saturday 8/7 and Sunday 8/8 - Island Hopping

Since I took a few days off the blog to celebrate my birthday, I'll try to catch up today with two days worth of recaps.

Saturday was a travel day.  Time to check out of the Outrigger Waikiki and time to check in to the Smackdown Hotel... I mean, the Sheraton Maui.  Since the islands don't have inter-island ferry service, the only way to get from O'ahu to Maui (outside of a really healthy swim) is through a quick puddle-jumper flight.

Saturday morning we were up by 6 AM and went down to the beach for one last taste of a Waikiki morning.  I think we both knew it was bittersweet to be leaving.  We were excited for the chance to experience another island (and had heard such amazing things about Maui from people who had been there) but we had had so much fun and felt very happy on O'ahu.  Still, there were other adventures to be had and a new chapter to be written...

Of course that means we had to first get from the hotel to the airport, as we had abandoned our rental car on Friday.  So we had arrangements to grab a shuttle from the hotel at 9:15 AM on Saturday morning for a 10:55 AM flight to Maui.  We figured 20-25 minutes to the terminal on a non-workday, quick security check-through, easy flight to the other island-- piece of cake, right?

A series of slight complications of course ensued: I didn't have the appropriate cash to leave a tip for the maid, Duke's didn't have the size and color of the souvenir t-shirt I wanted, and upon check-out I learned the hotel accidentally misappropriated someone's dinner charge from Friday night and I was almost charged $205 for someone else's romantic dinner at the Hula Grill.  Frantic and stressed, we ran out to Kalakaua Avenue at 9:20, panicked that we had missed our shuttle and would have to cab it to the airport.

Of course, the shuttle doesn't come until 9:45 or so, a full half an hour late.  I could see why the guy was late-- when we got on board, our fellow passengers were a combination of loud, obnoxious Australians and a middle-aged rich couple who told the driver "Our suitcases haven't come out yet" and we had to wait an additional five minutes for them to come out.

At this point my Massachusetts-bred internal monologue starts to kick in: "REALLY?  Really, lady?  We're a half hour late and your SUITCASES aren't READY yet?  WE HAVE A PLANE TO CATCH!"  By this point, I am fuming.  All I know is we have to get on a plane to Maui at 10:55 and these clowns are holding us up, while the jovial Aussies are apparently still drunk from the previous night.  I had read that road rage disappears in the calm Hawaii atmosphere; it's a myth, at least when confronted with situations such as this one.

Realizing I could do nothing about it, I tried to relax on the way to the airport.  That is, of course, until we were crawling along in traffic on the H-1, and then the Down Under crowd took their sweet time getting their luggage off the shuttle at the first terminal stop (we were the only ones still left on the shuttle, going to the second terminal).  By the time we got to the inter-island terminal, it was 10:15 and we were cutting it close.

And despite all of this stress, there wouldn't have been a problem at all if one little Dutch family had packed their suitcases more efficiently instead of throwing everything they owned willy-nilly into the different bags.  Since these jets are smaller, the island airlines are more strict about luggage weight and carry-on size.  Apparently, while we were next in line to check in, this family decided to REPACK EVERY BAG THEY BROUGHT on the floor of the terminal in front of the check-in desk.  Then the father decided to argue with the airline representative about whether his carry-on bag was small enough for the overhead compartment (it wasn't).  He was adamant that his checked bag didn't weigh more than 50 pounds (it did) and he shouldn't have to pay extra (he had to).  I guess in the Netherlands such objective measurement tools as scales and carryon compartments don't have quite the weight as someone's word.  Unfortunately the Honolulu airport insisted on the traditional measuring devices having the final word.

At last, we got to the counter to check in.  And by the time the woman finally asked us what our destination was, she announced to us that the flight we were about to get on was closed.  Apparently they close the flights a half hour before takeoff and it was then 10:26.  (Translation: we missed the standard check-in by ONE MINUTE while we were watching the Van de Velde family show everyone in the terminal their unmentionables.)

At this point I was beyond fuming.  I think steam was literally coming out of my ears.  I pretty much lost the ability to speak English or to comprehend anything the woman was saying to us.  Thank God Jen took over and handled the rest of the transaction.  She must have operated quite smoothly with the clerk, because somehow we got not only ourselves but also our checked bags onto the flight.  Whew... crisis averted.

This plane and this tarmac were a sight for sore eyes.

So needless to say, Maui started off on a negative note.

I don't want to rant any more, but here's another difference between O'ahu and Maui: we had to trade in our sweet Volvo convertible for a Ford Mustang.  Normally this is not a big deal as a Mustang is a pretty sweet car, but when I saw the car they gave us, I just had to laugh.

I mean, it looks like a blue highlighter pen.  Did Digger Phelps pick the paint job on this car? 

Alas, this picture would be more effective if I could have found one in which his tie and highlighter were blue.

The '64 Buick Skylark convertible, as seen in  "My Cousin Vinny"

Are we in "My Cousin Vinny" here?

Either way, it was time to move on.  The airport on Maui is in Kahului, the largest town on the island which is also located right smack in the middle of the two "eggs" that make up the island.  Our hotel was in West Maui, so after a quick lunch at a townie restaurant in Kahului we got on the road to Ka'anapali and the Sheraton resort.

Maui is a lot different from O'ahu.  First of all, there are no freeways on Maui.  Honolulu is a legitimate city, and there are a number of different routes and exits you could choose to take to get to Waikiki.  In contrast, there is only one road in and out of Ka'anapali, a two-lane road that hugs the coastline called route 30.  From the airport to the resort, it's about a 25-mile drive along this road.  Unfortunately, we have no pictures of the nice coastline drive because Jen crashed in the passenger seat for the drive, and I try not to click and drive.  Sorry.

The Sheraton Maui area is so different from Waikiki Beach.  Instead of a large number of hotels tightly packed in on a four-lane urban artery, tucked among high-end shops and other buildings right along the beach, the Sheraton is one of five or six large, land-rich resorts which sprawl on the ocean side of a golf course-lined parkway.  The vibe and the feel is so much different from the Outrigger.  Consider some of these images of the grounds on this page.

From the patio of the room, pool to the right, ocean off to the right

Man-made waterfall, which took the place of an actual shower for me a couple of times.

After the fiasco of a day we'd had so far, I don't know if I was in the right frame of mind to truly enjoy the Sheraton and give it its due.  And I'm afraid I'll come across as too critical of Maui in general on this blog, which I'm not at all.  I guess I had just heard from everyone I'd talked to that Maui was an unbelievably ridiculous place which was so much better than Waikiki that I may have built it up too much in my mind.  That, combined with my reluctance to leave the Waikiki scene, made us kind of lukewarm about Maui.  Not to say that it wasn't amazing (which it was; it's hard to be dissatisfied with an oceanfront Hawaii resort after all) but comparing resorts in Hawaii is like a wedding day in South Carolina-- it's all relative.

Oceanfront patio looking west at the Pacific and the offshore island of Lana'i

There were some great things about the Sheraton and the Ka'anapali resorts.  For example, the beach wasn't crowded.  With everything more spread out, there is more sand for everyone.  Also, the pool at the Sheraton was unbelievable.  It starts out as a large pool on one end, but then it continues into kind of a lazy river with waterfalls and a mini-water slide for the 30-something crowd....  er, I mean, for the kids.  The poolside bars at the Sheraton were literally poolside, making it really easy to sit in a lounge chair and order frozen fruity drinks.

Main pool area... that's the Black Rock in the back

Lazy river...

Finally, the other end of the pool

There is also a great concrete walking path that runs on the oceanfront side of all the resorts and gives an easy right-of-way down the beach to the other hotels and to this nice shopping area called Whalers Village which had a food court, an ABC Store (they're EVERYWHERE), and some nice shops.

Every night at sunset, the Sheraton is the site of the Black Rock cliff-diving ceremony.  One of the young Hawaiian guys who works at the resort grabs a torch and runs around the property, lighting up every tiki torch, before climbing up to the large Black Rock which juts out into the ocean next to the edge of the resort.  He pauses atop the rock (and often makes a great silhouette into the setting sun) and then performs a ceremonial cliff dive into the water below.  Apparently this is a time-honored Hawaiian tradition meant to honor one's ancestors.  The video we took is not loading right now, so I will try to post it on a later blog.

I heard a clueless guest from the Samaritans once yelled "DON'T JUMP."  Must have been really awkward.

After the stress of Saturday, Sunday was intended to be a low-key beach and pool day.  We had a complimentary breakfast buffet at the hotel, then grabbed two lounge chairs right next to the pool near the lazy river segment.  Around 11:00 we rented some snorkel gear and did some snorkeling around the Black Rock, which was reputed as one of the better spots on Maui, an island that is renowned for its great snorkeling. 

Black Rock under the sea

How'd all these Hell's Angels get across the Pacific to Maui?

After snorkeling for an hour we drove down to Lahaina for lunch.  Lahaina is about 10 minutes from the Sheraton, and it is pretty much the only place on Maui that has a real downtown area.  There are a ton of oceanfront restaurants and shops on the streets; Jen remarked that it reminded her a lot of Martha's Vineyard and I thought it was a lot like a Hawaiian Newport.  After some research, I figured out why-- Lahaina was founded by missionaries from New England in the late 18th century, and for many years was the world's busiest whaling port, which would certainly explain the Colonial style houses and the general New England fishing village feel of the place.

Before we left O'ahu, a girl who worked at Duke's suggested to us to go to Kimo's, which is their sister restaurant in downtown Lahaina, right on the waterfront.  Fantastic place for lunch.

Oceanfront cheeseburgers and grog.  What's not to love?

Thankfully, plenty of shade to protect our skin from the lunchtime sun.

Looking from the edge of the deck a Kimo's toward Lana'i

I'm not too proud to admit I drank my share of fruity drinks.

The rest of Sunday was stocking up on supplies at the Safeway, going back to the beach, watching the full Black Rock ceremony, hitting the food court for pizza, and getting to bed as early as possible.  A new adventure awaited us on Monday morning, one that would show itself at 10,000 feet.

Sunset before the sunrise...

TOMORROW: Haleakala, the "House of the Sun"; Ryan dances the hula and Jen has video to prove it; and a small medical issue inspires Ryan to go on a nationalized health care rant.