Honeymoon Part 2: Maui

March 25^th: Ice Cream Solves All Problems

Missing a flight is never fun and by the time Bill and I arrived in Maui, we were stressed, hungry, and tired.  We bought a rotisserie chicken and ate it on the beach while the sun was setting.  Then we checked into our resort and took a long, much-needed nap. When we woke up, we decided we still needed some comfort food to cheer us up.  A little shop that made homemade ice cream did the trick. I predictably chose coconut, and Bill had banana macadamia nut.  

Monday March 26^th: Three Very Different Beaches

We spent the day at Makena Beach State Park, which is characterized by a cinder cone surrounded by three beaches.  The first beach we visited was the black sand beach.  Bill had never seen a black sand beach before and I hadn't seen one since elementary school.  The sand was rocky, with various reds, blacks, and whites that gave it an overall rusty-grey color.  It was the least crowded of the beaches, possibly because of its rough waves and jagged shallow reef.  

Only about a block away was "Big Beach" which looked like a postcard and was surprisingly the opposite of the black sand beach in every way.  The beach was enormous, the sand was very fine and light-colored, the bright turquoise waters were remarkably calm, and it was very crowded.  "Little Beach" was the last beach we found.  It was separated from Big Beach by a rocky hill and a somewhat-hidden set of stairs.  It had the same bright colors as Big Beach, except it was smaller and windier.  Oh, and most of the people on the beach were naked.  Technically, it's illegal to be nude in public in Hawaii, but there are a few places where for whatever reason, the police tolerate it.  This was one of those places.

Bill was in the mood for hiking, so we illegally hiked up the cinder cone.  Although it was only 360 feet tall, it was harder than it looked.  The ground was made out of volcanic debris and felt like fine gravel. It took us at least an hour to complete our hike. It was hot and dry, and we were looking forward to jumping into one of the beaches at the bottom of the trail. We opted for Little Beach, which was the first time I went swimming at a nude beach.

On the way home, we had a smoothie made with real papaya, ginger, and sugarcane from a local fruit stand, followed by BBQ pork at an ocean-view restaurant.  Back at our resort, we lay on the lawn star-gazing and split a bottle of Syrah wine.

Tuesday March 27^th: House of the Sun

For some reason, we thought it would be a good idea to wake up at 1:45am to see the sunrise over Haleakala, an inactive volcano that literally means “house of the sun.” We rented bicycles, helmets, and rain gear from a company that also provided us with transportation up the volcano. The summit is Maui's highest peak at over 10,000 feet above sea level, and the climate was drastically different than what we were accustomed to. It was raining, and the temperature was only in the 30s. It's a good thing we had been provided with jackets and pants, because Bill had only packed t-shirts and shorts. I was a little bit better off in my long sleeves and sweatpants, but I was still cold enough to wear my bicycle helmet while we waited for the sun to rise. When the clouds finally opened up and it stopped raining, the view did make it all worthwhile.

The bicycle company brought us down to a site on the volcano that was 6,500 feet high, and let us take off on a 23 mile downhill bike tour at our own pace. We stopped a couple times to take pictures and feed big white horses.  When we returned to town, it was only about 10am but we'd already been awake for 8 hours. We devoured a large breakfast of ono (similar to mackerel) eggs benedict, bacon avocado omelet, and a rich mocha. It was the best meal we had during our honeymoon, and some of the best eggs benedict I've ever tasted (second only to the crabs eggs benedict in the Seattle Space Needle).

Lilikoi quark cheesecake with goat cheese truffles

As if we hadn't eaten enough, we spent the afternoon sampling cheeses at Surfing Goat Dairy. Apparently, they've made 18 national award winning cheeses. I didn't even know that national cheese contests existed, but it sounded impressive. First, we sampled their lilikoi (passionfruit) quark cheesecake and two goat cheese truffles (flavored lilikoi and strawberry balsamic). The desserts were surprisingly light, fluffy, and creamy. Next, we bought as sampler of six fresh chevres, which were also very soft and mild. We tried six of their award winning cheeses: black pepper, bananas & curry, garlic & chives, sun dried tomatoes, horseradish, and jalapenos & lime. Unfortunately, we were too full at the end of this to eat any more, but we bought a sampler of six aged goat cheeses to enjoy later. Before we left, we played with the baby goats, some of which had only been born a couple weeks prior to our visit.

I guess waking up before 2am caught up to us, because as soon as we got back to our resort, we fell asleep for several hours. When we woke up from our comas, we had our aged goat cheeses with pineapple wine for dinner. The flavors were: BBQ (smoked with Kiawe wood), herbs de Provence, feta (ripened in brine), ping pong balls (made by soaking chevre in oil), macadamia nut, and Thai Dragon chillies.  That evening we swam in an outdoor pool, which we had to ourselves. The stars were brilliant, and live Hawaiian music was playing nearby.

Wednesday March 28^th: Whales, Turtles, and Dolphins

Our last day was the best day of our vacation. We went on a 6 hour tour in a blue raft. Our captain, Dante, was hilarious and drove too fast. Bill and I rode in the front for an even bumpier, more thrilling ride. As the start of the tour, we saw multiple pods of 4-6 humpback whales. Several males were competing for a single females attention, and every time the female did something, the males imitated her. We were able to view them from as close as 100 yards away. Next, we rode along the volcanic Kanaio coast, which is lined with sea caves and unique, intricate rock formations.

We stopped at four different snorkeling destinations. The first was near La Perouse Bay, and was as beautiful as any snorkeling I've seen in Oahu. The second was my favorite; it was the back side of the crater Molokini. There was a vertical wall of rock that dropped down 300 feet, and sun rays shot down dramatically through the clear deep blue water.  The third snorkeling spot was the inside rim of Molokini. The boat dropped us off at the reef edge, where there was a 200 ft drop. The last snorkel spot was a sea turtle habitat, where we were each able to see at least three giant sea turtles up close. On our way back to the harbor, over half a dozen spinner dolphins rode alongside our raft.

We had a few hours before we needed to be at the airport, so we explored a small beach town called Paia. We walked through the shops, read on the beach, and grabbed one last meal in Maui. I had an avocado lox sandwich and Bill had calamari and chips. Having learned our lesson, we made it back to the airport with ample time to spare and headed home to Oahu. It had been an eventful eight days, and we were exhausted.