Myra and Gerry South Pacific 2018

This morning we met at 8:00 am for an outrigger canoe ride at the resort, went to breakfast and packed for our long journey home which consisted of an afternoon/evening flight from Maui to Los Angeles, a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Orlando and a four-hour drive home from there – all of which we survived.  We arrived home around 1:30 pm on Friday. One of the things we will always remember about this trip is the beautiful and spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

This morning we planned to get up around 4:00 am and drive to see the sunrise at Haleakala.  The weather did not cooperate. Therefore, we slept in, enjoyed the resort, did a little shopping (Myra bought a Hawaiian made ukulele) and left early for Lahaina.  In Lahaina we were treated to the wonderful magic show at the night club "Warren & Annabelle's".    Myra and I brought our daughters here in 2003 and loved coming back. We started the evening with a light dinner and drinks before going into a small theatre (seating approximately 50).   There we were entertained by for almost two hours by two performers who were excellent magicians and comedians.   It was a wonderful show and a must see for anybody visiting Maui.

This morning we left around 7:00 am for a day-long adventure of driving the Hana Highway.    Hāna is only about 52 miles (84 km) from Kahului, but it takes about 2.5 hours to drive when no stops are made as the highway is very winding and narrow and passes over 59 bridges, 46 of which are only one lane wide. There are approximately 620 curves along Route 360 from just east of Kahului to Hāna, almost all of it through lush, tropical rainforest. Many of the concrete and steel bridges date back to 1910 and all but one are still in use. When we first came to Maui in 1983, rental car companies would not allow their cars to be driven on the Hana Highway.   Now, thanks to tourist demand and improvements to the highway have been made, the estimate is that well over 1/2 of the cars that you see on the Hana HIghway are rental cars. We were approximately 45 minutes from the start of the Hana Highway when we left our hotel.   As we approach...

We began the day with a very nice buffet breakfast at the hotel and then drove about 20 minutes to Maʻalaea to board a catamaran operated by the Pacific Whale Foundation.  The warm and shallow waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands are a favorite destination for kohola, or humpback whales. Scientists estimate that two-thirds of the entire North Pacific humpback whale population return to Hawaii from Alaska to breed, calve and nurse their young. They come more than 3,000 miles from the Gulf of Alaska to Hawaii, give birth, stay for six months and train their young to prepare for the return trip.   February is the perfect month to observe these creatures. Mothers are often teaching their young how to breach and dive properly, while many young males love to show off their diving techniques.  It is an amazing sight to see when a full-sized whale comes completely out of the water and performs a slow roll before reentering.  Many times they are followed by th...

In the South Pacific many non-residents have become familiar with the term the Indonesians use called "Rubber Time"  Rubber time refers to that culture's rather laid-back attitude about appointments, schedules and deadlines.  While not as wide spread in many of the other South Pacific Islands, we can vouch that the Tahitians have adopted at least their own version of Rubber Time. We first encountered it in the Intercontinental Hotel where there really appeared to be no real effort to speed up the check-in/check-out process.   But we did face it head on in the airport. Fa'a'ā International Airport requires that passengers arrive at the airport three hours in advance of international flights.   We now know why.   The check-in process is Rubber Time.   Simple tasks like checking luggage takes at least twice as long for an attendant to perform than on any airline we have ever seen (except maybe Bolivia).   If a passenger needs a wheel chair, the de...

We docked in Papeete early in the evening. Papeete is the capital of French Polynesia, and primary center of Tahitian and French Polynesian  commercial, industrial and financial services.    The urban area of Papeete had a total population of 136,771 inhabitants at the August 2017 census.    This was a major change from the small islands and villages we visited in the last few days. As predicted by our Catamaran captain in Raiatea, the weather that greeted us in Papeete was different than what we had experienced in the other islands. The other islands weather was mixed but we always got both sunny and rainy portions of the day.    Papeete forgot the sunny part.    If we had not known better, we would have thought we were in a monsoon. The four of us had booked a hotel room at the Intercontinental and had imagined having a lovely day of hanging out by the pool, site-seeing and a leisurely dinner before having to go to the airp...

Friday was the last full day we were on the ship.    We anchored off shore and were tendered to the small port of Raiatea.    Raiatea is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti in F rench Polynesia . The island is widely regarded as the    center of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that the organized migrations to Hawaii and other parts of East Polynesia started at Raiatea. A traditional name for the island is Havai'i, homeland of the Maori people who migrated from Raiatea to settle in New Zealand.  Se fisited a Vanilla farm in the pouring rain! Today we really did see the beauty of French Polynesia.    We took a catamaran tour of Moorea   and were treated to a beautiful morning   of clear seas, beautiful landscapes and tropical fish.    We then anchored and were able to swim/snorkel and enjoy the beautiful waters, sailed back to the port and we...