Kahakuloa, Lahaina, "Secret Beach"

We decided to drive around west Maui today, heading up through Wailuku and the small road that takes you through Kahakuloa to Honokohau.


Along the way we passed through some stunning scenery and I took a few film shots which will hopefully turn out okay. We stopped at the famous "Julia's banana bread" -- a wooden cabana perched over terraced Taro fields, bought some coconut candy and banana bread, and continued north.



Someone had told us that today would be the day for big waves, so we hiked down the cliffs to watch the sets roll in and crash onto the rocks below.


As soon as the road becomes two lanes again, the drive becomes pretty uninteresting. The northwest of the island had been turned into a southern california in the middle of the Pacific, complete with suburban condo sprawl and acres of gold courses impinging into the forest. Things seem to get interesting again as you get to Lahaina, which although touristy has some lovely old streets and a huge Banyan tree (the biggest in the US supposedly) in a square right on the ocean.


From Lahaina, we headed right for Kite beach again, but shortly after arriving there exploded one of the struts on chloes kite, so after some curmudgeonry on my part we headed back to the hotel and decided to take a last walk out to out beloved "Secret Beach" off the Hoapili trail near La Perouse bay. It was already 3:20 by the time we got to the trail head, so we walked quickly over the crunchy lava and got to the beach in 40 minutes. In contrast to last time, when it felt like we were in Death Valley, a huge storm cloud had moved over us and drenched us in a warm rain this time. On a whim, I decided to try to grab a coconut from the coconut tree near the beach (it really IS an oasis!), which took a fair bit of twisting and nudging to get loose. We had tried throwing rocks at it, but after seeing how well connected they are to the tree, I think I can say the would have been there for a few weeks throwin little chincks of lava at it with no progress. Anyway, I got the coconut down, which we sat on an old coral head on the beach and whacked with a lava chunk until a section of the husk had been removed, and then used a small pointy lava rock to break a drinking hole in the innner shell.



The coconut milk was excellent, as was the white rind.


What more could you ask for -- coconuts on a secluded beach in 80 degree weather in the middle of winter. After swimming for a while, I took some photos (many of which with the #$%# lenscap on)



and we headed back along the hoapili trail.






Later that night, we ate at "Da Kitchen" and Chloe dropped off the kite to be repaired by a local named Karen.