for my side of the family, we decided this year to do an adults only family vacation in maui. a year ago we all got credit cards with miles. then in the following months we bought tickets, reserved condo's and cars, found babysitters, and planned our itinerary. it was a INCREDIBLE vacation! beaches, snorkeling, hiking, sailing, waterfalls, blowholes, etc. it was awesome. we loved every minute of it.
day one - we were the first ones to arrive, so we had a day to ourselves. first up - snorkeling around black rock (the place we almost drowned on our honeymoon. thank goodness this time we were in better shape).
i love the color of the water.
after snorkeling, we hiked la perouse bay. we walked 2 miles on kings highway (lava rocks) to an un-named beach. we watched some boogie boarders riding the waves.
this nice rock fit perfectly in my hat and prevented it from blowing off every second.
day two - we met up with everyone and drug them out to the beach bright and early, jet lag and all. we wanted to snorkel 5 caves, but the surf was up and it was too rough. so we went to polo beach. the waves were still huge and a few of us (really just me and susan) got pounded and rolled pretty good coming in. poor susan had her sinuses leaking all day! and i got my snorkel ripped off my face. but we survived.
after polo beach we went back to black rock, after everyone heard how clear it was yesterday. so off we went. it was rough coming in, and my dad likes to relax and roll with the waves. i was watching him from the shore, and the tourists near me were all worried about that "older guy in the jeans getting pounded by the waves." even though i knew he was ok, i ran up to him before anyone could call 911.
day three - it started sort of crazy when my mom called me at 6 am to tell my my dad was hurt and we needed to help them find an ER. turns out he went outside on his lanai to look at a bird, and totally didn't see the screen door. he fell through the door, and in the process cut his big toe pretty bad. we called around and the only hospital on the island was near us and the ER was open, so off we went. 5 hours, 5 stitches, and 3 prescriptions later, we were done. thank goodness it wasn't too bad of a cut, and also thank goodness we were able to reschedule our sailing/snorkeling trip to molokini since my dad couldn't get his toe wet for 48 hours.
while he rested, we all went to big beach to watch the locals catch some huge waves. i love this beach. beautiful clear water and the boys tried their hand at boogie boarding. things got pretty rough, but everyone had a great time!
the boys before attempting the huge waves
this is the sunset from the park across from where we ate dinner. another beautiful day in maui!
