Signs of Spring!

One Year Ago - Part 14 (last post for the trip)

Leaving Maui, another beautiful day for flying.

Nice view of one of the smaller islands.

Heading into Honolulu to get our flight home.

Our flight home - it was late coming in because of bad storms in Atlanta, so we got off to a rough start, which in turn made us almost miss our connecting flight to Baltimore once we got to Atlanta. Just made it to the gate with about 2 min. to spare.

Saying goodbye - last look at Honolulu, Waikiki, and Diamond Head Crater.

Last glimpse of land - I had a window seat this time and it was an overnight flight. That was a lot of fun! NOT!

Sunset over the Pacific - then it was dark for about 5 hours until we reached to coast of California - Los Angeles pictured below. Clear skies that whole night, it was neat to see all the lights below.

Only a little bit of time left to go!

Sunrise over Atlanta - got into rain during the landing. Funny part was that it had rained when we left there almost two weeks before and our suitcases got wet during the luggage transfer, so we ended up with some wet clothes! This time we didn't care if our stuff got wet.

The Atlanta airport - known as one of the busiest in the world. The sun finally came out while we were taking off and we had a very nice flight to Baltimore this time around. All in all we had a great trip, definitely would like to go back some day! I did make a scrapbook of it all, 86 pages long and ended up doing one for my sister as well. I'll gladly show them to anyone who wants to see them. It was a lot of work, but a great way to remember it all.

One Year Ago - Part 13b

On our last evening in the islands, we went to the Old Lahaina Luau. The picture above is of the "spit" where the pig was roasted. When we arrived, we were greeted with leis and drinks, and then led to our tables. On the outside areas of the stage, there were things to see and do until the meal began.

Our entertainment for the evening. Notice that the guy with the guitar is giving me the "hang loose" sign, a nice way to pose for me!

The stage area was in the middle and we sat on the other side, in front of the building in this picture.

Uncovering the pig.

They loaded him in this container and took him to the kitchen. It was good!

Krystle's first taste of a lime.

Our last Hawaiian sunset.The wahines fillin' their plates.

Last glimpse of the sun.

Our entertainment for the evening. It was very interesting. Notice the huge light on the other side, that made it hard to get good pictures.

One Year Ago - Part 13a

This fellow was chirping at us and he happened to sit still long enough to let me get his picture. The next few pictures are of our whale watch. The catamaran pulled up to the beach and put down a ladder. We took off our shoes and headed into the sand and then the water. The first two steps were in the water. There were approx. 25-30 people on board. The water was really rough, and that made it hard to get good pictures because it was hard to stand up, balance, and take a picture of a fast moving creature in the water at the same time. We got to see (as far as the captain could tell) about four males chasing/competing for one female. He told us that to see something like that is about a 1 in 1,000 chance. We didn't see them for a few minutes and he said that the female was probably hiding under the boat and the males won't go after her then. He moved the boat, and the chase began again. They were humpback whales. They spend the winters in the Hawaiian waters, about 7,000 to 10,000 of them, and most of them are found in the waters around Maui, then they head back to Alaska. They measure 45 to 52 feet long and can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. You can stand on shore and see them jump out of the water, but it was nice to see them a little closer. And with the rough water being what it was, we did get wet! Thank goodness I was turned away from it all cause I had the camera in my hands.

Skeleton of a sperm whale. We visited the Whale Musuem, which was free, and learned a lot about the whaling industry in Hawaii. It was actually the whaling capital of the Pacific between 1825 to 1860. Residents boasted in 1856, "You can walk from one end of Honolulu Harbor to the other, ship to ship, without getting your feet wet!". 596 ships came into port that year.

Tools used to cut apart the whales.

Blubber from a pilot whale, cut into "bible leaves" to get ready for the try pot.

Scrimshaw - the art of etching on ivory whales' teeth.

Replica of a whaling ship.

Krystle

Rhonda

Yours truly

Sisters

Hawaiian plant called protea.

One Year Ago - Part 12

The mountains of Maui behind the town of Lahaina.

Our water taxi, the Holokai, took us to our ride on the Atlantis, a tourist submarine. It seated 48 people back to back (on a double sided bench that had each seat hollowed out for your posterior), and we were crowded! We ended up 130 feet under the water and saw lots of fish and reefs. I got a few good pictures, but it was hard to take them because of the low light down in the depths and you couldn't use a flash as it would have reflected on the glass. Our guide was a nut and we had a lot of laughs. This company is located in Hawaii, Guam, and the Caribbean. We wanted to go on the ride while on Oahu because they tour part of Pearl Harbor under water, but it didn't work out.

Notice the limited leg room, not a comfortable position if you are tall and have to sit like this for 45 min. I was beside a really big guy, enough said!

Some of the scenery in the deep blue.

Looking towards the front of the submarine, notice the 107 feet on the left.

The Carthaginian, a 19th century replica whaling ship that was sunk on purpose to help the reefs and oceanlife. It used to be a tourist attraction until it became unsafe for people to tour.

A slow swimmer passed by.

The submarine getting ready to dive in with the next round of tourists. When we surfaced, our group would trade places with the people on the boat so that each had approx. the same amount of people on board.

Dive, dive, dive.

All the way under and ready to go.

A Banyan tree and it is the largest on the islands. It shades more than two-thirds of an acre and measures one-fourth of a mile in circumference. It's huge to say the least!

While waiting for the trolley to go back to the hotel, we enjoyed the beautiful sky. I think I forgot to mention that we only had rain on one day, not bad considering that it usually rains everyday. The temperatures were mostly in the 70's and 80's.

The road in front of our hotel.

Two weary travelers standing on the inside part of our hotel. The lobby area is open like the rest of the places we stayed. We were in the building right behind the girls but we did not have a beach view.

The Ka'anapali Beach, it was divided by these hedges with the sidewalk on the right and the beach on the left. In the distance, you can see a hotel on the black rocks and they have people that will dive into the water from the rocks at night. We didn't get to see it because we were enjoying the entertainment that night at our own hotel.

Waiting for our seats at the Hula Grill. The food was good but our waitress was not the best. Another story for another time! I think we irritated her. ha ha Maybe because we were laughing and having a good time and she didn't like it.

Another beautiful sunset.