MAUI FIRST CLASS
Long ago I knew a lady in California who had lived in Honolulu for a few
years and had lots of company from the mainland. She told me she got tired
of doing the WFI tour. My visitors don’t usually stay long enough for the
Whole Freakin’ Island tour, but I try to provide some real
excitement anyway.
The Friday evening before Helen arrived on
Sunday, I happened to think about my driver license, checked it, and sure enough
it had expired on my September birthday. So-o-o, first excitement on
Monday morning (after breakfast) was to treat Helen to a stop at the Department
of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Over the weekend I noticed that the little 2015
tag on my car license plate had been ripped off, so I had two reasons for the
stop at DMV.
Replacing the little tag was trivial and cost
50¢, but rules had changed for the driver license, requiring
birth certificate or valid passport for citizenship, two proofs of residency in
the state, etc. I wasn’t prepared for this and had to go home for
documents and go back for completion. Helen was thrilled for the
opportunity to get the full DMV experience and I’m sure she ranks it as the high
point of her visit.
Helen and I
worked together in Bangkok, Thailand in 1969-70, and have kept in touch over
lo, these many years. Here are the “then and now” pictures – as you can
see, we have barely changed over 44 years.
On Tuesday, we took the Air Maui helicopter
tour over West Maui and North Moloka’i. The view was spectacular, the
weather was nearly perfect, and the trip was well worth it, but over so soon.
I took lots of pics, but will only show four that were special to me.
This is the harbor at Kahului, the cities of
Kahului and Wailuku, with the West Maui Mountains in the background.
(Click on picture for a hi-res copy that will allow you to zoom in on details.)
The Waiehu Municipal Golf Course, where I
spent many pleasant hours and fought the ever-present winds most of the time I
was there. (Click on picture for a hi-res copy that will allow you to zoom
in on details.)
We went on to see valleys and waterfalls of
West Maui and a distant glimpse of the resorts and golf courses of West Maui
beyond Lahaina. All this was preparation for the spectacular cliffs,
valleys and waterfalls of the north coast of Moloka’i.
The island of Moloka’i seen from Maui across
the Pailolo Channel. Trade winds were really down and the usually choppy
sea was abnormally calm.
Just part of the grand-daddy 4000’ waterfall
on the north coast of Moloka’i with an idea of the steepness of the cliffs that
prevail. Pictures can barely tell the story – you just have to see it for
yourself!
On Wednesday we took one of my favorite
tourist day trips. It starts with brunch at Kula Lodge with a stop at the
Curtis Wilson Cost gallery. The view from the dining room is
extraordinary! From left to right one can see South Maui, West Maui
mountains and North Maui, with the entire “Valley” spreading from Ma’alaea
harbor to Kahului harbor. Our valley is nontraditional, since, although it
is between two ranges of mountains, it is bordered by the ocean at each end.
I am somewhat sorry to say that I have never
purchased anything there, but I always stop at the gallery. Cost is my
kind of artist and I always enjoy seeing his work, especially the jacaranda
trees and other upcountry scenes. Although well worth it, the prices are a
bit out of my range. Check him out
online.
Next stop is the
Tedeschi Winery at Ulapalakua for
wine-tasting and a look at the ever-changing grounds. I’ve been there many
times and they continue to remodel, add on, and improve. This time we
watched workmen recreate lava fencing.
I had heard that there were ancient wiliwili
trees right along the road beyond Ulapalakua and I asked at the Winery just
where they were. I’ve seen many pictures of them and featured them in
Ponogram #87,
but have never seen them up close and personal. They didn’t know, but got
online and found out – “just keep going until you get out of the wet area and
into the dry lava fields”. I was determined to find them. I’m sure
Helen was just as determined – at least she didn’t object.
We drove on through forests with invasive ivy,
carefully examining each small to medium tree for evidence of the gnarly trunks,
khaki-colored bark, unique leaves, and possible flowers or seed-pods. I
really didn’t know when they bloomed – since then I learned that April-July is
the likely season for flowers.
Finally we got out of the “wet” area and into
the lava plains with low vegetation and soon saw what I could believe were the
ancient wiliwili trees. We stopped and got out to examine the candidates.
There were lava fences and wire fences with
barbed wire and it was not possible to get close to the trees, but I zoomed in
to get pics and was soon convinced that these were genuine ancient ones.
More correctly, these were keiki (children) of the old ones.
The first one we identified (left, above).
Helen went across the road and found several more near the road and a number of
singles spaced out across the field.
Typical gnarled trunks with fungal covering
(right, above).
Empty seed pods (left, below) and branches
with leaves (right, below).
I am convinced that these are true exemplars
of the ancient wiliwilis and I am thrilled to have seen them up close with my
own eyes! I will continue to seek others closer to my place, but failing
that, I will visit these friends in the spring with hopes of seeing actual
blooms and later maybe harvest a seed or two for my nature collection.
The non-native wiliwili trees used as wind
breaks along roads and between fields were pretty much wiped out by gall wasps a
few years ago. A competitive gall wasp was introduced that seems to have
eradicated the bad one. I am delighted to see that the ancient ones seem
to have survived! Helen was happy as well.
On the way back home I showed Helen how close
we were to my condo even though we had been driving many, many miles. Over
the years I had tried many times to actually see exactly where I lived from that
area. I found a slight turnout on the mauka side (mountain) and parked.
Across the road on the maikai (ocean) side was a very small lava wall and it
seemed like the view was quite open. As we looked, I could identify
landmarks and with the zoom on my camera I was able to get locked in. I
had finally found an overlook only about 2 miles from home (cross country) after
driving about 50 miles! Another major triumph. Helen was overjoyed
(I think).
This is the entire area around my condo taken from
a road about 2 miles up the mountain near Ulapalakua. On the beach left – Grand
Wailea Hotel and on the beach right - Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort. Foreground round brown area with black fence – new hotel
construction. Next gray roofs – Wailea Town Center. Foreground –
Wailea Gateway Center. Midway behind Gateway – Grand Champions Villas.
Across Blue course 7th fairway – Kai Malu. (Click on picture
for a hi-res copy that will allow you to zoom in on details.)
Grand Wailea Hotel. Construction area for new hotel.
Gateway, Wailea Gateway Center.
Wailea Town Center.
Grand Champions Villas (figure 8 shaped) with
Kai Malu across 7th fairway.
AFTERWORD
Not the WFI, but I had a great time – success at the DMV, success at the
heli tour, success at Kula, the winery, the wiliwilis, AND the viewing of my
condo, and good weather throughout. Now Helen is on to see New Zealand and
family in Thailand, but I’m pretty sure they have nothing to offer there to
compare to the Hawaiian DMV or the ancient wiliwili trees of Maui!
I can’t guarantee a complete tour of the Maui DMV to everyone, but I’m
sure you can see it is well worth the visit! E komo Mai!