Ka‘ū Bay

Today was a more relaxing day and we took our time getting going and not exactly sure what we were going to do. The fire was still keeping the Crater Road closed so we had some breakfast at the camp and decided to check out Iao Valley State Monument, which is a more sacred place to the native Hawaiians as this was an area where great battles between rival kings of the islands would take place for control of Maui. The main geological feature is a mountain that has eroded to almost a point and this is where the troops from Maui would gain a vantage point and wait for the invaders. We hiked up a river quite a ways until we found the perfect spot with a small waterfall where we were able to mostly be away from other tourist and enjoy the cool but not freezing river. The relaxation part of this excursion ended quickly as Annemarie was standing on the steep sandy side in her flip-flops. Just as I was thinking “be careful”, her feet slid about 3 inches before she became airborne and landed right on her tush. Making sure she was ok first, I was clear to laugh, oh that is gonna leave a mark. We made our way back down the trail and found a huge tree that just look like it needed a hug. Back at the parking lot, Annemarie told me that she had read about a local restaurant famous Cafe Olei famous for its Ahi nachos. for its nachos. Located at Maui tropical plantation, they provide an example of all of the different types of fruits and trees common in Hawaii. Now, happy having had her fill we loaded back into the van, but were still undecided on where we were going to go. So what better place to regroup and plan but the Maui brewery. We were shocked at how large of an operation this was but after talking with the bartender we found out this is the location that brews the beer that’s distributed throughout the country. A couple flights sampling the different brews and off we were to see if there was any local volleyball we could join. Fortunately, the courts we found were empty being the winds are still probably around 30 mph which is not very good for our game so off, we went back to camp for an early evening to relax and just enjoy the cool weather and nice sunset.Read more