The "palmetto bugs" here fly. well.

So anyway, when your hands and fingers have microcuts from coral and/or sea urchins, here is a comprehensive list of things that Hurt:
- sun screen lotion.
- soap.
- chlorine water.
- salt water.
- Mai tai.

Day two was even better than day one. The day started with Danielle waking up at 4 am and reading the paper. i rolled out of bed an hour or two later, squeezed in a quick 5k along previously discussed path, then it was off to try the snorkeling again. I did a better job at Not blindly grabbing ahold oh things below the water that I cannot see, and Eagle-eye Danielle spotted a sea turtle that we followed for a good 15 minutes. Danielle also correctly identified a 4 foot trumpet fish. she's an island pro.



Then it was on to pick up the bikes! So, cross season is right around the corner and I have to stay on top of the intervals I started last week, so I rented a 5 series Madone for duration! They also hooked up Danielle with a sweet Orbea, though it took a stem swap for her to dial in the fit. I get along really with 80+ degree weather, so a quick ride in the afternoon was just the right thing to shake out the legs.



Drinks and a little pizza at The Four Seasons capped off the night. we also stole a peek at the luau going on at The Grand Wailea, but since the garb on the "native" dancer wasn't authentic (haha, get it?), I quickly lost interest.





Maui is beautiful...


yeeeow, so is Danielle!

Coral is sharp

First day in Wailea, Maui was fantastic. thanks to jet lag, we were up at 5 and ready to go. first order of business after breakfast of mostly chocolate and cookies (don't judge) was to go for a walk to experience the grounds of The Fairmont and get the blood circulating. A 2 mile path kisses the back of The Fairmount, The Four Seasons, The Grand Wailea, and other hotels. While it's a heavily manicured, the little path was not at all busy. in fact, the whole area doesn't feel at all crowded, just pretty mellow.





Next order of business was to get in the water. I needed some snorkeling gear, and there are a million shops that rent, but here's a tip: buy the mask, fins and, I dunno, mouth tube thing? when you get here at kmart or Safeway. because the cost of renting is $25/week for mid range stuff, and buying is $30 + the bonus of not having to imagine just what type of sanitary measures the shop takes... i ended up renting before going to Safeway, so, lesson learned. Anyway, to cut to the chase, snorkeling here is amazing. tons of activity along the reef. Danielle saw a reef shark too, and here's why I suspect; I had tons of micro cuts on my hands from touching the coral for support while putting on my flippers. actually it is the urchin that I suspect are the culprits here, but the point [ha] is that I didn't feel any of them happen, but when I surfaced out of the water, I saw was rocking a couple of really good slashes. so yeah, mr. reef shark probably smelled dinner.

next we drove down as far as you can drive in Maui, and the road takes you through a field that is probably where they filmed all the moon landing footage.



very amazing lava flow that happened 300 years ago.


In town (kehei) a little later Danielle noticed a place called Da Kitchen which she said was where she read they serve Real Hawaiian food. and far be it from me to turn down a spam masubi. Yes, it was amazing.



then we went to bed at like 7 Hawaii time.





oh you natives you.....

Aloha from Maui (Wailea)

We arrived safe and sound! Maui is amazing and the Fairmont Kea Lani hotel in Wailea is the most beautiful place I have ever stayed. And i have stayed in a lot of nice places. The lobby is stunning!!



We have a huge 2 bedroom oceanview suite with a huge double balcony overlooking the ocean. The best part is that we're here for 7 nights!!! Thanks to my travel agent rate or we could not have afforded this. Our suite goes normally for over $500/night but I got it for about a fifth of that. :)

The food in the swanky hotel restaurants is CRAZY expensive. Nothing under $38 dollars for a dinner entree and goes way up from there. $40 mahi mahi with mashed potatoes, etc..... We stopped at a grocery store on the way here and loaded up on groceries since we have a mini kitchen. It was kind of funny to load up the bell hop luggage cart with all of our plastic grocery bags when we checked in... The porter said that people do that all the time... :) Gallon of milk in Hawaii is $7!!

We rented a jeep and are going to go exploring and hiking, swimming, snorkeling. I think we'll go snorkel at "turtle town" today which is a cove where sea turtles hang out. Also this week we've rented bicycles and will do some cycling while we're here. Hooray for vacation!!!!


Ok off to enjoy breakfast on my balcony and watch the ocean.

Aloha!!

Danielle