Aloha from Maui!

Rick and I took a break from the cold depression of Utah and headed to Maui for a post-graduation rejuvanation. It was wonderful and beautiful beyond words! This is the view from our hotel room balcony.

Kite Surfers on the East side of Maui. You can't tell, but these swells are probably about 15-20 feet

Just another amazing sunset

At Makena Beach- ranked one of the best beach in the world- and I have to say I was quite impressed.

Lu'au

Can't be a Hawaiian tourist and not go to a Lu'au, right? It was way fun.

The pork cooked in the imu- yummy

The show was like 2 hours long, and they did dances from all over polynesia- the performers were awesome.

Fire bearers that start the Lu'au

Not to much fabric for the men there, ehh?

Coolest part- Samoan fire knife dancer! This guy was insane.

The Maui Prince

We stayed at the luxurious Maui Prince Resort (haha- sounds fancy huh?) and it was super duper nice. This is their private beach we went to everyday. It has some of the best snorkeling on the island.

And so snorkeling and lounging was what we did! The clarity in the water is amazing. Rick was about 5 feet away when I took this.

Dori fish- couldn't find nemo though ;)

Just endless coral here- it was so beautiful. I wish our camera did the colors justice. So much life there. We actually did see whales and other stuff too, but not able to get a picture of it.

I think this is my favorite picture of Rick "the snorkel man" ever

Lisa being glamourous at the poolside. We were nerds and felt ritzy ordering lunch and lavaflows poolside.

Highway To Hana

The locals all say you haven't been to Hawaii if you haven't driven on the Highway to Hana. It is this very narrow road that curves (I mean over 600 turns) along the East coast of Maui. Every few miles are pools, waterfalls, and breathtaking views.

This is basically what the whole drip looks like- and if you see the sign for the one lane bridge, about half the drive the road is only big enough for one car- exciting.

Upper Puohokanoa Falls

Rick pretending to be George of the Jungle

This day a tropical storm blew threw and we had a full double rainbow

The country-side is just all like this- very green and covered with sugarcane fields. The first thing we noticed when we landed was how sweet the air smells because of the sugar everywhere.

Appropriate title.

Going through the jungle- sooo green.

Upper Waikani Falls- there wasn't really a path to get down to these, but with a little tricky manuvering we made it down.

These were some fresh water caves

The little drawings on these signs made me laugh and they are everywhere on the island.

Our absolute favorite beach- Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach- it is a beach formed from pure lava flow. The black with the crystal blue water and the luch green plants was just awesome.

These lava formations created amazing caves and bays

Such as this 'blowhole'- just a rock formation, that when it is hit by the waves sprays up like a whale's blowhole

Gorgeous waves

Another waterfall along the road- there has to be at least 100- it is crazy

This was the Seven Sacred Pools at the South side of the island, usually calm little waterfalls you can play in- unfortunately right where the storm really hit. So the pools became more like Niagra Falls when we got there. Right about this time typhoon type winds and rains hit and the road we were taking washed out- so it was an adventure! We just drove like 20 minutes back the other way and then it was sunny again.