Week 759-761 - Hawaii'ya - 03-14-2021

Hawaii'ya

"We're fine, thank you for asking!" After a couple days with our friends at GVP in Hemet, CA, we settled in at Janice and Frank's house in Paso Robles.

Saturday

Starting our 16th year of full time travel, we felt we needed a break. So a trip to Maui seemed in order. Melissa and Mario joined us, but we had to leave Mandy at home. Saturday we headed up to San Jose to enjoy the "closed" spa at our hotel. We were worried Mandy would be upset to be without Mom for a week.

[Note from Mandy: "Hee, hee, hee. With Mom away, I don't have to comb my hair. And Janice and Frank are the best! Janice lets me sleep with her even though I snore. And Frank plays with me and even gets down on the floor to play tug a war."]

[Note from Pete and Ellen: "Thank you Janice and Frank for taking care of Mandy."]

Sunday

Mask up for the 6 hour flight. Actually that was the easiest part of getting to Maui. At the end of the travelogue, check out the list of Covid stuff you must do to fly there. Alaska Airlines was a good ride.

1) San Jose, big city. 2) Flying through the clouds. 3) Landing in Maui, looking nice! Before we left, we did notice that it might be raining everyday! We've been to Maui in the sun many times, so we were okay with rain.

Our every other year timeshare is at Marriott's Ocean Club on Ka'anapali Beach in Lahaina; it is breath taking. Sunday was consumed by the flight, lunch at Whaler's Village, checking in and enjoying the ocean views.

Monday

A sprinkle here and there, but mostly clear. Mario tries out the water slide and the waterfall massage. The spas were Covid-closed, so no jets to enjoy. However, the waterfall is stronger anyway.

Pete comes out of the pool as Melissa picks up some Pina Coladas. Note that you must have a mask on for service. But, there was no sign about being topless! Just kidding.

Melissa and Mario enjoy the enormous Banyan Tree in Lahaina.

Tuesday

As predicted, the rains came down. And boy did they come down. The heaviest rain in 40 years. The dam on the island was breached. Evacuations were ordered and shelters were established. Fortunately the dam did not break. The flooding was huge for Maui (but not bad on our side of the island.) Mario and Melissa got in a lot of snorkeling.

Rain or shine, the sunsets were spectacular.

Wednesday

We agreed to sit through a sales seminar to receive two $90 Whale Watcher cruises. Added two more for M&M (Mario and Melissa) and we were set to go. The cruise had to be booked for Wednesday; and God blessed us with perfect weather. Thank you Lord! The Teralani catamaran beached at Whalers Village and the crew helped us on without getting soaked by the waves. The two hour tour includes snacks and drinks and hopefully some whales.

Got Whales? We did for most of the cruise. This humpback gave us a show. Melissa captured this momma strutting her stuff.

Photo courtesy of Melissa Jean Photography"

Even though the whales appeared dozens and dozens of times, it can be tough to get photos. It helps to have "continuous shooting" on your camera, which was used to get this shot.

This baby whale was totally out except for the tail fin.

This tail fin completed the show and it was just a few feet from the boat. The boats must stay 300 yards from the whales, but the whales can get as close as they want and they do!

Thursday

The weather was a little "iffy" but cooperated on the Road to Hana. The very long day worked out great for us. We grabbed most of our photos on the trip to Hana.

The waterfalls were flowing rapidly thanks to the torrential rains. This fabulous waterfall flows from several directions to end in the same stream.

Second photo courtesy of Melissa Jean Photography

This is part of the same triple falls.

1) Mario & Melissa were great guests. We really enjoyed spending extended time with them.
2) The view from our table at the Hana Ranch restaurant.

First photo courtesy of Melissa Jean Photography

Friday

Mario is the master barbequer. Salmon, chicken and steak were on the menu. The Marriott has a dozen BBQ areas and we scored a sheltered table since it was drizzling.

Saturday

We planned a trip to the winery and Elk ranch. Elk burgers were in our sights. A long and twisty road gets you there, just in time to find it closed, waaa! An Internet search found the two-building town of Kula. We shopped at the Morihara Store before crossing the street to the Kula Bistro.

Another fine meal sponsored by M&M. Melissa is either excited about the lunch or about marrying Mario! Yes, as many of you know, our "baby" and Mario are getting married on July 10th. We could not be happier than to have Mario join the family. Blessings and congratulations to both.

The main event on Saturday was to visit Hawaii Sea Spirits. This rum and vodka distillery started in a warehouse in Lahaina in 2006. Now it resides on a gorgeous 80 acre property with ocean views.

The tour, sponsored by Mario, included five tastings of spirits. Pete, not a fan of coconut or rum, was confounded by the Toasted Coconut Rum.

Heading back to Lahaina, Melissa couldn't pass up a photo of a sunflower. Actually she got more than one flower in her photos.

On our last evening Melissa finished our travelogue with this beautiful landscape.

With a little push from the wind our trip home was just 5 hours. We couldn't have enjoyed a more lovely time. The weather worked with us and allowed us to enjoy new views of Maui. Thank you Lord for the gorgeous islands you created. Amen.

Photo courtesy of Melissa Jean Photography

This mid-week photo sent to us, let us know that Mandy was doing fine in our absence.

Now for the lesson on how to get to Maui in March of 2021. You must:
1. Create an account at travel.hawaii.gov and fill out a big dossier.
2. Download the aloha safe app on your smart phone. Or fill out a document stating you don't have a smart phone and answer more questions.
3. Get a Covid-19 test within 72 hours of your flight. Hawaii specifies only three trusted tests.
Two tests would hopefully get your results back in 48 hours (close call!). Or drive to San Jose airport to get a Carbon Health group test with results guaranteed by next day at 2pm.
So we opted to drive to San Jose on Thursday and would have results on Friday by 2pm. As it turned out we had the results before we left the airport!
4. Upload your Negative test results to travel.hawaii.gov.
5. With 24 hours of your flight, confirm your flight, print your ticket and fill out a health questionnaire.
6. At check in show your ticket, ID and negative test to get a pre-approval wrist band.
7. On arrival, skip the hours long testing line as you have your wrist band.
8. Arrive in Maui, show the driver's negative test result to rent a car.
9. Arrive at your hotel and each show your negative test to register.
10. Enjoy Maui!

With love, Pete, Ellen, Melissa and Mario

Photos from March 2021