Maui: Day 3

Today was a 'South Maui' kind of day. I knew I wanted to stay in the Kihei area, but spend some time exploring around so I started my day by heading down to the historic lava fields at the very southern tip of the island. Taking this directly from Google, but "known in Hawaiian as Keoneʻōʻio, it is the site of Maui's most recent volcanic activity. According to radiocarbon dating by the US Geological Survey, lava flowed from the 10,000+ foot Haleakalā volcano into La Perouse Bay sometime between 1480 and 1600."

What they don't tell you is the drive out there is nothing short of an adventure. It felt like something out of Jurassic Park with the last 20 minutes being sandwiched by nothing but...shocking...lava fields to the left and right of you for miles and a 1-lane "road," if you can call it that. I'm fairly certain I learned this morning that I don't like driving hairpin turns as much as I thought I would. Needless to say, I showed up dramatically unprepared with sandals on so I only spent about an hour wandering around, but the black and white lava rock against the turquoise waters was breathtaking and definitely worth the trip. From there, I headed back north to Makena State Park; a beautiful, very untouched, beach area with incredible views of Kaho‘olawe, a small mountainous island off the coast.

The drive back north took me through Wailea, a town full of high-end resorts, golf courses and shopping centers, so I stopped in to wander around and found myself at the Waikiki Brewing Company for a cold beverage; was thrilled to find a hazy IPA on draft after all my white-knuckle driving.

Lunch brought another poke bowl; this time from a local grocer that's known for their 'poke bar' and I landed on a mix of the 'everything tuna' and their spicy shrimp with a big container of edamame to take back to the condo.

Spent the afternoon on the beach, finally! While the sun is warm, the breeze is cool and it's the temperature to sit in the sand all day long. However, Jerry was coming to visit for dinner so I got to enjoy prepping some jerk chicken kabobs with onion, pepper, squash and sweet potato.

We enjoyed the sunset by the grill catching up and chatting with some of the more frequent travelers to the area. One specifically hilarious woman by the name of Catherine, a retired Canadian journalist, married to an OB-GYN and shared with us, between sips of scotch, that "the worst part of being married to an OB, is when you get into bed at night and they tell you to 'scoot down to the edge." I about spit out my wine.

Another beautiful day filled with beautiful places and beautiful people. A few things lined up for tomorrow, so I'm off to get some shuteye.

Aloha!