Today is Day 7. We got up, had some of that wonderful lilikoi cream cheese on our bagels, some fruit and coffee and sat out on the balcony at Hale Kai enjoying the day.
This morning, something kind of funny happened. It's not really funny, but it kind of is. The waves in front of the condo have been providing wonderful opportunities for us to view lots of honu (honus?). They have been constantly fighting to get onto the slab rock ledges that are underwater, but visible at low tide. Well today, one of those magnificent creatures made it to the beach next door! Everyone from the condo that was out on their balconies at the pool or playing in the water, wanted a closer look. We all wandered down to the grassy area above the beach, right by the stairs that take you down to the beach. We were all aware of the law to give the turtles their space and stay a good distance away from them. At least, MOST of us did!
We had taken a couple of pix of the turtle and left to go finish our breakfast. About 15 minutes later, we hear some commotion going on by the honu on the beach. Some lady had decided to put her beach umbrella over the turtle. I really had to do a double take, but yes, there was an umbrella covering the turtle from the sun. I guess she didn't realize that they like to come up for sunning, and in her own way was trying to protect him? She didn't seem to know that she was interfering with the laws of Hawaii regarding being right there next to him either.
After a while a couple of the people on the beach decided to try to explain to the woman that she couldn't be so close to the turtle and she needed to remove the umbrella as well. She must not of understood English very well because she would not comply until the man started to talk and use "sign language" at the same time, showing her with his hands and feet that she needed to remove the umbrella and get back 50 feet from the animal. You could tell that she wasn't really getting it. I don't think she was being belligerent, just a bit ignorant to the facts and explanation she was getting or total lack of communication.
I couldn't help but giggle under my breath at the scene and oh, how I wish, I had my camera at the ready so I could of shown you pictures of the calamity unfolding. After about 5 times of the man (who had the patience of a saint) explaining and with the help of a few other people, they got the lady to take the umbrella away and move herself as well. The turtle didn't seem to mind, and continued with his nap but I have never seen anyone ever do that and just had to mention it in this blog!
We got ourselves ready for the day and headed out the door to drive to Iao Needle Park. It was a busy day at the needle. For local people it was a free day so parking was difficult to find, but timing was good for us and we secured a spot and headed up toward the needle. Mama didn't feel she wanted to walk all the way up the trail to view the top so she stayed on one of the lower paths and waited for us to return.
We walked up the stairs to the view area and got some great pix and then collected mama and walked the lower paths.
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| Picnic time |
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| A nice cool dip on a warm day |
Once we were satisfied we had seen all that we wanted we packed up and headed to our next stop, The Maui Tropical Plantation. We had been there on a previous trip but thought it would be fun for mama to see all the trees, plants and ride on the little train around the plantation. I think we were pooping her out so the ride would be a little respite from all the walking that we had been doing.
We had a nice tour on the trolley, it was good to have someone explain what the various trees and plants were, even tho, a good many of them had signage. I had never seen or eaten a Jack Fruit tho!
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| Papaya |
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| Sugar Cane Tool |
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| zip line at maui tropical plantation |
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| Jack Fruit |
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| Fresh Herbs |
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| Trolley |
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We left the plantation after browsing the gift shop and headed back to the west side.
I wanted to make one more stop and that was to the Maui Grown Coffee Shop by the smoke stacks. Mama from TA had told me about a coffee from there called yellow caturra and I wanted to try it. I also tried the red catuai and then a blend of caturra. They were very good, so I purchased about 4 bags of varieties to come home with me. THANKS MAMA from TA!
Walt had fallen in love with CJ's Deli and Diner. Every time we drove by it his mouth was drooling so we decided to stop by there on the way home for some take out dinner.
He had seen a healthy alternative previously, the "whole grain live burger" I think it was called. It had all kinds of healthy stuff in it, oats, quinoa, sprouts, etc etc etc. I and mama decided on the good ole cheeseburger and onion rings for our dinner. Walt loved his burger and we loved ours. The onion rings were to die for! Yummo!
Home we went for our nightly "happy hour" with bags of food and wine waiting for us at home!
Aloha til Day 8!
Cin
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