Things We Learned in Maui

There are 132 Hawaiian Islands, atolls, shoals and reefs! Maui is the 2nd largest island in the Hawaiian chain. Maui is approximately 48 miles (76.8km) long and 26 miles (41.6km) wide, totaling 728 square miles. It is known for long stretches of beautiful beaches, Haleakala, surfing, humpback whales, the road to Hana, snorkeling and turtles. Maui started five million years ago. It was the result of volcanic eruption on the ocean floor creating two adjacent volcanoes. These volcanoes formed into one island and became Maui. Paddling outrigger canoes, the first ancestors of today's Hawaiians followed the stars and birds across the sea to Hawaii, which they called "the land of raging fire." A dog-bone fish hook found at the southernmost tip of the Big Island has been carbon-dated to A.D. 700 and some recent archaeological digs at the Maluuluolele Park in Lahaina predate that. In the early years there were three kingdoms on Maui: Hana, Waikulu, and Lahaina. Piilani was the first ruler to unite all of Maui. His rule was a time of not only peace, but Piilani also built fishponds and irrigation fields and began creating a paved road about 6 feet wide around the entire island. Then in the 1700s, Captain Cook found Maui. After that, King Kamehameha united all of Hawaii. Starting in the 1800s, sugar was the primary revenue source for the island. Today, there is one remaining sugar cane producer on the island called A & B Sugar. Sugar cane begins with a 12 inch long "slip" cut from a stalk of cane that is machine inserted into the earth. The sugar cane is watered and fertilized and then it is harvested 24 months later. It can grow to be 30 feet tall before harvested. A single cane stalk can produce three crops. Then the field is replanted with new slips. An acre of land can yield over 90 tons of cane or 12.5 tons of raw sugar. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the union. Now, the primary industry is tourism. As tourists, we visited West Maui ( the olivine pools, the blow hole, the dragon's teeth), Lahaina, the needle, Haleakala, molikini, turtle cove, Wai'anapanapa State Park with a black sand beach and lava tube, Kam beach where you can learn to surf, and lots more. Some of our surfing pictures are on the slideshow at left.

Some other miscellaneous stuff we learned recently

Sugar Cane -- Sugar cane can grow to be 30 feet tall. Sugar cane is believed to have originated in New Guinea. Sugar cane can be grown to maturity in two years in Hawaii. A sugar cane hauler can carry up to forty tons of sugar cane which equals the weight of eight male elephants. Sugar cane workers in Hawaii came from Germany, Spain, Japan, China, and the Phillipines. Cane workers burn the fields when it is time to harvest.

Whales -- The longest time a humpback whale stayed under water was fifty-five minutes. Some years the humpbacks are playful and others they are not. Sometimes they don't breach at all.

Surfing -- Soft top surf boards can give a nasty rash on all of the uncovered areas of the body.

Fish/snorkeling/ocean -- There are shallow, mid and deep zones where different fish gather. There are some fish that look different as juveniles so that their parents won't fight with them for territory. Fewer people die each year from shark attacks in Hawaii than from coconuts dropping on their heads.

New Things We've Tried in Hawaii

1. poi

2. mahi mahi

3. snorkeling in real water (we've done it at SeaWorld but that is all)

4. surfing

5. coconut juice

6. apple bananas

7. hawaiian purple sweet potatoes

8. li hing mui shave ice

12 Days of Christmas in Hawaii

Numbah One day of Christmas, my tutu give to meOne mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Two day of Christmas, my tutu give to meTwo coconut, an' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Tree day of Christmas, my tutu give to meTree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Foah day of Christmas, my tutu give to meFoah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Five day of Christmas, my tutu give to meFive beeg fat peeg... foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Seex day of Christmas, my tutu give to meSeex hula lesson, five beeg fat peeg (that make TEN!),Foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Seven day of Christmas, my tutu give to meSeven shrimp a-swimmin', seex hula lesson,Five beeg fat peeg, foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Eight day of Christmas, my tutu give to meEight ukulele, seven shrimp a-swimmin', seex hula lesson,Five beeg fat peeg (that make TWENNY!), foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Nine day of Christmas, my tutu give to meNine pound of poi, eight ukulele, seven shrimp a-swimmin',Seex hula lesson, five beeg fat peeg, foah flowah let, tree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Ten day of Christmas, my tutu give to meTen can of beer, nine pound of poi, eight ukuklele, seven shrimp a-swimmin'Seex hula lesson, five beeg fat peeg,Foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Eleven day of Christmas, my tutu give to meEleven missionary, ten can of beer, nine pound of poi,Eight ukulele, seven shrimp a-swimmin', seex hula lesson,Five beeg fat peeg, foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree. (Numbah Twelve day of Christmas the bes', and the bes' stuff always come las'...)

Numbah Twelve day of Christmas, my tutu give to meTwelve TELEVISION, eleven missionary, ten can of beer,Nine pound of poi, eight ukulele, seven shrimp a-swimmin',Seex hula lesson, FORTY steenkin' peeg,Foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree!
Music and lyrics published by Hawaiian Recording and Publishing Company, Inc., and copyrighted in 1959.

T and I were a little scared to learn how to surf, but once we got our giant surf boards and headed out onto the beach where we practiced, it didn't seem to hard. The first couple of times we were up we crashed down hard into the coral and we were glad we had reef shoes on, but most of the time it didn't hurt. After a while it got pretty easy and the instructor didn't have to tell me what to do anymore. We had tons of fun and we probably will do it again sometime. :)

About Kaui

Kauai is the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands. was first settled around 5 or 6AD. Several centuries later Captain Cook landed on Kauai near Waimea. Initially, islanders believed Cook was sent from the gods but eventually they changed their minds. Much of the island was covered by sugar plantations but they are no longer profitable and only one large plantation remains. There is one coffee plantation that is still in operation and some taro fields as well. The primary industry now though is tourism. There are lots of local food favorites including shave ice, papaya, macademia nut ice cream, apple bananas, and pineapple. We have tried them all.

More news but no pics yet

This is T. We are in rainy Hawaii. I wish the weather would switch with NC so we would have some drought. Yesterday we went snorkling at Lydgate Beach. It was pretty cool (figuratively and literally). Then, we went to Kilauea (sp?) and saw the lighthouse and 30 foot waves. The lighthouse has a 4 ton clamshell Fresnel lens that is the largest in the world. And, we learned that albatrosses and red-footed boobies have different shaped beaks because boobies hunt food in the water and albatross don't. We saw a lot of boobies on the hill (hundreds) and we saw several Laysan albatross in their nests. We went back to the hotel after lunch at a bakery and we went to swim practice with the Kaui Swim Aquatics. They have 72 kids on the whole team. There was another set of 15 year old twins that we became friends with. We hope to go again today after we go horseback riding IN THE RAIN and WIND and we hope we don't get blown off a cliff. We might take surfing lessons too depending on the weather, which doesn't look good. We did see several naked people in their rooms from our porch this morning. I guess they don't think people can see them from the outside. It was not pretty! So, that is the news from Hawaii. Mahalo.

Kaui

We're here (after 12 hours on two planes and 2 hours in airports). It's raining and raining and raining. We drove to the top of the canyon yesterday and saw ..... clouds. We also went shopping at Costco, Kmart, and Borders. We had dinner on the beach. We hope to snorkle today. The girls will also go to swim practice with a local team. The views look like they might be spectacular if we get a few minutes of sun. It is apparently the wettest since the hurricane hit Kaui in 1992. The girls have some factoids to post, so check out the random facts column at left. More later. C