Maui and the Big Island

We arrived in Maui after a long flight from Los Angeles and were greeted by the Rogers with fresh Hawaiian Lei’s and huge hugs. It was so nice to see them after so many months, and we quickly felt the warm Aloha of the Hawaiian Islands. 

Our re-union with the Rogers at the beach in Maui.

Beth and Tony found a great condo for all of us located in Haiku, which is near Paia on the north shore of Maui. Paia kind of reminded us a lot of Nelson British Columbia because of all the organic food shops and art galleries. The key difference is that everyone in Nelson watches the snow report, while everyone in Paia watches the surf forecast. We were lucky to be arriving in Maui a day before a huge winter north swell was due to arrive. Everyone was buzzing with excitement at the forecast of 30-50 foot waves the next day. There’s a break called ‘Jaws’ nearby to us which is famous for some of the worlds largest waves – big enough sometimes that surfers cannot paddle into them on their own and instead rely on ‘tow surfing’ which makes use of jet skis to tow them into the giant waves.

The next day we decided to try and see some of the waves at Jaws. Overnight we could hear the surf crashing even though we were miles from the shoreline. It was raining on and off all morning, and we anticipated a muddy and slippery hike into Jaws, which is accessible only by 4WD or hiking down a series of farmer access roads to the coast. The hike was quite an experience and more muddy and slippery than we thought. Combine that with loads of 4×4 trucks filled with  anxious surfers and onlookers rushing through the mud roads to catch a glimpse of these rare waves and crazy surfers. It was quite a site when we eventually arrived at the shoreline to see the lines of people watching the abundance of surfers.

The big wave surf break known as ‘Jaws’ firing off 20-25 foot waves.

Later we headed inland and ‘up Mauka’ to a unique farm called the ‘Surfing Goat’. We were immediately intrigued by the name because of Geir’s recent opening of the ‘Stubborn Goat’ gastropub in Halifax last fall. This farm in Maui specializes in premium goat cheese and prided themselves in having a group of baby goat ‘kids’ who roamed a field filled with old used surfboards. In the middle of the tour we were lucky to see one of the pregnant goats give birth right in front of us. We considered this to be a good sex ed homeschooling session for Kai and Vea! It was quite amazing to see the quick care of the newborn ‘kids’ by the mother goat and also by the operators of the farm.

A newborn surf ‘kid’ – only 2 hours old.

We spent the rest of our time in Maui exploring a bit of the island, watching lots of Humpback whales breaching, body surfing local beaches, seeing Green Sea Turtles coming onto shore, and visiting one of Maui’s first and only wineries (we didn’t even finish some of our tasting glasses! – Pineapple and wine don’t really mix well in our opinion).

Maui was a great start to our Hawaiian Island hopping tour and some wonderful time to spend with the Rogers catching up.

We left Maui on an inter island evening flight with an airline called ‘Mokulele’. We didn’t know much about them – but we quickly realized how small the plane would be when we checked in and found out we were the only ones to fill the plane except for one other couple. We were seat assigned based on body weight to balance the flight! Kari got placed in the back of the plane so it wouldn’t dive and Norrie got assigned to the front so it wouldn’t stall. The 40 minute flight was kind of like a roller-coaster ride with constant turbulence – so you imagine how Kari felt all alone in the back of the plane!!

Mokulele airlines is the smallest inter-island flight, and the cheapest rates. Turbulence is free of charge!

Arriving at the Rogers condo in Kona was so welcoming and warm that we felt a bit like being home. They have a beautiful place on Alii Drive – which is on the main coastal road in town. A perfect location for early morning runs, and beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

Having two weeks on the Big Island seemed like a lot of time at first – but we quickly filled our days with many exciting activities and excursions – including: snorkelling, hula dance lessons, surfing, paddling, a scuba diving lesson, day trip to the volcano, beaching, boogie-boarding, cliff jumping, great dinners, sweet sunsets and some home schooling mixed in-between. It was also great to see the Baker family who were on vacation in Kona at the same time – and we enjoyed enjoyed many days and activities with them as a group. One more reason why our time in Kona felt like home!

It was really nice to watch Jaida, Kai and Vea having some quality cousin time together hangin’ at the pool and just being kids. Amazing for us to see how tall Jaida is now – and we enjoyed watching her play some great B-ball games with her co-ed team.

Kai’s new board on which he caught many waves in Kona.

Kai was anxious to get back on the surfboard again after Costa Rica – and so was Norrie. Tony was thrilled to have some companions for the early morning surf sessions (dawn patrol). We ended up buying a surfboard for Kai on consignment which ended up being cheaper than renting for a week. It was a sweet little 6’4” board which Kai quickly got to love. He tried to convince us to bring it with us to New Zealand and Australia – but that idea was quickly dismissed by Kari being the ‘practical backpacker’. We placed the board back on consignment sale when we left the Big Island and Kai said farewell to his first surfboard. We will likely do the same buy /sell when we are in Australia.

The day before we left the Big Island we celebrated Kai’s 12th birthday in true Hawaiian style. Being Kai – he had it all planned out in great detail. The day started with Kai catching 12 waves during an early morning surf at a local break named Pine Trees – and it ended with a fantastic birthday dinner, and beautiful sunset at one of our favourite beaches – Kua Bay. We even got to see an amazing show of humpback whales breaching off-shore. It was a perfect last night for our time on the Big Island, and we were sad to say goodbye to the Bakers – as well as our last night with the Rogers.

Sunset at Kua Bay with the Rogers and Baker families – celebrating Kai’s 12th birthday

We’re now getting back into our travel mode and very excited to continue on with our Hawaiian island-hopping to Oahu and Kauai before departing to Fiji.

Here’s some photos of our 2 weeks in Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii.

Aloha for now!