Maui - January 2026

Tuesday Jan 20

We went to the Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary this morning and watched them from shore.  We saw mothers "logging" (resting like a log on the surface) and a group of males doing competitive flashing.  The mothers not only give birth here but also mate for the next year's calves - their gestation period is 11 months so as soon as their calves are born, the males start competing for their attention!  The volunteers knew a whole lot and did a good job of explaining things to us.  The Visitor Center is adjacent to one of the few remaining historical Hawaiian fishponds (Kōʻieʻie) - these walled-in ponds were built 600-800 years ago to allow native Hawaiians to farm fish.  Now it serves as a protected area where we saw sea turtles resting on the rock walls (below left). 

On the way back, we stopped and picked up some ice cream on special at Safeway, but they still didn't have any good seafood.  We were told that the Times Supermarket had the best fresh seafood, but their whole seafood counter is closed up while they wait for a part for their refrigeration unit!  Malissa and Karen made chicken piccata for supper tonight - after the sunset, of course. Yum.


Wednesday January 21

This morning we headed off to the 'Iao Valley (pronounced something like "yow").  We started with a beautiful rainbow and, because I wasn't thinking very hard, failed to realize that meant it was raining somewhere!  When we got there it was pouring!  But it's warm so we shrugged, acknowledged it was pretty dumb not to have our rain jackets or umbrellas in the car, and then went on to walk up to the "needle." This is a state monument and is a moneymaker for them - it cost us $20 for admission plus parking.  We didn't get greatest views due to the clouds/rain, but it was interesting and we walked down to the river and then through the ethnobotanical garden.  Below (left to right): The Needle (aka Kūka‘emoku), Wailuku Stream as it goes through the monument grounds and the Ethnobotanical Garden that includes native and historical plants.


We were there about an hour and by then the rain had stopped so we drove down the road to the Kepaniwai Park & Heritage Garden that I found even more interesting.  This is a public (free) park that is designed to commemorate the various cultures that contributed to Hawaii's development.  We spent time in the Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Portuguese areas that were full displays and included sculpture as well as flowers and trees.  The Chinese pagoda is at the left.  Since we had recently visited the Sun Yat Sen Garden in Vancouver it was quite interesting to learn that he and his family  were leaders in the Maui community.  His brother, Sun Mei, opened a general store in Kahului and operated a 3900 acre ranch in the upcountry near Kula. There were also Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, African American, Filipino and New England sections of the park but we didn't spend much time there - or even see all of them.  At the right is a "Peace Post" with its message in numerous different languages. The gardens were lovely and quite interesting.  Below are (left to right) the Portuguese Garden, a Firecracker Plant and a Shrimp Plant.  (Remember there are loads more pictures at MauiPart1.) 


When we got back to Kihei, we made a quick trip down to the Gift and Craft Fair (only a block away from us) but because of the rain and wind, many vendors had left so there wasn't much going on there - some beautiful art work but quite pricey. Later in the afternoon, I went on the Kihei History Walk with Malissa and Karen.  This is a free tour, though he does ask that you register ahead of time so the group doesn't get too big - at the end, you can tip as much as you think it was worth!  The founder, and our guide, Keith, was so much fun - he built most of his history knowledge through personal interviews and had some great stories to tell!  The walk begins at the library and goes around Kalama Park, ending in time for the sunset.  A few highlights include Keith, at left, telling us how the Fisherman's Shrine was started at the library and the whale sculpture on the right in the Park by Elan Vital (who actually showed up on one of his tours).  Below are a big monkeypod tree and the very cloudy sunset.  Then Karen took us out for supper at a newly-opened pizza place in one of the little malls along S. Kihei Road.  Capped off a great day!

Thursday January 22 - Friday January 23

After calling and making an appointment with the Maui Landfill director, John took a field trip to the Landfill Thursday afternoon!  He's been on our local solid Waste Commission for somewhere around 40 years and has a great interest in visiting other facilities.  He enjoyed his visit, learning about pros and cons of being an island and comparing our local process with theirs.   Meanwhile, I did housekeeping chores - paying bills, doing dishes - downloading pictures.  Sadly, there is still construction going on upstairs and when it started getting very noisy again, I went to the beach.  The pictures show one hen (I saw 2 with clutches of chicks) being busy scratching and training them, then what happens when the sun goes down and they cool off!

Friday we went to the Maui Ocean Center aka "The Aquarium." It was quite expensive but after our visit and I saw how much they do, I decided maybe $50 each wasn't unreasonable!  They have an ongoing project to raise and transplant coral to try to keep the reefs healthy; they rotate the sea life so that they don't have "permanent residents."  They release fish on a regular basis and bring in new ones to keep the tanks full.  It was nicely laid out and not too crowded; the exhibits were quite educational with most of the animals and plants identified. See the example of the "Surge Zone" at the left.  There is also the "Living Reef" "Open Ocean" and more that showed what goes on in various portions of the ocean.  They also had a 3D video in the Sphere Theater about the humpback whales' life cycle and migration.  I took loads of pictures so if you want more, be sure to visit the photo section!

Some of my favorites below:  Upper row left to right includes a trumpet fish, a frog fish (yes, that's a real live fish) and part of the reef exhibit that includes a lobster sneaking up on the food (head of lettuce) preparing to grab it away from the fish - he succeeded for a while but they continued to nibble at it even while he was holding onto it.