Hibiscus
Summary
- Date: 5-7 January 1997 (3 nights)
- United Vacation “Maui and Honolulu, 5 days Budget course”: 105,000 yen + 2,200 yen (US tax) / pax + 4,800 yen (one-day car rental added)
- Schedule:
- 5 Jan. (Sun): Narita – Honolulu (1900 – 0630) UA822 Honolulu – Maui (Kahului) (0830 – 0900) AQ62 Stay at Outrigger Napili Shores Resort
- 6 Jan. (Mon): Stay at Outrigger Napili Shores Resort
- 7 Jan. (Tue): Kahului – Honolulu (1728 – 1800) AQ113 Stay at Outrigger Waikiki Surf
- 8 Jan. (Wed): Honolulu – Narita (0905 – 1300(+1)) UA821
- To/From Narita Airport: Used “JR Holiday Pass” (2,000 yen) to go to the airport, which is in the valid area for the pass. Used “daytime Green tickets” (valid within 150km, 3,200 yen for 4 coupons)
- Rental Car： United Vacation includes Hertz Car Rental. It includes LDW, and I added LIS ($10.95/day). I made it FPO, which was $23.10. The tax was $6.33 and was charged $6 by the state of Hawaii. Totally $68.28 I paid as an additional cost for the car. The car was Carolla, which was C-class size (medium). I drove 223 miles in three days, using only two-thirds of my fuel. Maybe FPO was not good.
- To/From Waikiki: From the airport to Waikiki, by Taxi, it was $24 including tip. To the airport, used the bus from the hotel ($6/pax)
- Hotels: stayed in Studio a type room at Napili Shores Resort, couldn’t see the sea from the room, it was $140 according to the description on the door, with a full kitchen, room size is enough, and no bathtub. Napili Bay was rough and couldn’t swim. The hotel has two pools. The room stayed at Outrigger Waikiki Surf was very small the same as a Japanese cheap business hotel.
Outrigger Waikiki Surf changed to Ohana Waikiki Surf, then changed to Wyland Waikiki A Doubletree Hotel
5 January
Iao Valley is quiet and comfortable with full green and river, but don’t expect too much. We headed to the west coast. After driving a while, the sea appeared. It was a great sea of dark blue color. We found “Scenic Point”, then stopped the car to see the sea. Driving further, arrived at the town of Lahaina around 11:30. Parked at a free parking lot, and checked the time for Whale Watching Tours. Windjammer’s next tour, which has Japanese guidance, was from 2:30, but Pacific Whale Foundation was at noon, so we decided to take it. It’s $31/per person. We had only 20 minutes to lunch, then took out Whopper Jr. Combo, $1.99 near Burger King. Just before noon, we took a boat. We had to take off our shoes on the boat. There were a Japanese couple and a family with two children. The boat was out to sea, and it was pretty fast, due to the relatively small boat, I felt a little worse by shaking. The Head was noon, the right was 3, the back was 6, and the left was 9. The guide on the roof cried “11:30!” when he found the whales, then all rushed in the direction of 11:30. Soon, we got to the first watching point, and the boat slow down. After a while, the whales appeared in the direction of 1:30. Most of the people didn’t find it, but some were excited to see the tail of the whales. Going further to the next point, the guide said 11:30, but I couldn’t find it. The whales started squirting, so I could confirm, but it’s too far to take a picture. First I found squirting, then saw the tail of the whale next. Suddenly, “Right!, Right!” I heard the voice, and there were two whales near the boat! I dashed to the right side of the boat. They disappeared before I took the picture. But it’s good to see the whales for a moment. The whales came again at the back of the boat. I took two pictures. Later I saw the picture that I can see two parts of the back of whales on the surface of the sea. The photo was not big deal, but it was certainly exciting.
back of the whale can be seen a little
It’s time to go back. The boat sailed so fast that I felt worse. I walked around Lahaina town, then headed to Napili. I was very sleepy and took a nap until 6:00. The condo with a full kitchen, so we were planning to cook a meal. We went shopping at the supermarket. Today’s dinner was pasta, steak, and canned soup.
6 January
We enter the mountain road at 9 o’clock. Bicycles came down the opposite lane. It may be the downhill tour, which runs down from the summit of Haleakala by bicycle. The tour to see the sunrise at the summit costs about $110, and just downhill costs about $80. We paid $4 at the entrance gate to the National Park, then headed to the summit. The ticket was valid for 7 days. On the way, going through the cloud, there is a field with rocks only, without plants. The altitude of the summit is 3000 m and more. At this height, a little hard to breathe. Inside the hut on top of the mountain, Ranger’s Talk was held. A woman talked about Haleakala. We looked at the craters of the volcano from the summit and the visitor center was a little walk down from the summit. There are 21 craters, the scene was something inspiring. In the crater, tourists can walk through the trail. Because of never-before-seen views of the rocky, I couldn’t grasp the actual distance. The nearest crater seems to be very near, but actually, it is quite far. I saw people walking down the trail in the crater very small like ants.
Haleakalā ｰ Maui
Around noon, we had lunch in the car. The outside was very cold. I wanted to go to the nearest crater which is 1 mile from here. The downhill slope was steep than I thought. Going down the hill, but it takes a long time to reach the crater. The crater is approaching, you can now see the plants called “Silver Sword”, which is only seen here and in the Himalayas. Just before reaching the crater, I was said “You’ll look nice view !” by a couple on way back, which excited me. I reached the crater. It is about 100m in diameter. I imagine when the magma was going out from here.
Silversword シルバーソード（銀剣草）ｰ Maui,Hawaii
After looking while, on the way back, I was aware of it was very hard to walk, because the altitude is around 3000m. It was hard to breathe. With shallow breathing, walking slowly, or I would faint. It’s just 3000m, so incredible climbing Everest without oxygen. Eventually, I spent two hours walking, it was in the evening when we backed to the hotel. The dinner was the same as yesterday, pasta and canned soup.
7 January
Laying on deck chairs beside the pool until 10 o’clock. Today was shopping day. We checked out at 11, and went to Whalers Village, Kaanapali Resort. Shopping and Lunch here. Going Lahaina, looking at a final view of the sea, then went to Kahului. After shopping at the Kaafumanu shopping center, went to the airport. From Honolulu Airport to Waikiki, we took a taxi. There was a taxi stand near international arriving. The first taxi in the queue was a big limousine. While I thinking about what we should do, the driver of the second car said, “Taxi? take this” pointing to the limousine. I asked the driver of the limousine “Same price?”, then he said “It’s the same. You’re lucky.” I got into the limousine. It’s the first time. To Waikiki, it takes $21. I paid $24 including the tip. He said “Arigatou gozaimashita (thank you very much)” very politely. For today’s dinner, we went seafood restaurant called Monterey Mall Cannery which is in the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach to use a 15% off coupon got from JCB. We had a combination of top sirloin steak and mahi-mahi. It was $39 for two-person. After shopping at DFS, back to the hotel. The flight the next morning was at 9:00. I asked where the bus was to the airport. If you book in advance you can take the bus from the front of the hotel. I booked the bus for 7:00. $6/pax.
8 January
It’s not an airport shuttle bus, but just a big van. We arrived at the airport after 30 minutes. We had breakfast at Burger King at the airport. The end.
