Maui : Hawaii – Day 2 – Road to Hana, Pools of ‘Ohe’o

Where: Road to Hana – Wai’anapanapa State Park, Pa’iloa Beach, Pools of ‘Ohe’o (Seven Sacred Pools), Safeway =.=

The first official full day in Maui and we decided to take the winding road of the Hana Highway. It is 53 miles long consists of 617 curves, with some single passing lanes and hairpin turns.  On the way, there are waterfalls, coastal views, tropical greens and fruit stands with honest boxes 🙂

We stayed at Kihei, which was quite close to Hana Highway .. and we started with a healthy breakfast before hitting the road! (I made it myself -.-)

Breakfast

On the road!  We started at 10 AM, which is when the traffic jam was suppose to hit. Most sources say that the journey takes 3 hours each way and this may not include the various mini stops along the way.  The road officially starts at the town of Pa’ia, where it starts to become narrow.  The road becomes highway 360, and luckily, it is hard to get lost since it’s just one way.

Road to Hana

I didn’t see any visible large markers for the attractions and for the most part, if there were a bunch of people standing on the highway with their cameras, it must be an attraction.  There are also a lot of shacks selling BBQ food that smelled super delicious from a distance.

I can’t say where this was, but it was our first lookout point!  There were actual parking spots here!

First Stop

We stopped by a fruit stand shortly afterwards.  The fruit stand is unmanned and there is an honest box where people put in money based on the listed prices.

Fruit Stand

Fruit Stand

Off road to Hana

An 11 seconds video on the road to Hana :

According to our Top 10 Maui guidebook, there are 8 must stop points on the road to Hana, except, as mentioned before, there were very little markers that we ended up missing all of them except for Pa’iloa Beach (which does have markers and lots of parking lot).  The Pa’iloa Beach is part of the Wai’anapanapa State Park, which is smaller than other state parks here and is of free admission.  The word Wai’anapanapa means glistening water ~

Wai’anapanapa State Park

A small hiking trail to the right leads visitors to the blowhole, but along the side, are basalt lava … which is actually a private burial ground.  The ground is marked but apparently, there are many that aren’t marked and items looking like mounds or man-made should not be disturbed.  It could also be why they discourage people from taking rocks from the area (although all parks and beaches discourages people from taking back “souvenirs”).

Private Burial Ground

However, the other side of the trail gives a spectacular view of the ocean.  The day we went was quite windy and the waves were just crashing up against the rocks.  The animal-like rock caught my eyes 😛 According to this website, it is a popular spot for adventurous individuals to cliff jump from this inlet, although I didn’t see any on that day.

is that a mythical creatures?

In the event visitors get lost …

Directions

I noticed that all the trees have holes in them, I wonder if it is due to bugs or the weather elements…

trees all have holes

The blowhole here isn’t a magnificent one and there seems to be plenty around the island, but it is sure to get one wet.  The basalt rocks beneath has been eroded by the waters, forming a cave and when strong waves hits it, blowhole emerges!

The blowhole

The area here is surrounded by black basalt cliffs.  It felt a bit dangerous when going closer since strong waves often hits against the side of the cliff.

the view near the edge

Closing in on the edge of the cliff … gulp.

cliff

There is a very mini blowhole next to the main one and this is the cave causing it.  It’s pretty impressive, and a little slip could be a long way down :S

The cave below

There is a path that continues on after the blowhole but it gets narrow and harder to trek.  It is also part of the King’s Trail or Hoapili Trail, which was built by King Kahekili and completed around 1550.  It was created before the the Europeans came was paved for the King and his messenger to survey the island.  It is unsure how long the original trail is, as most have been lost through the elements and time (Maui guide), but the current one is a 6 hour trek encompassing 6 miles of rugged lava fields.

Returning the way we came, we went down to Pa’iloa Beach, a black sand beach that was created when hot lava flown into the cool water, breaking it apart to pieces (per my guidebook).

Pa’iloa Beach

It is not advisable to swim here since the waves are quite strong and the sand is more like pebbles.  There are also jellyfish and man o’war in these waters.

the tiny cave to the right

The right side of the beach also has a small cave that could be easily missed.  A tour guide said it is popukar with honeymooners and couples comes here to take photos.  We went during high tide and the water gushed in but during low tide, one can walk out quite far.

The cave

On the opposite side of the park is the Wai’anapanapa Cave … The story is below and my friends and I kind of agreed that the sign was slightly more impressive than the cave itself …

Wai’anapanapa Cave

The story of the cave …

The first pool is in a cave and when we were there, there was already a couple of locals jumping off and into the fresh spring fed waters.  Due to the loud music and people inside, we regrettably didn’t venture in further where there are supposedly more hidden caves.

Curious tourist going in to see the noise

Inside the cave …

The first cave

The water in the second pool is a bit stagnant and looked as though it has been there for a while.

second pool

The path gets a bit tangled in vines etc and it reminded me of fairy tales, where the princess is escaping an evil stepmother and she runs into an enchanted forest (where her servant proceeds to cool her off with shiny feathered fans -.-). This path conveniently took us back to the parking lot.

We made it to Hana!!!!!! Actually, we drove passed it and ended up at a seaside cafe.  We were extremely hungry and decided to stop at the first restaurant we saw – the Barefoot Cafe Bakery & Catering (addy 1632 Keawa Pl, Hana Bay, Hana, Maui).  According to most visitors on tripadvisor, they were like us, stumbled here by accident while looking for food and washroom – or both!

Seaside cafe

The menu was simple (i.e hambuger, fish and chips) and most meals were not over $10.  The most surprising item was the Chili Rice, which we thought was hot sauce and rice but it actually had meat and all for $4.00  I had a hot dog and fries, also for $4.00.

Hot Dog and Fries combo

The dining area was surprisingly full, I suppose they were hungry like us.  We were lucky to grab a table but there were also benches outside on the grass overlooking Hana Bay.

In the latest failure to bring with me a bottle of water, I got to try the Hawaii drinks here at the cafe.  Lilikoi was pretty good but the Guava had the best taste.

Hawaiian drink..

We continued on from Hana in order to reach the Pools of Ohe’o.  The scenery (and the road) remains quite … spectacular.

the water from the distance

We stopped by Wailua Falls, snapping a few pics and stretching our legs.  It is an 80 foot fall and visitors can step down and move closer but we elected to stay on the road. (source)

Roadside waterfall

There is a parking lot but no lookout area, therefore, everyone just stands on the one lane bridge to take photos, moving away whenever a car passes by.

one lane bridge

the other side of the bridge .. lush greens

Finally made it to the Seven Sacred Pool.  It is about 10 miles or 15 minutes drive from Hana on Highway 31.  It is part of the Haleakala National Park and there is a park admission fee of $10/ car but this admission is good for 3 days.

ticket to the waterfalls

The park has many trails but arriving at 4 PM with only about 2 hours or so of natural sunlight left to drive back to KIhei, we decided to stay for a maximum of 40 minutes.

the route map

The seven sacred pool is located Kuloa Point Trail, which is a short circulating trail going towards the seaside.  The other path, Pipiwai Trail takes visitors up to the Waimoku Falls, the original fall of the seven pools and visitors can take dips in the pools.

The diversion

The house in the background is Hale Ku’ai, a traditional Hawaiian house.  There are three main types of houses: family dwelling (Hale Noa), meeting house (Hale Halawai) and multi-storage structure (Halau).

Hale Ku’ai

Despite the short route, the trail saw many strong banyan trees, which branches grow downward into the ground to strengthen the tree.

Banyan Trees

There were also some archaeological site along the path and I wonder if they are ancient burial mounds instead …

archaeological site

.. a giant mushroom!

archaeological site

A short walk later, we arrived at lower pool’s scenic lookout.  It is actually the final place of where the water flows out and from this viewpoint, it was very difficult to see the pool of waters at the bottom of the mini falls.  On the positive side, we can see consecutive mini waterfalls in one shot.

Lower pools of Oheo

The sun was on the way down but the scenery was as gorgeous as ever …

Sacred Pool

It was an extremely windy day and the waves were just hammering the coastlines .. definitely not a place to go swimming, no matter how good a swimmer they may be.

windy day

My 8 seconds video:

On the other side is this view ..

the cliffside view

We ended up taking the same road back, as it was now a race against sunlight.

hiking path

Back in the car and heading towards Hana again.  Technically, there is a road that goes go around the island but rental car companies do not advise people to drive in those outback roads because most is single lane and unpaved.

the road back to Hana

We went through the downtown of Hana this time but it started to hail so we stayed in the car.

the drive through Hana

We didn’t have time to stop at the famed Hasegawa General Store, just a super quick drive by.  Apparently, they have their own coffee blends as well as local macadamia nuts and chilly hot sauce.  There is a nice summary of this store that’s over 100 years here.  Someone also made a video about their visit (here).

Hasegawa General Store!

There are also a few churches in the small town on Hana.  There were already two across from each other.  The most famous one was the Coral Miracle Church in Wailua (not the one below), which was built in 1860.

Church

We did stop at the parking lot for a few seconds because something had caught my eyes — a cross in a far distance.  It’s Fagan Cross!  It’s located inside the Hana Ranch, which Paul Fagan began in 1940.  The ranch began with 14,000 acres of land and a load of cattle from Molokai.  He died in 1970 and the lava-rock cross was raised on the hills overlooking Hana, in his memory (source)

Hana Ranch and the Fagan Cross

Cross overlooking the town

Officially departing from  Hana …

Last look at Hana

In the returning drive, we only stopped at one marker, which was the Wailua Valley State Wayside.  

The road from Hana

Wailua Valley State Wayside

.. and that was the last photo I took from Hana back to Kihei … The motion sickness was too much and the sun had set.

We went back to Kahului, where we went to a Safeway to stock up food.  The Safeway here are opened 24 hours whereas Costco closes at 8:30 PM.  We were greeted by a LOT of spam.  Spam became popular during WW2 when it was served to the GIs and later became part of the Hawaii cuisine.

Safeway – Spam!

It also has a variety of spam!!!

spam variety

There are also a lot of odd items that I don’t see in the Safeway back home either, like Sriracha sauce, as ales and spirits.

It’s alcohol..

… and other odd flavours

and other odd flavours

.. and one of my favs: V8 drinks

V8s

… on a completely random note – a cookie monster poofie!

Cookie Monster

We finally arrived at our Kihei apartment at 8:30 PM and by then, almost everything was closed.  We were lucky to sneak into Fred’s Mexican Cafe in the last 30 minutes before it closes and had ourselves a Kihei Salad (because goodness, we needed some veges in our system).  I found the portions to be a good size although I still need to pack it home.  Returning to the apartment, we rested and got ready for another chill day in Maui….

Kihei salad

Date of Visit: April 17, 2015