Today's main (and only) activity was trip to Hana. The tour was organized this way that we departed from Kahului heliport around noon, helicopter took us all the way across Haleakala to Hana and from there we took a scenic road back to Kahului by 5 in the afternoon.
After watching the introduction of where the first aid kit is and how to evacuate the machine we took in line and boarded the helicopter. For seating we were distributed by our weight, computer did all the magic and allocated us as evenly as possible. I got to sit on the front seat! The ride was great of course :)
We started from Kahului, climbed all the way to the top of Haleakala, looked around the crater and then started to descend. On the way down we flew over the rain forests of Maui where it rains every day, this in turn creates lots of waterfalls throughout the valley. Saw many waterfalls, some as tall as 200 meters. It was great how the pilot flew by the waterfall and then made a sharp turn to fly by so that that the people on the other side could see the beautiful waterfall as well :) When approaching the city of Hana we were flying alongside the coastline - that was fabulous. Dark rocky coast, bright blue water and pure white waves crashing at the coast. After about 30 minutes we landed in Hana international airport and were guided to our next transportation vehicle - limo van.
Our van driver was a local guy who seemed to know everything about Hawaiian culture and history. He had many great stories to tell throughout the ride. First we ate lunch by a beach and then started our drive. Along the way we got to stop in many scenic locations and took tons of pictures. Scenic road means 50 km and 617 sharp turns, the speed limit was mostly about 15km/h :)
As it turned out the van driver had been to Tallinn just last year :) Although he was the 5th person to point out that I'm the first Estonian he has ever met at Hawaii. My surf instructor said the same thing and then added a note that us Estonians must not get out that much :D
At the end of the "scenic road" I started to feel sick of all the turning, luckily shortly after that the curves stopped and we were able to continue driving with 70km/h.
All in all the day was pretty much better than any of us could have expected. Once Gene picked us up at the heliport we heard that the road to Lahaina had been closed all day due to a big accident on the road, so he was stuck at Maalaea the whole day. While we tried to make our way back towards Lahaina we were still struggling in the traffic jams that still had not cleared up due to the closed road. It took us 2 hours to drive back.
Now I have all my stuff packed and I'm all ready to go to bed. Tomorrow morning we are taking an early fight to Honolulu and will spend a day at Oahu island, visiting Pearl Harbor. In the late evening we are all flying out to mainland US, me through Portland and others via Los Angeles. Then comes the most difficult part - 48 hours at airports and on flights. I'm not sure if I have any internet access in any of the airports to update my blog and upload the latest pictures. If so then you will see tomorrows news this week and if not then you have to wait a bit longer. Either way, lots of hugs to all of you!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
WE ARE CHAMPIONS !20. veebruar Suusa MM-il sai A. Veerbalu kulla. Ta on veel austust väärt, sest esimest korda maailmas saab nii vana sportlane kulla ( ta on juba 38.a. vana) murdmaa suusatamises. Pidu on pikk ja põhjalik! Võid ameeriklasi ka õnnitleda, sest nende kahevõistleja T. Lodwik võitis ka kulla. Loodame, et Sinu reisi lõpetus on edukas ja meeldejääv. Musi ! Kalli ! M & M
Post a Comment