Today we had an early start as were off on a whale watching boat trip leaving Lahaina harbour at 7:30am in the morning with a 7:00am check-in. The harbour ,once full of whaling ships ,is now home to an assortment of vessels providing tours and deep sea fishing excursions. Next to the harbour is a park with the most amazing Banyan Tree, which was first planted in April, 1873, and marked the 50th Anniversary of Christian missionary work in Lahaina. The tree was imported from India was only 8 feet tall. It now stands over 60 feet high, has 12 major trunks in addition to a huge core. It stretches over a 200-foot area and shades 2/3 of an acre, providing much needed shade in the hot Maui climate.Today we are in search of North Pacific Humpback Whales who visit the waters around Hawaii form October to May to give birth and feed before returning to the cooler waters of Alaska, a trip of a mere 3000 miles. Our captain Christine assures us that there are plenty of whales out there to see so we sit back and relax for our 2 hour tour of the waters around Maui. It is not too long before we spot our first spout of water from a passing whale and our captain skilfully steers the boat towards it. For the next hour or so we are treated to numerous whales
passing within 100 feet or so of the boat. Initially we see their dorsal fins which are quite short and stubby, but as we close in you get a feeling for the size of these magnificent creatures. The females (who are larger than the males) are around 45 feet in body length and weigh approximately 40 to 45 tons. We also get to see their calves which are typically 14 feet at birth, and may weigh as much as 2 tons. On occasions the whales we are observing are quite happily ignoring us and are cruising along doing back-stroke, their 15 foot pectoral fins splashing gaily as they speed along at 5 mph. Every so often the whales descend below the surface and we see their huge tails (the technical term is fluke) as they disappear below the surface. It is difficult to estimate how many whales we see but it must have been 20 or so individuals. Sadly it is all over too soon but on the way back Mark gets see a humpback “breach”, which is when they completely leave the water and splash down in huge crescendo of water. Unfortunately few other people on the boat see this as they have gone into trip over mode and there was no time to capture this on film.When we arrive back on dry land it is only 9:30 am so we still have the whole day in front of us. So we rush back to our vacation home and make a pack lunch and head off toward volcano
Haleakalā (Hawaiian for “House of the Sun) which is believed to be dormant rather than extinct, although it has not erupted since 1790 (200 years is not a long time in volcano terms). In Hawaiian folklore, the depression at the summit of Haleakalā was home to the grandmother of the demigod Māui. According to the legend, Maui's grandmother helped him capture the sun and force it to slow its journey across the sky in order to lengthen the day. From the summit you look down into a massive depression some 7 miles across, 2 miles wide, and nearly 2,600 feet deep. The surrounding walls are steep and the interior mostly barren-looking with a scattering of volcanic cones. Unfortunately on the day we climbed to the summit the cloud cover didn’t allow us to see anything of this.We take the 38 mile road from the valley to the 10,023 foot summit. As we start the journey we pass through fields of sugar cane and tropical plants, the sun is shining and the temperature is a pleasant 83 oF. By the time we reach the summit the terrain is barren and rugged, it is raining, misty and the temperature has fallen to 43 oF. On the way up we pass a number of cyclists riding down – there are daily cycle tours which take you up to 6500 feet and let you take the easy route down. Mind you the weather is not good for the first 3000 foot of the descent. The road up is long and winding and with the weather closed in there is not too much to see. When we reach the summit we brave the weather as we rush into the visitors centre to learn a bit more about the region, fortunately there is a professor from the University of Hawaii visiting who gives us a great insight into the geology of Maui and the Hawaiian Islands. As luck would have it the weather briefly clears so we take this as a photo opportunity. It is too chilly to hang around so we take the long winding road back down to the balmy temperatures at sea level.
Jack is holding a teddy bear in some of the blog photos....he is a travelling bear that we were asked to 'adopt' for a month before we fill in a scrap book and parcel him off to somewhere else. He started life with a German Scout troop and was given to Jack to look after when Jack was introduced as a Lone Scout to the Boy Scout District Camporee. The leaders felt that the bear could benefit from our travels andviewpoint of some of our locations!Now all we have to do is the scrapbook pages..............Teddy will be visiting Ardsley next to meet some Brownies we know and love and a whole bunch of Ardsley Pack 3 Cub Scouts!
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