The music of Maui fills my soul. An unexpected delight became the highlight of our trip. We took a snorkeling cruise to Molokini Crater - one of Maui's justifiably most popular outings. During down time, the captain played his ukelele and sang (the songs were his own compositions for the most part, I believe, but lovely traditional melodies). After lunch, as we sat on the top of the catamaran relaxing in one of the most beautiful places on earth - having had two great snorkeling experiences plus seeing dolphins and several sea turtles surfacing after we got out of the water - he sang Mercy Me's song "I Can Only Imagine." Wow! Though we have been enjoying one of the most incredible places on earth, it still can hardly compare to what awaits us in heaven! We can barely imagine the glory and beauty that we will find when Jesus returns and recreates the earth.

But our day was not over yet. We had reservations in the evening for a luau that celebrated the cultures and foods of 4 polynesian lands: Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and Samoa. I gained a greater appreciation for the owner of my childhood dance studio. She taught us more than just Hula; we learned many of these traditional polynesian dances - it was a treat for me to be in the audience watching instead of performing or peeking from backstage to watch my friends. Here's a small sample of the evening's entertainmeng:

Conch Shell call

Hawaiian Hula Dancer

Hawaiian Flower Gourd dance

New Zealand Maori Poi Ball dance

Samoan Fire Knife dancer

Michael & Me having a great time

I drifted off to sleep with the sound of traditional Hawaiian drums in my head. What a perfect final night for this vacation!

Sometimes it's about the journey ... not the destination. Such is the drive called the Road to Hana.

It's a lovely drive through a jungle-like environment, full of lush vegetation, waterfalls and more turns and one-lane bridges than most of us ever see in our lives! My most amazing husband (who is spoiling me silly) said he was glad he did it, but it would be hard to talk him into doing that drive again!

Funny, we never reached the destination (for some it's the town of Hana, but for many it's the O'hea gulch, a waterfall with several pools a way past Hana). We ended up taking another unexpected journey after we stopped at Wai'anapanapa State Park to sit on the black sand beach and enjoy a snack/lunch of some wonderful local banana bread and fresh pineapple.

We found a trail off the beach that we thought would lead us to some sea caves and back to the parking lot. It did take us through a lava field and past some amazing scenery on the coast.

In the end, however, it did not lead to our expected destination. When we turned off onto a trail leading away from the coast, we ended up at the Hana Airport, not the state park parking lot! Since we still had plenty of water, we knew we could make it back to the car - it would just be a loooong walk. Fortunately, we got a ride from a really nice local guy. It turns out his wife is a florist who runs a business shipping tropical flower arrangements to people all over the world (www.mauibest.com). Even though that journey took an unexpected turn, it was still a fun adventure!

What an amazingly creative God we have! There's such a variety of beautiful FISH in the ocean - and we've seen just a tiny sample while snorkeling here, but WOW!

Unfortunately, we don't have our underwater pics developed yet, but here's a link to a guide that shows a sampling of the fish around Hawaii's reefs (and we've seen some that aren't even on this guide).

One fish we saw a lot is the humu humu nuku nuku apuaa, or Rectangular Triggerfish - Hawaii's state fish.  (Image copied from keith.martin.home.att.net/stats.html)

I'll leave you with one picture I took from a black sand beach looking out toward Molokini Crater, a place known for amazing snorkeling. The crater is right on the horizon, at the end of where the point of land juts out. The sand is more of a "salt and pepper" black, white and red sand - even the sand was beautiful (but hot). Aloha!

Snorkeling ... Surf ... Stars - a day of amazing experiences! And I learned that 3 1/2 weeks in a tanning booth plus SPF 15 sunscreen is still not enough to prevent sunburned shoulders. I thought that the sun at high altitude was intense - apparently it's much more intense at sea level closer to the equator!

We awoke at 4 am. My most amazing husband had no trouble going back to sleep. However, since I usually wake up at 6:00 at home, and home is 4 hours later right now, I knew there was no chance of getting more good sleep. I expected this, so I had some time to work on my laptop, upload pictures, and catch up on emails that piled up in the 2 days I wasn't able to check it.

After breakfast, we found snorkel gear to rent. Black rock has a reputation for good snorkeling and was a short walk from our hotel - a good place to start.

Sorry, no pictures from in the water (yet). We did buy a waterproof disposable camera, but those pics will wait until they can be developed (the "old-fashioned" way). The experience was like being a fish in a tropical aquarium. We floated easily along with a variety of fish: pufferfish and triggerfish almost close enough to touch, bright yellow tangs a brilliant contrast to the rock and coral, colorful parrotfish feeding off the coral. After one swim to the end of the rock and back, we were both ready to change plans for the week to do as much snorkeling as possible!

After lunch, we drove to the north side of West Maui for a very different but also awesome experience. We hiked along the sea cliffs through an area where the salt spray has been eroding the lava for years (our guidebook described it as a place that looks like a war was fought with acid - very appropriate). At the end we arrived at the Nakalele Blowhole.

As the surf pounds this side of the island relentlessly, this little hole fills with water, and then it just blows up!

I'll try later to upload the video I took of this thing. We watched it for so long that we lost track of time. We walked around and watched it from several different directions (and got really wet with the salty spray).

After showering, we headed out for dinner at an amazing restaurant and enjoyed local seafood, local (mostly organic) veggies, and an out-of-this-world carrot cake. I think I've found a new favorite restaurant in the whole world! (It's called Mala, and it's in Lahaina, in case you were wondering).

We wrapped up our day on the beach watching the stars come out. An incredible first full day on Maui - and more to come!

My most amazing husband and I landed in Maui shortly after 3 pm, following an 8-hour plane ride. The smiles had been creeping onto our faces over the previous hours, but now they settled in permanently! After all the usual airport routines, we shoved our luggage into a Mustang convertible and hit the road for ... Wal Mart! Maybe not the most exciting first destination, but we wanted to buy beach towels, I needed eye drops for my contact lenses (they'll get  a little more use than most days since I forgot my glasses at home), and sunglasses for my hubby since he left his in our car back on the mainland.

The drive was beautiful. We rounded the West Maui volcano and followed the shoreline for several miles. As we rounded the west side of the volcano, I looked up to see a rainbow in the clouds. Faint and ethereal, it added a magical feel to my first impressions of the island.

When we arrived at our hotel, we received a traditional lei greeting. And the view from our room - WOW!

We set out for something to eat - even though by this point it was about 9:00 pm at home, we knew that a dinner at dinnertime here would help us to stay up until something closer to bedtime and enjoy our first evening here. And what better than a simple meal on the hotel terrace facing the sunset and listening to a Hawaiian singer seranading us with mellow Hawaiian and other beach music?

At one point during dinner, I realized I was singing along with a song that I remembered from about 30 years ago: Pearly Shells. It's not a song that most would recognize unless they listened to Don Ho music back in the '70s. But my sister and I took Hula lessons for years when we were children, and that was a song that we danced for a recital. Since our recitals were every other year, we must have worked on that dance for close to two years.

After dinner, we walked in the twilight by the shore and watched the stars come out. The waning moon was on its way towards setting, a treasured moment for two people who have always appreciated God's creations in the sky as well as on land (and sea).