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| Heidi at Sugar Beach |
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| Shy Octopus |
After seven straight weeks of work I was very much looking forward to a wonderful vacation consisting of a week in Maui and then three weeks in Indonesia. The week in Maui consisted of surfing, diving, hiking, wining, and dining at all of our favorite spots.
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| Bubble Man Nudibranch |
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| rare find, Caloria sp#3 |
Things started off right with Heidi meeting me at the airport with Pizza Madness and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, two of my favorites. Then we drove up to Kula to find the Pietsch's family house way up on the slopes of Haleakala volcano.
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| Redwoods Hike with Pat, Heidi, and Ben |
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| Redwoods |
From there we hit up breakfast at our favorite places: Grandma's, Three's, and Fred's. Dinner spots included Pizza Madness, Three's, Mama's Fish House, and Casanovas up in Makawao. We dove at our favorite nudibranch hot spot, Sugar Beach, where we found a couple of very rare species. We circumnavigated the west Maui mountains where the famous Nakalele blowhole is and the 'not-so olivine' pools. And finally we drove 6,500ft up the volcano to a very unique hike called Poli Poli, where an 80 year old grove of coastal redwoods tower above the trail.
A lot of this we had planned out on our 'Maui wish-list,' but something great always comes from being spontaneous, so when my cousin Josh got in touch with me and said he and his wife Quinn would be in Maui we dropped everything to go see them.
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| Quinn and a pin cushion sea star |
We explored south Maui, and even though we didn't find early morning dolphins to swim with we did stop at the beautiful Secret Beach for pictures before hitting up Fred's for 2 for 1 breakfast. Then it was back to their place, which happened to be the Grand Wailea, for food and drinks by the pool, though not before I took Josh and Quinn out for a fun filled snorkel in front of the Grand. We found a sea turtle, moray eel, octopus, and lots of fun invertebrates for them to hold.
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| Quinn and Josh with a sea turtle |
The spontaneity continued as we jumped on the opportunity to snatch up a couple of reservations with them for dinner at Mama's Fish House. The view of the massive north shore waves was amazing as we enjoyed one of the best meals I've ever had on Maui. There wasn't much time for relaxation or decompression but I feel like it may be a good warm-up for things to come in Indonesia. Next stop Bali!
A lot of this we had planned out on our 'Maui wish-list,' but something great always comes from being spontaneous, so when my cousin Josh got in touch with me and said he and his wife Quinn would be in Maui we dropped everything to go see them.
We explored south Maui, and even though we didn't find early morning dolphins to swim with we did stop at the beautiful Secret Beach for pictures before hitting up Fred's for 2 for 1 breakfast. Then it was back to their place, which happened to be the Grand Wailea, for food and drinks by the pool, though not before I took Josh and Quinn out for a fun filled snorkel in front of the Grand. We found a sea turtle, moray eel, octopus, and lots of fun invertebrates for them to hold. 
The spontaneity continued as we jumped on the opportunity to snatch up a couple of reservations with them for dinner at Mama's Fish House. The view of the massive north shore waves was amazing as we enjoyed one of the best meals I've ever had on Maui. There wasn't much time for relaxation or decompression but I feel like it may be a good warm-up for things to come in Indonesia. Next stop Bali!
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