hawaii--part 4

Hopefully this will be the last Hawaii post...we'll see how long it gets.

Day 7--The Road to Hana...and Beyond
We finally got around to taking the road to Hana. Now, for those of you who don't know about this, the road to Hana is about a 4 hour long drive along a twisting, winding, narrow road. The whole drive you are just swerving back and forth and hoping you don't hit oncoming traffic. There were some parts of the road that were narrowed down to one lane.

Again, we were late getting up. We ate breakfast and packed snacks and lunch for the long drive ahead of us. Now with the road to Hana, think of the quote: "It is not the destination, but the journey that matters" (or something like that). Hana is a really small town with not much to show in the tourism category. Really, it is driving the road which is the great part of the trip. It is a really pretty drive, tons of great scenery. The further we went on the road, the more beautiful the scenery got (and the crazier the road got). We would follow the road along the coast and then go back into the mountains, and back down to the coast again.

Me at one of the rest stops on the road to Hana.

There are several places to stop on the road to Hana. At one of our stops we tried fresh coconut. My cousins drank the milk, but they shared some of the coconut meat with us. It tasted very plain (really not much of a flavor) and the texture was weird.

We arrived in Hana and then took another road that went further (hence the "beyond" part). This road was even more narrow and twisting. It led up to Haleakala National Park (spell check). Surprisingly, I did not get car sick. We ate lunch and then got ready to hike to the Seven Pools, which was the whole reason for going there. The Seven Sacred Pools are a series of fresh water pools which start about 2 miles inland and stretch to the coast. Most of them are connected by waterfalls (depending on the time of year). It is a really pretty sight. We were able to see about 3 or 4 of the pools where we were at. Me and my cousins went swimming and cliff jumping while there. It was nice to swim in fresh water as opposed to the salty sea water.

The Seven Sacred Pools.
The waterfall closest to the bottom is the one that we jumped from.

The first place we jumped was at the larger pool with the waterfall coming down into it. We had to climb back behind the waterfall to get to one of the better (and safer) places to jump. It was only about 15 feet high. I was a little hesitant at first because of my fear of heights, but after the first jump it was easier for me. My cousins got bored with the waterfall jumping and went to one of the other pools where no one was at and started jumping there. This pool was smaller, but way deep...there wasn't a single spot where you could touch the bottom. I went over there, and wanting the keep up with my cousins decided to jump. The place I jumped was about 20 feet high. When I hit the water that first jump I must have hit it on a bad angle because I felt the full force of the impact hit my left thigh...and it hurt like heck!!! When I came to the surface my leg was in such shock from the impact that I couldn't use it to swim. Luckily, I'm a pretty good swimmer and got out okay. After the pain wore off I jumped again; this time I didn't get hurt.

The second pool we were cliff diving at. This is the jump where I got hurt. Everyone kept asking: "Are you sure you didn't hit the rock?" I'm pretty sure...this pool was so deep you couldn't touch the bottom anywhere. And plus, I would have been hurt a lot worse it I had hit the rocks.

Well, my cousins started a trend. What was once a pool where no one was jumping quickly became a popular spot for the rest of the tourists. I jumped one last time and then went to go dry off. We packed up and headed back to the car. My leg was killing me. It was throbbing like crazy and felt really sore. I couldn't see much damage other than my leg looked really red (like it had been sunburned), so I didn't think much of it. We started our long drive back home.

One of the stops we made on the way back was Wai'a'napanapa National Park where the black sand beach is located. We went down to the beach, but not to swim. There were warning signs everywhere saying not to swim because of the riptide and the jelly fish that inhabit those waters. So yeah, swimming a definite no. The beach was really cool looking. To the right side was a little cave you could walk into which went out into the ocean. I would hate to be in there at high tide.

The Black Sand Beach at Wai'a'napanapa (say that five times fast). Those waves coming in were huge. You can see how far some of them reached on the shore.

The small cave off to the side of the black sand beach.

Then me, my granpa, uncle and cousin Courtney went to the "loop" where a small pool was. The greenery was cool, and the water for the pool was really clear. Just a pretty secluded little area. My leg was still sore and I was having a hard time walking on it.

On the way home we saw a rainbow. It was probably the best rainbow we saw the entire trip. I had to slide over to the other side of the car to get a picture. I had the window rolled down, and out of nowhere it started to rain. That happened quite a bit on the trip, rain coming out of the middle of nowhere. There was a time where it did rain and it was bright and sunny. I looked up and saw a little whif of a cloud. I thought: "The rain is coming from that pathetic cloud...you've got to be kidding."

The rainbow we saw on our drive back from Hana. We saw several rainbows while in Hawaii, but this one was the best.

The trip back was worse than going up. We were following my uncle, and he really wanted to get home in a hurry, so he was flying down that road. Remember, this road is really twisty. My grandpa was trying to keep up with him, and we were all getting jerked around in the back seat.

On the way back we stopped at a little tent full of fresh fruits. My cousin Courtney, who is a fruit fanatic, bought several different types of fruit for us to try. He go papaya, mangos, and dragon fruit.

Somewhere along the drive I managed to fall asleep and I was asleep until we got back to the condo. Once back at the condos we unloaded and I went to take a shower. I was then able to get a good look at my leg (it was still really sore). I had this large red stripe going down the back of my leg that broke into two stripes at the end. It was a deep redish-purple color. (see pic)

My "battle scar." That mark was actually about as long as my hand and about an inch wide.
"I came, I saw...I got my butt kicked."

After that was dinner, and I went and showed everyone my "battle scar." It seemed unanimous that I won the best/worst injury for the trip. That's what I get for trying to keep up with the boys.

After dinner I went to bed, or tried to. I couldn't lay down on my leg without it hurting.

Sadly, this is not going to be the last post. I still have two more days to cover.