... no comment on the US election. Focusing on nature for now. After a rather chilled day yesterday ... we had a safety-recall for our rental car first thing in the Morning and decided to check out the huge Queen Kaahumanu Shopping Centre on our way back. If you wanted to spend a lot of money while being here, Kahului definitely is the place to be.
We then decided on a quick lunch at Cafe O Lei (recommendation to follow) - I think that might have been the best Prawn-Papaya-Salad I ever had. We are back for sure ... (tonight, it seems ;)) The afternoon we spent on the beach, walking aloooooooong the beach to be precise, the sun wasn't out but played with some clouds so we decided to explore the coast line - amazing, we went Southwards towards Wailea and walked for the best part of two hours, mostly on sand, with some stony pathways in between.
Today we had to get up again early, our pickup was scheduled for 3.05am and we didn't want to miss the sunrise. The actual tour started in Kahului and we were driven all the way to the 9750 ft above sea level to watch the sun rise over Haleakala National Park and the Haleakala Crater ... stunning, really! Many people up there at this early hour and some of my pics feature quite a few heads. We had a really great tour guide - Glen, very knowledgable and entertaining, the later is exactly what was needed this Morning!
We also went for a swim, the beach at this stretch of the island is very gentle and only some light waves rolling in ... It's great for swimming and just floating in the water. We also made plans for a walking tour further down South on the island for tomorrow, it sounds amazing as it will lead us through lava fields and along the ocean, already looking forward to this one :)