Maui Vacation 2011

On Thursday we had decided not to camp out in Hana since we couldn’t swim anywhere due to weather so we found ourselves Friday with no particular plan.  We decided to head back ‘Up Country’ to the historic Ulupalakua Ranch which is now owned and operated as a Cattle/Elk Farm as well as a Maui’s only Vineyard.  The vineyard is fun.  They have a museum explaining the happenings on the ranch over time, a fun tasting room where you can also get spice rubs, lotions, etc and they do daily tours of the facilities at no charge.

Here you can see a ceremonial cannon that was used by General James Makee (original owner / builder of the ranch) to fire salutes to ships docked in La Perouse Bay.  He also fired a 21 gun salute to King Kalakaua during one of the King’s visits to the property.

The wines we tasted were all very good.  We elected to buy a bottle of their Pineapple wine as well as the limited run Plantation Red.  Susanne tried to get one more taste on our way out of the tasting room…

Here you can see the vineyards fertility goddess (left) which was placed there by Chinese workers long before the ranch was a vineyard.  They keep here dressed in fresh Lais in hopes of good harvests.  You can also see a demonstration rack (right) of how the vineyard used to settle yeast into the neck of the bottles after carbonating.  They now use a machine which cuts the time by 75%.

This vineyard has less than 30 acres of grapes and they produce about 1/4 per acre by comparison to some of the Californian vineyards.  So everything they do is done with great care and the results speak for themselves in the wines.  Here is where they vat all the wines.

After our wine tour we headed in to Whalers Village for dinner and an amazing sunset.  See my previous post ‘Friday Night Sunset‘ for details and a lovely photo of the sunset!

On Thursday we took The Road to Hana for some sight seeing and beautiful beaches.  Along the way there are many beautiful sights to see and places to pull off the road and see them.

We stopped at Waianapanapa State Park to check out the lava flow formations, lava tubes and black sand beaches.  This is a really cool spot.  It can be treacherous at times so take care if you decided to go exploring here.

We also stopped in at Koki Beach Park which is a really nice beach with beautiful sandstone faces and a great view of Alau Island.  Asau Island is said to be where the Demigod Maui stood in the ocean and caled up the Hawaiian Islands.

Our next stop was Kipahulu (Part of Haliakala National Park) This is where the Seven Sacred Pools (and waterfalls) are.  Unfortunately, they had closed down the pools due to all the rain the area had recently gotten.  The scenery here, however, is dramatic and beautiful.

During our stay the ocean decided to awaken, producing the largest waves since 2005.  It was neat seeing the water crash against the rocks.

The drive around the lower (south) side of the island from Hana isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be; you just need to take it slow.  If you do choose to go back this way you are rewarded with some amazing views.