Maui 2002

My employer rewarded me with a trip to Maui in early 2002.  Maui, surprisingly, isn't all you think it might be.  It's a very small island with not a lot to do.  Then again, all my luggage got lost the entire trip and I had nothing with me but the sandals on my feet, shorts and tshirt.  In my luggage was several thousand dollars of diving, camping and cycling gear, which I wasn't able to get back until I returned home.  So I picked up a few tshirts at the islands WalMart and made the best of it.

My plans were to camp in the crater of the islands dormant volcano and go mountain biking.  Even ultralight flying on the islands windward side (a must see if you ever go) became a bust when a storm moved in.  So the best I could was climb up into some bamboo trees in a rain forest.

I picked up a disposable camera which I used to take these shots.

 

The hotel where we stayed	Island art favors very robust native couples
No resort would be complete without a wedding chapel	The beach in front of the hotel
Beach looking other direction	Decorative pool at hotel
Driving out from the resort areas in the south, you can see just how undeveloped much of the island really is.	This in the northwest (windward) part of the island.  While the south gets scant inches of rain annually, the windward side gets an incredible 360 inches of rain or more each year.  There really is a rain forest on Maui!  Here we are looking down at part of an old sugar cane plantation from centuries ago.
And in the southwest corner of the island...a recent lava flow.  Truly alien looking...and there are areas where you see nothing but cooled lava as far as you can see.  It is the closest thing to feeling like you are on another planet than I can imagine.	A look out the window at the airport preparing to return home.

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