Day 8 - Kauai -> Maui, Road to Hana

Off to our next island: Maui! The 40 minute flight was scenic and we picked up our Jeep for the week. After a fantastic lunch at Da Kitchen (Hawaii soul food), we began the road to Hana. We highly recommend the GyPSy Guide apps if you're ever touring an area they cover, which guided us along the road as we approached specific waypoints. The Hana Highway winds for some 52 miles through NE Maui, crossing more than 50 one lane bridges, that ends at the Haleakala National Park.

We made several stops along the way, starting with Ho'okipa Beach, known for wind surfing. The surfers were fun, but our favorite was some surprise visitors that just came right up to sleep on the beach:

There are many waterfalls along the Hana Hwy. We stopped to take a dip in the Twin Falls, hidden behind a fruit farm:

It's also full of scenic vistas like this one:

We took our Jeep down a rocky road to one of the black sand beaches, Honomanu Bay. Formed by millennia of surf pounding lava rock, here's a panaramic view:

Most of the road is along the cliffs high above the shore, but we did take a couple of side trips down to the beaches. One of those was to the Keanae peninsula, formed completely by lava flow from the now dormant volcano above.

5 hours into the trip, we were about halfway through when we arrived at our cottage in the rain forest, where we're staying for a couple nights. We dropped off our luggage, took a much needed shower, and continued into town for dinner at the Hana Ranch.