Tropical Topics, Maui Edition: Island-hopping.

The time came to say aloha to Maui and move on to our next destination, the Big Island, also properly called Hawai'i. We took a little commuter plane. There is no security gate to speak of. The check-in lady at the counter (a Texas girl) makes a determination about your safety risk by giving you a once-over . The pilot was, like, 16.



There were nine passengers, a family of four from Dallas, two other Southerners (judging by accent), a hippy local dude, and the two of us.

The pilot's navigations system looked a lot like the NeverLost in our rental car.



Leaving Maui...











The Four Seasons.



An old lava flow on Maui's south coast. Or maybe not so old, depending on your perspective.



In sight of the big island, 30 minutes later.





The airport in Kona is right on top of a lava flow. It really does seem like landing on Moon . It's a lava flow with asphalt on top.

Tropical Topics, Maui Edition: The road to Lahaina

We drove straight from the rain forest in the east to the tropical desert on Maui's west side. You can drive over the northwest top of the island to get there but driving that road apparently takes some nerve, and I did not feel nervy in our rental car boat, so we drove down through the center of the island and up the other side.



It reminds me of California.





Except that the hills in my part of California have more of a rolling quality.



Lahaina is a former whaling town on Maui's west end. The guide book describes it as eternally crowded and busy. Well, we drove right in and found free parking on the street, right in the middle of town.



Maui's hotel occupancy rates are low, apparently. That would explain our glamorous upgrade at the Four Seasons.



Guy said Lahaina reminded him of Key West. I said it reminded me of Provincetown, minus the gay.



There is a single large banyan tree that has been converted to a park.

Tropical Topics, Maui Edition: Final shots from the Road to Hāna

We've been on the Big Island for two days now, but I'm still finishing up the blog of the Maui leg. Our last stop on the road to Hana was the "Garden of Eden" a little botanical garden in the middle of nowhere. The garden itself is fine, but the views around it are great.









The variegated Dracaena marginata is a Hawaiian workhorse.



Inkberry, an invasive ornamental imported in the 1970s according to curatorial information.

Tropical Topics, Maui Edition: Short hike on the road to Hāna.

As Maui was having exceptional, unpredictable rains during our visit and we prepared mostly for dry, sun-related leisure, we took only one hike walk in nature during our two-day visit--just a short trip somewhere near the 8-mile mark on the Road to Hāna. Note that the guide book Maui tourists rely on describes this trail as unremarkable and mostly just a good place to stretch your legs.















A melastome, possibly a relative of my Princess Plant (Tibouchina urvilleana)?



The paths relied on roots.

















What is most remarkable about these pictures to me now is that 45 minutes later, we were on the desert road to Lahaina where things looked downright Californian in comparison to the rain forest shown here.