A Hui Hou

Packing for these two weeks was tight, but I managed to squeeze everything into my suitcases after working out at the hotel. All packed up, I drove to a nearby condo development to pick up the brother of the bride. He had asked for a ride to the airport as he is flying over to Big Island for some camping adventures and the bride knew my flight time was similar.

My plan this morning was to try to get into Star Noodle, a super popular oceanfront noodle restaurant. I had put myself on the waitlist and since it’s on the way to the airport, thought I would try. He was down for the chance as well. But conveniently enough, the bride had a reservation with her friends right at opening, so we were able to join them. A collage below of the experience, but with many dishes missing as we ate them too quickly:



Then the group parted ways and we were headed to the airport. On the way, we filled up the tank of the rental car. We actually spotted a chicken and it’s egg just hanging out on top of the fuel pump. I don’t know what comes first, the chicken or the egg, but always gas before returning the rental car:



The non-TSA pre-check lines were pretty ridiculous. I guess flying to Maui is super popular, but with people who don’t travel often. As such, I zipped through with my TSA pre-check status and was at my gate very quickly.

I breezed through some souvenir shops and didn’t buy anything. I think it’s because my shopping enabling enthusiastic friends weren’t around. I do miss their energy for retail.

Although I originally wanted to fly through Los Angeles, the flight that I had been tracking had skyrocketed in price. As such, I had to settle on a flight back to Honolulu and then through Minneapolis. I will arrive in NYC tomorrow on Labor Day morning and will hopefully use the day to run errands, laundry, and get settled back into routines and life.

The flight from Maui was around 30 minutes and I landed back in Honolulu for the third time in two weeks! In a short time, we had visited three of the eight main Hawaii islands (there are technically over 130!). As I sit by the gate and wait to hear the boarding calls back to the mainland, I think of “A Hui Hou”. It means “until we meet again”, because in Hawaii, they don’t like to say goodbye. So I look forward to returning someday to Hawaii to see friends and for some “Aloha Vibes Only”…

Lu’au

In order to squeeze in some exercise today, I decided to walk down to Dragon’s Teeth also known as Makaluapuna Point. It’s an interesting lava rock formation and is right in front of the hotel. It’s a bit rocky, but a doable walk. Some photos below:









Since the hike / walk was so easy, I headed to the gym to finish off a workout and got ready to head to Merriman’s where the wedding brunch was being held. The restaurant had beautiful oceanfront views of Kapalua:



After the brunch, I returned to the hotel and then strolled down to the beach. The sand was soft, but the waves were pretty strong and generally very windy. After about an hour, I headed up to the pool and relaxed there. A photo of the beach:



I didn’t get to nap today as I had to start getting ready for the lu’au. All the wedding guests were invited to the Pacific Drums Lu’au at the Hyatt Regency. As we arrived at the hotel, we saw a beautiful rainbow that we were super excited about and the adults mentioned it was one of the best they’ve ever seen. But one of Mindy’s friend’s daughters who is 5 years old was not excited as she declared, “she had already seen three rainbows”. Here’s a photo of the epic rainbow according to the adults…



The lu’au dinner and performances were entertaining. As I had gotten the opportunity to learn a lot about the dance culture at the Polynesian Cultural Center last week, it was fun to see again.









During the lu’au, we all got up to watch the amazing sunset - the last of my two week trip in Hawaii!

As the sun sets on this amazing vacation, with a week in Oahu and nearly a week in Maui, and a day trip to Big Island in between, I have soaked in the Hawaiian sun and aloha to the wonderful island culture here while spending time with friends and colleagues. Family, or ohana as they call it here, is the one you choose sometimes and feeling grateful surrounded by friend-family and work-family for the various experiences, laughs, and memories on my last night in Hawaii…

Just Maui’ed

In the hotel lobby, there’s a lovely flower arrangement and I decided to add to my collection of pretty flower pictures. We’ve been teased on this trip for taking pictures of Hawaiian flowers like old ladies. I feel pretty secure about it considering I’m one of the youngest and as I embrace my 40s:



This morning I drove back down to Lahaina to go to the Extended Horizons dive shop where I had booked two shore dives. Shore dives, although very easy and simple, was a good way to get back in the water as I hadn’t dove for 3 years. Another option from another dive shop today was a hammerhead shark dive out on a boat charter, and I thought that would be a bit too hard and intimidating, although probably fascinating.

Gabi was assigned to me as my divemaster guide and is a Brazilian from Arizona. After preparing all the equipment, we drove to Kahekili Beach Park which was near the Westin. Here’s a photo of the beach and where we enter:



She provided a thoughtful orientation as I got used to all the equipment and communication signals and then we headed in. I needed a little extra weight to descend, but was able to last a 50 minute dive as I was afraid I would suck all my air. On the second dive, we were under for 53 minutes and went out a little further on the reef. I think I had too much weight at that point, because I had to work a little harder to rise and I think I was more used to my buoyancy skills on the second dive. We didn’t go deeper than 35 feet as we were just looking at coral near the shore. However, I saw a ton of fish and Gabi had a slate with her where she wrote all the species we were seeing.

Across the two dives, we saw Ornate Butterflyfish, Racoon Butterflyfish, Moorish Idol, Hawaiian Dascyllus, Manybar and Yellow Stripe Goatfish, Bullethead Parrotfish, Redlip Parrotfish, turtles, Moray Eel, Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby, Grouper, Brown Surgeonfish, Yellow Tang, Orangeband Surgeonfish, Lei Triggerfish, Reef Triggerfish, Belted Wrasse, Saddle Wrasse, Bird Wrasse, Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse, Eightstripe Wrasse, Trumpetfish, Cornetfish, Black Durgon, Sea Cucumber, Christmas Tree Worm, Slugs, and Nudi branch eggs of Spanish dancer.

It was fun to see the fish swimming, resting, or getting cleaned at the cleaning station. But the highlights were the two turtles - one resting on the reef and another swimming nearby and the Reef Triggerfish. This fish is the state fish of Hawaii and in Hawaiian is Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. A googled photo here for reference:



Unfortunately, I have never invested in underwater camera equipment. If someone else on the dive takes photos, I ask for them, but as a relative beginner, I prefer to be hands free and focus on my own diving equipment, versus trying to get the photo for Instagram. Here’s are the orientation guides with the photos:





Afterwards I sat on the beach and dried up before heading to Roy’s in Kaanapali which is owned by the famous restauranteur, Roy Yamaguchi. He helped advance the regional Hawaiian cuisine movement and retains control of all the Hawaiian locations. Apparently his mainland locations have changed hands several times. I ordered a nonalcoholic citrus basil punch, blackened island ahi sashimi, misoyaki butterfish, and a chocolate ganache dessert overlooking the golf course:



After lunch I headed back to the Ritz where I rested and sat by the pool. Unfortunately, it started to rain, not heavily, but it was pretty humid.



Today’s big event was the wedding of my colleague Mindy. Another colleague of mine, Kevin and his wife Adrienne came to Hawaii as well. I told Kevin we’re Mindy’s wingmen as our offices literally sandwich her.

The entire wedding was supposed to be outside, but during the break in the rain, we had the ceremony only outside and then moved the reception inside. The reception and dinner were delicious. It was also very Hawaiian with macadamia nut ice cream and shaved ice at the dessert station. The night was filled with lots of dancing, including all the BTS English songs and then an after party in one of the hotel bars. Some photos below of the wedding and beautiful bride:











I was able to enjoy a drink at the after party, but headed back to my room relatively early as I was sleepy from my early morning scuba. 

It was so fun to see Mindy get married and after hearing about all the planning! I’m also excited to celebrate it again at the Chinese banquet back in New York this fall. Congratulations Mindy and Louis! And thank you for planning a wonderful few days for all your guests!

Mahalo

I have felt grateful for this group during the pandemic, and I’m so grateful that folks were enthusiastic about coming to Hawaii. We had been planning for months and as we celebrated the reunion of friends as we were asked what we were celebrating several times, and even made a new friend, the last two weeks have been replete with memories. Also a special thanks to our Hawaiian resident co-hosts. I learned so much about the Hawaiian islands from their point of view and got to experience why they love it here so much. Their hospitality and graciousness overwhelms me as we work to relax and continue to learn from each other.

We also learned how to make texting stickers and a series was made using photos of Baro, our favorite corgi. As such, I say mahalo, or thank you in Hawaiian the only way I know how:



The morning started off with a final beach and pool dip. The beach was surprisingly warm and we found a heart shaped rock which we would only take a picture of as it is bad luck to take any rocks or stones from the island:



Baro and Team Musubi packed up the two cars and got ready to leave the Westin Nanea:







After dropping off half the team at the airport terminal and saying our goodbyes, I had scored a waitlist reservation at Mama’s Fish House which was about 20 minutes eastward. It had been recommended by several people and we had driven by it on our Road to Hana trek. The food was delicious and pricy, but I could see why people wait 6-8 months for a reservation.

Lunch included a broccolini and asparagus bisque amuse-bouche and I ordered Hawaiian Kanpachi which is like an amberjack in a macadamia nut crust and Tristan Island Lobster. For dessert, I had their famous warm banana macadamia nut crisp:



After lunch, I headed back to Lahaina and past the Westin. As my check-in wasn’t for a few hours and I could use some steps to work off the calories, I had sought out the Kapalua Costal Trail which is about 2.5 miles roundtrip:





It was pretty humid as it had rained intermittently. Good thing I had my new Hawaiian sweat towel!



Parts of the trail were very scenic and weaves through a seabird nesting area, so dogs are not permitted…





But parts of the trail weaves in and out of development areas, so the path is paved and many resort guests lounging around:







After the super easy hike, I had exceeded 11,000 steps so I felt very accomplished and headed to the Ritz Carlton to start the wedding festivity portion of the trip. I settled in and rested before the welcome dinner at FOND, a restaurant down the road where I showed up fashionably late. The bride was concerned I overslept from a nap, but I was just resting. No worries as I’m excited to celebrate the bride and groom and it’s fun to see my colleagues in Hawaii! We enjoyed the buffet dinner, cocktails, and photo slideshow and seeing the same people we met at the engagement party 8 months ago. But it’s now time to celebrate!

Haleakala Sunrise

One of the top bucket list items in Maui is watching the sunrise at Haleakala National Park which is home to Maui's highest peak. Rising 10,023 (3,005 m) feet above sea level, Haleakala means "house of the sun". It’s a dormant volcano and watching the sunrise is super popular. As such, we made car park reservations 60 days ago when they open up as parking is very limited. The reservation only costs $1 (and is in addition to the vehicle entrance fee). We actually booked two different days in order to hedge any undesirable weather like rain or cloudiness.

As we were on the most western part of the island in Lahaina, we woke up early to leave at 2 am to drive to a more central part of the island and were prepared for the cold weather at the mountain top. Early in the morning though, we again saw the amazing starry night sky:



A Team of Musubi Five headed eastward with multiple GPS guides to make sure we didn’t lose our way and as cell service has been inconsistent on the remote roads:



We weaved our way up switchback or hairpin turns and slowly made our way up the mountain. There were two parking areas and the upper area had less parking, but because we arrived so early, we scored a spot right by the pathway to the summit viewing. Here you can see the other cars making their way up or back down because the top lot pictured below was full:





We then checked out the summit area in pitch black darkness, using our cellphone flashlights. I was surprised by the level of enthusiasm and energy of the group which was wonderful and shined through our masks that were helping to keep us warm:





I anchored us a spot on the ledge as some napped in the warmth of the car. I was really amped and feeding off the energy of the sunrise team. I enjoyed just watching the horizon as the sun started peaking through - a series below:













And a few fun photos of the team either through selfies, candids, or posing:









Sunrise was 6:02 am, but Ranger Dave described the national park a few minutes before and pointed out we could see the volcanoes on Big Island just east of us:





He also explained that he would sing a Hawaiian Sunrise chant called E Ala Ē. He actually had a lovely voice and translated it for us:

E Ala E (Awaken/Arise)
E ala e (Awaken/Arise)
Ka lā i ka hikina (The sun in the east)
I ka moana, ka moana hohonu (The ocean deep)
Piʻi ka lewa, ka lewa nuʻu (Climbing to the heaven)
I ka hikina (In the east)
Aia ka lā (There is the sun)
E ala e (Awaken/Arise)

The enthusiasm of the team was amazing as we learned about Haleakala and the fact the roads were repaired during the pandemic. We decided the road should receive 5-stars. Here’s a sign of the elevation as we were above the clouds:

After the sun had risen, we headed to the visitor center to go to the bathroom and we were lucky to see several Nenes! Also known as the Hawaiian goose, it is an endangered bird that is hopefully making a comeback and is the official state bird. They were very cute as they waddled around:



We made our way down the mountain, dropping below the clouds and returning to Lahaina. We ate breakfast at Kihei Caffe’s new Lahaina location. Here we opened a “breakfast tab” and chowed down on eggs benedict, Hawaiian pancakes, loco moco, fried rice, waffles, papaya fruit, and POG (passion fruit, orange, guava) juice. I’m not smiling because I was in mid-chew…



We returned happily with leftovers and the blankets and towels we borrowed to provide extra warmth and we celebrated our return with a group selfie or wefie in front of the hotel sign:



After much needed naps, we went to the pool and relaxed. We struggled to get restaurant reservations at popular places, because according to the concierge, Maui hotels are at 98% occupancy due to the surge of travel from the pandemic recovery and struggle to accommodate large groups last minute. We ended up at Waicoco at the Westin Resort down the street where we shared many dishes and tried to make sure the food didn’t blow away as it was super breezy. The last day and night with Team Musubi was memorable with a phenomenal sunrise at Haleakala and sunset beach dinner followed by shopping in the Whaler’s Village shopping center:



A photo of the Mercedes half of Team Musubi while waiting for the Westin valet:

Indeed I was soaking in the last day with everyone as we were up from 2 am to 11 pm!