Well I'm back! Maui was magical and everything we'd heard. I was surprised by how varied the topography and ecosystems on the island were. I wanted to share some of my photos with you of our adventures. So sit back and enjoy. Mahalo!

This is the view upon entering our hotel: the Hyatt Regency in Kaanapali. They have gathered quite a collection of Asian antiques and artifacts, Quite impressive.

This was the view from our "partial ocean view" room. Makes you wonder how great are the rooms with a "full ocean view". I was totally happy with the garden view and the ocean beyond.

Another wonderful artifact at the Hyatt

Sunset our first night. Sigh....

Our first day we took to the trails through the lush forests of west Maui. This photo shows one of the "easy to get to" photo opportunity spots on the island known as the Iao Needle.

We went to the Old Lahaina Lu'au our second night. It really is the most picturesque of the options on Maui. (And you really can't miss at least one luau in your life right?)It has beautiful grounds right on the beach. We would pass the lu'au at the Hyatt practically every day on our way in and out of the hotel, and we had also caught glimpses of other venues. The Old Lahaina Lu'au is by far the most charming setting.

A secluded little beach near Napali that we discovered one day.

This beach is on the Ke'anae Point on the Road to Hana on the Rain Forest side of the island. Gorgeous and dramatic lava rock beaches.

Charming church on Ka'enae Point built in a traditional style with tin roof and lava rock.

We made lots of new friends.

One of the best surfing beaches we found in Hana.

Beautiful black sand beach in Hana.

One of the most fun days we had was sailing on the Trilogy catamaran to the tiny cinder cone island of Molokini. They started us off with a breakfast of fruit and some of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had. We have not had our underwater pictures developed yet, but we caught some good photos of the abundant sea turtles and loads of fish among the coral reefs. One of my favorite things, though, was the ukulele playing and original songs by our Captain, Mark. Great day in Paradise.

This is whale watching season in Hawaii and there were all over the place. I hope you can make out the tail in my picture!

Loved this outrigger canoe!

During another day of exploring, I was struck by these palm trees at H.A. Baldwin Beach Park near Paia. It is named for one of the first and most powerful sugar cane farmers in Hawaii, for father of C&H Sugar. (We also hit the Sugar Cane Museum to learn a bit more about this industry that made such an impact on Hawaii.)

The Plumeria were blooming everywhere.

It was hard to come home.

I am going to put together a bit of information on the restaurants where we ate in my next post. There were so many really good restaurants and one in particular stood out as my favorite. Stay tuned!