Driving to the Blowhole

You won't believe me when I tell you this, but the day after we attempted traveling the Road to Hana, Conservative Hubby was ready to get back in the car for another morning cruise.

I kid you not.


I think it was the convertible that did it. And the fact we were still waking up so darn early we had plenty of time to kill each day before we were ready to don our bathing suits.

Whatever the reason, I was glad he was game for another cruise, and I promised to find a drive that would be relatively brief and easier, yet equally scenic.


Not surprisingly, the scenic requirement is an easy one on Maui.

We decided to head north past our resort, which is in an area called Ka'anapali, past the resorts and golf courses of Kapalua, and along the coast around the northwestern tip of the island.

Conservative Hubby wanted to stop at the Plantation golf course, which is where the Hyundai Tournament of Champions was played about a month before our arrival.


I wanted to check out the Blowhole, a scenic spot past the golf courses where, when the tide is right, water is pushed up through a hole in the rocks to spectacular heights (hence the name Blowhole).


And so we set out, oohing and aahing at lovely scenery as we did on every day of our trip. (OK, so I oohed and aahed while Conservative Hubby took a more stoic approach.)


Although this drive was curvy and the road did narrow considerably once we got past the resorts, it was still an improvement over the Road to Hana. Plus there was minimal traffic, so as he drove Conservative Hubby was able to enjoy the scenery a bit more than the previous day.


It didn't take us all that long to reach the spot where we parked and hiked down to see the Blowhole.


It was a neat spot but, unfortunately, the tide wasn't right, so the Blowhole's blowing was rather lackluster.


I would've stayed a while to watch the water start shooting higher, but Conservative Hubby needed his breakfast, so after a few minutes we headed back to the car and back down the road the way we came.


We were so hungry by this point that we stopped at a roadside stand for banana bread.


One would think buying banana bread from a place like this would be a bit questionable. And it is. But the guidebook we read recommended banana bread places all along this drive and the Road to Hana, so we figured it couldn't be that dangerous.


(Needless to say, the banana bread was tasty and did not make us sick. It also helped tide us over until we could get back to the hotel for an early lunch, so it was worth it.)


We made one more stop after banana bread to check out the views and discovered a wonderful area for snorkeling. I made note of this fact for the next time we're in Maui (yes, there will be a next time, I'm quite sure of it).


I plan to put snorkeling at the top of my list then since we ran out of time to do so on this trip.


On our way back, we made a stop at the Plantation golf course for Conservative Hubby, as promised. It was beautiful, and the houses we could see were ridiculously large. This made Conservative Hubby happy and led him to visions of being rich and famous and actually being able to live in a place like this.

And then he came back to reality (well, sort of) and we hopped in the car and headed back to the hotel, just in time for lunch and some pool time.