Maui!

We had an amazing vacation but wow am I tired. Isaiah bounced back from the flights quickly but I'm still dragging 4 days later. I don't think I picked up anything on the flights, my recovery time is just slower. We had a night delay in Montreal on the way home (always pack extra medication!) but other than that, our flights were pretty smooth.

Maui was fantastic. I wanted to go to see the whales when they migrate there for the winter and we saw whales everywhere (well, in the ocean...). We camped at a private campground on the beach and could sit and watch the whales swim by and breach in the distance. We also went on a whale watching boat tour to get us a bit closer and rented out a kayak from our campground two different days to paddle around in the ocean.

Sunrise on our whale watching tour!

Whales! 

Kayaking out to find the whales! (We saw a few turtles on our way out)

The whales swam by us, I just didn't take any pictures of them.

We also did non-whale activities like snorkelling at various beaches (the resort beaches were always manicured so nice), driving up to see the Haleakala crater, and drove the Road to Hana. I did okay with the elevation jump from sea level to 3055m. Not awesome, I wasn't ready to run around, but okay. We went to a slightly lower elevation and did a little hike into see the crater closer and I found that hard. Isaiah was panting a bit on the hike too though so I didn't feel quite as bad (although he was carrying the book bag). I found I was more tired once we got back to our campground than I had been other days. I don't know if it was the effort my lungs made at the elevation, or hiking in the sun, or the intense switchback drive up and down the mountain but it tired me out. After a night of rest, I felt better the next day.

Haleakala Crater, the clouds pour into the crater as they build throughout the day. 

Kaanapali beach before everyone at the resorts woke up.

Greenery on the drive to Hana

I was paranoid I would get dehydrated like I did in Cuba because we were virtually outside for 10 days straight (I don't think I've ever consecutively tented that long before) but I managed to stay hydrated the entire time! Having Gatorade powder to put in my afternoon water made a difference. It jumped my sugars up a bit but I decided that having high sugars was better than being dehydrated.

I was also paranoid about burning but between sunscreen, wearing a spf shirt while snorkelling, and sitting in the shade at the beach, we both managed not to burn. We stayed off the beaches that didn't provide shade (although there was just one that we found with zero trees) and because we were there early, we were usually able to snag the best shade spot. We saw quite a few people who were quite lobster-y and I'm happy I didn't have to deal with that while sleeping in a tent.

Rainbow over the showers.

Our tent site (we bought the chairs at Target when we arrived)

One of the many Maui roosters (Not just a campground problem. We saw a hen crossing the road with her brood in Kahului)

One of the many beautiful sunrises at the campground.

One of the many beautiful sunsets.

Overall, it was marvelous vacation. Whales galore, turtles to find while snorkelling, beautiful sunsets, white sandy beaches down the road (the campground was at a black sand beach and I learned quickly that black sand is a finer grain of sand and gets in everything. We accidentally brought back half of the beach in our tent and on our sandals), and rainbows at every corner!

A great get away from what I heard was freezing rain most of the time we were gone!