Riding out the storm in Hawaii or Exploring the scents and scenes in paradise
I’m writing this post in West Maui while we are waiting for a strong Kona storm to pass through with all of Maui County under emergency declaration. We arrived on Saturday afternoon to high winds and a bumpy landing, but its been otherwise fairly nice with the rains showing up late Wednesday, occasional breaks in the rain have allowed us to venture out for a couple hours here and there. We’ll see how it goes when we have to get to the airport tomorrow morning in the middle of a storm!The sunrise view of Oneola Beach and Dragons teeth during the “calm before the storm”
Wildlife viewing
Sunday morning was snorkeling, we ventured over to Kapalua Bay and were rewarded with a siting of three turtles. It’s also whale season in Maui. Humpback Whales come here to raise their calves before making their long venture north later in the season. We’ve been catching views of whale spouts and whale tails from our lenai all week, although I keep missing breach sitings other than the evidence of the remaining splash after my husband yells “Breach!” We did another snorkel of Honolua Bay on Tuesday and were delighted to find a good variety and number of fish, and even a small shark and four more turtles, which were feeding off the coral. What I’ve enjoyed on this trip is we haven’t had to go far to view the wildlife here, from viewing whales off shore, to birds that come to visit us on the patio every morning. The occasional gecko. And the flowers everywhere, even on the side of the highway. It’s not my first time in Hawaii, but I’m always amazed by the scenery. Every time.Spa Montage Review
Monday was my early vacation travel ritual of a trip to the spa. I figure the quicker I can get into relaxation mode the better and what better way than a massage or mani-pedi.
This time I’m treating my mom for her birthday with a mani-pedi at the Spa Montage. They only had one opening for nails, and no availability for a massage at the same time, even though I was booking months in advance, so I had to choose another option on the menu. They had a wellness experience called the sugared lilokoi body polish. I didn’t know what to expect going in. I had been neglecting my skin, especially my legs, with it being winter, so I figured I could probably use whatever it is I signed up for. The sugared liloki scrub used was the Passionfruit (liloki = passionfruit) sugar polish from Ola, which is made in Hilo. The scrub smelled amazing, it clearly had a significant amount of aloe in it as well, and the consistency of reminded me of lychee. This is only my second or third time getting a scrub. The other being at a local Korean spa, where it’s a much different experience. This treatment was gentle, in a private room with a comfortable table and your own shower in the room. After washing off the scrub, the technician returns for the body polish application and gentle massage. The Spa Montage was certainly not inexpensive, but for this treatment, you get a scrub, body moisturizing, massage and use of the facilities for 3 hours, which includes hydrotherapy pools, sauna, steam room, and an infinity pool to relax in an absolutely gorgeous setting. My skin was left soft and ready for the beach, and, more importantly, left me relaxed. I highly recommend. I made sure to pick up a jar of the Ola Passionfruit Sugar Polish in the gift shop before leaving. It was, of course, marked up and I realized later I could have gotten it online for less, go figure! I’m now inspired to find tropical flower essential oils or absolutes that I can use in the home apothecary. If anyone knows a Hawaiian company they recommend I’d like to hear about it. Wednesday morning we took a drive up to the rugged north end of west Maui, in evening the wind and rains arrived, but we were happy to see that so far they are not as strong as has been predicted and we get periodic breaks in the rain that allow us to go out for a bit. At one point we had a break in the rain, so I went for a walk and started taking photos of flowers in the gardens around where we are staying in Kapalua. What I’ve learned about spending vacations in the tropics is you can expect at least one full day of rain keeping you indoors, so take advantage of it and get some rest, take a long nap, or work on that blog you’ve been meaning to get around to, at least before the power goes out :)Update: Things got more intense Friday evening with heavy rains, but we luckily made our flight back to the mainland safetly on Saturday, we were lucky to make it before they shut down the road from West Maui to the airport, only a few hours after we drove thru, with flooded roads and rock slides along the way it was stressful. There was definitely a point where we considered trying to figure out a way to stay longer rather than having to figure out how to get back to the airport on Saturday but it all worked out OK. 
Friday morning before the big storm.
