Maui Vacation Day #2

Day #2 - Friday, January 8, 2016

Our first morning in Maui, I woke up at 2:59am and was ready and raring to go! I let Zsuzsa "sleep in" until 4:30 am, and then we headed out and started on the winding mountain drive to the 10,000 foot top of Haleakalā crater to watch the sun come up. We made it there exactly 3 minutes before the sun came up (good thing we didn't miss it!).

After exploring the top of the crater for a while and taking in all the views, we headed for breakfast at the Kula Bistro, where Zsuzsa had the Eggs Benedict with a buttermilk pancake, and I had the Shrimp and Crab Frittata. We also grabbed a "to go" personal size Macadamia Cream Pie to munch on later. Then we headed for Baldwin Beach on the north shore of Maui for a dip in the ocean. We were there for about an hour before it was time to head for the heliport in Kahului for a helicopter tour of West Maui and the island of Molokai.

Look closely to see me swimming at Baldwin Beach

Ready for takeoff!

The blonde lady sitting in the front of the helicopter next to the pilot had a zoom lens on her camera that was like over a foot long, and she kept sticking it in the pilot's face! It was pretty funny.

Our pilot, Cameron

View of a giant waterfall from the helicopter

After the 1 hour helicopter ride, which was a really cool experience since neither of us had ever been in a helicopter, we headed back to Kahului to hit up the Savers thrift store to get some t-shirts. I purposely didn't pack a lot of shirts because I wanted to get some shirts in Maui as souvenirs. I figured that the thrift store in Maui would have a lot of Hawaii/Maui shirts, and I was right! Why pay $15-$20 for souvenir t-shirts when I could get them at the thrift store for $5 or less each!

After that, Zsuzsa wanted to get a pedicure and her toe nails painted, so I dropped her off at Happy Nails in Kihei, and I went for a run. After a few miles of running, I was pretty hot so I decided to hop in the ocean for a swim. I went way out in the water, but I noticed that it was still shallow enough for me to stand up. Then as I was walking along in the water, I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my right foot that felt exactly like stepping on a cactus. I quickly swam to the shore, and when I could look at my foot, I saw that it was filled with bluish black needles. I had stepped on a sea urchin!

This is the kind of sea urchin I stepped on. OUCH!

I could barely get any of the needles out so I hobbled back to the nail salon where my wife was getting her feet done, and I asked the Asian lady who ran the place, "So, do you guys remove sea urchin needles?" The slogan on their website is "You name it, we do it," and it turns out, that was really true! She sent me to the grocery store to go buy some white vinegar, which she warmed up and soaked my foot in. Then she spent an hour removing needles with scissors, tweezers, and a razor blade! (See video below) She was able to get about half of them out, and the other half were slowly absorbed by my body over the course of the vacation. I was able to walk and swim normally right away, but I had to lay off the running for about 3 days.

After Zsuzsa's pedicure and my sea urchin debacle, we headed for dinner at Coconut's Fish House. We took our fish and chips to go and ate it at the Kamaole Beach Park. The food was awesome, and it turns out, they have a location in Scottsdale, Arizona, also! Since I'd been up since 3am, and was still on Arizona time, I was in bed by 8:15pm. Then the next morning at 2:50am, I was out of bed and ready to go again!