Maui Tropical Plantation - Maui, HI

         

          As part of my little excursion to the I'oa Valley State Park, we stopped by the Maui Tropical Plantation. This plantation I though might be a nice stop and it could be cool to see a farm of tropical fruit and trees.

          We arrived and the entrance to the plantation was a door which led you right into the gift shop. The only way to get into the plantation was through this gift shop which I thought was pretty tacky. I browsed around and took note of their products. Lots of coconut, taro and mango foods as well as many others. 

          I made my way to the entrance and noticed that they wern't only a plantation, they were also a low budget soap factory, a zipline service and also a chocolate factory. Upon seeing this I started to get the idea that this place might be a tourist trap. I held my tounge until I had seen the rest of the tour.

          I walked over to where the Tram Tours were suppose to pick us up and waited for it to arrive. Next to us was a table with several wooden Tiki scupltures on it. Next to the table, was a gentleman handcarving these idols. They came in all sizes and styles and in different woods. He was also offering a service where he could make any engraving into the sculptures for you at a price. 

          While I was watching the gentleman carve another figurine, the Tram pulled up. It was a small tractor which was pulling several pea green, plastic compartments for passengers. It looked like somebody disassembled the tea cups at Disneyland and shipped them to Hawaii. I hopped into the very back compartment and took a seat. 

           The driver was a young-ish Hawaiian fellow who introduced himself as Eon. He wore dark sunglasses and as he went to take a head count, I figured out the guy was high as shit. He was making some strange noises as he took the head count and came off as kinda dopey. I crossed my fingers as the tram pulled out.

          At a snails pace, we were taken through the Papaya plantation first. The trees were fairly small at only about 8 or 10 feet high. They looked like sticks out of the mud with the green and yellow fruit dripping out of the top like sap. At the very top were a few darker green leaves growing outward. The trees were kinda silly looking; like something out of a Dr. Suess illustration. 

          Moving on to the next plot, was a small area for the Pineapples. Red little bushes that almost ressembled Aloe Vera plants. We saw only one small Pineapple growing from them. Eon said that you can only get three good harvests from them, the third being the best, before you have you tear them out of the ground and replant. 

          We pulled forward a little further to a gazebo where we stopped and were asked to get out to observe a coconut husking demonstartion. We all gathered around and Eon grabbed himself a coconut and stood next to a table in the Gazebo. A young girl who was leading a seperate tour, asked for our attention and began to describe the coconut husking procedure. While she was doing this, Eon would go through the steps with the actual coconut with some help of a "Lowes pick axe" head bolted to the log stump table. The procedure I'll admit was entertaining but at the end when Eon finally cracked the hard interior and exposed the water and meat, we were dissapointed to find out that they were not going to let us try the meat or the water and poured the water onto the ground. We all got back onto the Tram and continued on.

           We continued to the Coffee plants which they really only had a few of. Not the most exciting part of the tour. You could fit more plants into a suburban backyard. 

           The Tram moved on to the mango trees which were relatively small compared to the other mango trees that I had seen on the side of the road and peoples backyard. Eon described that these are a small variation of the mango trees and that they are easier to pick the fruit from. It being February, there were no fruit on any of the trees. 

           The last part we drove by was the macadamia nut trees. These were much larger than the mangos and on the ground, were hundreds of macademia nuts lying about. We stopped for a short while and some people stepped quickly out of the Tram and picked up a few off the ground. The actual nut was encased in a hard brown shell. In manufacturing, they would roast the nut until the hard exterior cracks and then they can remove the meat inside. 

          We pulled away from the Mac Nut trees and it dropped us off in the parking lot in front of the gift shop entrance. Even though some of the sights were semi-entertaining to watch, a lot of it was not very entertaining and I felt like it was really more of a tourist trap. The funny thing is though, is that your still in Hawaii - and even though the place pretty muched sucked, the fact of being in Hawaii and being surrounded by plants and tropical fruits had its own unique appeal. I would'nt go back.... or even recommend it, but any time spent in Hawaii is still time well spent.       -DB

          

Tropical River Cruisin' and Fern Grotto - Kauai, HI

         I'm sitting in the bus this morning barely hanging on. I've had maybe 4 hours of sleep the night before and had to be up at 6:00am to get ready to catch the bus to go to the Wailua River cruise. I'm sitting in the back of the bus to avoid conversation with anyone else because I just don't have the energy. What was a 20 minute bus ride felt like an hour one when we finally pulled up to the dock on the Wailua River.

           The Wailua River is the widest river in Kauai and I'm going to take a boat to the Fern Grotto. The Fern Grotto is suppose to have a large preserve of Flora and Fuana that is exclusive to the island. I get off the bus and get in the line and eventually get into the boat. The boat had several large wooden benches for people to sit on so I made sure I chose to sit on one that was on the edge that faced the river.

           As we pulled out of the dock, it started to rain. Not an unusual circumstance being in Hawaii. Especially since Kauai is the most wet place on earth so the rain didn't phase me too much. We cruised down the River and enjoyed the constantly changing landscapes. I almost felt like I was going down a Jurassic Park ride and half expected a T-Rex to come out and start chasing us.

           While we were going down the River, the "captain" was giving us a little information on the area. He pointed out these flowers that we're growing on the bank of the River. They have a 24 hour life span and when they first bloom, they are a yellow color. As the day progresses, they turn a orange color and then before they die, the turn a dark red. The whole processes happens in a day and as we rode along, we could see the flowers in both their yellow, orange and red states.

            Before we knew it, about 30 minutes had passed and we reached the Fern Grotto. They had grass and wood huts for a dock and looked almost like a primitive ancient Hawaiian structure. We docked and were greeted by some very beautiful, young Hawaiian girls in flower dresses. I exited the boat and they greeted us with a "Aloha" and showed us the way to the trail which led us to the grotto. 

             I walked into a lush, dark green jungle which had a concrete trail to lead the way. The jungle was thick and had a variety of trees and bamboo which dripped water onto my head as I walked through. 

             I finally made it to the grotto which was a waterfall that had ferns that grew from the moist rock and hung from them. The state had made a wooden platform so spectators could get close and take photos. On the platform was a group of musicians performing Hawaiian songs for us as we arrived. I took some photos and while I was doing so, the guitarist made an announcement. He told us to make room not he platform as they were going to play the Hawaiian wedding song while a woman danced hula to it.

            They began and an elagnt Hawaiian woman came out and began dancing to the musicians who also sang. The dance was gentle, romantic and fascinating to watch. I managed to capture a short clip of the dance. The aloha spirit on the islands are just that. And it seems like it doesn't matter what island I go to, that spirit is in its ecology, it's art and also it's love.       -DB

Bus Ride to 'Ioa Valley State Park - Maui, HI

            It seems like it would be impossible to imagine exactly how the ancient polynesians reacted and felt when they stepped foot for the first time onto Maui. The cascading green mountains above the glowing red dirt. Prestine and beautiful. However, for me to see it, even after being here a dozen times, I still feel in awe as the ancients must have also felt.

           Drving through the country in Maui is a vaction with in its own. I'm on a tour bus headed for the 'Ioa Valley State Park for a little sight seeing. Looking out the window and driving in and out of small towns, I admire the lush landscape as it whizzs by my window. The tour guide/bus driver is narrating the ride but her voice is so mono-tone, I find my mind drifting off. The ground and mountains behind them are covered in small, light green brush. Almost every inch seems to be covered only intill the reddish-orange dirt bleeds out from under it. 

           As we start up into the Mountains and closer to the 'Ioa Valley, trees seem to become more rampent. Large tropical trees start to cover the bus. Mango, Bread Fruit, Avacado, African Tulip and Banyans are some of the larger ones as well as the Hawaiian state tree: The Kukui nut. Flowers also start to close in on the bus as we gain more and more elevation. Finally we reach our destination. 

        I climbed out of the bus after about 25 slow moving senior citizens slowly shuffle their way to the exit. We are in the pit of the Valley here and on both sides of me the green monsters shoot up very quickly into the bright sky. To the right of me is a particular mountain formation which is unusual and different from the rest. Its skinny peak resembeles a mossy falic symbol but the sign in front of the park entrance states it as "The 'Ioa Needle".

           I walked up one of what seems like several different trails. Trying to get by these geriatric, slow moving obsticles, I skip steps two by two, trying to get to the top as soon as possible. Before I knew it I was at the top. Just a look out at a slightly higher elevation. Nothing too exciting although it did give me a closer view of the needle for me to photograph. 

          I made my way down the steps when I was suddenly stopped by a old man in a baseball hat. He reconized me from the ship and as I tried to humor the man's coversation, I tried my best to cut it short so I could continue with other trails. He kept talking at me for a while and started somehow  to talk about his horses. Right as I was about to strangle the guy, his wife sneaks up from behind me and asks me to take a photo of them infront of the valley. I gladly take her camerea/phone and take a photo. I give them back the camera and as the look at the photo, I ran back down the stairs with nothing more that a distant "Bye!".

           Once again, jumping down the stairs two by two, I finally come to a fork in the trail and head down the other trail. It gets down lower into the valley and suddenly the large shade trees cover the sun. It startks to get dark. In the distance iI can hear running water to I make my way to it. Finally I make it to the streams edge and there are several people swimming it. I walked beside it slowly as to enjoy the sound and look of this beautiful stream (minus the dirty people washing their feet in it).

            The trail by the stream is short lived and before I knew it, I was heading back up to the main trail. I got up to the main trail again and took the third and final trail down into the botanical garden. The first tree that I saw was the Kukui nut tree with a few ripe Kukui nuts still on it. The nuts were onced used a fuel to light candles in the early days of Hawaii. The forigners used to call it the Candlestick Tree as they were used to make candles and torches. They are also used as powerfull laxatives so needless to say, I didn't try to pick one up and eat one. 

    Kukui Nut Tree (Candlestick Tree)

          The rest of the garden had a variety of Taro, Ti plants and Plumaria trees. The garden was very pleasent an peacefull. I had wished I had gone to this one first. It was a place you could imagine yourself living if you ever flipped out from the constant chaos of the modern world and needed a place you could put yourself back together. I spent a few minutes taking photos of the beautiful plants before I headed back for my bus. The visit was short but worth getting a glimpse into how the ancients may have seen the island for the very first time.         -DB

   Taro Plants

    Taro