We slept like babies through the night, immersed in the soothing noise of the ocean waves. Unlike Kihei, where there were a lot of traffic on the street, things die down relatively early in Hana once the sun sets. We still woke up around 5 AM. A gentle breeze was blowing, we could hear the ocean wave in the distance.

First thing first, we went out to see the sunrise and it did not disappoint us. The sun rise was magnificent. It lit the sky up purple red. The ocean wave was crashing gently onto the rocky shore. We saw ‘Alau Island near by.

Hamoa Bay with ‘Alau Island in the Distance

Afterwards, Mike walked over to Hamoa Beach to give it a second look. The sky was a lot brighter that morning compared to the evening before, the heavy overcast sky was gone. The distant horizon had the color of a fish white belly (believe me, the description sounds a lot better when written in Chinese) and the morning sun just made the beach so much more peaceful and inviting.

Hamoa Beach, Hana

Pipiwai Stream Flowing Through 7 Sacred Pools

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much water flowing even though it’s the rainy season. May be it was still too early. According to the warning signs, the water volume can be quite high, and they warn against swimming in the pools during high water times because people can get swept into the ocean. There is a road bridge about 100 feet above the waterfalls and people are known to dive from the bridge to the pool underneath, a very risky attempt. You’ll usually see park police guarding the bridge in the afternoons to prevent any insane attempts.

Overall, it was a very pleasant visit. The Pacific Ocean is right at the river mouth; its large waves keep on pounding the shore line cliffs.

Pipiwai Stream Flowing into the Pacific Ocean

From the Seven Sacred Pools, you can take the 2 mile (4 mile round trip) Pipiwai trail following the stream up Haleakala; there are more waterfalls higher up. Along the way, we came across guava tree forests. The area had a sweet smell of guava fruits. We saw a hiker who would just pick a fallen guava up from the ground and start eating it.

There is a huge banyan tree along the trail; it was a surprise because there weren’t really other ones around. We took pictures from underneath the tree; the picture was a difficult one to make because of the deep shade inter mixed with sunny spots, they created a very wide dynamic range, contrasting look. Mike had to take multiple bracketed exposure shots and reassembled them later using special computer software. The end result turned out well, but it cost Sophia one mosquito bite at the elbow and she was not happy: “You are border line obsessive with your pictures,” she said.

Posing Under Banyan Tree on Pipiwai Trail

About half way up the trail, we came across a matured bamboo forest. We’ve never hiked through a bamboo forest before, this was the first time. The bamboos grow very very close to each other, about 6 inches to a foot apart. A heavy set person will not be able to walk through a bamboo forest. But of course, the national park maintains a wide open path. The trail is quite easy to hike through.

Bamboo Forest on Pipiwai Trail

At certain parts of the bamboo forest, the sky right above the trail is covered by the bamboos, all about 3 to 4 storey tall. You just can’t see the sky, and hiking underneath was like hiking under a moon lit sky at night. As the wind blew, the bamboos rubbed against each other and created a natural wind chime.

On the way back to Hana, we decided to swing by the Red Sand Beach. We had trouble locating the beach during our last visit in 2005. This time, we found out we misunderstood the driving direction to the trailhead. We reached the Red Sand Beach this time after several detours on the trail as well, part of the access trail actually collapsed into the ocean and we had to detour through a rocky shore line during low tide. The rocky path was moist, that meant the ocean wave would reach the access path during high tide. Anyway, we finally reached the Red Sand Beach; it is more like a small alcove of sandy beach underneath the red cliffs. The sand is really red, a product of the red cliff. The turquoise blue sea contrasted very well against the red cliff.

Red Sand Beach, Hana

This would be our last night at Hana. The stay here is very different from the other part of Maui, very tranquil and relaxing. There were some local kids smoking a few joints and screaming their lungs out for a short time, but they were harmless and soon went on their merry ways.

Hana Ocean Front Cottages

While preparing dinner at the cottage, we found out the Hana Oceanfront Cottages was for sale for $3 million. Our cottage is part of a larger complex; the whole thing consists of a 3,000 sq feet main house plus our detached cottage. It seems that Hana is discouraging bed and breakfast type of businesses, so the owner was thinking of selling. Do we have $3 million handy?

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