Kapalua Favorites

Favorite thing: These pine trees look similar to Norfolk Island but generally have a wider cone shape. They were discovered by Captain Cook and were brought to Hawaii from New Caledonia. D.T. Fleming a plantation owner and conservationist, planted over 13,000 pines by 1920 in the Honolua/Kapalua area alone. You can't miss the graceful towering giants as they are on the golf courses and line the resort roadways.

Fondest memory: I've been to Hawaii many times but always visited in the fall. This was my first spring trip and to my surprise the Hawaiian waters were teaming with humpback whales! From November through early March humpbacks can be seen playing, frollicking and breaching in the warm Hawaiian waters. There are supposedly 8-10,000 around the islands...their main purpose to mate and bear their young. We saw them everyday of our vacation and it was amazing!

My most memorable evening was when we were walking the golf course near the ocean. We decided to venture out on the rocky peninsula where local residents were fishing. We spotted a group of whales near the tip. They were playing...we'd see mostly fins.. once in a while a tail... a spout of water. They were so close we could hear their soft bellow. I was totally mesmerized by these gentle giants and continued to watch and listen until they moved far away from the peninsula.