First full day in Maui. Beautiful day in the ʻĪao Valley and then a tour up Haleakala Summit for the sunset and some stargazing with Maui Stargazing (and a huge telescope). Awesome day of sights.
Photo Gallery: https://pics.mattichan.com/-uwc064/gallery
Morning Start
Started in the morning to some birds that were running around camp before I headed out. They were particularly swarming around us, and probably cause people leave food out or feed them (sigh). Someone also forgot to pass the memo on to the roosters that they’re not supposed to crowing in the morning till the sun is up, cause they started at 2:30am and were going off every 30 seconds….got used to it pretty quick though.
Started heading back to town, and came upon one of the overlooks and spent about an hour chilling out there watching the whales. Saw a couple whale breaches (and didn’t REALLY capture them :D). A mother and baby breaching in succession, and then another further out later on as well. Pretty fun to see all of them all right off shore.
ʻĪao Valley
Next, I spontaneously decided to head to the ʻĪao Valley since it’s relatively close to Central Maui and I didn’t see it last year when I was here. There were some reservations open, and I just snagged one and headed over for an hour and a half time slot.
Got there right before a whole bunch of buses, so got to enjoy the peace and quiet before running away from the hoard that was coming. The ʻĪao Needle was pretty cool to see, but also really nice to just walk around the paths away from the crowd.
Found some birds while just being quiet and walking slowly down the path. Treated to a little show from the pair of them.
In the small garden, I was taking some photos and noticed afterward that there was a little hitch hiker on the flower. Super cute and detailed, kind of a fun surprise when I was doing some post-production.
Kepaniwai Park
On the way back to the city, stopped at Kepaniwai Park to do a quick stroll through a couple gardens. Lots of different cultures all blending together here, but some really nice, peaceful time walking around.
Lots of birds and fish around in the ponds and trees.
Haleakala Summit
Next, I went to meet up with the tour to Haleakala Summit, one of my favorite places on earth. I definitely love the drive up the summit with the windows down, just cruising through the clouds, its wild. This time though, I booked an astronomy guide and stargazing tour, who drove us up the summit.
Silverswords
Love the silversword plants, and am always fascinated by them up at the summit.
Sunset
We got to the summit and set up for sunset, and had some awesome views.
Stargazing
We then got a couple hours one the long range telescope and it was really interesting to see so many stars in the night sky (above the clouds). So very little light pollution and the guide was really knowledgeable and pointed out all the different constellations and planets. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen so many stars with my naked eye, and the pictures don’t even do it justice.
But stargazing ON TOP of the clouds is fascinating.
Vibe Check
5 parts joy
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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