For 6 days, I enjoyed life on Kauai, then I moved on to Maui – island of beach resorts and the famed „Road to Hana“. The beach resorts on the South-West coast I don’t need to have – the coast is littered with tourist highrises. There is a reason for this – the beaches (figure that) – but the island isn’t so big that one can’t make a day trip to a beautiful beach from somewhere more quiet. I had rented a little place in the North, in the slightly quirky town of Pai’a, which I should come to regret – Pai’a is surrounded by sugar cane, home to the Giant Cane Spider – a huge hairy beast (the word „giant“ kind of gives it away), which made my stay there something of a nightmare, but enough of my arachnophobia, it’s time to get rid of it.

All tourist guides promote the „Road to Hana“, ca. 45 miles of winding road along the Northern coast line, which is said to to be scary and challenging – well, not really, if you ever drove on a narrow, winding road in the mountains, you’ve seen worse. The road only gets interesting after Hana, where it is actually forbidden for rental vehicles, but, well… so I cannot recommend that road, but it’s fun nevertheless. I would really recommend the road along the Western edge („road over the top“) – now, that is extremely narrow and winding, often one lane for two-way traffic, on one side a volcano, on the other side a steep descend to the ocean, and the next lay-by can be a long way off – that is more of a challenge. But the views make it worth it.

Absolute Must – sunset viewing on the highest volcano, Haleakala. Well, it’s really the sunrise that’s famous, but getting up at 3.30am was never high up on my agenda, and the sunset is as beautiful (I was there at full moon, so no stars, but the best was yet to come).

I met a US-Amercian man there, who was very surprised that Germany doesn’t have the Deutschmark anymore – first I thought he was pulling my leg, but no… God Bless (and Save) America.

Again, I didn’t do much more than driving around, sitting on a beach, and snorkelling – well, not a bad life.

Part 3 – Where You Can’t See the Star Constellations for the Stars – will follow tomorrow.