We spent a great 12 days in Hawaii - all on Maui. We had plans to take the ferry to Lanai and camp there for 2 days but that was the day of the tsunami warning and we found ourselves instead at 4000 ft on the Haleakala mountain waiting out the 2-ft tsunami waves.
We were camping at olowalu campground, about 30ft from the beach on the morning of the tsunami. At about 6am, the sirens started blaring and when we peeked out of the tent, everyone was making a beeline for the parking lot. One of the women had a weather radio and she told us there was a massive earthquake in Chile and that they're predicting the waves to hit Maui at 11.30am. Whew! We had 5 hrs to get to higher ground. It was surreal knowing that there had been a massive earthquake in Chile - we were in Chile 7 days ago. Our thoughts go out to the friendly people of Chile who are still experiencing aftershocks even as of today.
Of course, the whole island was up and gas stations were perhaps the best place to observe the state of panic. The lines from gas stations were extending all the way into the highways, causing huge backups. Walmart was chaotic too, but a bake sale went on despite the warnings with children selling brownies and spam musubi on a table in a makeshift stall outside the walmart. I'm sure they did brisk business; one lady was buying 10 musubis and taking them to go.
Finally, after about an hour of stocking up of 4 days' worth of supplies, we perched ourselves in a meadow outside a lavender farm beside the road at about 4000ft on Haleakala and waited it out for about 5 hrs until they gave an all-clear indication on the radio. Turns out the biggest waves were about 3ft high at Malakea harbor - not quite the mayhem that was predicted but better safe than sorry...
The other fascinating part of the trip was the hike into Haleakala. We backpacked for 3 nights through some of the most bizarrely spectacular scenery I have ever seen: miles of barren lunar landscapes interspersed with giant cinder cones, endless stretches of red sand, volcanic rocks, lava bombs, hawaiian silver swords (they wait up to 50 years to bloom), lush green Paliku valley and the other-worldly hike up to the Holua campsite. I probably had the best birthday view on the 24th when we got up at about 6am to view the sunrise from Holua: clouds had drifted inland from the coast and though we couldn't see the sun rise, it was wonderful to be looking at clouds while being immersed in them with faint pink sun rays making their way through to us. Amen!
While at Olowalu, we rented kayaks for a day ( this was on the day before the tsunami) and went paddling for a few hours. It was windy but we were rewarded by greetings from several green turtles popping out of the water to say hello.
Here are some photos taken by a brown and a white turtle.
Halaekala en route to Paliku campsite
Looking down at the clouds while climbing out of the valley
Kayaking near Olowalu
Makena - big beach
Sunset from Makena
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