We favor the thread of philosophy encouraging us to notice the Perfection in all things. It’s implemented in our Five Step journey model, noting that the first step isn’t actually planning.
0. The Trip We Dream.
We dreamed a trip flying small planes (aka General Aviation – GA) over all the Hawaiian Islands, New Zealand, and Australia.
6998 Chasing Rainbows
1. The Trip We Plan.
We’d planned for months with online research and countless phone calls, emails and texts, to set up the Cessna 172 rental at Moore Air so we could fly from HNL around Kauai and other islands. Already we’d released that part of the dream, due to the marginal weather and adverse orientation of the company. But by anticipating and finding the Perfection, we had a Plan B of flying Mokulele Airlines relatively low to Maui via Molokai.
1. The Trip We Take.
So when a rainbow framed Waikiki our hearts were Perfectly ready to soar light and bright. We could delight in the differences between dreaming, planning, and unfolding our journey.
For example, flying GA it’s unlikely due to airspace restrictions that we’d have enjoyed this overview of Diamond Head providing a completely different perspective on the iconic silhouette.
7029 Diamond Head Crater
We’d also dreamed of snorkeling with the tame colorful fish at enchanted Hanauma Bay as we had on that first romantic journey long ago, so we smiled as it slipped beneath our wings, refreshing memories.
7053 Hanauma Bay
Now some may say Molokai is less interesting and beautiful than the other islands, but we beg to differ. We were greeted by the muted red dirt roads between brilliant red/green of irrigated farms on the flat terrain of the West end.
7088 Red, Green, Blue
But the real magic began after the stop at little MKK airport in Kualapuu, when our Mokulele Air pilots treated us to a departure below the clouds along the towering cliffs. The cliffs of Molokai alone would be spectacular, but the innumerable waterfalls are breathtaking! Our fav was this one leaping in rainbow mist from a cliff.
7278 Flying Falls
Despite low light from thick clouds, haze and mist, milky airliner windows that don’t open, and of course reflections on the inside of the windows; Anne managed to capture this that I was able to tweak into something close to the majesty we saw.
7276 Impression of Wonder
It’s tall, starting above what you can see in the first pic, rests briefly in misty pools on the way down as you can see in this pic, and the blown mist is making tiny new waterfalls at the bottom-right. Obviously we have many more pix of this day, especially the flight, so I’m saving some future views of these areas and moving now to our Kahului arrival.
7425 PHOG Approach
Unlike KSBA and other mainland airports, those in the Pacific islands start with P as in PHOG which also goes by the “name” OGG. It’s surely nothing to do with Fog or P-HOG, but the distant rainbow over the runway delivered on the promise of a wet walk to the terminal building. We laughed as the rain stopped the instant we stepped under the shelter, and set out to meet dear friends who live nearby. They took us for a delightful dinner at the open air restaurant in Kihei. Early Hawaiians created an ancient fish farm from a rock enclosure next to Kalepolepo Beach, providing a seafood bounty like the one we enjoyed there. Out beyond the quiet beach, everyone watched the colorful end to this Perfect day.
7505 Sunset Over Lahaina
John & Anne Wiley 
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