Before we went off on this mini-adventure, we asked anyone and everyone who'd been to Maui what they recommend we do while there. And though everyone told us mainly of places and things we must eat, there was some input on things to do. We got a lot of mixed reviews regarding things like the road to Hana, dinner cruises, and various other excursions. What we found is that Maui has so much to offer, that we had to find our own Maui. We had to discover (the hard way) what made up a perfect Maui trip for us. It wasn't until we did the dinner cruise that we discovered what was, for us, a complete waste of not only $200.00, but a good 3 hours of our time and a precious Maui dinner opportunity. Also, though several people had said to absolutely not do the road to Hana, it wasn't until we did that day trip that we actually got to experience Maui's true beauty - not the perfection that made up the west coast resort towns, but the stuff you see in movies like Jurassic Park. It was then that we finally got what was so alluring about Maui; what everyone meant when they said it was stunningly beautiful. And though we're glad we did the luau, we'll probably never do one again; just like everyone said we'd feel about the luau after doing it.
To sum up:
We have to say it was, by far, the trip of a lifetime. And though we came frighteningly close to buying a timeshare at the Westin Villas in Ka'anapali, Maui, we ended up passing. Though we really do want to return for that sushi in Kihei and to be Gypsy Guided up Haleakala, it will likely be a while before we return. We're not necessarily counting down the days until we can get back again but, now that we know how to do "our Maui," we are excited about the future 'educated trip' we'll take.
It was a perfect honeymoon.
Aloha and Mahalo!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Day 8: the day of return
Monday, August 15th
It was time to go home. Though we were ready, it was bittersweet. What a trip! What a honeymoon! What a perfect way to wrap up this year of engagement and wedding. What a way to start off married life.
We got up, packed up, checked out and headed off to Front Street for one last breakfast on the island at Aloha Mixed Plate.
It was time to go home. Though we were ready, it was bittersweet. What a trip! What a honeymoon! What a perfect way to wrap up this year of engagement and wedding. What a way to start off married life.
We got up, packed up, checked out and headed off to Front Street for one last breakfast on the island at Aloha Mixed Plate.
Then we headed back to the airport for our 1st class flight home - remember that we only travel first class now. Two really bad movies later, we were back in LA. Home sweet home.
Day 7: the day with the gypsy
Sunday, August 14th
Our last full day on Maui. Since we had such a great time exploring the road to the north of us, we decided to do the road to Hana. The hotel set us up with a GPS Gypsy Guide system for $40 to be our guide for the day. This was, for us, our best day on Maui. It was our best excursion too.
First we drove to the little teeny town of Paia which is where Mama's Fish House is and is also close to mile marker 1 which is where the road to Hana officially begins. We went to Charlie's for breakfast which is Willie Nelson's restaurant. We were told he lives near there and goes in for breakfast often. We were really hoping to run in to Willie Nelson but he wasn't there that morning. We did get our first taste of Macadamia Nut Pancakes which everyone should try at least once while in Hawaii. Though, by day 7, we were getting very weary of macadamia nuts which seem to show up in just about everything over there. Noelle got her new favorite meal in the whole wide world: LocoMoco!! And, we both enjoyed what will now be known as the worst coffee we'd ever had ever ever.
From there, we had to race back to Paia for our 6:30 dinner reservations at Mama's Fish House where we had another incredible meal:
Our last full day on Maui. Since we had such a great time exploring the road to the north of us, we decided to do the road to Hana. The hotel set us up with a GPS Gypsy Guide system for $40 to be our guide for the day. This was, for us, our best day on Maui. It was our best excursion too.
First we drove to the little teeny town of Paia which is where Mama's Fish House is and is also close to mile marker 1 which is where the road to Hana officially begins. We went to Charlie's for breakfast which is Willie Nelson's restaurant. We were told he lives near there and goes in for breakfast often. We were really hoping to run in to Willie Nelson but he wasn't there that morning. We did get our first taste of Macadamia Nut Pancakes which everyone should try at least once while in Hawaii. Though, by day 7, we were getting very weary of macadamia nuts which seem to show up in just about everything over there. Noelle got her new favorite meal in the whole wide world: LocoMoco!! And, we both enjoyed what will now be known as the worst coffee we'd ever had ever ever.
Noelle pretending to enjoy her coffee-water in case Willie Nelson walked in
After that, we headed off with our Gypsy Guide talking to us about all kinds of interesting things towards our first stop on the road to Hana. This was also our first encounter with a waterfall:
And a cool bambo forest:
Then we stopped at this aritorium and found these completely cool trees called Rainbow Eucalyptus:
Most of the 57 some odd one-lane bridges on the road to Hana go over waterfalls:
One of the coolest stops on the Road to Hana was the black sand beach stop:
With the cool cave:
and the other cool cave with the legend:
 |
| So its kinda dark but all that blackness behind us is 'lake' |
And this is as we walk the path from the cave/lake back to the car:
And about 45 minutes beyond Hana, there are the 7 Sacred Pools:
From there, we had to race back to Paia for our 6:30 dinner reservations at Mama's Fish House where we had another incredible meal:
Oh yeah, and a few more tropical drinks.
Day 6: the day of rest
Saturday, August 13th
We had had a pretty full week and had purposely left this day open so we could do whatever we felt like doing, which ended up being a lot of lounging by the pool. Noelle got some snorkel gear from the hotel and went out just off the beach where we were staying. The coral beds and various colored fish were at least twice as amazing as Molikini! From now on, no more snorkel excursions for us! We'll rent gear for the day next time (NOT at the resort for $18.00/day but rather down the street in any local dive shop for $1.50/day) and just go right off the coast. It's easy and great snorkeling.
After a while, we got bored and decided to take a drive down the coast to Kihei to have "the best sushi on the island," as we'd been told be several people (@ Sansei seafood/sushi). It was about 2:30, we were starving, and when we finally found the restaurant it was closed until 5:30. Just another thing to add to our list of things to do next time! We found our way to Longhi's in Kihei for a light lunch of appetizers, then headed back to our end of town.
We relaxed in the room for several hours, watching tv, searching for photo postings on facebook of the wedding, checking email and basically just being kinda normal for a bit. Resort life is so removed from reality that we needed to check in to remember what real life was like.
That evening we found our way back to Front Street for some sight seeing, touristy shopping and to Kimo's for dinner. We had one of our top 3 meals there! Kimo's style mahi mahi. It was SO good!!!
After dinner, we walked the entire length of Front Street. It is filled with restaurants and tourist shops and was buzzing with people. We also found this crazy park with Banya trees creating a sort of jungle gym throughout the park.
Those photo's don't really do the park justice. Here are a few I found on the internet:
We had had a pretty full week and had purposely left this day open so we could do whatever we felt like doing, which ended up being a lot of lounging by the pool. Noelle got some snorkel gear from the hotel and went out just off the beach where we were staying. The coral beds and various colored fish were at least twice as amazing as Molikini! From now on, no more snorkel excursions for us! We'll rent gear for the day next time (NOT at the resort for $18.00/day but rather down the street in any local dive shop for $1.50/day) and just go right off the coast. It's easy and great snorkeling.
After a while, we got bored and decided to take a drive down the coast to Kihei to have "the best sushi on the island," as we'd been told be several people (@ Sansei seafood/sushi). It was about 2:30, we were starving, and when we finally found the restaurant it was closed until 5:30. Just another thing to add to our list of things to do next time! We found our way to Longhi's in Kihei for a light lunch of appetizers, then headed back to our end of town.
We relaxed in the room for several hours, watching tv, searching for photo postings on facebook of the wedding, checking email and basically just being kinda normal for a bit. Resort life is so removed from reality that we needed to check in to remember what real life was like.
That evening we found our way back to Front Street for some sight seeing, touristy shopping and to Kimo's for dinner. We had one of our top 3 meals there! Kimo's style mahi mahi. It was SO good!!!
That table by the railing on the left is exactly where we sat.
After dinner, we walked the entire length of Front Street. It is filled with restaurants and tourist shops and was buzzing with people. We also found this crazy park with Banya trees creating a sort of jungle gym throughout the park.
Those photo's don't really do the park justice. Here are a few I found on the internet:
Day 5: the day of spa
Friday, August 12th
Earlier in the week, we had come back to our room to find spa treatments gifted to us (thank you Jonathan and Kristy!!!); a couple's massage, facial and lunch at the spa. What a gift!! So we arranged for our spa day to be today. We woke up with some time to lounge by the pool and then headed off to our day of relaxation and stress relief. What a treat it was too! We had our first ever couples massage which was fun. And later, after her facial, Noelle met Eric on the spa patio for our lunch. We felt like royalty.
After some more lounging, it was time to get ready for the luau. We chose the Old Lahaina Luau which, we'd heard from several sources, was the best entertainment on the island and had traditional luau food.
Arriving at the luau, they gave us a lei and a mai tai. But Noelle's drink had formally become the pina colada and, by then, she'd discovered the "Lava Flow" which was the pina colada with a bunch of strawberry syrup drizzled throughout. So she went off to the open bar for the first of many Lava Flows (we're pretty sure they were virgin drinks though - haha!).
Earlier in the week, we had come back to our room to find spa treatments gifted to us (thank you Jonathan and Kristy!!!); a couple's massage, facial and lunch at the spa. What a gift!! So we arranged for our spa day to be today. We woke up with some time to lounge by the pool and then headed off to our day of relaxation and stress relief. What a treat it was too! We had our first ever couples massage which was fun. And later, after her facial, Noelle met Eric on the spa patio for our lunch. We felt like royalty.
After some more lounging, it was time to get ready for the luau. We chose the Old Lahaina Luau which, we'd heard from several sources, was the best entertainment on the island and had traditional luau food.
Arriving at the luau, they gave us a lei and a mai tai. But Noelle's drink had formally become the pina colada and, by then, she'd discovered the "Lava Flow" which was the pina colada with a bunch of strawberry syrup drizzled throughout. So she went off to the open bar for the first of many Lava Flows (we're pretty sure they were virgin drinks though - haha!).
Eric poses with our cooking dinner
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Day 4: the day underwater
Thursday, August 11th
We had to wake up super early to get to the south part of the island by 7am for our Molokini snorkel trip. Noelle was super excited. Eric, not so much. It was about a 5-hour trip on a boat with coffee and bagels for breakfast and BBQ chicken and chips for lunch. (we had begun to expect bad food on these excursions so it was okay) We opted for the snuba experience which, of course, cost extra but offered a version of scuba diving for the totally inexperienced. It's basically scuba diving, only the oxygen tank is shared with another diver and is floated on the surface in a small raft (snuba is also referred to as shallow water scuba diving). We shared our tank; however, each of us had our own hose and regulator for oxygen. It was a completely awesome experience. We'd both do it again in a hot second!!!
We had to wake up super early to get to the south part of the island by 7am for our Molokini snorkel trip. Noelle was super excited. Eric, not so much. It was about a 5-hour trip on a boat with coffee and bagels for breakfast and BBQ chicken and chips for lunch. (we had begun to expect bad food on these excursions so it was okay) We opted for the snuba experience which, of course, cost extra but offered a version of scuba diving for the totally inexperienced. It's basically scuba diving, only the oxygen tank is shared with another diver and is floated on the surface in a small raft (snuba is also referred to as shallow water scuba diving). We shared our tank; however, each of us had our own hose and regulator for oxygen. It was a completely awesome experience. We'd both do it again in a hot second!!!
Here's some pictures of what we saw down there and what it looked like:
We got back to our hotel with half a day left in which we just lounged around the pool and then went to dinner at Lailahni's in Whaler's Village for the highly recommended fish tacos. Additionally, Noelle was able to enjoy more of her favorite mango pina coladas that she had discovered on day 2 of the trip.
Waiting for our table to be ready, we tried to get a sunset photo.
Peel Shrimp and Mango Pina Colada!!
Picture of where we sat for dinner.
That evening, as Noelle dreamed of sugar-plum fairies and colorful fishies, Eric "handled" a bottle of red wine that had been provided by the resort in recognition of their honeymoon. Had his cell-phone been within arm's distance at the time, many of his friends and family members would be receiving a collection of Time-Life's, "Singers and Songwriters of the 70's" CDs around the holidays.
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