Sunday October 27th – Sunday November 3rd, 2024

My company gave us a week off for Wellness Week again this year so with only two months of notice, this trip was quickly planned into existence. Maui’s the last main Hawaiian island we had left to visit together. People say it’s a good size, not too big like Big Island, not too small like Kauai, it’s said to be just right. In terms of activities, we did lots of snorkeling, hiking, eating, boogie boarding, took a full day boat ride to Lanai, drove the Road to Hana, experienced a luau, went cliff jumping, saw blowholes, and watched pretty sunsets on tons of beaches. Honestly, it was really productive in terms of getting things done, way too productive for a vacation imo! But we always got to relax at night, because there’s not much to do at night.

Day 0 – Sunday 10/27

We land! It’s rainy and we see a double rainbow. We head to dinner and try to do a walk-in at Mama’s Fish House but no can do. We go to Paia Fish Market and when we park, the staff for the org I volunteered for like 8 years ago walk by my car window. Absolutely crazy. I catch them in line at the fish market and say hi! A nice and casual dinner here and it’s time to head back for sleep.

Day 1 – Monday 10/28

On day 1, we woke up at 4:20am to head to Haleakala National Park, or more specifically the summit to watch sunrise. We were able to snag a ticket three days before for one of only 50 parking spots. We arrived around 5:50am. It’s cold up there! And cloudy 🙁 we saw a small glimpse of pink for a bit until it all went cloudy. And rainy. Then super rainy! And windy! We napped in the car while we waited out the terrible visibility and howling winds, howling even louder because of the tarp-like cover on the jeep.

We had originally planned to hike down then hitchhike back up to the summit (hitchhiking is actually a suggested option here), but decided to drive down the the bottom of the hike to see if conditions were any better and for signal. So we drove down to Halemau’u / Keonehe’ehe’e (Sliding Sands) trailhead to park. After more procrastinating out the bad weather, it was now or never even though conditions still weren’t great. Next to the trailhead is a hitchhiker pick up area so I tried my best to look friendly and female lmao and BAM, immediate 1 for 1 success. We were shocked. The friendly woman who picked us up worked for a National Parks Conservation organization and we learned about some of their efforts in establishing new national reserves. How very lucky we were in our hitchhiking efforts.

At the top we walked the 11.2 mi trail down. It was so beautifully colorful and way exceeded expectations, especially given the totally dismal conditions we started our day with. It didn’t even rain on our 5 hr hike but whew! It was SO much walking, I felt so wiped at the end. Basically you descend into this huge volcanic crater and walk through this otherworldly scenery, all downhill which was awesome except for the last 2.5ish miles which were tons of switchbacks uphill. We spent a lot of time looking at the ground because it’s kind of hard walking on all these rough volcanic rocks, and we spent a lot of time discussing our financial future, productive indeed but way too serious for a fun hike lol.

Finally we finish and it’s almost time for sunset so we might as well drive back up to try to catch it. There’s not enough parking so I mostly stay in the car to wait, but it turns out to be an incredibly fiery red sunset and I’m very happy Victor i.e. the one who always has to deal with the inconveniences of driving got to enjoy it. Off to try a walk-in at Mama’a Fish House again, round 2. After a 20 min wait, they miraculously say they can seat us. Heck yeah. We have a wonderful dinner with very good service, probably smelling awful after our long sweaty hike woops and finally head back after a long, long day.

Day 2 – Tuesday 10/29

Today was Road to Hana day. Road to Hana is this long super windey road from Paia to the town of Hana. There are at least 600 curves, is narrow, and has numerous one way bridges. I later heard that it’s low tourist season, so fewer cars than usual made the drive better in that regard at least. We downloaded the Shaka Guide GPS Audio Tour and played the Road to Hana tour. I absolutely love this app (which covers drives all over Hawaii, not just Maui or Road to Hana) – it makes an excellent tour guide, giving you heads up about points of interest, what to expect for parking, fun history facts, thematic chill Hawaiian music for the drive, and the guide is this funny, laid-back Hawaiian dude, so good.

The drive itself, you have to pay attention the whole time; you’re constantly turning or looking out ahead for incoming cars to make sure you give enough room, or right of way in case a one way bridge comes up. So even though the scenery may be pretty, you can’t really look at it. It’s like being on a picturesque hike but all you can look at is the ground because you need to watch your step.

We opted to drive straight to Hana first and do all the stops on the way back, with the exception of grabbing banana bread at Auntie Sandy’s for a snack. Rationale for this was to make sure we had enough time to do the far away stuff and if we ran out of time, we could also come back to the closer points of interest another day. The only downside is the audio guide assumes you’re doing your stops on the way to Hana, so on the way back, it doesn’t introduce spots anymore. But anyway, we got to the very end of this long drive and began our first activity of hiking Pipiwai Trail.

Pipiwai Trail is a 4 mi out and back trail with plenty of bang for your buck. In the two miles it takes to get to the end, you go past Makahiku Falls, a ginormous banyan tree, a boardwalk through a bamboo grove, and ultimately Waikiki Falls, this very tall and skinny waterfall at the end. Would recommend for the variety of things you get to see, if you care to drive out this far.

After the hike and now on our way back from Hana, we spontaneously turned into a roadside eatery called Huli Huli Chicken because its banner said it was featured on a Gordon Ramsey show- that’s the kind of stuff that catches Victor’s attention of course. We didn’t have any expectations. The lady straight up pulled food out of a cooler and served it to us directly lol. But man it was so surprisingly good, so satisfying.

Next was Wai’ānapanapa State Park, which we had purchased a timed entry ticket to ahead of time. There we saw a lava tube, sea arch, black sand beach and blowholes. The sea cave and blowholes that shot water as high as the cliffs we were standing on were quite cool. 

Also on the way back we stopped at Wailua Falls. You pull into a small parking area then walk a short way, climbing down some rocks  and… get in! This was a highlight of Victor’s day, maybe of the trip even, being in the water looking up at the falls.

The rest of the day went quickly. We tried to see sunset at Ho’okipa Lookout and it was too cloudy, but we got to admire the surfers there. We had dinner, shave ice, and went back to rest.

Day 3 – Wednesday 10/30

We got to sleep in today. A luxurious 7:45am! Started our day with an açaí bowl and renting snorkel gear. Tried our luck at Kaluaihakoko Beach since it was right there, but saw zero fish so we left quickly. Apparently snorkeling conditions are only good until 11am because Maui gets real windy in the afternoon. We only had like an hour left. So we hurried to Ulua Beach which is better known for snorkeling and indeed we saw more fish. We even found and swam with a sea turtle!

Finding out that snorkeling is only good in the mornings kind of threw off our day’s schedule, which had a lot more snorkeling planned for the afternoon. So yet again, we pivoted the day’s plan. We go to Tamura’s Fine Wine & Liquors to buy three people’s worth of poke for ourselves hah and scarf it down as we drive to Waihee Ridge Trail.

Waihee Ridge Trail is a 4 mi out and back trail that takes you through lush greenery and up this… well, ridge, for views on both sides of this ridge. It requires a clear sunny day to see the faraway views, so it was another reason we pivoted, to take advantage of this nice day. The whole trail is really muddy and slippery so this is yet another trail that requires concentration while hiking. The views are nice I agree. But the last 0.5 mi up were not worth. It became foggy (cloudy?) since you’re so high up there and you can’t even see views anymore. We ditched the last quarter mile and turned back down.

From there it’s a really sketchy drive to the next destination. It’s even more ridiculous than the Road to Hana because at times you’re on a truly one lane road right next to the cliff. At one point a car came in the opposite direction and us passengers decided to get out to help ourselves pass each other. So it was like 40 min of this drive until we got to Nakalele Blowhole. The blowhole really shoots water in the air just over and over again. Come in the afternoon for more activity from the blowhole.

We continued to Kapalua Beach for more snorkeling and sunset. Saw some fishies, saw a sunset. Dinner was at Joey’s Kitchen Napili. And we bought fruits at the market next door! Excited to try them.

Day 4 – Thursday 10/31 Halloween

This whole day was dedicated to a full day boat tour on the Trilogy III from 10:30 am to 6 pm. It was an hour and a half boat ride to Lanai Island while we ate breakfast on the boat. Lanai btw is the island that’s owned by Lary Ellison, that Oracle co-founder guy.

Anyways… on the island we opted into an add-on excursion off the coast called Snuba, which if you can guess by the name, is a cross between snorkeling and scuba diving. You have a tank attached to a small floaty boat and you can use it to breathe underwater for 20 min. All the while you’re using a 20 ft hose to lower yourself down or pull yourself out of the ocean. I felt rather uncomfortable since water does get into the nose part of your mask. I didn’t lower myself very far. And given that, it was practically like a snorkeling experience. You don’t see anything extra compared to snorkeling. But I guess you’re supposed to be able to get closer to everything and I didn’t. Maybe it could’ve been different. Eh.

After Snuba, we went on a short hike and after that was lunch. Post lunch we boarded the boat and began our journey back. The best part of the whole trip I think was towards the end when they converted the boat into a sailboat and we sailed around in the sunset. That was super chill.

When we landed on the beach, we watched sunset and saw mantas swimming along the shore. They were there for so long, but by the time we decided to get our snorkel gear, it was too dark to see anything. Womp, we tried. Dinner was poke from another grocery store place called Foodland. And at night we got to eat our fruit!

Day 5 – Friday 11/1

We began our day snorkeling in ‘Āhihi’Kīna’u Natural Area Reserve. There’s a little bay with signage instructing you where to get in. The sign was comforting since it felt odd no one else was there. We ended up seeing the most fishies here and it was the best snorkeling we’ve done on the island. We had the place to ourselves too until another family got in when we left.

From there we went to Secret Cove Beach. It’s not all that secret but you can pretend it is, given how this little beach is cordoned off from normal everyday life. The sand is soft and there are two options of “pool areas” to get in, a corridor for waves to rush in wave-pool like, and a calmer area on the other side.

Time for a more commercial experience. We went and took a walk on Wailea Beach Path,  which is basically this oceanfront sidewalk in a rich tourist part of town. We headed to Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice. It was the best shave ice we’ve had this trip, creamy velvety ice, no comparison.

Continuing to the next stop, ‘Īao Valley State Monument was next. It’s an area of spiritual and historical significance and has this big phallic rock they call the ‘Īao Needle that juts into the sky. We went on to Kapalua Bay Beach, kind of by accident because we were actually looking for a cliff jumping spot that we couldn’t find.

Finally we did a luau at Old Lahaina Luau. A highlight was watching them unearth a whole roasted pig from the oven in the earth that it had been cooking in the whole day. Dinner was delicious, food and drinks were unlimited, and the hula dancers were entertaining. It was worth trying a luau once in our life. And it was nice to be pampered like we’re actually on a vacation!

Day 6 – Saturday 11/2

Today was food hopping to all the places we couldn’t get to before, plus a bit of boogie boarding and cliff jumping. Food today included Upcountry Farmer’s Market for fruit, a smoothie, and fried chicken over rice, Only Ono BBQ for roast pork, Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop for a banana cream pie, Island Vibes Cafe for an açaí bowl, and Nutcharee’s Authentic Thai Food for dinner. Whew! Standouts were the roast pork (Victor’s favorite roast pork he’s ever had) and banana cream pie.

In between food, we went to Baldwin’s Beach for attempt number one at boogie boarding. Waves were definitely large enough as Victor got owned and pummeled by waves over and over while I mustered enough courage to ride one wave and then eh, not have enough courage left and call it quits.

After a food intermission, we got a second attempt at boogie boarding at DT Fleming Beach. He rode a few more waves this time and was more successful! He decided he might be over boogie boarding saying it’s nicer in theory or perhaps could use lessons, but at that point would just take surfing lessons. I didn’t go in this time, I napped haha.

We concluded our activities by cliff jumping at Black Rock Beach. Or at least he did. I took photos of him and enjoyed the banana cream pie. You can tell how we diverge in how to enjoy a vacation lol. We watched sunset, which was really pretty this day then got dinner at one of the aforementioned places.

Day 7 – Sunday 11/3

We missed our alarm and woke up after 9am… when we needed to be at our helicopter tour at 9am this morning, big giant oops here. We called Air Maui and they graciously allowed us to arrive late so we scrambled out of our airbnb the fastest we’ve ever checked out and anxiously hurried over as fast as we could.

We did a nice open door helicopter tour of the coast of Maui, visited another island, saw several waterfalls and flew into a volcano crater. It was incredibly windy like the wind was pushing us around in there. The tour was really pretty although we agreed the helicopter tour over Kauai was prettier. Maybe not something we felt you have to do here. But if you do want to try it, I recommend the company!

After the flight, we tried again to go to Twin Falls. It’s on the Road to Hana but the first time, we skipped it to make sunset elsewhere. The second time, it turned out it’s closed to non-residents on the first Saturday of the month. This was the third time. And honestly it’s underwhelming. You can swim in the pool at the bottom of this small waterfall but we didn’t feel the need to get in. We could see how this is a good family friendly option though given its accessibility.

We drove to Lahaina one last time to return our snorkel gear, grab another pie and sandwiches for the plane from Leoda’s, and went to Costco. To Victor’s extreme disappointment, they were out of pineapples. We were looking for Maui gold pineapples to bring home but a worker said something about shipments not coming in. I was amused by how devastating this news was to Victor. Instead, we got some Kona coffee and chocolates to bring back.

Off to the airport and home we go. Our nice little getaway to our last Hawaiian island is now complete!