My mom and I love Hawaii. Our first trip was to Oahu back in 1998, almost three years ago we visited Kauai and then Maui was next in Dec. 2012.
For outdoor lovers that enjoy hiking and beauty in every direction...Kauai is the place to be. It is 70% nature and absolutely paradise. But Maui has it's own delights, and so here are some of the highlights:
Maui is best known for its beaches.
I snorkeled at two beaches on the south side and found them both to have poor visibility and not as many fish to look at. However I had heard that some of the better snorkeling beaches were closed when I was there. But then I went to Kapalua Beach in West Maui. I was snorkeling alone and all of a sudden I saw a massive sea turtle, I was surprised at the sheer size of him. I swam around him for awhile just observing. There were a bunch of people on the beach that had spotted him from shore and were watching. A couple hours later I went back in for one last swim. Either the same turtle or another one, was in a different spot. He and I had the place to ourselves, all the other people had gone home. A great experience!
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| One of Maui's many beaches |
Warning: Maui is WINDY. You might as well give up trying to have a good hair day. If you leave the hotel looking good, it lasts about 5 minutes!
Driving:
If you have an aversion to narrow one lane roads with hairpin turns... stay in the cities.
To get anywhere more interesting, you must travel. For some reason the car rental agency gave me a mini van. I drove that poor van approx 1300 miles and on every conceivable surface. I managed to give my mom a pretty good scare driving along the tiny Kahekili Hwy, that snakes along the coast on the back way to West Maui.
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| Kahekili Hwy |
It's a very scenic drive if you are able to actually look around without being terrified another car will hit you and send you careening off the cliff. I found it rather exhilarating, however we did take the regular highway on the way back.
Hiking is mainly what we came to do. One such hike in the PoliPoli State Park is called the Redwood Trail, a five mile loop, and there is a grove of actual Redwoods to behold. To get there you must drive 6000 feet above sea level on a very narrow steep paved road, then traverse a gravel road for 4 more miles. This last part of the road is supposed to be four wheel drive only but it is fine for regular cars if it has not rained recently. If the mini van can do it, then anyone can!
The road to Hana is very slow going due to it being so curvy and the speed limit being 15 miles per hour. However after driving some of the other roads, this one seemed tame with actually having two lanes and all. We did it in stages,over three days... first day, get out every mile or so to look at the sights, hike short trails etc. then turn around and go back.Then the second day, bypass all the stuff we already saw and continue on. It is on the wet side of the island and is by far the lushest scenery. A great place to see the views is at the end of Nahiku Rd.
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| End of Nahiku Rd |
We also drove the Pi'ilani Hwy out and back in one day, seeing the sights along the way. It took a lot of time and we ended up having to drive back in the dark, my mom got very quiet and was staring straight ahead and looking stressed. Pitch dark, raining, one lane road, slightly crazy locals coming at us occasionally, without choosing to slow down. I explained to my mom that it was actually better at night, because at least we could see the oncoming car headlights, she didn't seem convinced. I also had to slam on my brakes suddenly when we came across a herd of cows in the middle of the road. They were extremely nonchalant and had absolutely no desire to move out of the way.
Other sights:
I absolutely try to see pretty much everything I can while on vacation. Not a lot of lounging around, I am up and at em every day, raring to go. I certainly recommend the Maui Revealed guidebook, and their books for the other islands as well. They are very helpful, although not always completely up to date.Things change, trails get closed etc. But without it you really wouldn't know how to get to the most interesting spots. Most areas are not signed, and you would never know they were there otherwise.
We went to see the Nakalele Blowhole. It wasn't very spectacular that particular day but the fun part was actually the hike down to it...there are acid erosion rocks and some very interesting scenery.
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| Nakalele Blowhole Hike, Acid Erosion Rocks |
Haleakala Crater:
The first day I hiked down the Sliding Sands Trail. There is the option of doing a 13 mile loop through the crater, but you would need a shuttle or have to hitchhike back to your car afterwards. So I just hiked down as far as I felt like it, and returned the same way.
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| Haleakala Crater, Sliding Sands Trail |
I much preferred the second hike I did on the Hale-mau'u Trail. The guidebook didn't say much about this trail, stating that weather could often be a problem, however I lucked out and was pleased to be able to hike the three miles down into the crater floor, a mile across the bottom to Holua Cabin and then back up, a total of eight miles. In the morning there were clouds obscuring the view down into the gulch and to the sea, but on the way back they had cleared. The trail was not especially steep, with easy switchbacks. I had about 20 minutes of blissful alone time on the floor of the crater.
I had sat down to eat lunch and I heard a strange noise, sort of like a cross between a cow and a goat. I looked up and there were a pair of Nene's ( Hawaiian Geese) watching me from a ledge.They were curious about me, but a little shy. I sat and ate my sandwich and eventually they waddled down to check me out, first they peeked around the cabin at me, and then decided to be brave and get a little closer. After awhile they headed off to the water tap to get a drink. Around that time some other hikers showed up and the Nene's decided to leave.
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| Nene's |
The Seven Sacred Pools:
This is also in the Haleakala Crater National Park, but in a totally different area. There is a nice hike there that leads up the mountain along a stream, past a big banyan, through a thick dark bamboo forest and eventually to a extremely high waterfall.
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| Banyan on the Pipiwai Trail |
Also down past the parking area there are several more pools and falls to hike to and these are good for swimming. I think this area would have been much more spectacular, had there been any recent rain. There was not much water in any of the many falls we saw while on our trip.
Other hikes: I very much enjoyed the Waihe'e Ridge Trail.
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| Waihe'e Ridge Trail. |
And the Wai'anapanapa Coast Hike.
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| Wai'anapanapa Coast Hike. |
And my solo trip to an unamed black sand beach. You have to hike across a lava field to get to this, there is no road access and I had it all to myself.
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| Unamed black sand beach |
Gardens:
Kahanu Garden was my favorite. This place is so serene, it is the site of an ancient temple that had been buried in the rainforest, and then was discovered and unearthed.
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| Kahanu Garden |
Besides that, the property is beautiful and not swarming with as many people as some of the other gardens.
We also enjoyed the Garden of Eden on the road to Hana.
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| Garden of Eden |
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| Bird of Paradise |
Aloha!
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