The Sun is Shining, Pitaya is Sweet!
- satyakomal91
- May 27, 2024
- 4 min read
This is my first travel blog post & going to share our experience and travel tips for exploring the beautiful Hawaiian island of Maui. Me and my wife went to Maui for our honeymoon. These are the activities we enjoyed & recommend for anyone planning their vacation.
Travel Tips :
JetLag: Yes, you heard it right. If you are someone visiting the island from the mainland US, ex. East Coast, the time difference is 6 hrs & this varies by your source time zone. Make your plans accordingly to adjust to the new timezone.
Food: If you are a picky eater or don't want to spend too much money on your breakfast or quick bites there is a Costco nearby the airport. Load up all the essentials. Just be mindful not to buy too much food, items that you can not carry back to your home.
Car Rentals: If you are not too stringent on choosing a 2-door(muscle car) v/s 4-door car for your ride, I would say book the more affordable price one. If the more affordable price vehicle is the 4-door one, try checking with the car reservations folks if they have the 2-door vehicle available. Sometimes it's cheaper to get a 2-door car at the airport instead of booking in advance if the 4-door ones are in high demand.
Advance Reservations :
Waianapanapa State Park requires a reservation to visit & they are limited per day(at least that was the case in July 2022) so keep that in mind.
Haleakala Sunrise requires reservation too & they fill up fast. Also, you need to wake up super early(like 3 ish a.m) to see the sunrise & drive an hour/two if you stay on the Lahaina side. It gets pretty chilly at the top (although not lonely), so pack your gear to keep yourself warm.
Airport wait times: We almost missed our return flight from Maui, despite reaching the airport 2 hrs before the departure because of long lines due to construction at the airport. This was in 2022 so things should have been fine now.
These are the activities we enjoyed & you might add them to your list if these sound fun.
Day 1: Airbnb & settle down
We reached late in the afternoon to the island & were pleasantly greeted by the nice winds.
We picked up our car from the rental company & went to Costco to load up some quick breakfast essentials, reef-safe sunscreen(yeah regular sunscreen is bad for coral reefs if you are planning to get into water - Travel Pono). We were checked into our Airbnb in Napili to get settled in.
Day 2: Snorkeling, Blowhole
Me and my wife does not know swimming & were initially scared of snorkeling in the ocean. We checked with a few snorkel tour companies and finally went with https://www.pacwhale.com as they provided us with the required floating gear and had boat crew that was there to help us. It was a little scary while getting into water, but the experience was amazing. They took us to Honolua bay where the water was calm & had beautiful coral reefs. Someone spotted a green sea turtle (Honu) & we managed to swim a little farther from the boat to see it.
Tip : Don't forget to have your reef safe sunscreen before you get into water
In the evening, we drove around the coastal highway and went to Nakalele Blowhole. If you want to see the action up close, you have to hike down a little bit. Don't go too near 😳
Day 3: Road to Hana
This is a challenging drive overall due to hundreds of hairpin turns along the way with low-speed limits & narrow roads. But I would highly recommend driving along the Hana highway as you will see pretty small towns, lush green forests, small caves, waterfalls & list goes on.
It's an experience in itself. Make a plan where you want to do stop-overs along the way & don't forget to 🤙 😃 to the friendly locals. If you have got time & energy you can visit the Pipiwai trail towards the end of Hana highway.
Day 4: Haleakala Sunset & Stargazing
After the long day driving along the Hana highway & returning back to Napili on same day, we decided to go for the sunset at Haleakala. You don't need a reservation for sunset but the parking spots might get filled up quick. The drive was beautiful & there are some hiking trails along the way but we decided to drive all the way up. Also if you stay little longer after the sunset, you could do stargazing which was an awesome experience.
Tip: If you decide to stay for stargazing, don't forget to pack your winter gear.
Day 5 & 6: Settle down in Kihei, Luau & Hike
We drove to Kihei from Napili to stay on south-side of island & discovered delicious foods. One among them is the Island Pitaya bowl in a nearby strip mall close to our stay, authentic Thai food restaurant - https://www.nutchareesthaifood.com/. Managed to book the Luau in the last minute as most of them got sold out & it was good. Luau gets booked pretty quick, plan accordingly.
Next day we visited Iao-Valley State park & some part of the park was closed due to construction work but the rest was accessible. It had good views, easy short hikes.
Day 7: Return back to Seattle
Another bowl of pitaya before we head back home.
Mahalo Maui!
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