trip report May 25th to June 1st.. SO not long enough!

First thing.... if you are going to Maui.. you need to go for at least 10 days or longer.... 1 week is not enough, ummm maybe consider just moving there.. yup that sounds good.. just move :)

Flights:

Hawaiian airlines nonstop from Portland.. Wonderful.. we did leave a bit later but made up for it in the air. One thing I did not like was that they really try and sell things to you. For example they come by offering snacks.. and they are movie theater prices.. they tell you that you need to buy head sets.. ( I know a lot of airlines do this) but your own personal ones work just fine and are free! Everything is on a TV.. I felt like the first 1 hour was one big commercial :) They do feed you real food and it was actually quite good. I had chicken and rice hubby choose spaghetti. They also offer for you to rent a Digi player.. like a personal DVD player for $20 and you can choose from a bunch of movies.. we didn%26#39;t do this.. just thought I would mention it :)

We did a day trip to Oahu.. same airline great trip.. very fast ! On the way back from Oahu we got to the airport a little over an hour early and they let us fly standby on an earlier flight.. so nice to be back ';home'; in Maui a bit early!

Condo;

We stayed at the Maui Kai! Room 1008 Top floor corner unit... amazing views.. you felt like you were on top of the ocean! Rented through VRBO $225/night. Condo was clean well stocked with all the beach stuff you could ask for. Great comfortable king size bed! Maui Kai is 20 feet from the surf so you are very close to the ocean. Their pool is small but most everybody walked next door to the Kanapalli Beach Club pools.. they have a paved stone walkway to it :)

Car: Alamo, through Costco. Great deal and if you are in Maui you got to have a convertible... just beautiful! I had nice people at customer service so it was a good experience.

Places we ate at:

Honokowai Okazuya deli on lower honoapiilani hyw ( Just north of Kaanapali beach about a mile or so)+ AMAZING teriyaki beef.. melts like butter in your mouth! Very reasonable prices too. Just a take out place though.. we ate our in condo over looking the beach.!

Hula Grill at whalers village: Great fish taco%26#39;s..wonderful lava flows. we ate there early like 4:40 and had the benefit of happy hour drink prices ( 2$ off). There was a live guy playing acoustic guitar.. he was pretty good too. On a side note after dinner we walked out on the path and had to stop and take a break in a hammock on the beach.. very nice! Beautiful location too! Leilani%26#39;s had cheaper happy hour drinks then the hula grill..I think they were $5 each.. Hula grill%26#39;s were $7. Didn%26#39;t have one but thought I would mention it :)

Moose McGillycuddys In Lahaina: We just had drinks.. Hubby had blue Hawaiian and I had a lava flow.. they have the best and it is bigger then other places :) YUM!

Kimos in lahaina : Beautiful location. Short wait, I ate the lobster stuffed Mahi Mahi.. a bit bland but still very yummy $29.00! Great server :) Hubby had the special... I think you couldn%26#39;t go wrong with a choice here.. everything was yummy.

Da Kitchen in Kihei.. near dennys : This is very good food if you like your meat kinda fatty.. I am a white boneless skinless chicken breast sort of gal and this was a fatty thigh kind of place... but it did have great flavor. I had Teriyaki chicken and all rice ( Macaroni salad in maui is BLAND so I really don%26#39;t like it ) Hubby had Teriyaki steak... he liked his but when I tasted it I thought it was good but not as outstanding as Honokawii Deli ( Mentioned above) We shared a drink to save on money :)

We also had some ice cream at the little smoothie place next to star market in Honokowai... Do not go there.. over priced bad service and crappy ice cream :)

Down to Earth Natural food store ( The deli inside) On Dairy Rd in Central Maui. ( On the way to Lahainia after costco on your right). Was way out of hubby%26#39;s comfort Zone.. a bit to earthy for him.. no meat and lots of vegan stuff. I had a gardenburger.. YUMMY, Hubby had a vegan bean burrito ( he even liked it) It is a healthy place to eat and I loved it.. but not for everyone :)

Bubba Gumps in Lahaina: Drinks, Lava flow.. good, and I had an order of french fries.. great atmosphere.. they have a bubble machine that makes TONS of bubbles in the street and entry way.. kids might like that..

Cheeseburger in Paradise in Lahaina: Another Lava Flow, and I just ordered their cheese fries with bacon for dinner... HUGE portions.. very yummy! Hubby had Avocado Burger... he loved it :) Great atmosphere.

We also bought food at the Star Market, and costco :)

Activities:

Rented snorkel gear from maui dive shop... wonderful service and nice gear. We snorkeled Honolua Bay in West Maui... Best area is to the right... wonderful like snorkeling on a lake so smooth .. we went here 3 times :) Black Rock.. A bit rougher.. I hate getting snorkel equipment on while trying to stand in water! Very funny to watch I am sure lol.. Nice fish and I swam with 3 turtles and a HUGE EEL... Like 6 feet long.. it swam right along side of me... like 1 foot away! Yikes.. made me chicken :) lol Hubby snorkeled Makena Beach ( In front of the Maui Prince) He saw lots of turtles and fish. We also snorkeled right in front of the Maui Kai and it was very nice too. So you don%26#39;t need to pay for an expensive tour when you can just go do it your self :) It is wonderful.

I did rent the vest as I am pretty weak from a tough bout with my Crohn%26#39;s disease.. made it so simple.. looked like a big baby but it did help and you could deflate it and inflate it very easily..while you were snorkeling :)

ZIP LINE on Haleakla.. Great fun... expensive... and you need to book way in advance but worth it. They do have a new one in west maui also.. longer zipping but not very high in the air like the one on the crater :) We also drove up to the summit... long and switchbacky but worth it.. watch out for those crazy bikers.. coming down :)

Day trip to Oahu: Earliest flight over.. went straight to Arizona memorial... lines get huge so get there early :) After touring that went straight out to the North Shore. Ate at a cute.. very run down breakfast place in Haleiwa ( Spelling is wrong) that has wonderful breakfasts! Had Matsumoto%26#39;s Shave ice.... the best ever! Hung out at Waimea Bay all day. Hubby jumped from the big rock... the North Shore is beautiful and we loved it there.. not to touristy :)

Drove the road all around West Maui... do not so this if you are afraid to drive on a one car width road with a cliff on one side.. could be scary for some :) We loved it.. very beautiful. Hiked to the Blow Hole and the Olivine Pools. (don%26#39;t blow your horn.. no one does this as far as we saw on corners)... both beautiful.. I don%26#39;t think people should swim in these with fresh sunscreen on... when people would snorkel the water looked like an oil slick on top... very bad for the coral and fishys so either wear a rash gaurd or apply it early so it is absorbed into skin! We had put it on way earlier and none of ours was floating on the top.. maybe that is why the back of the bottles say to apply it 30 min prior to sun exposure? Didn%26#39;t have cash so we had to drive past the famous banana bread stand.. boy did I want some.. oh well just have to go back :) Darn!

Rest of the time was just spent enjoying the beaches, and the beautiful scenery. The book Maui Revealed was very helpful, and so was this forum. We did also go to church while there. We went to Calvary Chapel West side. They meet on the beach at a park and you sit in beach chairs... great service :)

We still have tons to do and we already want to go back.. so I am planning a trip in April for 08. But this time we will take all 4 kids with us.. so it will be a ';different'; kind of vacation :) Sorry it was so long. No naked people either lol We did hear from someone that there was going to be a 100 naked drummers and a gay pride day at the beach... ( Little beach) Now just the thought of that makes me laugh... maybe we should have went to see all those drummers.. ha ha.. Hubby would be sooooo uncomfortable there.. ha ha

Let me know if you have any questions... I think that I will hang out here in this forum... it makes me feel closer to Maui! Which IMO is the best place on earth... and I have been a bunch of places :)

trip report May 25th to June 1st.. SO not long enough!

Great trip report countrycoffeehouse. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Heard about a big storm out your way on the national news this morning, hope all is well. Just FYI, the beach in front of the Maui Prince is Maluaka, not Makena. Makena beach, or Big beach as it is locally known, is a little ways down the road. When you get to Big beach, you walk to the north end of the beach, over a cinder cone and you are on little beach, so you were pretty close!! Did you make it to Big beach? You are right about the sunscreen. People don%26#39;t realize it can be really bad for the coral and the fish. Also, at Maluaka there is a hawksbill turtle. Very endangered but wonderful to see, there are only a couple of them who regularly show up on Maui. Lots of green sea turtles out there though!!

trip report May 25th to June 1st.. SO not long enough!

Mahalo for taking the time to report. We agree about ht e macaroni salad. Mrs. S. makes wonderful macaroni salad with lots of onion, black pepper and celery seed. She keeps saying if we ever move there, she%26#39;s going to teach some of the restaurants how to make it.

What a great trip. You are very blessed to be able to do a trip like this without the kids. Your kids will love Maui but you%26#39;re right, it%26#39;ll be a different kind of trip. Our kids list Maui, Disneyland and Enchanted Forest as their favorite vacation places.

Doesn%26#39;t Calvary Chapel put up a large banner at the beach park? Makes it easy to find.

Hawaiian Air started doing the big concession sales last year when other airlines were starting to charge for meals. At least they still serve you a free lunch. I%26#39;d rather read a book on a 5 hour flight than watch one of their movies.

How much did the Oahu day trip cost and did you take public transportation while you were there?

No we didn%26#39;t make it to the Big Beach... we just run out of time :) But we are going back. We have decided that this will be our place of choice... nice easy non stop flight to a tropical paradise.. 5 hours verse a cross country trip to the Caribbean :) I vote Maui any day!

You are right Santy we had macaroni salad a few times and it was horrible... they do need some help in that area :)

The Oahu trip was pretty cheap... way less then a day trip to molokini snorkelling. We got round trip airfare for $29.00 each on Hawaiian. We rented a small care from Budget for $37.00 after all the taxes etc. Arizona Memorial was free. Lunch/breakfast cost $13.00 for 2 people to get so full on pancakes and eggs,bacon. Half tank of gas. Shave Ice was so cheap. I went here as a kid 20 years ago and it was still like the same price.. $1.50 for a huge rainbow one. The beach was free and so beautiful.. I think it was prettier then most on Maui... so nice :) We did by a few north shore tee shirts but that was it.. we will go again when we take the kids next year. Easy airport stuff too... just walk on and off.. nice and simple :) I would not want to stay over night there.. Maui is to great to do that.. but a day trip is so cool.

So figuring 20 bucks for gas that comes to $119.00 and snorkeling at the crater would be on overage $80 each so that would be $160... yup I would do a day trip :)

I enjoyed the details you provided! Great report. And thanks for including the church service. I was thinking about doing this myself, so this gives me a great idea.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time.

Great report! You are so correct about 10 days being the minimum requirement for a Maui trip... I will not go for any less!!!

So the Kanapalli Beach Club let%26#39;s Maui Kai guests use their pool? Or are you advocating pool crashing, ala the MauiNKO method!!! HA, jk! You SO don%26#39;t seem like the pool crashing type!

;-)

The Calvary Chapel does have a huge sign out so you can find it.. just go south of Lahaina and you can%26#39;t miss it.

As for the pool crashing.. I admit I am guilty of it.... I have only done this in Hawaii though... I think since they have a walking path from the maui kai to the kaanapali beach club that it must be ok right? right? With all the beaches being so public it does make it easy to pool hop :)

we also did the old lahaina luau food was not the greatest.. and since I am only a one maybe two drink person I don%26#39;t think I got my moneys worth..but the show was so wonderful that it made up for the food.. :)

Thanks for the great trip report!

Great report.

I have to agree that one week is too short... and so I extended my vacations first to ten days.... not enough..... So I increased it to two weeks ....Then I found that two were not enough, so now I am at three...

I guess that I will now have to increase the frequency of my visits to the islands.

thanks for your report ---we are neighbors ---beaverton-- near 185 and farmington