Maui bound...
 

Last year the wife surprised me for my 50th by taking me to Kauai (Poipu). http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/591529-greetings-poipu-kauai.html This year we're going to Maui. (love Maui! Been there before) Not a present, just a timely thing. Way...... way low budget trip this time.
Stay tuned....

Snorkel your brains out. Lots of great options on Maui.

Went to Maui for our 30th wedding anniversary and had a fantastic time. Lot's to see our week went very quick. One surprise was finding the food product Spam on so many menu's, even McDonalds had a spam offering.

Sit at the bar upstairs in CheeseBurger in Paradise.....Can watch the ocean on one side and see which shop your wife goes into from your bar stool....Down past Hana, go to Charles Lindberg grave....Took me 3 trips to find it...Drive your rental car on the dirt roads at both ends of the Island; where the rental car company tells you not to go...Did it one time on a Harley loaned to me by a friend that lives there.

I'm planning on doing that...to complete the loop of the island. Will be spending 2 weeks on various islands in March.

Visit the aquarium its well done.

Arrived in one piece. Typical landing here. Turbulence. Lots of "Oooooss and Ahhhhhs" for the roller coaster approach.
The weather upon landing was 82 degrees, overcast, and windy.
We hit the Costco after picking up our rental wreck. (Subaru Forester) Actually its not a bad car. The best we've ever had! Our first trip here we had a Sebring convertable that I am sure they dropped wheels first off a ten story building. (suspension was absolute mush)
The plane ride wrecked me. My a$$ fell asleep about half way here. (still paying for that) I have almost plowed through one of Patterson's books "Toys". I'll finish it tonight.
Our place we're staying is "okay". The 70's are calling and they want their interior decorator back. But hey!, its a place to crash for the night and the price was right. $165.00 per night!
No pictures yet.

For good eats, go to the Halle Malle General Store, upslope on Haleakulah.
Aloha!

You're going to Maui? Wowie! :D

We did the road to Hana the day before we were to fly home. I called the rental car folks and arranged to trade our Chevy Malibu for a 4 door Jeep with removable roof. Total cost was a one day $25 upgrade. Totally worth it. Kids in the back and open roof - the drive was amazing. I also rented a GPS from a shop near the aquarium that had the R2H route programmed with lots of interesting talking points and Hawaiian theme music. Totally worth the extra $$ and was also treated to some unique out of the way beaches. As already mentioned - keep driving around the island past Hana. Plan a lunch and a couple hours at Wai'anapanapa State Park. Lots of great walking trails, blow holes, black sand beach (no lifeguards and dangerous swimming). Highway 330 to 31 - about 10 miles or more of chop board dirt road that gets tiring but incredible views. Narrow one lane road but some amazing scenery. Love the micro climate change from dense jungle to dry desert. Plan an entire day for this trip - you won't be disappointed.

A little story about this: Let me start by saying that it's considered bad luck in Hawaii to remove lava rock from any of the volcanoes. I totally ignored this and picked up a few pieces while hiking up on Haleakala. The next day, I was driving my rental on some dirt roads south of Wailea and sure enough, I get a flat. I put on the spare and brought the tire to a gas station later that day to be repaired. After working on it for a few minutes, the guy comes out and says, "There's nothing wrong with this tire but I did find out what caused the flat". He then shows me a tiny chunk of lava rock that was caught inside the the plastic valve cap. This little rock pushed down the valve and let the air out of the tire. How this rock got in there and why only then did it decide to deflate the tire, I'll never know. The next day I returned my souvenirs to the volcano and have been a believer in that lava rock = bad luck story ever since.

If you get a chance, cruise down to Wailea and check out the big resort hotels there...the Grand Wailea, the Kia Lani & the Four Seasons. They're quite spectacular and just walking around the grounds or stopping in one of the bars for a drink is a real treat. There's also a nice crescent-shaped beach just south of Wailea called "Big Beach". No development there...just a beach (at least that was the case last time I checked).

Was there about 8-9 years ago. I remember having a couple very good meals in Lahaina at Aloha Mixed Plate. Cheap and delicious. Also right on the beach. Fantastic views

da kitchen in kihei... big portions good food

oops hit send tooo soon. whale watching ride.. cheap and fun activity to do.

Best price for best food is at the Dunes at Maui Lani golf course restaurant. Caution, it get real busy at lunch with the locals.

Café O’Lei at The Dunes Restaurant | The Dunes at Maui Lani Golf Course

We're having fun for sure. Got to sleep in this morning. (rare for me) We just got back from snorkeling at Charlie Young's Beach. One of our favorite spots. We have spotted several whales breaching. Must be the season.
Love all the great suggestions and ideas people. We have done the Road to Hana before. We actually drove all the way around the island. That was back in 2001. Not a good experience. Both the wife and daughter got car sick and I was the bad guy.
A few pics from the trip so far. More to come.
My daughter and I.
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My wife Leslie.
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Our blast from the past kitchen.
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Supporting the local economy.
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My snorkeling buddies.
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Can't forget my daughters travelin bunny "Allie".

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Go island hopping, see some lava flows.... no not the drink, no wait what am I saying

Nice! I just got back myself.

$165/night is a deal. What part of the island is that?

fwiw, for the first time we skipped the rental car (well, for the first week) and stayed local and used the Maui bus to get around. That was actually pretty cool (literally and figuratively) --the bus drivers crank the AC. I was also surprised to see so many main-landers on the buses. Anyway, the bus use forces a slow down ...quicker to get to island time. And it saves $600 /week - the all-day bus pass is $2. ...and no time wasted on parking ... putting the top up... worrying about break-ins.

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Okay, now, more vacationing and less of this! ;)

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turn your back on the surf and become a human dredge...great fun.

Wow, looks like you are having a good time :)

We are staying in Kihei. $165 a night is a good deal. Not fancy at all. Just a place to rest the head for the night. The pool here is really nice though. We're staying at The Kaomaole Sands Condos. Right on the outskirts of Kihei and Wailea. (South Kihei)

if you are there on sat. save your $$ on souvenirs and hit the maui swap meet for that. the hair clips, yes a must have with preteens, atleast mine, are $1 each and about $3.50 at the abc stores. T-shirts are cheap as usual but they also have some good quality ones too. open 7am-1pm
MAUI SWAP MEET

Hey Dan,

Glad you're having a nice time.

Take the fam on a whale watch boat ride - go with Pacific Whale Foundation on their big boat out of Maalea Harbor. It is peak season for whale watching.

We're headed there tomorrow and will be staying in Lahaina.

^^ the Pacific Whale Foundation trip out of Maaliia is really good. I worked for them for a season years ago. The thing that makes their trip special is that someone from their research team goes on each trip and explains what you are seeing the whales doing as you watch. I had done many years of whale watching trips thru out the islands, but the concentration of animals there and the narration from the researchers made this the best.

Also there is a special place called Iou Valley near Wailuku that is worth checking out, sacred Alii burial place in olden times. Nice walk along the stream there.

For snorkeling there is a spot between Maaliia and Lahaina called oluwalu that has very good reef and clear water, also see if you can find Honolua bay, up past Napili, good snorkeling there too if the surf isn't too big. Great spot to watch the surfing there from the bluff if it is up.

Have fun, Richard

Bike ride down the volcano

Hugh, the bike ride was pretty good fun, but I think that they were shut down a couple years ago due to too many accidents. :-(

If you are there when a really big swell comes, it is incredable to watch the action at Jaws the tow in spot, its a couple miles past Hookipa on the north shore.

We will most definitely hit the swap meet. My wife and daughter love doing that kind of thing.
We went into the Iou valley last time we were here. Beautiful for sure. Might have to go back again.
The whale watching trip sounds good but I don't think we can swing it this time. Its a budget vacation this trip.
My wife is driving all the neighbors crazy. She has some Kalua pork going in the oven. Thats going to be dinner tonight. The smell is amazing!

Is there any difference between taking the whale tour out of Maaliia or Lahaina? They seem to offer both.

And it's cheap!

We've always gone out of Lahaina, since we stay there. Never gone out of Maalea.

We ALWAYS see whales, some years are better than others. We have 5 boat rides booked in the next 10 days - we find the whale watch rides to be relaxing, and awesome, especially when we get 'mugged' (some 'curious' whales approach the vessel and hang out) - doesn't happen often, but pretty special when it does. It's also pretty cool when they breach close by...

I can go on and on about all the different behaviors we see... awesome creatures.

Here is the view from our room.
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My snorkel buddy.
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No one in the water at Big Beach today. Apparently there was a sighting of a very large Tiger shark in the area.
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Back at the condo chillen out.
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More supporting the local economy. :)
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Nice digs.

On Pacific Whale Foundation - BTDT few times. But, IMO, the better deal is one of the ferries to Lanai or Molokai. ...Lanai has some great snorkeling in front of the Four Seasons. Also interesting was seeing the flying fish fly off the stern of the Lanai ferry. The Pacific Whale Foundation cat's are, apparently, too quiet in the water to get those fish flying.

Lanai makes a better day trip than Molokai. (unless you like big trucks and pit-bulls) ~$60 round trip (iirc). ...And on Lanai you can take the shuttle buses for around $10 for an all day pass (iirc). ..free to Lanai 'city' if you're going to rent a jeep there. ...or just spend the day on the beach in front of the Four Seasons Hotel. It's a superb beach with some great tide pools out on the point. Taking the sunset boat back gives great light on Maui, and plenty of whales to see.

Dan. Being a paddleboarder, I need to know these things. Is that paddleboarder beer any good?

Maui wowieeeeee ! Smoke up Johniee !

I'm still conducting my research on it. ;) Ya know...its not bad at all. Come to think of it, its about beer O' clock now. Cheers!

Actually my tenative plans are to do a day trip to Lanai - I want to mountain bike the Monroe Trail - then head to the north beach (past the Garden of the Gods). Then be picked up for a ride back to the ferry. But it's looking to be the same price overall as a jeep. Haven't set anything in stone yet.

I just got back, and I was right up the road from you! Like walking distance SmileWavy

LOL, yep, I've stayed in that exact complex a few times. The most recent being over a decade ago, and they could have used a remodel even back then! :D

The rates are hard to beat though. It's perfect for those who like to adventure out, and those not desiring/requiring the full "resort" experience. If inclined to search, I believe the correct spelling is "Kamaole Sands" (pronounced like "comma-oh-leh"). I'd definitely check them out if you don't have to be in Kaanapali/Lahaina. Regardless, condos are the only way to fly IMO along with pit stops to Costco/Safeway as soon as you get there to stock up.

FYI: If you ever want to kick it up a notch, and have a larger party to share the expense, check out Hoolei (Ho'olei) directly across from the Grand Wailea. Very nice amenities and sweet lanai layouts with huge sliding "pocket" doors that open up. As mentioned earlier VRBO is a good source.

SmileWavy

Anybody have any cheap secrets to Maui for night stays? I don't care about resort hotels or fancy sleeping. I'd do camping if I could - but there is barely any camping available on the island. Ugh. Almost all the hotels are over $100.

Edit: And it's only for 2 or 3 nights.

Have you tried Craigslist? Lots of condo listings and some of them can be really reasonable.

Definitely in need of a remodeling update.

Sorry about the spelling there. Yours is correct. Must of been the beer sampling. ;)

Costco is the second place we hit...right after the rental car place.

We have been having a lot of fun. Lots of snorkeling. We have been going to Ulua/ Mokapu Beach for the last two days. Water clarity isn't as good as we have seen the last few trips here. Not bad but not great. My daughter never ceases to amaze me. She has become quite the fish. Neither of us are happy just cruising on the surface. We love to dive down and stay under for a minute or more. You see so much more. I took a video today going into the rocks but its too large to upload here.
I think we will take a break from the sun tomorrow (maybe) and head up towards Lahaina or Kaanapali.
Saturdays Maui Swap Meet is a "for sure." We plan on going to the aquarium at some point too. We have been there a couple of times but it never gets old. Very simular to "our own" Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Pool time for now.
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