United States: Maui (Jul/95)

The island is formed by two volcanos. The big one is Haleakala. The poor second volcano, as any other second, is forgotten. Nobody talks about it, nobody remembers its name.

My impressions: Maui was surprisingly non-overcrowded. It was surprisingly clean. The weather was almost perfect (a little bit too windy sometimes). The beaches were perfect (a little bit too perfect sometimes). The water was perfect (Michelle says that last year it was even clearer). The ice-cream was, as always, perfect.

The West-side of the island is where the hotels and beaches are. It doesn't rain, the water is deep-blue-crystal-clear, the sunset is beautiful. Kaanapali and Lahaina in the North, Kihei and Makena in the South. Enjoy the beach, the big-hotel swimming pools, bars and restaurants at Kaanapali. The souvenir stores (argh) are in Kaanapali and Lahaina. Japaneses and white rental Neons are everywhere.

The Southeast-side of the island is covered by a dense brazilian-like forest. Because it is there where the clouds encounter the mountain, it rains a lot. Hana in the south is the reference point.

Haleakala is a 10000+ feet volcano always surrounded by the clouds. There is a road up all the way to the summit. People go there to see the sunrise and freeze in the pre-down fog wearing 10 layers of bathing cloth (who remembers to pack thermos and jackets to Hawaii?).

There is nothing in Hana. But the 3+ hour drive is interesting. Beautiful views of the forest and the coast, water falls. The road is curly (620+ turns one-way, I did not count, someone told me that) and very narrow (just one lane on the bridges). If you drive 15 miles pass Hana, the reward are the "7 sacred pools". They are not sacred and are more than 7. Beautiful anyways. A sequence of water falls and pools where you get to swim and restore the energy for the drive back.

There is not much of night-life in Maui (I heard that Oahu is the place) But, with that sunset, the breeze and the warm evenings, who needs music?

Luaus are held in the big hotels. You are in a touristic place, so, unfortunatelly, there is no need to seat in the ground or get the feet sandy. But you get to hear some of the stories of the islands, see tourist-hula dances and drink and eat a lot.

Hawaii is not famous for its cuisine. The underground-roasted pig and poy (a terrible taro-root based thing) are the specialties. Fortunatelly they also serve authentic hawaiian chicken teriyaky :).

Ice-cream is always good. The drinks are good too (try the Chi-chi, vodka, pinapple).

But the best of Maui is the water. Diving, snorkeling, swimming. Sunburning on the beach.

We stayed at the Kahana beach resort, 5 minutes north of Kaanapali. A studio reasonably clean and confortable. It was ON the beach, with a more-than-perfect view of the sea.

The rental car was a white Neon (everybody drive white Neons in the island). The Neon is small, looks and feels good. Just be careful not to loose it in the parking lot full of white Neons.

The water. Blue, deep blue. I'm in a boat, deep sea. I look straight down, I can see the coral in the bottom. Amazing.

Day ONE:

We got there Saturday around noon. The 5-hour flight is long (specially if you are squezzed in that narrow seats...). Rental car pickup.

Quick stop at Safeway for grocery. Spent one or two hours browsing through the brochures we got in the airport, planning, calling, booking the activities.

Shopping at Kaanapali. Michelle bought t-shirts for everybody. I resisted well and managed to keep a good humor through the afternoon :).

Sunset and drinks at Kaanapali beach. Beautiful sunset.

Day TWO:

Sunday. Kaanapali beach. Sun-burning and Snorkeling. No need to swim far from the shore to see a lot of things. We saw a sea turtle (which I think was huge, Michelle says that it was a small one), lots of fish. It was my first Hawaii experience under water. I was impressed.

Tourist-Luau at the Marriot. All-you-can-eat-and-drink. Hula. Pictures.

Walk through the Hyatt and its multi-level pools.

Day THREE:

Monday. Boat diving in Lanai. I was a bit worried about diving (it was my first dive after the certification in Monterey). But it so easy to dive when the visibility is over 100 feet and the water temperature is over 80F... As usual, I needed extra weight to sink (nobody has explained my tendency to float...).

The current was too strong at Cathedral (a diving site with sun-light special effects). We did two dives (no-name paradise and light-house reef). Michelle got a little sea-sick between the two dives but she did ok.

We saw lots of coral, fish, turtles, octopus and even a small shark. Visibility: 100+ feet. Feeling: flying in an aquarium. We have pictures.

Dinner at Planet Hollywood (where I had a surprisingly good salmon with mustard sauce) and ice-cream in Lahaina.

Day FOUR:

Tuesday. Woke up 2:00 AM and drove to the top of Haleakala to see the sunrise special-effects in the clouds around the summit crater. Very very cold.

After taking a look at the moon-like crater, we drove all the way to Hana. We stopped at all waterfalls and vista points, explored all side roads and took all pictures. Saw lots of beautiful beaches, the forest, water falls and get to swim in the natural pools at the end of the trip.

Day FIVE:

Wednesday. Sailing/Snorkeling trip to Molokini (a crater right at sea level, it is a huge natural aquarium. Impossible to describe). Trilogy was the name of the Catamaran, a very nice sailing boat.

The snorkeling was great at Molokini. We had another stop at a site where we were supposed to see a lot of turtles, but I saw only one.

In the way back, it was very very windy and the sail was fun. They serve real barbecued chicken and the trip is very pleasant.

Sunset in Kahana. Michelle did not wake up from the aftenoon nap to watch it with me. We had a small argument because of that... We were both very tired...

Dinner in Kaanapali. I had a terrible pasta at Chico's (avoid it).

Day SIX:

Thursday. Sunrise in Kahana. Walk on the beach. Last pictures.

Airport. Back to California.

Five days is just right to see everything in Maui. Not enough to sleep late or relax and spend a lazy day sun-burning on the beach. One week would be ideal. Oh, well, vacations are never long enough.