Kihei

When we booked this trip, we thought it would be great to also check out another area of Maui. So after six days in Ka'anapali, we moved down south to Kihei for the last couple days. Before focusing on Kihei, I have to mention another little road trip we took up to the North Shore. We made our way to Ho'okipa lookout which oversees Maui's world-class surfing and windsurf spot. It was so cool to see all the windsurfers zipping along the water at incredible speeds.

We stayed at the Maui Coast hotel which is located on South Kihei Road and is across the street from Kamaole Beach I. We arrived in the afternoon and pretty much as soon as we hit the beach, the afternoon trade winds started and I remembered why I wasn't too keen on spending a lot of time here. The winds were quite strong this first day so having a relaxing snooze on the beach was difficult with sand being blasted at you constantly. The water was also very choppy so we decided to go for a stroll from Kamaole Beach I to II and then III. We stopped in at some shops along south Kihei Road on the walk back before having dinner at Maui Thai. Dinner was good, we both weren't too hungry so we opted to share a dish and it was enough for both of us. There isn't much to do here in the evenings.

The next day it was relatively overcast in the morning and into the afternoon. On a recommendation, we had breakfast at Kihei Caffe. The banana macadamia nut pancakes were great!! This place is very busy, but highly recommend it.

We did some beach hoping while here and found ourselves mostly in the Wailea area, which is just south of Kihei. Less wind here in the afternoons. The water was still a little rough at some beaches so I didn't get much more snorkelling in though Z tried. We spent one afternoon at Big Beach. Just as the name suggests, the beach stretches for 2/3 miles and is just a gorgeous stretch of white sand. The surf here is pretty tricky on certain days with a very strong undertow and large waves crashing at the shoreline. Silly me experienced this first hand and gave Z a rather big scare. I felt like a pair of shorts in the washing machine. It was rather stupid of me to underestimate the current and surf. Really nice beach though and watching the waves crashing from the beach (not on top of you) is pretty cool.

On our last day, we spent the day at Wailea Beach after another breakfast at Kihei Caffe. Wailea Beach is apparently ranked by several beach rankings as the best beach in America. We managed to luck out with parking here, which can be a little tricky. I once again skipped the snorkelling and was happy just getting the last bit of rays before heading home. Z says the snorkelling here was good, but I have a feeling that the best snorkelling was up where we started this quick get away in Ka'anapali.

Lahaina

Lahaina is just a short drive south of Ka'anapali. All the action in Lahaina is along Front Street which is lined with tons of shops and restaurants. Around the centre of Front Street is Banyan Tree Square featuring, you guessed it, a large Banyan Tree which was planted in 1873. This tree is quite the site (check out the picture). Just passed the Banyan tree is a wharf and behind that is an area where beginner surfers hang out. Z rented a surf board one afternoon and frolicked in the waves and caught three waves before having to call it a day. We found a great place for smoothies, but I can't remember the name of the place. It's off Front Street and Dickenson and their passion fruit smoothie was the best! We had dinner at Mala restaurant one evening. This restaurant is located on one end of Front street, right on the water and is a great place to see the sun set. The food it really good too, the Kobe burger was very tasty.

There is a huge selection for those interested in shopping on Front Street. There are a number of art galleries as well with a very good selection of local artists' work. This town is definitely geared for the tourist.

West Maui

Our stay at the Westin Villas in Ka'anapali has been fabulous. The resort is beautiful and a great place to stay. The resort is situated right on Kahekili Beach - a perfect beach for frolicking in the water and snorkeling. There are tons of fish to be seen here and at least one resident turtle. We spent quite a bit of time here at different times of the day. The morning snorkeling seemed to have the most fish, but don't get me wrong there are lots of fish at all times of the day.

The resort has a go green option which allows you to cancel daily cleaning service and they give you a voucher for the breakfast buffet instead. We opted to go green and took advantage of the yummy breakfast buffet twice. The other mornings, we enjoyed "home" made breakfasts in our room. With the full sized kitchen, it was easy to go shopping and not worry about food spoiling.

Another great snorkeling spot was at the Sheraton Maui and Pu'u Keka'a (Black Rock). The beach was very nice and sandy. The current was a little stronger, but the water was extremely clear. There are tons of fish around Black Rock and again I got to see a turtle.

We also drove up north to Honolua Bay, another good snorkeling spot. To access the beach here, you have a short walk along a lush tropical pathway with "wild" chickens running around everywhere. The beach here is rocky and can be rather slippery when wet, but it's a nice spot. I recommend water shoes here to help with the rocky bottom at the water's edge. The day we were there, visibility was not at its prime in some areas, but it's still a great spot to head to.

Afterwards we continued north to Nakalele Point and blowhole. This is the northern most point of Maui. The views from here are incredible. The blowhole can spout water over 100 feet in the air. On our way back, we stopped in at a relatively secluded beach near the Ritz-Carlton Hotel called Oneloa Bay. There were maybe ten other people at this beach while we were there. A great little find.

Molokini and Turtle Town

We took a boat tour over to Molokini and Turtle Town with a group of friends and family from the wedding. Molokini is a crescent-shaped partially submerged volcanic crater about 2.5 miles off the coast of Maui. This site is a popular snorkeling destination for most people visiting the Island. Our group did the AM tour with the Pride of Maui. The boat's crew was very friendly.

I'm not sure if it was because of the time we arrived at Molokini (around 9am), or where the Pride of Maui has to moor, but the snorkeling wasn't the best; there weren't as many fish as I remember from past trips and the coral seems to be dying. I couldn't see any colourful coral. The snorkeling at our resort was much more interesting than this stop.

After Molokini, the boat took us over to Turtle Town and during the ride over we got a BBQ lunch. The food was good, though it was a little rushed by the time you got through the line up for food, ate and arrived at Turtle Town.

Just as the name indicates, Turtle Town has an abundance of turtles, as well as other colourful fish and marine life. The turtles here are the protected Hawaiian Green Sea turtles. These turtles can be very large and I got to see one here. I was feeling somewhat tired from the first snorkeling stop (not a very strong swimmer), so I decided that instead of going on a finding turtles adventure to head back to the boat and hang around there instead. Z continued on his quest to find turtles and ended up seeing three or four. Back around the boat, one of the crew was feeding the fish and so it was amazing to see the number of fish frantically chasing after the food. It was really cool to see.

The trip itself was a lot of fun because there were so many people on board that we either knew or had just met a couple days prior. Snorkeling Molokini is not what I remember it being, so a disappointment there - a lot of people were of the same opinion. Turtle Town was great and worth the trip.

Aloha

Our flight to Maui through San Francisco was delayed about an hour and a half due to low cloud in San Fran. This is apparently pretty common, and we even talked about it when booking the flight but felt our lay over time was sufficient to make the connection. Now with the delay our lay over time went from three hours to about one hour from when our flight was landing and the next one was leaving. Needless to say, I was a little uncomfortable with that especially since there was no easy way out of San Fran if we missed our connection and we had to be in Maui by the next morning....we made it with time to spare as Z would say. :)

We arrived in Maui mid afternoon Friday and made our pit stop at Costco and Big K to pick up some grocery items. We didn't realize how early the sun sets here and so by the time we got to our hotel it was already dark. Once the sun sets, it gets dark fast and when it's dark, it's dark. It makes for some great star gazing. We came to Maui for a wedding (that's the excuse and we're sticking to it!!).

We're staying at the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas. When we arrived, we found out that we were upgraded to a one-bedroom suite with a partial ocean view. Wow....the suite is amazing. It is very spacious with a full kitchen, huge bathroom and bedroom and a lanai from where you can see the ocean. The whole resort in fact is quite amazing and is situated on Kahekili Beach.

Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful warm sunshine and birds singing. It was the perfect start to a great day. In the morning we attended our friends' wedding here at the resort. It was a perfect setting with the ceremony overlooking the ocean. The ceremony was lovely. Congrats you two, we couldn't be happier for you!!

We had a few hours between the ceremony and reception, so what better way to spend it than on the beach. Quick change and off we were. The beach here is great!! The water isn't too rough, but the current can be strong and you have to be mindful of the undertow. There is really good snorkeling as soon as you enter the water. The reef starts pretty close to the shoreline with hundreds of very colourful fish just hanging out. I even got to see a turtle swimming around and feeding off the ocean floor. The snorkeling really is spectacular here. The sun though can be really hot and it doesn't take much to get some colour.

Maui here we come!

I wasn't kidding in my last post when I said the next adventure was just around the corner... Maui is our next stop to attend the wedding of two good friends and then spend some time just relaxing and soaking up the sun before enduring the pending dreary winter weather of home.

I came across a quote from Mark Twain "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

This rings so true with me and this next short adventure of rediscovering Maui comes at a great time. Slowing down and relaxing is top of the agenda. It's unfortunate how quickly we allow life to get so busy that there's no time left over to take in the scenery.