We decided to drive the famous ‘Road to Hana’. This is one of the most famous drives on Maui because the highway contains over 60 switchbacks, and the road is often too narrow for two cars to pass. It’s a beautiful drive, and took us close to three hours, because we stopped on the way and did a bit of hiking.
The view from a lookout on the Hana Highway, looking into the village of Kihei.
During the drive, we were amazed at how quickly the weather changed. While hiking, it was a bit overcast, but on the way back to the car, it started raining so hard we got soaked. We were both relieved when we arrived at Hana, and had lunch then spent some time trying to find a hidden ‘Red Sand Beach’. After getting directions twice, we finally made it, and were excited to finally be close to the ocean after driving near it for so long. Below is the view of the ocean near Red Sand Beach.
That night there was a huge rainstorm, and our cute little cottage leaked like a sieve. After putting bowls out to catch the drips, we headed out to Kihei, the more famous beach area of the island. The weather was much better but it was extremely windy. We took a walk by the beach, but it was so blustery, we didn’t stay long. After lunch, we found another beach, and decided to chill out on the sand. The beach had a rough surf, and we played around in it for a bit. After that, we headed out to some lava fields, which are leftover from the last volcanic eruption on the island, near La Perousse Bay. It was amazing to see dark volcanic rock as far as the eye could see.
The next day, we left the cottage, and headed for Lahaina, where we would be staying for three nights. Before Lahaina, we decided to drive to Haleakala Park, to see the crater. It was another long drive with several switchbacks, but the roads were wider than the highway to Hana. The drive only took about an hour, but it rises rapidly, and the summit is at 10,000 feet. By the time we made it to the top, we were starting to feel some altitude sickness, but had a great view of the crater.
Then we drove to Lahaina, where we stayed at the Lahaina Inn. It was a great old school hotel filled with antiques, we upgraded to an ocean view room, and had a lanai (balcony) with a direct view of the water. The room was really tiny, but the lanai was fantastic, complete with 2 rocking chairs and a little table, we had our breakfast out there every day. Lahaina was very touristy, with lots of souvenir shops and overpriced restaurants, but it had a nice boardwalk near the beach. We spent most of our time in Kapalua, which has some excellent beaches, especially for snorkeling. Reynald had read an article about how good Maui was for snorkeling, so we bought some snorkeling gear at home before we left. We had never done much snorkeling, but we’re so glad we tried it, it was absolutely amazing. It definitely took some practice, but litteraly the first time I put my head underwater I saw some tropical fish. And there are hundreds of fish, of all different kinds. All the fish I had only ever seen in aquariums were swimming around right below the surface of the water. We snorkelled several times over those three days, and each time we saw different kinds of fish. This was definitely a highlight of our trip, unfortunately, we didn't have a waterproof camera to take pictures.
After three days in Lahaina, we headed to the airport to catch a short flight to Honolulu, where we spent two nights before heading to Tokyo. Reynald caught a cold on the way, and was very sick, so we didn't see much of Waikiki. But we did stay in a wonderful hotel, the Hawaii Prince Hotel. Thanks to Priceline, we were able to get an amazing deal on a room at this 5 star hotel. It was honestly one of my favourite hotels I've ever stayed at.
Me enjoying the amazing view of the huge windows of our hotel in Waikiki
