Sightseeing on Maui

After the Honolulu Marathon, Deb and I flew to Mau.  This report picks up where my last one left off.

Monday, December 11

We had an early afternoon flight from Honolulu to Kahului on Maui.  When we planned this trip, we were going to stay in Lahaina.  Since then, most of the town was destroyed by a fire, including our hotel.  Instead of staying in Lahaina, we stayed in Kahului.

Our hotel was on an inlet that had a nice breeze coming in from the coast.  When we arrived at the airport, the sun was oppressive, so it was nice to be someplace where we could sit outside and feel comfortable in the breeze.

Our hotel also had a beach.

After getting settled into our room, we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel and enjoying the breeze off the coast.  We had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was just across the street.

Tuesday, December 12

We had breakfast at a restaurant attached to our hotel.  Their breakfast menu included pineapple upside down pancakes.  Of course we had to try those.

After breakfast, I went for a run.  I stuck to roads that kept me close to the coast, which gave me a few nice views.

We spent the rest of the morning in the Iao Valley.

We came back into Kahului for lunch.  Then we went to Kula to tour the botanical gardens.

There was a problem with our hotel room, but we had to wait until 4:00 before we could move into a different room.  By the time we were settled into our new room we were both exhausted.  We had dinner at the hotel and retired early.

Wednesday, December 13

We left right after breakfast for an all-day guided tour of the road to Hana.  It was a private tour, so we could spend more time at stops that were accessible to Deb and skip the ones that weren’t accessible.

The Hana Highway is a narrow two-lane road has 660 turns and 200 bridges.  Having a guide doing all the driving allowed both of us to enjoy the views along the way.  This tour is more about the scenic drive than the destination.

From the road, we had frequent views of waterfalls.

We stopped at scenic overlooks with coastal views and drove down to a black sand beach.

One of our longer stops was at an arboretum where we saw rainbow eucalyptus trees and ginger plants, among other things.

We also stopped at the Ke’anae Peninsula when we watched waves crashing on the shore and ate warm Auntie Sandy’s banana bread.

We had lunch at Hana Farms before driving back.  We made different stops on the way back from Hana.  Our last stop was a beach where sea turtles come ashore to rest in the afternoon and evening.

This beach is also popular among surfers, because of the big waves.

We had a wonderful tour guide.  He took us to places where he doesn’t normally stop, and he omitted some of the customary stops, because he knew Deb wouldn’t be able to do the hiking.

Thursday, December 14

Thursday was our last day on Maui.  It was a breezy morning.  When I went running, the waves on the bay were choppy, but the cooler conditions made it possible for me to run a little farther and take a hillier route without overheating.

After checking out from our hotel, we went shopping in Pa’ia, where we also had lunch.  Pa’ia is a town we drove through on our road to Hana tour on Wednesday.  Deb noticed that it was a small town with the type of mom and pop shops she likes.  It’s not far from Kahului, so it was the perfect place to spend half a day before heading to the airport for our flight to Hilo.

We flew to Hilo in the late afternoon, where our adventures on the Big Island will begin.  To be continued …