Vacation @ Maui

Aloha!!

Where do I start ? ? Hmm.. Just thinking about the trip, brings a smile to my face!!

Planning, Planning & Planning :-)

Somewhere at end of 2006, we started planning a trip to Hawaii... Merely having decided to visit Hawaii got us excited… To start with, we had to decide the number of days, which islands to visit, what to see etc!! Maui was a instant choice as we had heard from our close friends that it is “the place” for a dream gate-away :-) and their pics were definitely tempting.

We bought this book "Maui Revealed" by Wizard publications, on a friends recommendation. The book was definitely informative and the best part about the site/book are the aerial views of the hotels which let you see exactly how close the hotel is to a beach... You can decide for yourself if the ocean front hotel really has an ocean front view or not!! A Nice book to have!! Check it out in one of the book stores. Having read most of the book, we finalized on visitng Maui.

We planned out our trip from 2nd Feb - 11th Feb of 07!! We were getting good deals via Hawaii airlines from Phx to Oahu. As we were flying to Oahu, we decided to make a short stay @ Oahu before spending major chunk of our vacation at Maui. We were interested in visiting 2-3 places in Oahu so we decided to stay there for 1 1/2 days and spend the remaining 8 days in Maui.

At this point, we had our task list ready 1) Book hotels 2) decide the places of interest @ Oahu & Maui 3) finalize few fun activities @ Maui. At Ohau, we booked a ocean view room in Parkshore Hotel. A moderately priced place across the street from the Waikiki beach. At Maui, we booked a garden view room in Napili village. We wanted a ocean view room with a kitchen but to our luck all such rooms were already booked. The next best choice was at Napili village, where rooms were spacious, 2 min walk away from the beach with a well equipped kitchen. This place was also given a good review by book "Maui revealed".

We kept our plans open for Oahu, but booked a couple of activities @ Maui thru "Activities Warehouse". We booked the activites of our interest on their website and got an estimate. We then called them and asked an estimate as well, To our luck, the estimate was lower than their online deals. They generally fax you the list of activities, time, day etc and once you reach Maui, we need to visit their store and pick up the passes... As I go further, I will shed more light on the activities we did. :-).

Journey Begins, Reached Oahu!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/Oahu/photo?authkey=_0tUAzTcXPo#s5032575988130027218

Having planned most of the stuff, all that was left to do was to wait to board the flight on 2nd Feb :-). We took the 8 AM flight on 2nd Feb from Phx and reached Oahu at about 1.30pm. It was really hot in Oahu, so for a minute, we boasted of how good weather Phx had at present compared to Oahu ;-). By the time, we got our luggage, picked the rental car and reached our hotel, it was 3pm. Our room was on the 14th floor and view of the sea was superb!! Given a choice, I would have sat in our lanai (balcony) watching the sea for countless hours. But we definitely needed some exercise after a long flight... so we decided to take a hike to Diamond Head Crater.

The 0.7 mile hike and the view you get from this point is worth all the sweat!! :-). The hike was a bit of an adventure in itself - it comprised of hilly roads, two flights of 150 steps, a dark tunnel and windy rusted spiral staircase. 0.7 mile seemed a lot then!! :-) hehe!! The wind, sun was just perfect when we go to the top and view was fantabolous! We could see the whole of Waikiki beach lined up with tall buildings/hotels. Our hotel was the first in line!! We spent 1/2 hr there and then headed back... We then drove to the Waikiki beach and were in time to see the sun-set!! The beach, the waves and the sunset was a treat to the eyes... This refreshing view recharged us for a walk down the beach front streets... This place was really close to Promenade street, LA - in short words it was a happening place. ABC Stores popped up at every intersection and no store seemed to lack people. It could give a hard competition to Mc Donalds in terms of its number of locations!! But that was _the_ place to get stuff at reasonable prices compared to others!! An expensive place on the whole for no reason!! Overall a busy street full of people from all walks of life…

The next day, we left early to visit Pearl Harbour. It was more of an educational tour and taking us back into the time when the bombing took place. The articles, relics and the movie depicted what happened that very morning at 7.10am. The Arizona vessel still lays in water and in spite of so many years, oil still oozes out from the battleship. They have built a memorial right on top of the ship and have listed the names of all the soldiers that died when the battleship was bombed that day. We also visited the blowfin submarine all set to attack Japan, however it was never used. It makes us wonder how these people must have spent their time in these tiny winy cabins.. where all they could do after work was sleep or use the loo. All their stuff had to be in a trunk. There was no room for closet, table or chair!! We also visted the battleship Missuri where the peace treaty was signed between America & Japan. Currently this battleship has been decommissioned. We were kind of bored coz too much of education in one shot is hard to digest!! Anyways.. we decided to visit the Polynesian Cultural Centre and have some relaxed time.. with Fiji’s, Samoan’s, Tonga village ppl… There are three more.. you can see them in the snaps :) It was a long drive but pleasant.. coz on one side, were huge green mountains and on the other side were the beautiful beaches of Kaneohe Bay! We spent about three hours at PCC and it was totally relaxing... We got to explore the cultures of all the polynesian islands up close and have some fun at the same time! At the end of the day, more than 100 artists put up a performance at the "Horizons" Show. It’s a thrill to watch. Most of these artists are students studying at a near by university and they get stipends for working here.. that’s how they fund their education. It was about 11pm by the time we got back to our room.

We decided to take it easy the next morning and spend few hours at the Waikiki beach before we had to head out for the airport. We went for a long walk on the beach… did some jogging and after loading our lungs with all the fresh air, we stopped by Seattle’s for a nice steaming coffee and a toasted bagel, of course with cream cheese… Hehe after the long morning walk we didn’t mind the calories ;-). The stores were open by 8AM and after visiting a couple of ABC’s we headed back to our room. We left for airport to catch the 1 PM flight and reached Maui at 1.45pm. We got a fantastic view of different islands from the air... Make sure you sit on the _left_ side of the plane on the way to Maui, and on the _right_ side on the way back... One of the best tips we got from the gate agents. For once it was good to ask for directions ;-)

In Ohau, our vacation wasn’t as relaxing as we had expected... hence we were eager to get to Maui…

REACHED MAUI

Having picked up the rental car, we shopped for Groceries @ Walmart, Safeway and went to Lahaina. The closest safeway is in Lahaina Cannery Mall, 5 min drive from Kaanapili & 10min drive from Napili. We had to pick up the passes @ activity warehouse for the various activities we had booked. The town was really cute, small shops all lined up, color sarongs swaying and people walking by in no hurry… We spent sometime under the Big Banyan tree.. The tree had room for everybody.. size didn’t matter ;-) hehe. We reached our hotel Napili Village at about 7.00pm. In spite of a relatively busy day, the moment I saw our small kitchenette, I was all geared to cook a nice desi spicy meal.. We finished the food in no time and then went for a walk across the Napili beach. The low rumble of the waves, light winds swaying the coconut trees and with niranjan by my side, hmm.. It was perfectly romantic. Felt like a typical M & B setting…

Sunrise @ Haleakela Crater

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/SuriseHaleakelaMaui/photo?authkey=R7gzMjyAJU8#s5032675755925347378

Next early morning or should I say midnight, Mountain Riders van came to pick us up @ 2.30am. We were going to see the sun rise at Haleakela Crater @ 10,000ft elevation. Our guide Jimbo was chatting all the way and it was amazing to see how anybody could be so fresh in the morning. After reaching the summit, we were given coffee & muffins. We must have had coffee & muffins for the first time in our life at 4.30 in the morning… hehe… It was freezing out there and extremely windy. Having worn multiple layered clothing wasn’t really enough.. but they provided us with wind cheaters so we could stand @ the observatory deck for so long… We were shivering, teeth chattering.. but we refuse to step back until we caught the glimpse of the sun.. The sun took its own sweet time… but that’s where lies the beauty of sun rise…!! Sun rose over the clouds, right over the crater…. The view was so amazing, it just couldn’t get any better. There were 10 of us as a group who planned to bicycle down 38 miles from the summit, all the way from an elevation of 10,000 ft to sea level! We started out @ 8 am with mixed feelings... It was a bit scary and adventourous at the same time.. We had never thought in life that we would bike downhill for 38 miles… Initially, I braked and braked and drove slowly so as to not dash into our guide who lead the group. We were asked to form a line, keep a distance of 20ft between us and follow him. Since I was a bit nervous.. I was made to stand first in the line :-). For the first 12 miles my concentration was only on the cycle and I just forgot to look at the surroundings and the breath taking views around me.. But post 12 miles, I was comfortable.. and then the ride was a bliss.. I felt like a bird who just wanted to fly & fly… Niranjan felt the same.. We took 2 halts, one to take some nice lovey dovey pics.. and 2nd for breakfast at a small town (Piai).. very close to the base. Our last stop was at Piai beach where the entire group hanged out for sometime and then we were dropped by their van to respective hotels. We were so excited and charged up after the ride that nothing sounded impossible… hehe.. We were sleepy coz we got up early.. but we would have messed up the whole evening had we slept.. so we decided to take a submarine tour[Reef dancer] to watch the coral life near Lahaina Harbour… We were hoping to see something dramatic.. like a shark or something.. but that didn’t happen. Saw a lot of corals, tiny winy fishes and sea urchins.. Ofcourse when we were on the deck.. we got to see a turtle as well.. but it was so shy.. that it dissappeared in no time ;-). Hanged around in Lahaina town for some time and then headed back to our hotel in the evening. We were dead tired so just ate and slept.

Drive thru Heavenly Hana

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/RoadToHeavenlyHana/photo?authkey=HKCAFizh7SE#s5032572818444161938

The next thing we looked forward to was drive along the Heavenly Hana road!! We got up early and headed out towards Hana. The weather was perfect and so were we!! To our luck, we happened to catch a glimpse of whales along the coastline. Our 1st stop was again at Paia beach just before the start of Hana. We got to see plenty of surfers and it was amazing to see how these people ride the huge waves.. Don’t know, whether I can try something like this.. but would love to!! It was perfect place to take snaps.. so did no kanjoosi in taking snaps :-). We asked a elderly person to take our snaps with the huge waves in background.. Just before he clicked.. he asked us.. "are you happy?" And our faces beamed with happiness and we heard the click!! That snap came out really well.. and I luved his question.. “Are you happy ??? “ brings an instant smile to your face... doesn't it?
We continued with our trip from there.. We purchased a audio CD which basically guides you thru the drive. You just cant miss any scenic must see points with this CD. Road to Hana was windy… It basically has 600+ turns. Don’t worry, I didn’t count.. someelse did that and gave it as a note in the CD brochure.. ;-). The forests, the waterfalls, the sea.. waves, flowers trees.. it seemed liked God has specially favoured this place interms of its natural beauty!! Variations in green were so refreshing.. that driving thru this was a heavenly… No wonder they say.. ROAD TO HEAVENLY HANA!! I don’t want to write more coz I wish you all visit Hana and see the beauty for yourself.. Its too hard to express… somethings are just meant to be felt and cherished!! (But do look at our pictures to get an idea :)
Anways getting back to our drive, we reached Hana town (very small place) at about 5pm. Checked in @ Aloha Cottages, dropped our bags.. and headed straight to tne Hamoa beach.. It was a 5 minute drive, but well worth it.. To our luck there was nobody and so we had the beach to ourselves.. Humming “Sagar kinare dil ye pukare, tu jo nahi to mera.” we had as much as fun we could in the waters… After sunset, we headed back to our room. Made uttappas.. hehe desi food rocks anytime.. and ended the day, watching the bright stars with a sip of brewing coffeee… hmm…
The next day, early morning we headed back to Hamoa beach, just in time for the sunrise.. To our surprise, there was no one other than us, for a minute we felt we owned this beach.. Sunrise was amazing from here.. and I got to do a bit of modelling as well.. You can see that in a couple of snaps :-). A nice morning walk by the beach was just perfect and truly memorable. We then came back.. packed stuff, checked out and drove ahead to see the 7 sacred pools. These seven waterfalls finally merge into the sea… We actually got to have fun in one of the pools. The water was cold and it was freezing.. but in 5 minutes we were ok!! This place was perfect for a Liril ad!! But we thought lets have Lifebouy ad!! ;-) So Niranjan did a the photo shoot!! :-)
Sun was at its peak by then.. and we were tired in the scorching heat so did a small trail and headed back to Maui… Took a last view of the lush green forests, flowers & waterfalls. We stopped by whaler’s village @ Kanapili on our way back.. The whale museum had a lot of information on how Lahaina became a whaling hub, how they caught whales during those days.. and how risky it was etc. We then hanged around the stores.. and also got to see polynesian dances performed by group of very young girls.. they looked really cute!!.

Last few days..

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/Maui/photo?authkey=KYxiV188TvM#s5032600052831787970

The next day we were supposed to go snorkelling but due to winds and rain..the cruise cancelled the snorkel trip.. For the next four days, we found ourselves very relaxed and in no hurry to get anything done for that matter… We went whale watching, were lucky enough to see the whales breach.. They are magnificient mammals and we all use to clap when they breached!! Hehe.. It was like a show for us but actually the male whale was busy vooing the female whale!! Unke Pyar karne ka andaz sahi laga… :-) We also visited the Maui Ocean centre, It had so many fishes, sharks & turtles. Their world was so different that we seemed like intruders there.. Opps I missed one of our adventures!! We did the zipline by Skyline tours.. You are basically hung with a pulley around a cable.. and all you need to do is look at the depth, think about the yourself.. make a last wish if any.. and jump.. Hehe don’t get scared.. In a few minutes, you glide to the other end. They had 5 such ziplines.. basic intermediate.. advanced … the final one was MINDBLOWING!! It was 185 ft in depth and 400 ft apart!! You basically “ARE HANGING IN LOOSE” You have to see the pictures of these. We also attend the luau @ Royal Lahaina. Food may be not that interesting for some of us, but hula and other dances were interesting. It was a relaxed evening with a sip of Mai Tai here and there.
Besides this, we spent a lot of time @ Napili beach, 2 min from our room. Be it swimming, snorkelling, boogie boarding, reading a novel, lazing on the beach mats, watching the stars or sitting under the tikki’s in the night sipping wine!! Each and every moment was relaxing, comforting & it just felt peaceful. Cooking was also fun in the small kitchen. We never realized how each day just passed by.. On the last day, we spent our last few hours on the beach and left to the airport to head back to Pheonix…

I thoroughly enjoyed penning down everything.. It was reliving each and every moment again...

ALL WE CAN SAY IS THE EXPERIENCE IN TOTALITY WAS AMAZING & WE HOPE THAT WE CONTINUE TO VISIT MAUI WHENVER POSSIBLE!!

IT WAS, IS & WILL ALWAYS BE A DREAM VACATION!!

Last but not the least.. flora & fauna @ Maui.

http://picasaweb.google.com/manasi.niranjan/Flora_Fauna__Maui/photo?authkey=lg49Tz4JpbQ#s5032789237551242530

I shall end my first blog on this pleasant note!! ALOHA & MAHALO!!

Ps: Found the following websites quite useful..

http://wizardpub.com/ : "Maui Revealed" very informative book..

http://www.napilivillage.com/ : Napili village, moderatly priced cozy clean place, with full equipped kitchen, 2 min away from the beach.

http://www.travelhawaii.com/ : Activity Warehouse, Good place to book all your activities and very reasonable deals..

http://www.hawaiiweathertoday.com/?p=319 : Check out the weather info. Glen provides a very good service and also replies, if you have any specific questions about the weather.

http://www.mauibeachguide.com/ : All the info on beaches!! where to park.. which are safe etc.

http://www.sidestep.com/travel-info-t0015010008-walking_tours_maui_hi : Walking tour around Lahaina town.

http://www.mauihawaii.org/restaurants.htm : All the info you can get from ok to expensive restaurants in Maui