A Trip to Maui

Well I got back from Maui yesterday and what can I say but wow. Seriously this was a great trip. We left last Thursday morning, and returned on the redeye Monday night. Thankfully no work yesterday, so I had some recovery time. And I needed it, this was an action packed trip. Fun in the sun was had by all.

There were seven of us on the trip, myself, Erica, Jan, Cecile, Olivia, and Erica's brother John and his girlfriend Jacqueline who flew in from Toronto. All of us San Francisco people had a condo right on the beach in Kihei on the South Western side of Maui. A good place with thankfully a washer dryer, a kitchen, and a balcony. I have to say even the beach right by our place was really just beautiful. Crystal blue water, golden sand, and good waves. But we did so much more than just hang out on the beach.

I've only ever been to the big island of Hawaii before, which was fun, but really big and seemed a bit slower paced than Maui. This island seems just perfect for someone like me, who doesn't want to hang out at a resort but actually try to do some things. Yea I was still pretty damn touristy, but I feel good about actually getting out and doing activities, as opposed to just lying around. Sure there was good quality beach time. In fact the boogie boarding at Napili Beach in West Maui was some of the best in my life. But we really made an effort to use our time well and see as much as we could.

That started on Friday really. Thursday night after we got in, we mostly just chilled, got our car and condo sorted then spent sunset in the surf and had a really good dinner. On Friday though we went out early and drove the infamous road to Hana. Basically its a stretch of highway around 30 miles long from which there are like 50 different stops you can make. Mostly to beautiful waterfalls, and hikes, but also to tide pools, or beachfront. I saw at least 9 solid waterfalls, and went swimming in every one. Including the one where I accidentally took Erica's new digital camera in with me. That wasn't really so good for the camera :( But thankfully other people were around and most everyone had camera's so give it a week or two and I'll get the rest of the pics from the trip. The SD card was ok at least so I saved the pictures I'd already taken. Below is a pic of the waterfall in question. Very inviting...

Anyhow, The road to Hana was a great way to start the trip, even thought there was just too much to see so we couldn't stop everywhere we wanted. I actually felt that way about most of my vacation. There was too much to see and do and too little time. What I did get to was great, but I could definitely have spent another two or three weeks there just doing activities and seeing sights before I'd want to stop and rest on a beach full time...

Case in point on Saturday we went for a sunrise bike ride from the almost top of the Haleakala volcano. It was, as expected, beautiful. Even though we had to get up at 4 in the morning. After that we raced off to some special beach for the afternoon, and then back to Kihei for dinner and drinking. I'm not going to go on and describe everything we did here, because well... I'm just not, it'd be way too long; but rest assured I loved it all. Some of the highlights: we went for amazing hikes through the rainforest, ate fantastic food pretty much all the time (including spam musubi), went boogie boarding and swimming a lot, drank and ate like kings, and went snorkeling on the reef out by the Molokini crater.

The snorkeling was maybe my favorite thing because there was just so much to see. There were fish everywhere, and we had a good tour on the boat. We even saw some sea turtles, which was just great! But really mostly I enjoyed spending time with good friends just having some solid fun. I may have gotten myself a bit sunburnt too; but it was worth it.

Obviously I'd definitely recommend Maui as a great place to go. I also would really recommend the Maui Revealed guidebook. It was absolutely fantastic. We literally would look up the same listings for activities, or beaches, or whatever in the Fodors, and the Lonely Planet; and Maui Revealed was consistently the best.

So I guess that's about all on Maui for now. I'm sure I'll mention it a bit more in depth on my podcast tonight, if anyone's interested. For now I'd better go catch up on all the fun and excitement in the world of internet that I missed. later all.