Maui Meanderings

The Road to Hana: One of the most wonderful day (or two) trips you can take on Maui, driving along a winding road, stopping at waterfalls, beautiful views, lush foliage, fruit stands, and amazing beaches (black sand, red sand). Haleakala: From the top of the crater Haleakala, you can see the entire island of Maui. You're above the clouds and the ground is so barren in parts that you feel like you're on a different planet.
Kaanapali/Lahaina: The beach, the shopping, the entertainment, along with breathtaking views of Molokai and Lanai. Molokini: Molokini is a small island two miles from Maui. The island itself is a bird sanctuary, and the surrounding water is a fish sanctuary. While snorkeling, we were met by many curious, colorful fish (and a huge turtle)!
Maui Ocean Center: Maui's aquarium and sealife preservation center, the Maui Ocean Center, has large-scale displays, a "petting zoo" (Eve touched a sea cucumber for the first time!), and a huge, glowing, hypnotic jellyfish exhibit. North Coast: Off the beaten track (in fact, off the road permitted by the rental car agency) we find a rugged, rocky coastline and a small village nestled in the hills.


Eve Andersson (eve@eveandersson.com)

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More Great Maui Destinations

Here are a couple places on Maui that you need to check out next time you visit.

Kanaio Coast (Southeast Maui)
Accessible only by boat, the vast area of the South East portion of Maui Coast is rugged and untouched by civilization. The land is barren and dry compared to the other side of Haleakala. The Snorkeling and Scuba diving in this area are superb with numerous sea caves to explore. Most all Maui Scuba Diving and snorkeling tour boats visit this area before the wind picks up.

South Maui (Kihei, Wailea, Makena)
South Maui generally gets the best weather on the island with consistent sunny days. One of the gems on the south side includes La Perouse Bay. Here you can see the last eruption of Haleakala, which flowed for the last time in 1790. The entire area is covered in black and red lava rock. This rugged area resembles landscape found on another planet! La Perouse bay is beautiful and is inhabited by spinner dolphins. During large South swells, this bay can host some of the fiercest left-hand waves in the world, breaking on dry reef. North of La Perouse is the Ahihi Kina'u Marine Preserve, one of the more pristine snorkeling areas on the island. It remains preserved with the help of conservation efforts by Maui residents. Ahihi Bay usually has some volunteers present with interesting and helpful information.

Iao Valley (Central Maui)
The Iao Stream has carved this lush valley from the West Maui Mountains. Its high cliffs are covered in vegetation. One of the most popular features in this area is the Iao Needle, a lava pinnacle reaching 1,200 feet from the base. This area is beautiful and very wet. It's actually recognized as the second wettest area in all of the Hawaiian Islands. It's worth spending a little time learning about the fascinating history of this area before visiting.

-- lindsay Comeau

The Road to Hana, Iao Valley, and snorkeling at Molokini Island were some of my favourite things to do in Maui. Other favourites include our daytrip to the Island of Lanai, our tour of the Hana Lava Tube, hiking the Pipiwai Trail, and our helicopter tour. If you didn't get a chance to check these out, I'd highly recommend them for your next trip!

Our trip to Lanai was part of a snorkeling trip - in addition to some great snorkeling, we were fortunate to see tons of dolphine and whales on our trip across the channel between Lanai and Maui.

I'm not sure if the guided tour of the Hana Lava Tube that we took is still available, but I do know that the self-guided walking tour is still running. I'd highly recommend that anyone driving the Road to Hana take the time to check out the Hana Lava Tube - it's very cool!

The Pipiwai Trail is a great hike - we took a guided tour from Hike Maui. It was worth it for us since our guide was extremely knowledgeable, and was able to show us some stuff that we would never have seen on our own.

The helicopter tour was a major splurge for us, but worth it! We'd never been on a helicopter before, but we totally loved it! The only negative thing about it was that I got a bit motion sick - this shocked me since I never get motion sick - if I do this again (and I certainly hope to!), I'll be taking some anti-motion-sickness meds beforehand!

-- Sheralyn Guilleminot


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