We hopped a puddle jumper from the Big Island and quickly landed in Maui. Right off the plane, I FINALLY GOT LEI’D! Bout time.

The sign at the entrance of the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa

We rented a car again and enjoyed the panoramic views of the 20+ mile drive from Kahului Airport to Lahaina. This time we stayed at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa. This resort was more spread out than our accommodations on the Big Island, with much more open space, pool and relaxation areas, but also had great views of the ocean, and surrounding mountains. Lahaina is located on the west side of Maui, so from the resort you also had a nice view of towering Lanai Island in the distance.

View from the resort of the pool area with the ocean and an island in the background — One of the pool areas at the Sheraton

We grabbed salad and snacks at Foodland Farms (think Publix or Meijers here in the states), and spent the rest of the day exploring the resort, playing on the beach and relaxing in the pool.

The next morning, we had leftovers for breakfast, and then headed to Lahaina Harbor to do some whale watching with the Pacific Whale Foundation. Their mission is “to protect the ocean through science and advocacy and inspire environmental stewardship. They accomplish this mission through a combination of research, education, and conservation. The whale watching tours they provide contribute to the education of the public through eco-friendly tourism.

Tim waiting for the Pacific Whale Foundation tour

The tour itself was very educational as we explored the waters between Maui and Lanai. We were able to listen to the underwater sonar cries of the whales as we glided along and were eventually treated to some great views of giant humpback whales. Captains Dan and Craig did a great job filling in the space between sightings with humor and lessons about the sealife in the area.

The Lahaina Harbor area of the city is a bustling tourist district with lots of shopping, parks, food and activities to explore. We walked around before and after our cruise and did some shopping, ate some shave ice and people watched (lots of tourists and locals hanging out on this Valentine’s Day).There were hula dancers, remains of a fort, and so much more. The Lahaina Banyan Tree is a giant banyan imported from India that sits in the heart of this downtown district right in front of the courthouse. I have honestly never seen a tree so large, but so low to the ground before. It covered the size of an entire city block.

After the morning in downtown Lahaina, we took a drive down the coast and made our way down to the Maui Ocean Center at Maalaea Bay. This aquarium opened in 1998, and had a ton of experiences and exhibits to view. Like many aquariums and zoos in the US, conservation is a big part of the mission here. There’s a turtle lagoon, exhibits about Hawai’i and the sea, reefs and more. They also offer experiences such as a shark dive, snorkeling and yoga. We also met a really cool local artisan, Sam Puleiku, outside doing some amazing woodwork. We got there pretty late, so we probably didn’t get the most out of our experience, but you can definitely spend a day or two immersed in this environment.

Anne hangs out with the shark at Maui Ocean Center at Maalaea Bay

We headed back to town, but stopped at Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop. This famous eatery had been featured on a couple of different travel shows, so we had to check it out. I had chicken and waffles with country gravy and some amazing scalloped potatoes. Anne tried the patty melt. The food was amazing, and of course we had to grab some banana cream pie to wash it all down.

The next day, we worked with Susan, a concierge at Sharaton, to arrange some excursions, and help us with our Road to Hana Plans. We grabbed brunch at Down the Hatch, a spot in a cozy courtyard. It was a great outdoor vibe with local music. I had the Surf and Tuf Burger, and Anne had Coconut Shrimp, plus we had some wings as apps. All great food.

One of the experiences we arranged with Susan was a submarine tour with Atlantis Adventures. We checked in at their shop in Lahaina’s downtown/harbor area and made our way down to the water and were loaded onto a boat.

The boat took us out into the ocean (not far, remember we’re between two islands), and we hung out for a bit listening for whale sounds. Then we were amazed because the water near us started bubbling. Thinking we were about to get a really close whale encounter, the excitement built, and to our surprise, a submarine surfaced right next to us!

We boarded the sub, and I was surprised by how much space there actually was inside. Guests lined both sides of the sub, and everyone had their own porthole. You also got a headset that you could set to listen to the educational presentation given by the guides, or the ocean sounds.

The sub ride took us around underwater and we were treated to views of sharks, eels, a natural reef, an artificial reef built around a sunken ship, and more. It was really cool, and you never felt like you missed anything because the sub took a lot of turns and whatever the group on one side was experiencing, the other side knew they would experience shortly, so unlike some other tours I’ve been on, I didn’t feel like we missed out on any wildlife just because we were on the wrong side of the vehicle.

We headed back to the Sheraton, and that night we were treated to a massive luau, presented by Kanapali Sunset Luau. Kanapali is a group of indigenous Hawaiiwans who work hard to keep their culture alive.

When you enter the area (complete with giant native ‘bouncers’), you are presented with a lei, grab a drink and just explore all the different cultural presentations. Then the men removed the sand from the imu, an underground oven, and revealed the beautiful Pua'a Kalua (roasted pork). The smell instantly hits you and no matter what you had already eaten before the luau, you were instantly hungry again.

The all-you-care-to-eat buffet had teriyaki chicken, island fish, poi, lots of vegetarian options, rice, fresh pineapple, Hawaiian sweet bread rolls, lomi lomi salmon, lava cake, haupia light bites, and more.

After the feast, the true entertainment begins. At sunset, a man atop the nearby cliff blew a shell and lit a ceremonial fire. There were hula dancers, fire performers, and more. My favorite was the fire knife dance. Actually there was a lot of fire involved in this performance, which is alright with me.

Kanapali Sunset Luau performer setting torch before cliff diving

Technically, Kanapali Sunset Luau presents themselves as a Polynesian trope, so the cultural story we got may have been a little different than what native Mauians were raised on, but I still thought it was a great show. It was a fun night, and the festivities continued long after the official show was over with drinks and socializing in the courtyard. We ended up meeting lots of people and drunk floating around the lazy river later at night.

For our last day in Maui, we decided to do the ever popular “Road to Hana.” Here’s my official notes from my travel journal for that day:

“2017-02-16

Attempted the Road to Hana, was lame so we turned around after a fourth of the way”

Now, to be fair, I’ll try to explain the situation a little better than tired/grumpy Tim did back then. The Road to Hana is a beautiful ride along Hana Highway (360), that wraps along the north east coast of Maui and has the Ocean to the north and Koolau Forest Reserve, Haleakalā National Park and other natural wonders to the south. You’re supposed to jump out at various stops and hike to the various natural wonders, waterfalls, etc along the ride, and you end up in the small town of Hana on the eastern part of Maui.

1) Anne and I are not hikers. We don’t mind walking to get to something great, but we’re not the type who are going to walk 3 miles to check out this waterfall, and then drive and walk another half a mile to check out this one, and so on for 8 hours.

2) The weather was not great after we got to the east side of the island. Cloudy, partially raining, but not really storming, and a bit muggy.

3) We were on Day 9 in a row of a lot of traveling, driving, hiking, adventuring.

So as we set off, we had moderate hopes that things would turn out. Maybe the weather would turn around, maybe we’d see some great stuff and that’d give us the energy and enthusiasm to conquer this quest.

We did get out of the car here and there to check out the “sites” that we were supposed to. We saw surfers braving the weather from Ho'okipa lookout, took a hike to the beautiful Twin Falls waterfalls, stopped at a Farm Stand and some shops with some really fresh fruit to enjoy. And it was great. However, as we went along, we asked ourselves, do we want to finish this journey just for the sake of saying we finished it, or had we seen enough, and would we rather turn around and call it a day?

There are all kinds of things to do along the road including more hikes, old churches and cemeteries, zip lining, more lookouts to check out the oceans, lots of nature and mountain panoramas, beautiful landscapes and valleys, not to mention other resorts and retreats, but after a bit, we chose to call it a day. We just didn’t have the estimated 12 hours it takes to do the round trip (with some stops included) in us.

As we headed back towards Lahaina we made a stop at The Kaanapali Lower Honoapiilani Food Truck Park, and had some tasty tacos from El Taco Borracho and stir fry from Thai Food by Suri. And then we ended the day just relaxing back at the resort, preparing for our next leg of the trip. Maui is a beautiful island. The people are so nice and warm, and it was nice to get away from the resort and experience things like the downtown/harbor life, or the food truck park, and to get to experience so much nature. Even the Road to Hana was a great side-quest, even if we didn’t finish it.