What a fun vacation, Lars! I'll suggest a couple things that are sorta different. First, there are quite a few self guided botanical gardens that are fabulous. Lahaina Town is neat...an old whaling town and playground for kings. The Banyan Tree Park was neat, a huge tree that spans over a block. Also, take the time to check out some of the tide pools! Obviously, there's all the tourist stuff that's fun too!

/tricia

No clue at all, Amanda went when she was in high school and loved the Luau and snorkeling but she was at Honolulu.

she did say the water was very warm, so I doubt you'll need those wet suits, and she only mentioned how wonderful the fresh pineapple was and that it could be found everywhere and she loved the Hawaiian shaved ice. she said the best snorkeling was in the morning, there weren't as many people to get things all "riled up".

Have fun, and travel safely. Hugs to you and Kevin and take lots of pictures.

Annie

We will take lots of pictures and video, but not of ourselves, I hope!! We thought Maui would be less crowded than Honolulu, and I'm sure there will be plenty of decent restaurants. Kevin and I almost never eat out in L.A., and so this will be a treat for both of us. I had also heard that morning was best for snorkeling, and we want to go to Molokini for that, although I think there are other beaches where snorkeling is good. I'll have to compare the tidepools with the ones at Crystal Cove.

We definitely also want to go on some nature hikes, and so the botanical garden should be nice. I think a week should give us enough time to see quite a bit, but I will not be doing any strenuous hikes in the heat. I had a hard enough time with my mountain bike the last time I was in Catalina.

Lars

Hi Lars. I always use Trip Advisor when I looking for info about a destination. Have fun and Aloha. Hope you get lei-d. (hope I don't get in trouble for that).

1. Get a waterproof cover (eBay) for your digital camera so that you can take pictures underwater.

2. Get a polarizing filter for your camera so that you can take pictures of rainbows. Yes!! The rainbows are incredible there and it happens often. Polarizing filter will also allow you to take pictures thru the water.

3. Get a telephoto lens. You may be lucky enough to see some whales. I saw many whales everyday when I was there.

4. Get a few white cotton shirts. You can dip your shirt in a mud puddle and make your own "Red Dirt Shirt", a local souvenir thing.

5. Restaurants: (check them out first. It was a while back. Some may be closed)

Roy's
Humuhumunukunukuapuaa Restaurant
Haliimaile General Store
Aloha Mixed Plate in Lahaina.
David Pauls in Lahaina
Longhis
Takamiya's
Gerard's in Lahaina
Izakaya Matsu in Kihei
Nick's Fish Market in the Fairmont
Kincha
Mamas in Napili
Duo at the Four Seasons
Maui Tacos
Bev Gannon's
Paia
Spago.
Sansei
Kihei
Sarento's in Wailea

dcarch

Thanks for the restaurant list - I will check it against some on-line lists. Frommer's mentioned a Vietnamese restaurant (A Saigon Cafe) that sounded good. I'll make a point to look for Izakaya Matsu - I think our hotel is in Kihei. I'm not fond of Hawaiian (or Filipino) food or anything sweet that is not dessert, and so I'll have to choose carefully. I also want to try Sansei.

Lars

Lars, I don't have any tips, but wanted to remind you that you're traveling at the tail end of Mercury Retrograde, which rules travel and communications. Your trip sounds fun as long as you remember you may have some delays while traveling, or old ground you'll have to go back over because of communication snafus. Double check your travel information and stay safe. Keep it loose, and enjoy your vacay! We'll look forward to hearing all about it. You know we need a vicarious thrill.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mercury Retrograde

Mercury will be in my first house for that retrograde period and will not make any significant transits during that time except a square to my Moon, but that transit will be over well before the trip. It will make a trine to my Uranus early in the Retrograde phase, but again that will be well over before my trip. I'm much more concerned about Mars transits. Typically, Mercury has not adversely affected me the way it does other people.

One thing in my favor is that I have non-stop flights both ways, and I will be traveling on Sunday and Saturday, meaning that I will have a day off from work before and after the trip. I live 3 miles from LAX (8-10 minutes), and so getting to the airport will not be a problem, although the taxis always make me pay the $15 minimum instead of the $10.80 on their meter.

If we have problems, they will probably happen after we arrive, but I will still be able to walk to the beach and go snorkeling on my own (We're taking our own snorkels). I'm thinking about buying some prescription swim goggles before we go, or else I will need new contact lenses to wear while snorkeling. They make prescription snorkel masks now also, but I don't think I want to make that investment. I originally bought prescription goggles to wear while surfing, but they trapped sea water next to my eyes whenever I wiped out, and so I only wore them once and then gave them to my sister.

Lars

Do try to do the Road to Hana. It's a day trip, and totally worth every minute! You can drive it yourself or there are several tour companies that will take you.

I would also highly recommend using the Pacific Whale Foundation for your snorkeling. I believe they will take you to Molokini. They did a stellar job on the whale watch cruise we went on years ago, and they are non-profit. All of their proceeds go to helping marine life and educating people on how to be ecologically friendly with regard to marine life. We saw and learned a lot on our tour!

Linda

Here is a link that might be useful: Images of Road to Hana

Lar's I'm sure you will have a fabulous time, Maui is my favorite of the Islands. There's a lot to do without all the big city stuff of Honolulu.

I've stayed in Kihei on three different visits.
Molokini is a great snorkeling trip. You don't have to worry about stirring up the water because there is no beach. You just walk off the back of the boat and look down. The tropical fish are almost trained to come to the boat...they get fed. The water is deep and you can see larger fish swimming in the deep. Some of the tours will also take you to the where the giant sea turtles are.

Whale watching trips are also fun. Check out the trips that leave from Maalea, closer than going to Lahaina and better prices as I remember.

I liked the Old Lahaina Luau the best of the ones I tried. Don't worry, there a lot of food choices. The show is great.

Think about the bike trip (it's all downhill from Mt Haleakala)...you get up early and they take you in a bus up to the top of the mountain for the sunrise then you ride a bike back down the mountain. This is where the protea's grow.

Don't foget to worship the sunset in Lahaina one night. Wish I could remember what they called the area, but it was an older area right downtown. There were many casual resturants and a big deck on the water...

Here's the one thing I wouldn't do.....
If you want to go to Hana, don't drive it yourself. There are tours that will take you and it's worth the price to just enjoy the trip. It's a very difficult and dangerous drive, through the rain forest. There are a gazillion hairpin turns...on the edge of sheer dropping cliffs.

Have a great time!!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Old Lahaina Luau

Oh Nancy, I respectfully disagree! Yes the road to Hana is twisty, and sometimes on the edge of the cliffs, but we loved driving it and could stop whenever we wanted to not when a tour bus driver decided we should stop.

But to each their own. I am sure the tours are fun, too!

We did the Old Lahaina Luau, too and really enjoyed it. Didn't care for poi, tho! LOL

Linda

Seems like there are ziplines that might be fun.

Used to live there, regular every day living on a military base, not fun touristy stuff. Huge waves. Huge. Avoid poi at all costs. Sorta like don't eat yellow snow? Well, sorta. Have fun!

Here is a link that might be useful: for the adventurous

Thanks for the tips - they are all very useful, and I will print them out and explore the links. A downhill bike ride does sound like fun - I'll take my biking shorts.

I don't think we'll do the whale watching, as the season is wrong, and we've seen enough whales here. The last time we went to Catalina, the boat had to stop while a Blue Whale (the largest whale and rare) passed in front of the boat. I got pictures of it blowing through its spout, or whatever it is called. The captain of the boat was very excited about it.

I don't think we'll be put off by hairpin curves with steep cliffs dropping into the ocean - we get that on Highway One around Big Sur. And like Linda said, we will want to be able to stop where we want. I definitely want to see the Hana waterfalls - can you swim there? Not sure if we will go to a Luau, but I've been to them before. The Luaus I checked out were too expensive. I may change my mind after we get there.

Thanks for the heads-up on the poi! I will definitely avoid it. I'm hoping also that the waves will not be too huge and that we will be able to find a somewhat tranquil beach. We'll probably be taking our body board, even though they will charge extra for the luggage.

Lars

Wow congrats on taking a really relaxing vacation in paradise!. Can I ask how long ago you booked the air and on what airline? If you got such a great deal was it a hotel /air package? Feel free to message me on Facebook
Last minute, Ellen

Lars, I went to the Big Island in April with friends and we ziplined. OMG the most fun I've had in forever! We loved it. I haven't done this on Maui but I read about an 8-line zip line there. If at all possible you and Kevin should do this. It's well worth the money and you'll never forget it. As for snorkeling on Maui, just get a snorkel site map and go for it - plenty of good snorkeling there. DH did rent prescription goggles and they were great.

Ellen, they are really hurting now due to the complete drop in Japanese tourists. No place was crowded, shops were shuttered, a bit depressing. If you are thinking of going soon there should be all kinds of deals. We may go back soon ourselves - without friends or family just to relax.

Lars, you're right, it's not anywhere near whale season right now.

The Pacific Whale Foundation does snorkel crusies also, not just whale watches. And they have a really nice shop in Lahaina with all kinds of marine themed gifts and things.

Linda

I heard about the PWF and their snorkeling cruises, and we will be looking into that.

I was unaware that they were being affected by a lack of Japanese tourists, but if so, that might help explain the empty hotel rooms. I'm thinking now that we could possibly have gotten an even better deal on the hotel room, but what we got was way, way below what we would have to pay in Catalina or even in Palm Springs.

I think the ziplining sounds like a good idea - probably more fun than parasailing, which I've only done in Acapulco. Kevin doesn't want to go parasailing, but he might want to try ziplining.

Ellen, we got our airline tickets and car reservation from cheaptickets.com, and the airline price (Alaska Airlines) was cheaper than on the airline website. Kevin said the car rental was a good deal through cheaptickets, and he used to work for Alamo Rent-A-Car. The hotel was a lot cheaper going to the hotel website rather than cheaptickets for the same hotel. I didn't check a lot of hotels because I thought $89 for two people was good enough. I'm sure there are cheaper places if you look for them.

Lars

Different strokes for different folks I guess, but my feeling on luaus is: RUN AWAY!! I find them to be tacky, touristy, overpriced bad food, corny entertainment. Just not our thing.
We did the road to Hana in our rental Mustang convertible and it was a blast, though we are used to mountainous, twisty, turny driving.The scenery is absolutely breathtaking and I wouldn't consider taking a tour bus, but again - that's just not our thing.
Another option for food is that most of the supermarkets have a large selection of ready made food, some of it not too bad at all. The poki from Safeway was really good and they had about 12 varieties. We did a lot of picnic type meals, lunch and dinner. In the strip mall under Denny's at the south end of Kihei Road is a little bakery that sells the best cinnamon rolls - just follow your nose. They are huge, so we usually had 2 between the 4 of us. Have fun- I can't wait to go back.
Jane

Thanks Lars & Gina, I'll do some more prospecting. I want to go...badly!

Haleakala was mentioned by wizardnm, which is something I enjoyed. It looks like Mars up there, and I remember it being cool and very, very windy.

I'll link to photos below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Haleakala volcano

Although I haven't been in 21 years (honeymoon) Maui is one of my favorite places in the world. I also enjoyed the road to Hana and would recommend the experience. They say to start out early and turn around and go back the way you came and don't keep going..very desolate. Well, I'm headstrong at times and didn't listen. It was a long, dark and scary trip. I remember looking down and seeing hundreds of scorpions (or so it seemed) and we were in an open jeep. Take their advice, turn around! A jeep is a good idea too....some very rough terrain.

Have fun!

Duane

Death Valley also looks like Mars, and we went to the Ubehebe Crater there, which taught me that I do not want to do any hiking into and out of craters. We'll do the downhill bike ride, however!

Today we bought a couple of guide books at Barnes & Noble (didn't want to wait for Amazon delivery), and they have some very good advice. One recommends getting reservations for the ziplining ahead of time, as some book up months in advance. Since we'll be going mid-week, it should be a bit easier, but I definitely want to try to book that today or tomorrow. I also read that Molokini is now saturated with boats and people and is quite crowded, but I think we'll do that trip anyway and book that in advance. Everything else we'll plan after we get there.

We reserved a full sized car - I want a cover in case it rains. One guide book said not to leave anything of value in the car or trunk and to leave the doors unlocked so that thieves will not break the windows. I do that with my car here, but it has an open top. I had my glove compartment broken into the first time I took that car to San Francisco, but I've also had my trunk broken into in SF as well. I'm not sure what we'll do with our stuff when we go snorkeling at various beaches.

We'll take warm clothes in case we go to higher altitudes. The guide books were helpful regarding what we need to take and what safety precautions are recommended.

Lars

Yesterday we pulled out our old snorkeling equipment and decided that it needed to be replaced. I had already bought a new snorkeling mask that has a camera (640 video and 8 megapixel stills), but the piece that holds the snorkel to both Kevin's and my masks was broken, Kevin only had bodyboarding fins, and one of my snorkeling fins had a tear in the back. My snorkeling equipment dated back to 1977 when I first started going to Cozumel, and so it is over 30 years old (hard to believe). Anyway, we went to Sports Chalet because they have the best selection of scuba equipment (and also have classes), and it was close. While there I bought a new mask because I liked the fit and color (clear with a translucent aqua stripe around the lens), a new snorkel (clear, to match the new mask), new fins (silver - don't match, but had to get what they had in my size), and then I decided to ask about a camera that we could use on our mountain bikes. I was standing in front the the display for the cameras when I asked if they had any - I often cannot see things that are right in front of me. I ended up buying a gopro camera that is also waterproof and will take 1080 HD video as well as still photos, but I plan to use it only for video. It came with a helmet mount, as well as a surfboard and handlebar mount, but I decided to order a chest mount to go with it, which was not expensive. I did have to buy the memory separately, and that was not so cheap. I had to buy memory for the mask camera as well, but I had already ordered that. I also got a couple of spare batteries. Anyway, we should be able to document our trip fairly well - similar to our trip to Taxco.

Lars

I'm so envious - Hana No Ka 'Oi (Hana is the best!)