For the Tides, the Sun, the Sky - It’s Maui!

Camping has ignited our travel spirit over the last nine years. It’s encouraged us to explore new locations. It pushed us to set a family travel goal of seeing all 50 states with our children, while they are still children. And sometimes, camping nudged us to travel to locations where camping isn’t the best way to visit. 

We were fortunate to spend a week on Maui about 11 months after the Lahaina fires. If you are considering a visit to the Hawaiian islands, consider Maui. This is a community hurting  without our tourism dollars as we all assumed the entire island burned. The aloha spirit is alive and well, as you will see in this post, but there are still many challenges facing Lahaina and the entire island of Maui. Tourism has declined, a critical portion of Maui’s economy, so families and businesses are struggling. Wherever we travel, we remember to shop local, be curious, and respect communities we visit. 

We took a long cut to the island with a stopover in Seattle to visit my grandfather and travel onward to Maui with our aunt and uncle who joined us on the Maui leg of our adventure. We touched down, hit Costco, and immediately started a tasting tour of the island. We started with Spam musubi from an ABC Store. If you haven’t experienced Spam musubi, you are missing out! This dish consists of a piece of grilled Spam over a block of rice, and wrapped with a strip of nori. We tried Spam musubi at multiple locations during our visit but believe, albeit controversially, that the ABC Store sells a solid version of this snack. Less controversial might be to call our next stop, Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice Kihei, the best shave ice we’ve ever had. When you go, order ‘Broke Da Mouth’, which is Pickled Mango and Li Hing Mui - trust us. While you wait in the long line, you have a lot of time to change your mind, but don’t. 

We settled in to our ocean front condo, Maui Oceanfront Condo,  near Aoao O Na Loko La O Maui. the Maui Fishpond at Kalepolepo Beach Park. The property was amazing with quiet beaches and stunning sunsets just outside our back door. We ended our first day with a visit to a food truck park. 

We booked two big excursions for Maui, with the first on our first full day. We got an early start when our new friend, Nani with Hawaii By Storm, picked us up for an action packed day along the Hana Highway.
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The Road to Hana, nicknamed Divorce Highway for the stress-inducing narrow and twisting drive, is best seen as a passenger of Nani’s or another local guide. It’s not a cheap option, but it made the whole day so much more enjoyable for all of us. With Nani at the wheel, we expertly navigated 617 curves and 59 one-way bridges over 52 miles before turning around to do it all going back. 

No matter how you tackle it, Road to Hana is a Maui must see. We visited sandy beaches with sea turtles as well as explored red sand and black sand beaches, swam under waterfalls and walked along rocky shore lines, sampled handcrafted chocolate and coconut milk ice cream, feasted on famed banana bread and Huli-Huli Chicken, and brought home produce freshly harvested that morning. Between the sites and good food, in addition to spending the day with Nani to get a feel for Maui, Road to Hana was a top all-time travel day. 

Hawaiian vacations can certainly include a hearty spend on food. Grocery store prices for items that we buy at home were considerably more expensive. We found relief in buying fruits and locally produced food whenever possible.

Eating out, we found food truck parks, including our stop at Kihei Food Oasis after Road to Hana, to be a bit more budget friendly with options to please everyone. In fact we returned to the north end as well as the south end to the Food Oasis many times during our stay. We enjoyed poke, tacos, açaí bowls, coffee, Hawaiian fare, Canadian-Hawaiian fusion, Mediterranean food, plus live music, throughout the week. 
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Maui can be windy in the summer along the beaches where we stayed due to the trade winds. We got mixed reports if this happens every summer or not, but during our week the wind would pick up about 1pm and blow hard--hard enough to make the beach unenjoyable, until about sunset. We caught on quickly and started walking the beach in the morning. We started our days with beach walks, runs, and swims, plus snorkeling in the fishpond. 

Acting on a tip we learned from our Road to Hana guide Nani, we started early the next day with a visit to mile marker 14 on highway 30, or Honoapiiani Highway, to snorkel. We arrived early and were rewarded with calm water and amazing snorkeling just feet from the shoreline. Soon, our quiet beach had people coming in for their guided snorkel and paddle tours, but for snorkeling directly from a beach, this spot was great. 

On vacation, a morning snorkel must mean we deserve pie. Leoda’s Kitchen and Pie Shop, conveniently located just five minutes down the road, hit the spot with coffee and pie. We hit a few shops, including the ones near the aquarium, Zippy’s for lunch, and a locally owned shop of our Road to Hana driver, Nani, called Raised & Rooted, for a Hawaiian shirt. After a busy day, we enjoyed the afternoon in the pool at our resort and back to Kihei Food Oasis.

The second of our epic Maui adventures was saved for July 4th. Rising early, we met our tour guides, Mountain Riders, at 2:15am. We arrived near the summit of Haleakala in Haleakala National Park, about an hour before sunrise. Sunrise at 9,740 above sea level is cold and windy, even in Hawaii in July. We were prepared with cold weather gear, jackets, hats, and layers, but we were still cold and windblown. Many tourists were in shorts and flip flops and wrapped in hotel towels and we were thankful we knew it was going to be cold! We were rewarded with a stunning sunrise and display of colors far above the clouds for over an hour. An incredible day already and it wasn’t even 7am. But this was just the start.

​Our guides took us down the mountain to about 6,500 feet above sea level for phase two: the bike ride. We rode about six miles down switchback roads with 5-6% grade on specially designed bikes with drum brakes. This was a heart racing, fast paced ride, but so much fun. After six miles, we loaded into the vans and went back up the mountain… to ride it again! This feature alone, along with the heavy bikes they use, makes this tour guide the best selection for this adventure. Other groups were on mountain bikes and didn’t get to ride as far. Once we rode the six mile run again, we rode into Makawao where we found coffee and browsed shops and galleries. Then back on the bikes to continue our summit to sea ride. We arrived back at the bike shop, near the seaside town of Paia, by maybe 10am. We rode 20 miles, pedaled only a couple times, and were all smiles. 

Once again following the recommendation of Nani, we headed straight to Paia Fish Market in downtown Paia. We arrived at 11am as they opened the door and devoured delicious fish and fish tacos. As we left, still just before noon, the line to dine here was long and still growing. After lunch, we enjoyed shopping downtown Paia and found Boba Tea and coffee along our walks. Then back to the condo to rinse and repeat for an afternoon of pool time followed by Kihei Food Oasis in Maui. 

The next day, we ventured out early to beat the crowds and afternoon wind. We drove to Charley Young Beach, a picturesque Maui beach popular for snorkeling and bodyboarding. Based upon a recommendation, we hit Nalu for dinner, where we had great Mahi Mahi and enjoyed live music. 
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Saturday is the day that many go to University of Hawaii parking lot for the Maui Swap Meet. Parking is free and admission is $0.50 a person. We enjoyed fresh coconuts and nice coffee while we browsed the stands. We also came across a stand for Alpha Maui and bought a Zebrawood Apple Watch band. 

Looking for a final excursion for our Maui leg of this trip, we left the swap meet for Maui Tropical Plantation, where we took the tram ride around the farm. This was a fun overview of Hawaiian agriculture, history, and traditions. We learned why farm products such as sugar cane, coconuts, pineapples, and macadamia nuts are grown on the island and how their production is managed. The Plantation also has a couple shops, a restaurant, farm stand, and coffee bar/ice cream stand - something for everyone! Zip line tours are also available on the farm, but we didn’t book this. We wrapped up the day with a carry out dinner fest from Da Kitchen. Da Kitchen serves traditional plate lunch meals of generous portions out of a tiny location. This is the place to check the box on the must try dishes on the island, such as Chicken Katsu, Kalua Pork, and Spam Musubi.

Sunday, our final day on Maui, was another day in paradise. We started with a long walk along the beach and sidewalks to into Kihei. After our four-mile walk, the water was inviting, so we swam and snorkeled in Queen’s pond and back to the pool. During our week, we’d driven past the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge, and finally decided to stop and walk the boardwalks to try to spot fish and birds. During the afternoon, we explored shops around town, including coffee at Beach Street Coffee and Shave Ice Shack as well as finding great Hawaiian themed beach towels from Honolua Surf Co. We grabbed travel snacks at Hawaiian Moons Natural Foods, a final stop at the food truck park for tacos from Pink Taco Truck and a sushicado at Howzit-Eh. Finally we hosted a BBQ around the grills in between the beach and pool with family that was also visiting the island.

Maui was stunning. To prepare, we researched a lot, and still learned tips while there. Many waterfront properties won’t offer air conditioning; the temperatures hit the mid-80’s in the afternoon, but dropped nicely in the evening. We felt like we could have done without a/c, but our travel companions live in the PNW, so it was hot for them and they were thankful to have it. The constant breeze on the oceanfront helped to cool things off as well. If you do the Road to Hana, book a tour or private driver. Dress warmer for the Haleakala sunrise than you think you need to and do not be afraid of the bike ride down the mountain, especially if you book with Mountain Riders! Research when and where the trade winds blow across the island and plan accordingly. Shop local and eat local. Aloha.