Maui-June 2015

Darrin and I got to go to Maui, HI and had such a great vacation! We went beginning of June-better late than never, right? 

Highlights: saw 2 new creatures while snorkeling-an octopus and large lobster, saw countless turtles on the beach and in the ocean-we saw them at almost every beach we went to, found a gopro, lots of boogie boarding, lots of snorkeling,  shave ice, luau, Road to Hana, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL!!

Here's the day by day:

Friday: We got up at 3:30 am to make our 63:0 am flight. When we got to the airport we were offered to $250 each to take a later flight so we took it. It was either wait in the Salt Lake airport or the LA Airport for our layover so it made absolutely no difference to us. On our second flight from LAX-Maui (5 hour flight) they separated our seats last minute without our permission which was way annoying! When we arrived we got a rental car and headed to Costco for some food and then went to our condo in Kihei. The condo was smoldering HOT and there was only a window AC unit no where close to the bedroom which only did so much cooling off.  After getting settled in (and figuring how to turn on the dang AC :)) we headed to the beach just across the street from our condo to go boogie boarding. It was so much fun and we got there just in time to see the sunset. We stayed and played until past dark and were the only ones in the ocean for a while. Then when we came back to shore a local told us you should never be in the ocean past dark-that's when the sharks come close to shore... oops!

Costco-cheapest food on the island :)

Nothing better than playing in the Ocean at Sunset

Saturday: Woke up at 3:30 am to see sunrise at Haleakala volcano. Despite waking up so early we BARELY made watching the sunrise. There was a line-up of cars at the pay station that we didn't account for and so we watched the end of the sunrise Leleiwi overlook. So we weren't at the top but were the only ones at this overlook and it was still incredible! Then we went to the visitors center at the top, took a nap in car at Kalahaku overlook (we were able to do this because it's so much cooler at that elevation!), and then went Bird watching and did a short hike at Hosmer Grove. There we saw absolutely incredible BRIGHT red birds with curved beaks. All of these things were at the Haleakala National Park. 

Then we headed to Iao valley state park- Iao needle, gorgeous, lush mountains, and a stream we swam in. It was about a half hour stop. Not the most amazing thing we did but worth the stop. 

Then off to Kepaniwai Park Heritage Gardens which is really close to Iao- some really neat stuff including the biggest tree we've ever seen. This stop took about half hour as well. 

Ate at Saigon Vietnamese cafe- really delicious

Tried Five caves snorkeling-rough water but Darrin did it. 

Uluah beach- nice beach, saw a bunch of sand crabs, was too late to do much snorkeling

Ended the night with a Redbox

We're pretty much in love :)

Pretty sure we look like super heros

Silversword-these plants grow for 50 years before they bloom and then they die. 

Hosmer Grove

Iao Valley State Park-the needle 

Biggest tree ever. 

Sand Crabs. They were highly entertaining!

Sunday:
Went to Church

Beach hopping in our area-Kihei and found a GoPro Hero 3 in the bottom of the ocean with fishing hooks and line in it. Couldn't find the owner and works great!

Swimming at the pool and played with GoPro

Dinner at condo

Watched movie

Monday:
Checked out of old condo and into new condo (It was just Darrin and I for the first three days and then our Brother and sister in law arrived and we had a bigger condo with them we shared). The new condo was way nice with an amazing view!

We met Jason and Patti in Paiu

We did the Road to Hana and followed these stops: http://apassionandapassport.com/2013/12/14-worthy-stops-on-the-road-to-hana-in-maui/ although we skipped the Garden of Eden since it was $15/person.  

The road to Hana was incredible with lots to do and see! When I think of Hawaiian lush, I saw all those things on the Road to Hana! We also got pure sugar cane juice on the side of the road which Darrin had a lot in Brazil and it was really good! There were lots of incredible water falls, gorgeous overlooks, water to play in, and sights you wouldn't see anywhere else. 

I do wish we got an earlier start or took two days to do the road to Hana. At the last stop, the seven sacred pools, we weren't able to do the long hike since we wanted to get on the road by 5 so we weren't driving in the dark. Also, BE SURE TO FILL UP ON GAS BEFORE YOU START THE ROAD TO HANA. We made the mistake of forgetting this important step. We had to start carpooling with Jason and Patti early on since our car wouldn't make it. 

After the road to Hana we tried to go to Hookipa beach to try and see turtles but it was too dark by the time we got there so we decided we'd go back another day. 

Twin Falls-stop one on Road to Hana. Jumped off the waterfalls. Way fun and refreshing!

Pure Sugar Cane Juice with a touch of Lime. SO good. Most expensive drink we've bought. haha. $5 for a small cup

BLACK SAND BEACHES-this was a first for us

Red Sand Beach. there was a nude old man on this beach. Thankfully not pictured :)

Tuesday:
Beach hopping while boogie boarding and snorkeling-didn't see anything too great while snorkeling today-it was pretty murky.

HUGE waves at Big Beach we boogie boarded on

Went back to the condo to get ready for our Luau! We got a deal on Costco.com for $80/person for the Luau at the Grand Wailau. The resort was incredible, the food was so so but we really enjoyed the experience and performance!

Look at those waves at Big Beach!

Unlimited pina coladas. Yes, please!

Real Pig Roast

My table made me get up and Hula Dance

Wednesday:
We started much earlier for clear water while snorkeling which helped a lot. 

Beach hopping-3 beaches

Great, clear snorkeling, finally!, saw several turtles, lots of fish including a huge school of fish and saw our first octopus!

Boogie boarding

Picnic for lunch

Dinner at Fat Daddy's BBQ was really good

Shopping around Kihei 

Shaved ice at monkeys ice-wow!!

Watched movie

Biggest regret. Not buying these glasses :(. Haha!

Seriously, Ahhhmazing!

Thursday:
Early Molokini Crater excursion. Had to leave the condo at 5:45am to get there. Saw lots of fish and coral and the clarity and calmness of the water was beautiful. They also took us to turtle bay and there were no turtles. But there was a huge old broken up lava tube that Darrin swam through! 

Then after freshening up at the condo we went to the town of Lanai. We did shopping there, and then got shaved ice at Ululanis. Wow-so so good! 

Gorgeous overlook

Whalers village. Went to the whalers museum which was really interesting and neat!

Black Rock and did snorkeling. The snorkeling here was wonderful! We didn't see anything new but saw lots of fish, beautiful coral,  clarity, and 2 big sea turtles close up! They also had a big cliff jumping rock "black rock" that Darrin jumped off of.

beach to hang out for a bit and saw 2 sea turtles right from shore and went into the water a bit to get really close to one.

Cjs deli and Diner for dinner-so so not great

Back to the condo

Snorkeling at Molokini Crater

Snorkeling through a Lava Tube. Brave Man. 

Whaler's Museum

Friday:
First time Surfing! For $20/ea we got surf boards for the day. We went out and there were a bunch of people doing surf lessons but we watched a few youtube videos before going out. At first I didn't think I'd get up. But I ended up getting up 8 times all the way to shore! It was a lot of fun! The back of my legs got sunburned though since they're so exposed while paddling

Back to hotel to rest. 

We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. It stunk SO bad and was really expensive so we walked out :/. 

Then we went to Panda express since we were starving. We got our food, went outside to eat it and I wrapped my purse around the back of the chair. Then it got chilli so we brought our food inside to eat and forgot my purse outside. It got stolen :(!!! We called the police who actually took it very seriously since it was a felony with over $500 worth of things in it including cash and my phone. The huge blessing was that my ID was actually in Darrin's wallet from an excursion. 

Surf it up baby!

Saturday:  

went snorkeling and saw a large black and blue lobster among some other large fish 

went to Hookipa beach for sunset. We didn't see this beach in any guidebook. But a local told us every time she goes here she sees a bunch of turtles so we wanted to go! Here we saw 9 turtles on the beach when we got there and we saw 18 more come in from the ocean to chill with their buddies. It was amazing! Darrin also went boogie boarding way out with the surfer's here. He was so brave and had a lot of fun! We left because the bugs were out biting but saw plenty more turtles poking their heads up and coming into shore. 

LOBSTER-it was much more vibrant in real life

Ocean Tub

Buried in sand mud

Sunday: 

Maui Ocean Center Aquarium-It was pricey ($26/person) so we were debating whether to go or not but didn't have much better to do so we went. It was actually really cool! Worth the money. Everything there was native to Hawaii. They had great shows that were very informative like when they send a scuba diver into a tank with 27 sharks! And then they feed the sharks! 

Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge-it was a nice Sunday walk and we saw some birds. Not incredible but like I said, a nice walk with some nice wildlife.  

Flew Home to see our beautiful kids!

Just some nature shots: