Hello everyone...I just returned from my first trip to Maui on Monday. What a great time...in case anyone is wondering, we used a variety of travel books for our trip but found the title "Trailblazers, where to hike, paddle, snorkel, surf" to be a great guide. I am a 26 year old F and took the trip to Hawaii with my boyfriend (BF)...so there aren't too many kid-related activites I can report on. All our reservations were booked months in advance...flew American on miles, rented a condo in Wailea thru vrbo.com, booked a rental car thru Budget back in July and made hotel reservations for our last two nights in August. My advice...definitely book early if you can - prices went up significantly as we got closer to our trip window.

Day 1 Fri 2/11 - arrived late in the afternoon after a long flight - we're from NY so it took all day to get to Hawaii. Got the car, drove to Wailea, got settled and then totally crashed.

Day 2 Sat 2/12 - rainy in the morning but we decided to go out exploring the South Maui beaches anyway. First stop was Big Beach where we saw a turtle swimming near the rocks - pretty exciting for 2 city people. Stopped at a few more random beaches along the road on our way to La Perouse bay. Did some exploring around La Perouse and as the rain started to abate we decided to head back toward a beach. Spent the afternoon at Ulua beach and did some snorkeling - water clarity wasn't great. But we did see whales from the beach which was awesome. Since the winter is whale season keep your eyes open - they're all over the place. Watched the sunset at Ulua beach and then went to bed early Sat. night b/c we were doing the Haleakala bike ride Sunday morning.

Day 3 Sun 2/13 - got up at 2:00am to do the bike ride down the volcano. We used Mountain Riders as our tour group...my experience was sort of neutral. It's freezing at the top of the mountain and getting up at 2:00am really isn't my idea of a great vacation activity. But BF wanted to do the trip so we went...watching the sun come up from above the clouds was pretty awesome. Mountain Riders prides themselves on getting to the top first...so we were at the summit before 4:00am, a good 3 hours before sunrise. The reality of the bike situation is as follows: first up first down. The groups that get to the top first can leave first after the sun comes up. Trips leave in groups of no more than 13 and are spaced 10 minutes apart. You do the math...you spend 3 hours at the top before the sun comes up or you spend 3 hours at the top after the sun comes up... After the bike ride down the mountain we went to a beach and watched the sunset. Quick dinner at Cheeseburger in the Wailea shops and for the thrird night in a row totally crashed by 8:00pm.

Day 4 Mon 2/14 - got up early again...this time to do a kayak tour. We used South Pacific Kayak Outfitters. GREAT experience - did the Pali sea cliff tour. There were only 3 of us in the group + the guide. From our kayaks we saw 4 whales breach a few hundred yards from us - amazing (and much better than Sea World!). Did some snorkeling at some great spots not accessible from the road where we could actually hear the whales whistles and echoes in the water...pretty cool. Saw 3 turtles...tons of fish. Spent the afternon at Ka'anapali beach but it got very windy and we had to leave because the blowing sand got annoying. Had Valentine's dinner at the Ferraro's at the 4 Seasons resort...beautiful resort, great restaurant, excellent service.

Day 5 Tues 2/15 - ate breakfast at Big Beach then drove to the black sand beach in South Maui for some snorkeling. Water clarity again was mediocre and the surf was rough so we moved locations to White Rock beach where I found some great snorkeling and BF did some great napping. In the afternoon we took surfing lessons in Lahaina thru Duke's surf school - so much fun! Stopped at McGregor point on the way home and then watched the sunset from a Kihei beach. Scrapped our dinner reservations in favor of take-out pizza.

Day 6 Wed 2/16 - ate breakfast at La Perouse bay then tried to get to the fishbowl for some snorkeling. We didn't make it out there but ended up at Makena Landing instead and snorkeled out to Turtle Town. Saw some turtles and tons of other snorkelers...again, visibility was mediocre. Headed to White Rock beach to finish out the morning. We had booked the Old Lahaina Luau for the evening so we drove to Lahaina after lunch and did some shopping. Luau was fun, good experience for those of us who haven't ever done that type of thing before.

Day 7 Thurs 2/17 - did a Molokini snorkel cruse thru Paragon. GREAT snorkeling! Water clarity and visibility were excellent, saw tons of fish and even a shark... Had lunch at the Hula Grill in Ka'anapali beach and then stopped at one of the beaches long the road on the way back to Wailea. I did some snorkeling and BF took another nap (notice a trend here...) Pretty good snorkeling and the water stays very shallow even if you venture out relatively far. The signs that said sharks had been sighted in the area did freak me out a little but I didn't see any while snorkeling. Had dinner at Humuhumu...at the Grand Wailea. First bad meal we had on vacation...in their defense, we got there right before the kitchen was closing but we found the food to be mediocre at best and quite expensive for the price. I would not go back to that restaurant.

Day 8 Fri 2/18 - drove to Hana. AMAZING! I was somewhat hesitant to spend the whole day in the car but I was totally wrong...what an incredible drive. We did tons of hiking, saw some beautiful waterfalls, plants everywhere...long day, had dinner at Mama's Fish House - pretty good food. Checked into the Ritz that night for our last 2 nights in Maui.

Day 9 Sat 2/19 - relaxing at last...slept in the most wonderful bed at the Ritz...property was beautiful, service was great. Had a couples massage beachside in the morning, awesome brunch at the Terrace restaurant, spend the afternoon by the pool. It got cloudy around 3:00 so we went exploring up north of Kapalua. Saw some cows in the road...great views... Dinner at Sansei - BF loved it there, I don't eat sushi so I was pretty neutral on the place.

Day 10 Sun 2/20 - last day... =( Spent the whole day by the pool reading, relaxing and ordering frozen rum drinks from the poolside waiter. Had dinner at David Paul's in Lahaina - great meal. BF did the tasting menu and I ordered off the regular menu. After dinner headed to the airport for the long redeye home to NYC.

All in all...great trip and we're very sad to be home. The only part of the trip we were somewhat disappointed with was the food...we found the restaurants to be extremely expensive for the quantity and quality of food...we're from NY and used to paying an arm and a leg for a good meal...but $40 entrees for mediocre food is even more than we can stomach. If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me or post and I'll do my best to help. Aloha!

Enjoyed reading your trip report KRK!So many don't bother writing trip reports. I'm impressed with all the physical things you did. I'm a big chicken, especially about kayaking. Seeing the whales from your kayaks must have been the ultimate high. I'm so glad you could appreciate how fantastic the road to Hana is, I felt the same way - although we spent two nights in Hana.

I just got back from New York and I have to agree with you on the food issue. We had some fantastic meals in your city. My favorite "reasonable" place was Le Pain Quotidien. Every been?

Maggi

Sorry about the typos. "Ever" been?

Never been to Le Pain Quotidien...I'll have to put it on the list. Next trip I'll definitely spend a night or two in Hana, just to let the beauty of that drive sink in a little more...driving back to the main part of the island in the dark on the Hana Highway was pretty ugly.

Thanks for your report. You and your BF's activity loaded vacation make me and my BF seem like a couple of "slugs". We had 13 nights in Maui in Dec. 04 and the most vigorous we got was snorkling at Ahihi Cove and Napili Bay.

I totally agree with you on the restaurant scene. I, however, LOVED Sansei ... but that's because I really like Japanese inspired food.

We also loved The Ritz. We weren't guests but we had the brunch and then, as they were such laid back hoteliers, laid around the pool all day (even went back another day and laid around the pool). Because they were such nice people there, if I come into some money some day, I'll definitely stay there. Until then its condos for me.

Your description of the kayaking day sounds great. Wish we'd done that. Next time for sure.

Good report. We were in Maui at the same time you were (2/11-2/19). I'll be posting my very long trip report soon (it's up to 11 pages now...I'm a writer). We actually had a different experience food-wise...we're serious restaurant people from Chicago and we had a great experience with almost all the places we went (did a lot of research before we went on where to go, what to order). Not to surprised about Humuhumus - it's got horrible reviews here on Fodors.

OK, traveldiva, since you're a writer, how about on a separate thread giving us your reviews on your favorite Chicago restaurants!

You should have checkede with me; I'd have told to skip Humuhumu!

We fully admit that Humuhumu was a mistake...we were so good about making our dinner reservations well in advance for all the other restaurants. But we left Thursday kind of up in the air...come 8:30, we were hungry, Nick's had 1.5+ hour wait, Spago had 1 hour wait and we were too tired and too hungry to wait. See what we got for wanting immediate gratification??? But we do really like seeing the humuhumu while snorkeling...cute litte guy!

krk6,

Can you please tell me about the room condition at the Ritz. I read comments about musty smell, old and etc. Did you stay at the stanadard room? Please describe the pool area, grounds, room, bathroom and the beach area. Thank you.

Maggi - I'd be thrilled to do a Chicago restaurant review string. (BF keeps hounding me to start up a new website on the Chgo. dining scene so we can actually get some ROI.) That'll be next after I finish the Maui trip report.

TravelDiva, I'll be watching for it. We go to Chicago often, as it is within driving distance. My favs so far have been Le Colonial and Cafe Iberico.

clear: room condition at the Ritz was fine...I've never stayed at a Ritz before so I don't have any comparison. We booked a garden view room but got upgraded to an ocean view (but still standard room) because we checked in so late and agreed to take 2 double beds instead of 1 king. Beds were extremely comfortable, bathroom was great - 2 showers! TV was a little on the old side but I don't go to the Ritz in Maui to watch television. The pool was fantastic - three levels, tons of chairs with the cushions and chair covers etc. I didn't particularly care for the room decorations but it just wasn't my style. Beach did leave a little something to be desired. This Ritz is a golf resort, it's not a beach resort. While the pool was fantastic, the beach was somewhat of an afterthought. If I were going to splurge on a hotel again, I think I would pick one of the Wailea hotels - the Kea Lani, 4 Seasons or the Grand Wailea over this Ritz (I'm not a golfer.) The hotel was also hosting 2 conferences while I was there and it was totally full to capacity. Therefore, the pool was crowded all the time and there was always some kind of conference activity happening.