Help with my Maui adventures
 

Aloha,

My boyfriend and I will be in Maui Valentine's Day week for my brother's wedding. I'm planning our activities and would appreciate your input...we're young (relative speaking, in our late 20s/early 30s) and want to make sure we're hitting the best that Maui offers.

We're flying in from Chicago non-stop (11 hours!) and will arrive late afternoon on Friday. I was thinking we could head straight to Mama's Fish House from the airport for dinner to catch the sunset to take advantage of being in the vicinity and save us another drive mid-week from Wailea (where we're staying).

I've heard it's a good idea to start your trip with the Haleakala sunrise since you're body will still be on the mainland's timezone...is that true? I was hoping we'd be able to do the bikeride down as well, but would that be biting off too much if we're jetlagged? I know you can spend half a day stopping at some places along the way down. If you do it in a straight shot, how long does it take (just curious if we'd be able to get back to the beach in time to work on my tan). Would love to hear thoughts from people who've done it.

We also wanted to do the Blue Hawaiian helicopter ride...can anyone recommend the best tour to get of the lower-end ones? (I'm leaning towards the Hana/Haleakala tour for $189pp.) Is upgrading to the Ecostar worth it?

We also wanted to go scuba diving, deep sea fishing, rent an ATV, and possibly go horseback riding along the beach - if anyone had good experiences with specific operators that they would recommend, that would be great! I do have the Maui Revealed book (haven't quite got through the whole thing yet), but would love to hear some opinions from fellow travelers.

Thanks in advance!

We did the sunrise bike tour on the 2nd day after arriving from Grand Rapids. They picked us at Kaanapali at 3:00 AM, and we were back to the resort at 12:45 PM. Easy ride down, and the stop for lunch was a nice break. We weren't too tired for the beach afterwards-that's exactly what we did. We used Maui Downhill, available online. The sunrise was spectacular that day!!

Thanks for the quick response. 3 a.m.! Was it tough getting up? Where did you stop for lunch?

We also did the ride down Haleakala, after arriving from PST and found it easy to get up at that time - - mostly because we don't drink. Of the 12 people from our Wailea hotel that were scheduled to rise and shine and jump in the van, we were the only two.

We stopped at a Mexican restaurant named Polli's Cantina in Makawao Town that was the selection of the tour guide / van driver. Interior is almost filled with photos of surfers at Jaws and other great waves.

We went at the pace of the tour guide and didn't stop along the way down. This was a company-paid trip. If you rent bikes and do it without a guide, you can "spend half a day stopping at some places along the way down".

You'll have the rest of the day to work on your tan and enjoy the sunset 4+/- hours later...Or, for 9 or 18 holes...Or, shopping at Wailea...etc.

We went Valentines Week 2003. We were disappointed in the weather as it was quite cool and windy. It rained 3 of the 7 days we were there. We did not pack appropriatly and it was too cool to swim. Just a heads up.

As for activities we used mauibound.com. Pre-booked/paid before we left. We did the following activites:

Road to Hana Tour, Reef Dancer semi-sub, Maui Ocean Center, Old Lahaina Luau, Whale Watching Tour with Trilogy. On Valentaines Day we took a dinner cruise on the Maui Princess. We also flew over to Oahu for a day trip and went to the USS Arizona/Pearl Harbor, Bowfin Sub and the USS Missouri. Then drove down to Waikiki Beach. We had a rental car and drove around the Kapaula area. Thought is was nicer than the Road to Hana.

Wow, it was cool and rainy when you went? Did they say it was unusual?

What hotel/area did you stay at in Maui?

Nah-it wasn't too bad getting up! We don't drink either, so didn't have to worry about that! I can't remember the name of the place we ate at, but we sat outside under an awning. It's on the right hand side as you ride, about 10 miles into the ride. You only have to pedal twice, both for short distance. We only stopped for one photo opp. We stayed at the Aston Kaanapali Villas. Road to Hana was neat, but go the whole way around. You miss so much if you turn around and head back the way you came. It took us about 8 hours to do 45 miles, but the scenery is worth it. Do not eat at the little restaurant right on Hana Bay-terrible food! There was a trailer there selling food, and it had to be better than the other place! Maybe because the rest rooms are right next door? :) For great snorkelling, go to LePerousse Bay. Or Kapalua area.

After an 11 hour flight, a lovely meal at Mama's may just be too much to truly enjoy fully. I'd postpone that one.

We stayed at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel on Kannapali Beach. I'm not sure if the weather at that time was unusual or not. That was our only trip to Hawaii. We've been several times to Mexico and Caribbean and just thought we have the same tropical weather. We got rained out of the luau. The Reef Dancer semi-sub was rescheudled twice due to rain. The day before we left it started getting sunny again.

Front Street in Lahaina is good for shopping. Look in all the stores before you purchase. They basically have the same thing, but some stores are cheaper than others. Due to not packing appropriatley we went to Wal-Mart and K-mart by the airport and bought Hawaiian type shirts and scrubs. (I'm a Nurse) Also bought jeans and a few other clothes items. Very inexpensive compared to other souvinor shops and the Cannery Mall. We also purchased beer at Wal-Mart. Our hotel room had a frig and it was much cheaper than what the hotel was charging.

We ate a Cheese Burgers in Paradise one evening on Front Street. The hamburgers are great, but it was crowded. We also ate one evening at Gerard's Restaurant at the Old Plantation Inn. Very expensive, but very good.

I forgot to mention we also went to see Warren and Annabels. Its a magic type show. Hilarious and fun. Highly recommended. Food and drinks are served before the show.

Please use Maui Revealed carefully and be aware that many of the areas that they direct you to have been suffering lately because of overuse and less-than-courteous travelers.

Save Mama's for when you are better rested.
Have a grea trip.
-Bill

KVR-how did you like the KB hotel?

I spent two winters in Hawaii about 10 years ago and Jan-March are cooler than the other months, but in general it is still usually pretty warm. I didn't find it to be particularly rainy during those months. Maybe they just had bad luck with the weather. Hey, if it does rain, this is the best time to see Maui's beautiful waterfalls especially along the Hana Highway. I remember my first trip off of Oahu to Maui (Road to Hana) was on a rainy November day and the waterfalls were really flowing. Have a good time.

dsg56 -

We really like the KBH. It is not fancy and didn't offer alot of extended services, but that's what keeps the price down. We had a nice standard room with view of the whale shaped pool and small view of the ocean. It had a small frig in the closet. They provided turn-down service with the most yummy cookies or choclates and flowers. We purchased a package that came with a rental car. A Nissan 4-door. Breakfast at the buffet was included every morning or you could go to the sit down resturant for an addiitional $5 p/p + tip. We could also use the coupons for the Sunday Champange Brunch, which was very good. We paid $30 p/p. With our package we got free tickets to the Maui Ocean Center and the Whale watching tour with Trilogy. A $50 coupon good at Gerard's (It was still expensive even with the coupon) and 1 free dinner at the hotel (excluding lobster)

I attempted to find an AI when we were arranging the trip, but of course there's not any. KBH was the closest we found for the price. On our last day we received an invitation to an Aloha celebration and were given nut lays by the hotel staff. We enjoyed the service and the staff was very friendly.

Thanks for all the great input...good thinking on the Mama's Fish House - I'm going to change that reservation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather!

We are in our mid-twenties and had a very active vacation on Maui, but it was in July of last year, not wintertime. I have an extremely detailed trip report here: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34436140

Let me know if you have specific questions about anything in the report!

love
roxy

Lots of good info at http://www.mauihawaii.org/
The downloadable pdf document is updated late spring after the author returns from his annual visit.
Regarding Haleakala, we drove up mid-morning, great trip, on the way back swing west around to Keokea and beyond, terrific views down to Wailea and all the way across to west Maui. I've wanted to go up to Polipoli park, redwoods on Maui ! However it's always been too muddy.

P.S. In February you can take a whale watch trip, lots of fun. I thought "so what" when my wife suggested it altho' I don't take much persuading to get on the water but the whales are fascinating up close - and they often will be because they're curious and come over to check you out :)
We went with Pacific Whale Foundation out of Maalaea, no complaints at all.

Roxy - great trip report - thanks much.

So the whale watching tour was worth it? Last January while we were in San Diego, we went on one and got horribly seasick because the water was so choppy and we kept stopping and turning around to chase what was thought to be whale, but none were to be found (didn't see a single one!) That experience has scared me off from them, but your experience sounds like what I was hoping for!

You didn't get seasick at all? (I'm normally fine in a boat, but again, the water was very choppy and we kept stopping.)

It was pretty calm, the water off west Maui is sheltered so you should be fine. I've heard mid-February described as "Whale soup" so you ought to have no trouble seeing them.
http://www.pacificwhale.org/

If you like getting soaked you can sail on the 1987 America's cup challenger out of Lahaina !

We saw lots of whales on our whale wathcing cruise in Maui. The boat was a nice size and no problems with sea-sickness of choppy waters. Also on our dinner cruise with the Maui Princess, we saw lots of whales also.

We have pics of our trip on our web-site if anyone is interested:

http://community.webshots.com/user/kvrlvn