Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Maui trip report

Hi, I got a lot of good information prior to our trip to Hawaii from this forum, so I thought I'd post a trip report to return the favor. We went to Maui on Sept. 8-16 with our daughter, son-in-law and 5-month old granddaughter, us from Seattle and they from Orange County, CA. Both of us had non-stop flights, us with Hawaiian, an excellent experience with a 2-3-2 configuration in the plane and we got a 2, actual food given out (airline food, but hey, with what we usually get now-a-days, we thought we were eating gourmet food!). Daughter's family went on Aloha which was handy since they could go out of Santa Ana instead of LAX, but not as good an experience comfort or food-wise, but OK. I'm sure we didn't get the best fares, but non-stop is worth a lot, plus they were convenient times for us. We got to the island one day early so we could get the rental car and go to the grocery store before picking them and the baby up the next day. We checked in to the Maui Seaside Motel (actually they call themselves Resort, but it ain't). It is a basic, clean, well-run older motel right on the marina. Although the airconditioner was miniscule, it worked great. The room came with breakfast and cost $120. We stayed there to be able to easily go to Iao Valley (which was lovely) and be positioned to pick up the others when they came in. For those purposes, it was great.

After the younger folk came in, we drove to our main place in Wailea, the Elua Village. We got their condo through another person on vacation rentals by owner (www.vrbo.com) and their website is www.spadefore.org The condo was awesome! Very large, beautifully furnished, comfortable, everything worked great, and the view from the lanai is outstanding. There are condos closer to the water, but none for $360/night with as many amenities as this one. The water was a short walk away, but we drove because it was down hill and we had all the baby paraphenalia. The pool is great, largish and shaded with a great view of the ocean. Nice BBQ area there, too. We were there to snorkel, so we went to various beaches(ours, Ulua, was great, Kapalua up north, and our favorite, just south of Makena Landing, both great. It was our favorite because there were lots of turtles there! Also because we needed a sandy area for the baby. We didn't go to some snorkel places because we needed a place for the baby. Next time!) We went to Molokini one morning on the Four Winds II because of recommendations from Maui Revealed and here. Excellent. We even saw a manta ray!! We got to snorkel twice there and they let us go anywhere we wanted (but kept an eye.) I got a $10 discount/each ticket on the phone just for asking for any specials. Food--expensive. We ate breakfast at the condo and made lunches to take with. Dinners were early because of being on west coast baby time and wanting to get up early for snorkeling. You can't go snorkeling in the afternoon because of the winds, so get it in in the morning. One night we blew our budget and ate at Mama's Fish House. Wow, the best food I have had in my life, and the most expensive. Great service, too, and setting was lovely. One night we made spagetti in the condo, and other nights we ate at the Wailea shopping center hamburger place or the Marriott. OK food, but not worth the high bill. Overall we enjoyed ourselves a great deal and felt that we got excellent advice here and in Maui Revealed and got the best vacation we could have for what we wanted to do. Can't want more than that!
Cheers,
Sally in Seattle, usually hanging out at the Australia forum here. Great people, great place. Come by and visit!