Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Maui trip report Part 2

SATURDAY ? got up early for snorkeling at Molokini. Using MR?s recommendations, we had booked the trip on the Four Winds II. I cannot recommend this group enough. We had a GREAT time on this excursion! The crew was so friendly and helpful (not to mention the fact that they were all strapping young guys who were none too shabby to look at!), professional and clean (we couldn?t believe how thoroughly they scrubbed down the grills and everything else after lunch). Plenty of food and drinks (including beer and wine), as much as you cared to have of everything. The crew even walked around with trays of fruit, snacks, and drinks to make sure everyone was getting their fill. We brought our own snorkeling equipment, but the equipment they provided seemed to work well for everyone who used it. They played fun music, had a glass window in the bottom of the boat (kept a lot of the little kids busy), and a little waterslide into the water. The atmosphere on the boat was so fun I didn?t want to go back in the water after my snorkeling break! Oh, and they also provided plenty of flotation devices to make the snorkeling easier ? my husband and I both chose to use the belts. As far as the snorkeling, it was just OK. No matter where I swam around the crater, I could only see the same 2 or 3 kinds of fish ? and not that many in number, either. There were so many people in the water I had to mostly concentrate on not running into people. I had enough after about 45 minutes and went back on the boat. Now, let me tell you how I think you could make this a better experience. If you think you won?t stay in the water for a full 2 hours or however long you have, WAIT until the SECOND hour to get in the water. When we first got to the crater, all the major boats had just arrived and EVERYONE was in the water. Shortly after I got back on our boat, the majority of people in the water disappeared. Several of us boat-junkies were commenting on how empty the water was then ? everyone must get tired at about the same time. My husband ended up going back in the water during our last few minutes at the crater, and had a completely different experience the second time. He said he saw TONS more fish, and even had an exciting encounter with a shark! Really made me wish I had gone back in, but oh well?regardless of the quality of the snorkeling quality, it was still a great experience overall. The boat ride itself was very fun!

On our drive back to the condo, I had a sudden migraine come on (very common when I haven?t had enough sleep or been in the sun too long or mess up my internal clock or have alcohol ? all of which happened in the previous few days). By the time we got back to the condo, I was violently ill but we could not get our money back for the luau we were supposed to attend that evening at the Renaissance (next door to our condos). So I kept taking my prescription and slept all afternoon, hoping it would go away by 5:00. It started to feel SLIGHTLY better just in time for us to be the last ones in line for the luau seating. Unfortunately, standing in the hot sun for 30 minutes made my migraine worse again and I was so nauseous I could not eat a single bite of the food. We stayed long enough for my husband to eat dinner and then had to leave, missing the entire show. I was pretty upset because we had REALLY been looking forward to this, but if you keep reading you?ll see that we lucked out and saw a different luau later. Yay!

SUNDAY ? our anniversary! My migraine was gone and we were able to SLEEP IN ? woohoo! Since our sunburn was still rather painful, we thought it was best if we didn?t spend the day baking on the beach. First we drove up to the Iao Valley and Needle. This was another excursion that is not a ?must-see? in my book. It took us a grand total of about 20 minutes to walk all the little trails at the base of the needle, and it just wasn?t all that spectacular. In fact, there was another family who reached the highest lookout at the same time we did and the kids kept saying, ?Is this it? Is this it?? And the dad kept saying, ?Can?t you go up any higher? There must be a way to walk higher?? I don?t know, maybe we were all missing something? In any case, we were left with a huge chunk of time to entertain ourselves for the rest of the day. We decided to drive over to Mama?s Fish House, since we had heard there were very good windsurfers there sometimes. We weren?t planning on eating there, since it?s so expensive and we had our big ?splurge dinner? coming up that night for our anniversary ? but once we were there, we just couldn?t resist. The location on the beach is awesome and the décor at the restaurant is just so neat. What atmosphere! We decided to split an entrée for lunch, and it was fabulous. It was just barely noon, so it wasn?t crowded at all and they gave us a table on their screened-in porch with a gorgeous view of the beach. Right in the corner, just wonderful. We were so glad we decided to do it! Afterwards we relaxed on the beach just outside the restaurant, and my husband even jumped in to try snorkeling again, since the water seemed to be protected from the waves there. He said it wasn?t all that outstanding, but he was able to see some fish.

We went back to our condo and cleaned up for dinner. Our reservations were for 6:30 at Sarento?s (I had made the reservations 2 weeks in advance from home and had requested a ?nice table outside? since it was our anniversary). After reading so much info on the boards here, I had almost changed those reservations to somewhere else ? I know a very nice lady on here had mentioned Pacific?o which I?m sure is great too. We ended up sticking with Sarento?s mostly cuz it was so darn close! It?s on the same beach as our condos were, so it was just too convenient. Great food, amazing service. Took us right to what had to be the best table they had outside with a gorgeous view of the sunset. We must?ve had a team of about 4-5 people waiting on us. They even remembered that it was our anniversary from my phone call, and when they brought our dessert (tiramisu of course), it had a little celebratory candle in it. Quite a romantic meal. By the way, if you eat there and a photographer offers to take your picture, be aware that if you want to buy it, it costs TWENTY DOLLARS. That?s right, 20 bucks for a single photo.

When we got back to the condo, we had a very nice swim at the beachfront pool until it ?closed? at 10:00 p.m. We didn?t see a single soul except a security guy who just passed through without saying a word. Actually, when we left at 10:00 all the pool lights were still on and the gate was still open, so I imagine you can probably swim until someone kicks you out.

MONDAY ? we were determined to successfully snorkel on our own, so we used the maps in MR to try to find a spot that is semi-protected from waves. We decided on Ahihi cove, since it was just down the road from us and supposedly had ?calm? waters. I think we got there at about 10 or 11 a.m. and there were quite a few people there. Not nearly as crowded as Molokini, of course, but still a popular location. And no waves! Yippee! Once we got the hang of it (it took us a few tries to figure out how to get all our equipment on in the water ? those fins are a pain!), we loved it. This really was one of the highlights of our trip, and I?m sure this isn?t even one of the very best snorkeling spots on the island. The water there was so shallow that you?re floating RIGHT above the rocks ? this puts the fish right in front of your face (not like Molokini where I had to dive down deep to get close to anything)! I saw a HUGE variety of fish, every color of the rainbow, close enough to touch easily. Very high numbers, too ? I saw several schools of different fish, while I had seen NONE at Molokini. I also felt really safe (I?m not the best swimmer), since the whole cove was shallow enough to stand in. GREAT experience ? I?m so glad we didn?t give up on snorkeling! I would definitely recommend this spot to any beginners.

After snorkeling for an hour or so, we had lunch back at the condo and relaxed the rest of the day. We attempted to lounge on our beach again, but the wind was soooo bad that day that we had to leave and go up to the pool. Sand was blowing everywhere and our matts wouldn?t even stay put on the beach! We enjoyed the pool just as well, though, since it sits just above the beach and we could still watch the surf. We decided to check out the nightlife in Lahaina that night, so we cleaned up and hit the road for that by 5:00 or so.

We decided to use our Entertainment card for dinner in Lahaina that night, since we bought the stupid thing way before our trip and still hadn?t used it. The only place that looked fairly decent for a sit-down oceanfront dinner in the book was a place called Hecock?s, so that dictated our decision. When we got to the restaurant it was still fairly early so we easily got a table with a view. We were in open-air seating, but there was still a roof covering our heads. As soon as we sat down, we noticed more tables just outside of the roofed-in area. They were so close that we thought they were also part of the restaurant (the last row of tables was just on the other side of the patio wall where we were sitting ? I could touch it if my arm was a few inches longer). There was lovely Hawaiian music playing and we were right on the beach ? beautiful setting! After a few minutes however, I noticed that the people NOT under the roof were getting served by different staff than we were. Obviously they were some sort of separate group. Out of curiosity, when our waiter came back I asked him if there was something going on. And he says, ?Oh yeah, that?s a luau. It?s the Feast at Lele. The stage is right there, so you?ll have a great view!? Can you believe our luck?! I was so excited that I was going to get to see a luau after all! And the Feast at Lele, no less ? I?m pretty sure that?s one of the most expensive luaus on the island! Let me tell you, our seats were awesome even from the restaurant! We were waaaay closer to the stage than we had been at our first luau at the Renaissance. Apparently this luau is a very small, more intimate type of affair, because the audience is very small. And since we were slightly raised above their tables, we had a perfect view. Needless to say, we stretched out our whole dinner and then had some drinks so that we could watch the whole show right in front of us. I can?t believe I hadn?t heard about this sneaky tip in any of the books or reports I read, so I just had to share. As a matter of fact, I ran into a lady in the bathroom who said, ?Are you hear for the luau?? When I told her we had just lucked into it, she said ?The first year we were here we paid $100 a person for that luau. Now we just have dinner at Hecock?s every year and watch it from here. One of the locals told me about it on our first trip.? You can even see the show from the restaurant?s bar, which is raised just above the row of tables facing the ocean, so I suppose you could just go and have drinks if you choose. You just need to make sure you?re there on a night when the luau is going on!

We left the restaurant at about 9:00 p.m., when the luau ended. After moving the car, we walked up and down Front Street, doing a little bar-hopping. Being the designated driver limited my partying capabilities, but it was still fun.

TUESDAY ? awoke with a heavy heart since it was our last day. Our flight home didn?t leave until after 11:00 p.m., so at least we had the whole day to enjoy. After packing everything up, we returned our condo keys and were on the road by 10:30 or so. This was our day to drive around the WEST side of Maui. We started at Lahaina, where we did some souvenir shopping and checked out the Banyan Tree Park. We used MR?s help to decide on a ?cheap? lunch, since we were pretty darn broke at this point. Again, the book really came through. We ate at Café ?o Lei and had a GREAT view yet again! Right over the water; just beautiful. Very reasonable prices (for Maui), and the food was actually very good. Exceeded our expectations. I think we were in Lahaina until about 3:00?oh, one thing to mention! Using MR?s advice, we parked at the Lahaina Center which was SUPPOSEDLY free for 4 hours if you validate (buy something). We bought some stuff at the ABC there and thought it would be totally free. We had ZERO cash left ? only credit cards. Unfortunately when we pulled up to the pay booth, the lady said we owed $3. She said they only validate for 2 hours or something, and we explained that we saw no signs saying that and that we had NO cash left (she couldn?t accept a credit card). She just stared at us, and there was a HUGE line of cars behind us so we couldn?t back up. After a few seconds of silence, I said ?Well what should we do?? No response ? meanwhile my husband is going through his wallet and searching the car for change. She was like a statue; I couldn?t even tell if she was breathing. She must?ve really been baffled. So I repeated, ?What should we do? Is there a form we can fill out? Leave our address or something?? Finally she grumpily said ?How much do you have there?? I told her our grand total was $1.70 and she just took it and opened the gate. Still, it was a little embarrassing.

Next we made a short stop in Kaanapali ? parked at Whaler?s Village and had some ice cream. We really liked this area! If we ever get to go back, I think we?ll probably stay in Kaanapali ? just seemed like a really fun place along the beach. A little more happenin? than Wailea.

We continued driving around the west side of the island, first stopping at the Nakalele blowhole. We got there right around high tide and the thing was really shootin?! VERY cool, but be warned that you get pretty wet if you?re anywhere near the blowhole. There were only a few other people there, and we really wish we had had more time. It takes a while to walk down to it, and this would be a great place for kids to play I think (closely supervised, of course). There?s a whole area next to the blowhole where the waves crash against the shore and send huge splashes over the side, drenching anyone who?s in the general area. Kids would love it. By the time we got to the Olivine Pools, we were really in a rush to make it to Kahului for dinner and rearrange our luggage. Plus we didn?t want to be on the bad part of the road after dark. We stopped where we thought we were supposed to, but there were so many intersections on the trail we couldn?t tell which one was supposed to lead to the pools. We were so short on time, we couldn?t stay to figure it out. We?ll have to see them next time, I guess?

Really enjoyed the rest of the drive, although the worst part of the road was just as bad as the worst part of the Hana drive ? thankfully we JUST made it before dark. Again we needed a CHEAP place to eat for dinner. Using MR?s advice, and the fact that we had a coupon for it in the Entertainment book, we ended up at Las Pinatas. This was probably our most disappointing meal, even though MR gave them an ONO for some reason. First of all, when we tried to use the Entertainment card, the lady said they didn?t accept them. My husband said ?Really? I thought you were listed in the book.? The woman said NOTHING. So I piped up, ?Yes, you?re definitely in the book.? And only THEN she says, ?You have to have the actual coupon.? Why the heck didn?t she say that originally? Like she didn?t want us to know or something? So my husband says ?Oh, well we have that of course! I?ll be right back.? So he goes to the car and digs out the book and rips out the coupon. She did accept that, finally. We both got large burritos loaded with everything and were expecting a similar experience to Maui Tacos. Well, it just wasn?t. Seemed pretty bland and light on the meat (I got chicken) ? stuffed with lots of beans and rice to make up for it. Oh well, it did the job.

After dinner, we spent some time in the parking lot rearranging things in our luggage and then it was off to the car rental place and airport?so sad!

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions ? reading these trip reports helped me sooo much in planning our ours! It was a wonderful vacation.