My wife and I will be in Maui from Feb 17 to Feb 23. We're in our mid-50's, and we're staying at The Whaler (Condo) on Kaanapali Beach. I'd be interested in what you think are the best activities.

We like hiking, looking at beautiful scenery, relaxing, and taking tours, with either human or taped guides. We'll have a car. We've never gone snorkling, but it sounds wonderful. We're not especially interested in great restaurants, and we don't play golf.

What do you suggest? Many thanks.

Our favorites:
*Haleakala
*Drive around the north side of the island from Lahaina to Wailuku
*Road to Hana (although we went all the way around and the road is currently closed past Oheo Gulch so you have to turn around)
*Walking the trails through the lava fields near La Perouse Bay

Have fun!

Taped guides - We had a cassette guide the first time we drove the road to Hana and it was well worth folowing.

Snorkelling - It is easy to do from many beaches and, IMHO, better from shore than Molokini. My favourite is Ulua beach, in the morning before the wind blows.

Drive out to Paia and snoop around there. Drive up the hill to Makawao and snoop around some more. On your way up stop by Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center. It's a very neat spot with studios on site. There is a gallery for shopping too! Have lunch or dinner at Hailimaile General Store (even though you say your not interested in great restaurants, give this one a try).

-Bill

Pick yourself up a couple of beach mats, stop by a snorkle rental place, pick up some gear and ask about surf conditions and what areas are recommended safely.

Head to the end of the road at Makena, enjoy big beach, little beach and search for LePerou and turtle town on your own - IF conditions are calm.

Go visit the Ritz and Kapalua area and do the ride around that end, if you are not gunshy of a 1 lane road in which you may have to do some creative backing up.

Visit upcountry and the areas iamq mentioned. Stop at the winery.

As far as activities, there are few I would pay for. Some love shows in Lahainna, go for it, if it sounds fun. Other than that, I have read great things about whale watching with Pacific----somebody....

Have a blast!

Hike around in Iao Valley State Park, take a drive to the Tedeschi Winery, try snorkeling at Black Rock (a short walk from your condo).

My top "To Do" on Maui is watch the sunrise from the top of Haleakala!

We also loved:
- walking around Lahaina
- enjoying Kaanapali Beach
- snorkeling (it's fun!)
- going to a Lu'au (we went to one at the Royal Lahaina--it was great!)
- driving through upcountry and going to the winery

We weren't there during whale season--but it looks like you will be; I'd take a boat tour.

You'll love it no matter what you do--HAVE FUN

You can take a whale foundation trip to whale watch...they are very informative...........but for more excitement i suggest Captain Steve's whale watching adventure....Much more close up activity. Have the macadamia nut pancakes at the Gazebo Restaurant at Napili....next to Kaanapali Beach. There are turtles in the Bay and the Bay by Napili Point is calm with many turtles to see while snorkeling.

Snorkel---- how I envy you. We took a snorkel cruise to Caption Cook's Park from the Big Island---wonderful I am sure Maui must have great snorkeling also. I envy you.

All good ideas and most of them free. I too favor snorkeling from the beach instead of a boat, but then I get seasick. Other ideas would be to watch whales. This is the perfect time for that. Go to Warren and Annabelle's magic show. The food isn't great but the entertainment sure is. Take a walk to Dragon's Teeth (Kapalua). Some interesting rock formations and you can't see it from the road. I would also second the trip around the north side of the island. Although we've taken it twice and I'm not sure I could get my DH to go for 3. It is a bit narrow in places. Have a great time. We'll be there next year.

If you want some good laughs and a fun night out, go to Warren & Annabelle's in Lahaina!

The best activites are the free ones. Spend time relaxing and don't try to cram too many things in. Pinic dinner on beach at sunset. Snorkel from beach, black rock at the sheraton near where you are staying is nice especially if you go around the rock, many turtles were there in december. Also must go to the south part of island, Makena beaches are not crowded and are perfect. Snorkeling Ulua an La perouse bay are great if calm. Bring binoculars to whale watch from shore Road to Hana long and imo overrated. Get book Maui revealed. Save walking around Lahina for the evening (I think thurs) when many galleries have the artists there. Rent a kayak at Makena landing $55 for a double 4 hours and bring your snorkel gear and a snack, I saw many turtles and 2 small octupus in December. You can beach the kayak and have a picnic. Dont go with the tour, the kayaking is very easy if you follow the shoreline. they supply life jackets. call ahead to reserve kayak. Have fun. I cant wait I am going back in march.

SNORKEL! That was wonderful.

We liked these things too:
Paragon Sunset Cruise – I booked this when we arrived in Maui. We had 2 nights that we could have taken it and I wanted to be sure that the weather would co-operate. I had found them online and liked the idea that they used motor only to get into and out of harbor, the rest of the time the catamaran was under sail. The drinks were plentiful and the first batch of mai-tais would have cleaned rust off a pipe! They weren’t as strong in subsequent rounds – by request. They served appetizers that were very tasty including: wings, sw type egg rolls & 1 more that escapes me at the moment and fruit platters. We met some really nice folks aboard and had a great sail. The sunset was blocked a bit by clouds. {Unfortunately, there was a lot of vog around the entire time we were in HI. I may be prejudiced, but the sunsets we have here in SW are nicer color wise -- except we don’t have the ocean to reflect the sunset.}

Also agree about Warren & Annabelles – Found out about this on Fodor’s and booked way back in early summer. We got the drinks/pu-pu/dessert combo package and it was really good. The show is absolutely amazing…Warren will simply have you astonished! We sat in 3rd row and honestly, you just couldn’t believe what he was doing was possible! His show was 2 hours and is a must see!

This was wonderful:
We drove Central/west Maui stopping at ‘Iao Needle. The hike up the steps left many people winded and struggling, but for us, coming from 6200+ feet, caused us no problem. We also walked down among the gardens. It was a lovely, spiritual place and was true rain forest like foliage.

We had gotten lunch at Safeway, so we continued back towards the main road and stopped at , Kepaniwai Park and Heritage Gardens. This was an unusual place in that it had different buildings and memorials dedicated to all the different people who settled in Hawaii.

We continued on the road heading north and then west around the island [West Maui Highway], amazed at the roads [a lot like the ones we have here in sw CO, but with ocean at the bottom of the cliff. not rocky valleys like here]! We did this instead of the road to Hana as we did not want to take a whole day to drive there and back.

Hope this helps...
Debi

You will be in Maui during peak whale watching season. If you are adventurous, go whale watching with Ultimate Whale Watch. They have a maximum of 16 passengers on the 28-foot zodiac. You will get closer to the whales. Another good boat is the America II; they also offer sailing trips in the afternoon.

If you like hiking and beautiful scenery, then definitely do the Road to Hana. It's just breathtakingly gorgeous. I also recommend Warren and Annabelle's. Try to reserve this before you leave as it can book up.
http://www.warrenandannabelles.com/
You could do some snorkeling off the beach at Black Rock (it's behind the Sheraton). Walk around Front Street in Lahaina,see the Old Banyan Tree, do some people watching. A nice Luaua is Feast at Lele, or Old Lahaina Luau.
Besides that, do some relaxing on the beach or by the pool! I haven't been during whale watching season, so I'm sure there are tons of options there. Have fun, it's a beautiful place!

Here's a list of the things we did when we went to Maui:

Road to Hana - We took a guided tour and loved it. DH was so glad he didn't have to drive it himself.

Maui Ocean Center - We had a rental car and just drove there one afternoon. It was a nice day out.

Warren and Annabels - A magic and comedy dinner show. Highly recommend it. It was great.

Old Lahaina Luau - Can't go to Hawaii without doing a least one luau.

Maui Princess Dinner Cruise - We did this cruise on Valentine's Day. Very nice and the food was pretty good. We saw lots of whales.

Trilogy Whale Watching Cruise - Very nice informative cruise. We saw lots of whales.

Reef Dancer Semi-Submarine - We didn't want to go snorkeling since it rained almost everyday of our trip. The ocean was a deep blue, cloudy and very cold. We chose the sub so we could still see some ocean life without getting wet.

We did a day trip and flew to Oahu and toured the USS Arizona/Pearl Harbor, the Bowfin Submarine and the USS Missouri.

We did lots of shopping. The variety of shops on Front Street in Lahaina had the best reasonable priced souvenirs. We also went to the Cannery Mall in Lahaina. All is very close to Kaanapali Beach. We also went to Wal-Mart and K-Mart. Nice selction of Hawaiian style clothes at great prices. Since it was also cold and rainey, we purchased jeans and sweaters there too. I'm a Nurse and I got several Hawaiian style scrubs cheaper than what I could buy at home.

We also just toured around the Island ourselves in our rental car.

If you going on a Trilogy curse, we recommend to go on with the captain that looks like Jimmy Buffett. Gereat service and very funny. You can whale or snorkle with the turtless and the ship will feed you on the island and you can go to real Hawaiian ranch there.

We liking theater show http://www.ulalena.com/

In LaHaina you skip away from the offer from slimy peopel for timeshares. ABC store every 1000 feet if you forget a toothbrush or coconut paperwait gift for a family at home.

Watchout for helicopters that are not safe you reading here aboiut them.

Some good snorkel at Ahii Cove past Wailea for very calm water and concentrated fish in the bright colors.

I know you said you're not too interested in restaurants, but had to tell you about Johnny's Burgers. It's a little hole in the wall, but so good!!!---and I am not even a burger lover! I believe it is near where you are staying.

If you love nature drive up to Kula, past upcountry. Beautiful and great views of the town below.

Go horseback riding while in Kula. Visit the Kula Lavendar Farm. Smells are wonderful!

On the other side, West Maui Mountain, drive to the Iao Needle. It's serene, quiet, green, lots of streams, pretty waterfalls, nice easy hikes. Just past Wailuku town and not far at all. People like to picnic there...there are lots of picnic tables.