Maui Hawaii
On the way to Maui, we flew to Oahu and made a stop there first because we wanted to see the Pearl Harbor. In order not to do a overnight stay, we arrived early in the early morning via flight, stored our luggage at the airport and took a taxi to the museum. We pre-booked the Pearl Harbor tour tickets online at https://www.pearlharboroahu.com/. We spent the afternoon at the museum and returned to the airport for our late afternoon flight to Maui. I would highly recommend taking the boat ride to the above water museum to see the ship wreckage under water. This full day arrangement is efficient but could easily go wrong if anything went unexpected.
Maui is the 3rd island we visit. We had been to the Big Island and Kauai. The Big Island is the biggest so we saw different landscapes and experienced different weather. Kauai is like a little grand canyon, we liked its unique and charming land-form. At each island, we rented a car, stayed at a place for 1 or 2 nights and drove around to see places and moved on to another place until we completely circle the island. This is our way of Hawaii vacation. We spent 8 days in Maui. My oldest son loves Hawaii, he said he would like to live there one day. Surfing, snorkeling, swimming and many nice beaches for example this black sand beach, and of course beautiful scenery and nice weather too.
Hana Highway is a must-drive. It will take a full day to complete the highway until you drive to no more road and turn back. The drive itself is very rewarding as the scenery is so breathtaking. You may take as many stops as you wish to look out and stop by a local restaurant for a satisfying lunch. Make sure to bring enough water bottles and/or snacks, you will need them. One of our favorite is Haleakala National Park where we drove through narrow canyons to a high ground. If the sun is out you will be lucky to see the colorful canyons like a canvas.
We chose Wailea area as the central location. It has several very nice resorts to choose from for lodging, many shops for shopping and many restaurants for eating. Don’t forget to use resorts’ amenities like spas, beaches, pool side bars and game room etc. Have a drink or two. We also used local grocery stores almost daily instead of going to restaurants for every meal.
Last part of our vacation was driving through North-west part of the island before returning to the airport. We stayed at a resort for 1-night and enjoyed the beach there. This ends our wonderful Maui vacation with a video of a blow-hole, what an enjoyable time with my two sons!
