Our Maui Trip - Mar 29 to Apr 8

Who: Husband (42), Wife (47), Son (13), Son (10)

When: March 29, 2007 to April 8, 2007

Where: Kamaole Nalu in Kihei

We flew in from Seattle on Hawaiian direct to Kahului arriving at about 1:45pm. Awesome flights. We’d been to Maui in 2003 on our very first trip to Hawaii and were anxious to go back to where it all began. Last time we stayed at Maui Kamaole and that was very nice. This time we splurged so we could be right on the beach. It was worth it. Our Hawaii vacations that began in 2003 have included one week on Maui, one week Oahu, and five weeks (three trips) to the Big Island. This trip was a test to see if Maui could compare to the Big Island.

Kamaole Nalu is a no frills condo with a small pool, bbq, and elevator. The condos are all the same with two small bedrooms, two tiny bathrooms (no bathtub in either), tiny kitchen, dining, and living. Each condo has a smallish lanai with room for a table, four chairs, and a lounge chair and not much else. The condo is positioned perpendicular to the shore at a slight angle. Those condos closest to the beach have much better views. We were in 0505 which is one condo in from the beach and one condo down from the top. It had a luscious view. We were dead on to Molokini and Kahoolawe. We saw rays cavorting in the water every morning and Humpback whales frolicking before sunset every day we looked.

On our last trip we were at the top of Haleakala for the sunset and rushed down on bikes (husband and young son on a ride-a-long). This time we decided to take it easy and do the zip-line in the morning and take a leisurely trip to the top. The zip-line was one of the highlights of the trip. My son who has been pushing eighty pounds for months, was able to ride with two lbs to spare. Weight limits are 80-250 lbs. There is a bit of a hike through a eucalyptus forest to get to the first zip line. The zipping and comradarie with other zippers was a lot of fun. My 10 year old, the youngest of all the zippers, was the first two zip on almost all five of the runs. Haleakala was wonderful. We hiked a ways down into the crater and groaned our way back up. We probably walked down for an hour and took at least two on the way back. It was cold, bring all the clothes you can with you. If you are going to hike; also bring a hat, sunscreen and lots of water.

Another day we meandered on the trails at the Iao Needle, ate at the Tasty Crust (the pancakes were huge and good), drove the West Maui loop from Kahului to Lahaina. We stopped at the blowhole and dragon’s teeth. Both were worthy stops. The hike down to the blowhole is steep and hot though short. Be sure you hike down from the parking lot farther from Lahaina. The blowhole is straight down from the parking lot. You can see it within a hundred yards of your car. We made the mistake of hiking from the other (larger) lot. I decided to make my way to where I thought I saw some steam rising after we made it out as far as we could go. It was a very hot, long way around to get to the blowhole. I hiked up to the better parking lot easily after I enjoyed the blowhole. At dragon’s teeth, be sure to walk as far out as you can to see other water features. We found our way out to the dragon’s teeth along the golf course. We couldn’t figure out how to get there directly from the beach (D.T. Flemming). We ate at Bubba Gump’s in Lahaina on the way home. For some reason we love that place. We ate at about 3:30pm….it was jammed when we got done eating.

We spent most of our days boogie boarding and body surfing at Keawakapu, Kamaole II, and D.T. Flemming beaches. Sometimes the waves were big the way we like them, sometimes they were too big, and sometimes it was just too calm. We checked out Big Beach 3 or 4 times and the waves were always crunching.

We snorkeled some at the point between Kamaole II and II. It was okay. On our 2nd to last day we found the snorkeling near La Perouse Bay. We left the boys in the condo while we checked it out one afternoon. We snorkeled at the Aquarium. It was sublime. It felt like we were in a human aquarium. It was a hot hike out to this spot and the trail is poorly marked. It took us about 45 minutes the first time. The next day we brought our boys out and it took 30 minutes. The boys loved the trail and all the clambering over lava rocks and trailblazing our way across the dark expanse out to the ocean’s edge. The aquarium bay is a small with a myriad of brightly colored fish. We saw sea life we had never seen before. This was the highlight of our trip by far.

We had shave ice at the stand across the street from the Kamaole Nalu almost everyday. It was cheap and they had great ice cream at the bottom. They had frequent buyer cards where if you bought 8 you got one free (or something like that). I think we filled up two cards while we were there. The best deal on Maui in our opinion.

I booked the same two weeks back at the Kamaole Nalu next Spring Break. Airfare from Seattle was $485. That was $200 cheaper than this year. We are looking forward to going back. We’ve heard there is a new zipline…we might try it. I don’t think we’ll do the Road to Hana this trip either. We did it our first trip and don’t feel the need to do it again. We will definitely go back to the Aquarium if it is still open (I have a feeling they will be closing it soon…it is just too good). We will probably bike down Haleakala too.

As you can tell from my plans next year, Maui compared favorably to the Big Island. As long as finances allow, we will be heading to the Big Island for Christmas and Maui for Spring Break. In the meantime we are heading to the Big Island in two weeks with 14 family members. Secretly, the reason we like Kamaole Nalu is there is no room for family members to shack up with us like they normally do. Just the four of us is awesome.

Our Maui Trip - Mar 29 to Apr 8

Oooow careful you never know which one of us is a family member!! J/K

I like your report cause it contains all the things I would like to do next time. Thanks.

We hiked a trail 45 mins last feb at the same bay but it was to fishbowl. And I vowed never to go on that trail again. Maybe next time Ill try it w/o a hangover and better shoes.

Next time I wanna try zipping too. We tried to make it to the blowhole last time but didn%26#39;t anticipate the road to be so slow going and had something scheduled. NO SCHEDULES NEXT TIME!

Our Maui Trip - Mar 29 to Apr 8

Sounds like you had a great trip. Mahalo for your report.