Advice on what to see/do while in Maui.

[Frozen Canuck]

We, 5 adults, will be there mid March. Just wondering if anyone has something on their list of things to do/see when you get back there.

As always thanks for any advice. Not big on surfing or seeing if I can out swim a hungry shark, aside from that I am wide open.

 

[fossil]

One of the touristy things to do is to go up to the summit of Haleakala (Maui's highest point) to watch the sunrise. After hanging out on the beach and poolside for a week or so, we decided to do this. So, we get up before dawn, I pull on my shorts & T-shirt, and we hop in the rental car and up we go. MAN! It's COLD up there! I about froze some important parts of my body off. The sunrise was spectacular, and I recommend the experience, but by all means, if you're gonna go up and see this, dress for being on top of a mountain in the wee hours of the morning instead of down in the sand on a beach. Have a great time, it's a beautiful place. Rick

 

[amateur cutter]

We, 5 adults, will be there mid March. Just wondering if anyone has something on their list of things to do/see when you get back there.

As always thanks for any advice. Not big on surfing or seeing if I can out swim a hungry shark, aside from that I am wide open.

Uh...... I'm goin with buy a house & stay. Sorry, never been there, not a clue, but it sounds nice. A C

 

[JustWood]

We, 5 adults, will be there mid March. Just wondering if anyone has something on their list of things to do/see when you get back there.

As always thanks for any advice. Not big on surfing or seeing if I can out swim a hungry shark, aside from that I am wide open.

Uh...... I'm goin with buy a house & stay. Sorry, never been there, not a clue, but it sounds nice. A C

Agreed,,,, a friend of my dads just got back from a month long overstay with one less leg.
He got the skin eating disease/bacteria and had a leg amputated in HI !

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Agreed,,,, a friend of my dads just got back from a month long overstay with one less leg.
He got the skin eating disease and had a leg amputated in HI !

I used to hear about this when I lived on the Big Island. There's some hot ponds-volcanically heated, and the bacteria love it as much as the tourists.

As for Maui; Haleakala, Road to Hana, watch for cool birds like albatross and frigatebirds, SNORKEL, but mostly try not to plan too much and just relax.


eta Humpbacks should still be off the coast in March.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Thanks for the responses.

Rick: We will get up that mountain & now "I" will wear jeans & a sweater, thanks.

Lee & Kath: Thanks for the heads up on the bacteria I can do without that experience, sounds painful.

Kath: Road to Hana is on the table as well I think, have to check with the ladies to find out what "I" will be doing. ;-)
Whales for sure! My wife will drag me kicking & screaming if she has to, actually I really like them...relaxing to watch that much move with that ease & so little disturbance. Maybe if were lucky we can see a cow & calf again, don't think we can get as close as we did in Mexico though...regulations.

AC: Plan to check out property values when were there.
Only thing I know now about where we will retire, "it won't ever be forty below & there wont ever be 4 feet of snow".
Perhaps a place that doesn't even have a word for snow in the native language :coolsmile:
Thanks again.

 

[yooperdave]

In Lahaina, there is a park...kinda like a town square sorta thing. There is a really cool tree there. A Banyan tree, by name. It spreads out very wide and is unique to see...but no scrounging for firewood from it!

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Maybe if were lucky we can see a cow & calf again, don't think we can get as close as we did in Mexico though...regulations

Yes but there are no regulations for the cow and calf on staying away from the humans! We had a magical experience with a friendly family.

My friends have a house for sale in case you decide to shop.

 

[SolarAndWood]

I'd put the road to Hana/bamboo forest/pools on the must do list. If you are looking for high speed thrills, I highly recommend trying kite surfing. It's much easier to pick up there compared to the NE because of the relatively constant wind. Just respect the no fly zone on the approach to the airport

 

[aussiedog3]

Take the road to Hana, book a room and spend the night, drive back the next day, too much for one day. Just to say you did it.
Yes do go up to Haleakala crater, any time of day. You can bike back down, we didn't do that but probably would if we went back.
Cool, weird, old cemetery near that banyan tree, one of the tree largest banyan trees in the world as I recall.
Play golf at the Maui country club, its not one of the big resort courses, it's so nice, back near the airport but on the water.
My wife is not a golfer, but they let her ride along for free, no need for her to rent clubs or anything.
I followed a league on a weeknight, it was awesome if you are golfer and cheap too.
We went for our honeymoon in 1995. Wife wants to go back.

 

[jharkin]

Road to Hana... Aussie is right.. when we did it we left Wailea around 10am I think... thought it was enough time... it wasn't. Got to Hana, ate our packed lunch at that state park and had to turn back in an hour to not drive that road in the dark.

Haleakala

Iao valley

Take a snorkeling cruise to Molokini and swim with the turtles

We flew over to Oahu for 2 days to see Pearl & Waikiki. If we had more than 10 days we would have taken a hop over to the big island as well.


BTW where are you staying? When we went trying to save money our travel agent put us into a timeshare condo out on the west end of the island. Big mistake.. Day two we changed our reservations over to the Wailea Marriot and couldn't have been happier. Wailea is touristy but its a good location to get to everything and when the whales are in the area you can watch the humpbacks from the beach.

 

[Vic99]

Been to Maui twice.

1) There's a vineyard that makes, among other things, raspberry and pineapple wine. The raspberry is pretty good, actually. Its at Ulupalakua Ranch. Interesting story behind the place if you can get the tour.

http://www.mauiwine.com/

2) Hike or drive the volcano. Watch the sun go up or down. Some people take this tour where they bike down. In March it will probably high 70s low 80s at beach. Half that on top of volcano.

3) In Lahina, west side of island, where most of the restaurants and such are, everybody stops to watch the sunset. It is a pretty cool thing.

4) Bamboo forests are cool.

Good chance you are flying into Kahului, sort of the center of the island. You probably won't want to stay there for anything except if you are picking up basic supplies at the beginning. Chain stores like Walmart and other things you see in anytown USA are prevalent.

Good luck.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Thanks for the replies.

Ok road to Hana, check on the list.
Bamboo forest, ditto.
Pools, look but maybe don't touch, check.
Wine tour, pretty sure the ladies will like that.
Plenty of sunset watching, check.
Think I will take a pass on the kite surfing, have this image of me scraping my body to the bone against an all to convenient cliff. :bug: :ahhh:
As much whale watching as practical, if they cooperate.
Banyan tree sounds like a fine thing to see, town square as well.
Thanks again everyone.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Just wanted to take a moment to stop in & say thanks...trip to Maui was great...too short but otherwise great.

Fossil: Trip to the top of the volcano was great. A little cool up there, 46 that day 90+ on the beach but doable for sure in shorts & a tee shirt. Didn't freeze anything off.

Road to Hana was very nice. Took a full day but would be better as a 2 day trip. Saw the bamboo forest & all the other tourist stops along the way.

Checked out property values while we were there, currently condo's that used to fetch 1.8 mil are asking 735K & they are very willing to negotiate on that price. IMO in my market locally they are worth the 1.8 mil. Plenty of private homes for sale as well at similar values. At these prices we are giving it some more than serious thought/discussion.

Spent a day in Lahaina. Nice old whaling town, really big banyan tree. Enjoyed the town square & generally had a nice relaxing walking day there.

Got lucky with the whale watching as a group of about 12 males spent 45 mins giving us a good show while they competed for pecking order on who was the biggest bull.

The aqarium was very nice & the staff were very informative.

Got to the white sands park for a relaxing afternoon.

Saw many more things in our travels.....next time more days.

Sorry for being so late with the thank you.....been busier than a one legged man in a butt kicking contest since we got home. Finally a Sunday off.