Maui was the next stop after the Big Island. However…. I’m real dumb pretty sometimes. I got confused when I booked flights, and may have gotten mixed up about what island Geoff lived on and which islands had the national parks. Long story short, we flew back to Honolulu from the big island at 10pm… only to fly out of Honolulu at 5am the next day for Maui. We decided to just sleep in the airport. Except that this airport closes and kicks people out into this outdoor lobby. We “slept” on hard stone seats in the cold. Basically, we were really delightful company the first day in Maui. 

When we arrived in Maui, we picked up our rental car and began the Road to Hana. Our first stop was in Paia at Charley’s for breakfast, and all the coffee. This put us in a slightly better mood. The food was delicious and the restaurant is famous because Willie Nelson frequents it often. Sadly, we did not see him though. 

The road to Hana is a coastal drive with various places to stop along the way. However, a lot of the excitement is the windy, narrow roads that are a fun drive, or make some people (like me) feel super car sick. It’s also prone to flash floods, so that’s another layer of adventure.

We didn’t have too many places we wanted to stop at because a big portion are places to shop, and we’re not really into that. The whole living in a van thing and having no space really puts a damper on that.

We did stop at a few overlooks and beaches – mostly because I needed a break from the drive. The coolest place we stopped at was Waianapanapa State Park. The whole day was rainy and overcast, but it made this park even radder. It has a black sand beach with caves and this most amazing cliff that we hiked along to watch the waves. With the weather, the ocean was raging and it was so powerful to watch. We also went into a cave to see the waves crash inside, which was super neat. 

The next real stop on the road to Hana for us was at the backside of Haleakala for the 7 Sacred Pools. Read more about that in the next post!

That was our last stop of the day, so then we checked into our airbnb in Kihei. Pretty sweet digs. With all our waking up too early and sleeping in airports, we crashed really early again.

The next day we saw  the other side of Haleakala in the morning, which was slightly disappointing thanks to the weather – but I did get my second junior ranger badge! We then decided to try out Maui Brewing company for a flight, and then a pint… and then another. Which then led us to checking out Three’s Bar – I tried my first oyster! – and then a couple dive bars. 

Can you guess what happened next?! We didn’t feel very well! We lounged until check out and then Mike had the brilliant idea of us hiking to sweat it out. I thought this would be a leisurely walk, as we didn’t want to get on our flight super gross. 

Cue the Waihee Ridge Trail that was a steep 5mile trail that was sticky clay-like mud. Oopsies. I mentally cursed Mike for a couple miles, but it turned out sweating it out was the right call. Just like Haleakala, there was literally nothing to be seen. We’ve really had bad luck with the weather on Maui. Luckily, the trail was beautiful in a mystical, misty way. Very Twilightesque. 

For the rest of the afternoon, poor timing and luck followed us. We went to the Maui Tropical Plantation, that turned out to be nothing we were interested in. And because we stopped there, we missed the Whale sanctuary because they closed at 3pm! Fiddlesticks.

Things took a turn for the better when we headed to Hookipa Beach which is known for sea turtles! Mike and I sat and watched some amazing surfers and then waited for the sea turtles. It was crazy – they are SO big and look like rocks when they’re on the beach. There were around 70 of them! And damn, they are so slow. Watching them try to move up the beach is exhausting, and way too relatable. 

We had a tasty dinner at Cafe O Leis after watching the turtles- our first real seafood dinner. Blackened Mahi Mahi with papaya salsa, yummmm. 

I wish we would have had better weather in Maui, but at least we still had some fun. Now, back to Oahu for a few days!