July 2019

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Honeymoon week 2! Maui was amazing, but after all of that adventuring in Kauai, we soaked up some relaxation time in Maui and didn't do quite as much. We stayed at the Wailea Marriott Resort and it was gorgeous.

 

Things to do:

-Haleakala National Park- Haleakala is a volcano that you can drive to the top of and see Hawaii from 10,000 feet up! If you've heard anything about Haleakala, everyone talks about going up for sunrise, but we heard it was crowded and I didn't want to wake up at 3 am to get to the top. Also if it ends up being foggy, waking up at 3 am was all for naught. Instead, we went for sunset and it was so beautiful. Definitely worth the drive all the way to the top if it's a clear night. You feel like you are on top of the clouds (because you are!) and the landscape looks like Mars! Once in a lifetime experience. Bring a sweatshirt or jacket (unlike my husband)! The temps went from 90 at the base of the volcano to around 40 at the top when the sun set!

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-Trilogy Excursions- we took an awesome catamaran snorkeling trip with Trilogy to Honolua Bay. We saw SO many turtles and fish. We also loved this tour because they gave us fresh hot cinnamon rolls for breakfast :) A lot of people recommended that we go to Molokini for snorkeling, but the locals told us that too many boats go to Molokini so it is overcrowded and many of the fish have left that area because of the overcrowding

 

-Road to Hana- BEAUTIFUL! We downloaded the Gypsy app for like $6 and it tracks your location and tells you information all about what you're seeing along the road. It also gives you recommendations on where to stop which was a great feature. 

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Some tips: 

     -You need to leave early! We left at 6 am and it was a full day. We didn't get back until probably 9 pm. With that being said, you can make it as long or as short as you want depending on the stops you make

     -Bring towels and changes of clothes if you want to go swimming

     -Don't go with a tour bus, drive yourself. This allowed us to stay longer at the spots we liked, or skip the spots that we felt were boring. I would have personally been miserable on a tour. Additionally, I got SUPER carsick because of all of the turns and the speeding up and slowing down of the car and I was happy to be able to be in my own car and pull over when I needed to. Bring those seasick wristbands if you get carsick. (Still felt it was worth the trip despite the carsickness :)

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Places to stop on RTH: (I believe I put these in the correct order!) 

-Waikamoi Falls-this is one of the falls that the gypsy tour skipped over, but we stopped and it was worth it! There are two falls here. My husband read online that if it has been raining and the first falls that you see are flowing, its worth hiking a short distance to the second falls, but if the first falls is dry, its not worth going to see the other bigger falls. Luckily for us, it had rained and rained on us while we were hiking here and the second falls was super cool to see. The best part of this stop was that because the gypsy tour said it wasn't worth stopping for, we were the only people there and got to enjoy it all to ourselves.

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-Three Bears Falls-this was just a quick stop we made to see the waterfall  

 

-Wainapanapa State Park-gorgeous black sand beach and cool sea cave. Also a natural archway made from the waves.

 

-Braddah Hutts BBQ Grill-great place to stop for lunch! Awesome BBQ 

 

-Carolines fresh fruit- you don't necessarily have to stop at this particular fruit stand, but we loved stopping for fresh fruit and eating it as a snack during our ride. We tried fresh mango, starfruit, and got a whole pineapple cut for us to eat. Delicious!

 

-Wailua Falls-we didn't stop and go swimming here but a bunch of people did    

 

-Pipiwai trail & Waimoku Falls-this was our last stop and we took a 4 mile round trip hike which takes you through a bamboo forest and ends with the 400 foot Waimoku Falls, incredible! Coolest waterfall we saw for sure. Worth the hike. At the end, we also stopped at the Seven Sacred Pools which was a pretty view to see.

 

-We did stop into Hana town but there was nothing really to see and also we stopped at the Ka'anae Peninsula beach but nothing really to see there either.

 

 

Restaurants:

-Monkeypod-everyone recommended this place but we were underwhelmed. It was good, nothing crazy special. They did have an amazing Mai Tai though!

 

-Merrimans- amaaaazing but expensive dinner. This was our fancy night. It was a stunning spot on the water and they gave us free champagne and dessert for our honeymoon

 

-Mama's Fish House- again, everyone recommended this place to us, and it WAS good, but nothing compared to all of the food we ate in Kauai and was very expensive. If you do go here, there is a cute little beach area and we saw dozens of sea turtles swimming around

 

-Leoda's Kitchen and Pie Shop-we just happened to be driving by here and were intrigued by a "pie shop" so we stopped and got delicious berry hand pies!

 

-Not a restaurant recc, but Maui gold pineapples! If you like pineapple, eat as much of it as you can! It is out of this world. We are now missing it dearly and have paid ridiculous amounts multiple times to have it shipped to our house. 

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Mahalo Hawaii, we'll see you again someday!