First of all, when there is a 3 hour time difference, your body does not always cooperate the way you want it to. I was wide awake at 4am(7am PST). Of course it was still dark, and everyone else was sacked out. So I dozed off for a bit, and woke up at a decent hour - 6:30am. By then, the rest of the family was getting up, so Meg, Jo and I went walking to find coffee. 1/2 mile in the wrong direction, we turned around and ended up finding a great coffee shop right around the corner. So I have that part figured out for the rest of the trip.
After a hearty breakfast, we loaded up the SUV and went searching for either a snorkel spot or a boogie board beach. I drove up the road a few miles, heading north. Once you get past the condo's, the road gets narrow and winding. Hugging the edge of cliffs, the view of the ocean and surrounding islands was pretty impressive. I found a pretty intensely bumpy dirt road that lead down to a cove surrounded by rocky cliffs. We thought we could snorkel, but the water was just a bit too rough, and there was quite a few sharp, jagged rocks. We did spend close to an hour there, the kids chasing sand crabs and collecting rocks and shells.
We headed back up the road to try and find a snorkel beach. We found Honolua Bay, which is where a lot of the tour boats go. We had to walk about 1/2 mile thru a forest to get there. It was kind of weird because there was a bunch of chickens, roosters and cats running all over the place. Plus there was some purple berries falling at random, one of which hit Josie smack in the head. Once there, we found quite a few people already there, plus a couple boats. The entry into the water was hella rocky and the water was pretty churned. Unfortunately, I was the only one who had working equipment. Josie and Meg's mask straps broke and Kieran's mask leaked badly. K and I tried to make it work, but after 30 minutes or so, we packed it back up and headed to another beach.
Driving up the road, we found Slaughterhouse Beach, which was amazing. After parking, you walk down quite a few flights of stairs where you find a nice sandy beach with stellar waves, perfect for boogie boarding. In a blink, Jo, K and I were in the water, getting pounded as we made our way out to the sets. What a blast!! Josie caught on quick, riding one after another wave. Kieran had a few rides, and I felt like I had never left the beach. The only issue was that after about an hour or so, I was exhausted. Another one of those "out of shape - getting old" moments. Oh how I hate those moments.After a bit we headed back to the condo for lunch, clean up and a bit of rest. I think I carried half the beach back in my swimsuit, but it was nothing a shower couldn't handle. After cleaning up, we headed into Lahaina to walk Front Street. It's not a bad place to spend an afternoon. A lot of tourist shops, full of tourist crap. I enjoyed looking in all of the dozen or so surf shops. It made me long for the days. Megan and Jo bought quite a bit of stuff. Hats, jewelry, sarongs. It's a good thing we packed light.
We decided to eat dinner together at Lahaina Fish Company. The main reason was the $2.50 Mai Tai's. Those drinks tasted great and flowed nicely over the course of the meal. Three of us had fish and chips and Josie had shrimp. Kieran and I shared a calamari plate and had salad as well. We sat right on the water, looking out over Lahaina Harbor as the sun set over the water. The view was great and the service decent as well. The prices were not that bad either, with the whole meal coming in just under $80. After that, we walked a bit more and then headed back to the condo.
Tomorrow we are going to totally take in a "local" experience. Stay tuned for that and much more. Mahalo!
You have some excellent pictures of Maui. It's one of my favorite places on earth. I would love to see all of your pics.
ReplyDeleteWailea was my favorite area. The beaches down there are more secluded but harder to get to. (so worth it though).