Trip to Maui and Big Island

Trip - 14-Dec-2022 to 20-Dec-2022

For Mrudula, Yash and me, this was our second trip to Hawaii. The previous trip was in Oahu island. This trip was with our close friends Prasad, Aditi and their sweet children Soumya and Sid.

Flights from Austin - there is no direct flight from Austin, Dallas or Houston to Maui Island (OGG airport). Its important to search through different travel sites before getting reasonable flight tickets. We were used to searching from expedia or costco. Luckily, got cheaper tickets through Kayak - $417 per person with Delta airlines. Ticket from Austin to Maui was having a stop in Atlanta, but it was still less than half the price that we could get through any means. Still a great deal for the time.  

Flights within the Hawaii island - we had reserved a day to see active volcano region in Big island. Big island has 2 airports - KONA (at west) and HILO or ITO (on east side). The tickets to Kona were cheaper, but it 2-3 hrs drive for the volcano private tour. Flights to ITO are much expensive, atleast for the dates searched. Luckily got a good deal through Aditi's company travel desk for flight to ITO. 

Volcano tour was in the morning on Dec 16th. We took flight on Dec 15th evening, and a relatively cheaper hotel near ITO airport to spend the night. But before we get there, lets start in the chronological order

Day 1 - Dec 14th - Reached Maui, Hawaii. Packed few things from safe way and slept early. We had reserved Royal Lahaina Resorts and Bungalow through Costco. We also got the rental van (7 seater) through costco. The package was one the best given the time of the year we were travelling and (its a big and :)), we booked this only 3 weeks prior to the actual travel. For records, it was $5564 for group of 7 people (4 adults, 2 teenagers and 1 under 10) 

Day 2 - Dec 15th - Kayak and Snorkeling tour

We had reserved Makena Turtle Town Eco Friendly Adventure in Maui through Tripadvisor.com. It was $98 per adult. Jet lag helped in getting up early for the Kayak and snorkeling tour. We had to reach the island's southern coast at Makena by 6.45 am. It was an hour ride from our hotel. The parking space opened only by 7 am. There were several local coaches who were waiting for their respective customers. It appeared that most of them had already booked this tour online. The group was friendly and couple of them helped us find our own guide John. This was our first experience with Kayaking as well as snorkeling. We were lucky that with us we had only one couple who were pro in doing both these. They were friendly too. John is professional. We informed him initially that we are beginners in both activities. He explained us some of the basics of kayaking before we started. He also did a good job in outlining how are we going to spend the next 3 hours.  

Luckily the weather was amazing and the ocean was calm, that helped us as beginner. Learning Kayaking from level zero to a decent level took less than 5 minutes! Made me feel why I was overwhelmed about this activity before. I was doing Kayaking individually; Mrudula and Yash partnered in another boat! Navigating through this new found skill for around an hour was such a satisfying experience, especially with the serene ocean, mountains and a view of molokini crater. We had reached a point where molokini crater was around 4 miles away. This crater is also one of the recommended activity, but we will come to that later. 

    

John took us to the point where we were just below the ten thousand feet mountain, also called Mt. Haleakala; the highest peak in Maui. There is a sunrise tour called Halaeakala Maui Sunrise tour that is also recommended in Maui. Unfortunately, we could not do that tour due to limited time. Our dear friends Prasad, Aditi and family went there (the same morning) and had the pleasure of witnessing the breathtaking sun rise in the midst of scenic clouds from Haleakala visitor center at 10k feet

At this point, we also experienced our first ever snorkeling experience! We spent around 45 minutes on watching the turtles and fishes! 

  

John took a lot of pics of ours under the water that we could not take ourselves. He iDropped those to me (for $70), but was worth for around 150 photos. After this activity, we went to vegan restaurant in Kaanapali (AA roots) before returning to the Hotel by around 1 pm. AA roots is a small vegan restaurant, but with lots of yummy options. The next thing we needed to do was to catch 6.30 pm flight to Big island, for the sunrise volcano tour next day. We were so tired by the time we reached hotel, that we fell asleep. Prasad and Aditi called us several times and had few anxious moments (lol!) before we finally wake up.  

Day 3 (Dec 16th): Volcano tour in Big island

We took volcano van private tour for small group i.e. our two families. The tour duration was 5-6 hours. It was booked through viator -  'Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Hilo Highlights Small Group Tour' for a price of $167/person

Among the 4 Hawaii islands, only Big island has active volcano, one of them had erupted 3 weeks prior to our visit, but by the team we landed, there was no lava to be seen. The tour guide informed us in advance, and we opted for customized tour in and around the Volcanoes National park that included scenic ocean view in the midst of small black rocks formed by volcano over years, Halemaumau crater, Kilauea, majestic rainforest, Thurston Lava Tube and rainbow falls. 

Watching the sunrise along the ocean was refreshing! Pics...

 

It was interesting to listen to the Hawaii ancient stories that included those of goddess of fire Pele. Halemaumau crater is believed to the home of Pele. A specific tree also called Ohia tree that grows only in lava. Lehua is the red flower that grows in the ohea tree. 

The story about this tree is that Pele was in love with a handsome warrior named Ohia and she asked him to marry her. However Ohia was committed to Lehua, so he turned down Pele's marriage proposal. Pele was furious so she Ohia into a twisted tree. Lehua was heartbroken; gods took pity on her and turned Lehua into a flower on the Ohia tree so that the two lovers are forever joined together.    

 It was amazing to understand the types of Lava - 1. AA meaning the lava is running at a higher speed. 2nd Pohepohe meaning the lawa is going at a slower speed. We captured few pics at the point also called as 'lava river' i.e. Lava had flown from here before joining the ocean 

From here we went to the rainforest, where apart from seeing the vibrant plants, we could also see the entrance of lava tube which apparently was  few miles long

For brunch, we went Volcano House restaurant. The volcano steams view from here was one of the best experienced in Big island

 The rainbow falls was another natural beauty we enjoyed to the fullest, capturing several pictures, before returning back to the HILO airport

By the time we returned back to Maui in Lahaina region, it was around 8.30 pm. Most of the restaurants were either closed or about to close. We had planned for a Thai restaurant and that should have been open (per google), but when we reached, we realized that this restaurant was not open for business. We had ate a little in the transit Honolulu airport, but was not enough. Luckily Denny's restaurant was open where ate and crashed to the bed by around 10.30 pm. We had learnt our lesson - dinner should be done by 7 pm in Maui to get decent food.

Day 4 (Dec 17th) - Road Trip to Hana

Its recommended to download the app - Gypsy Guide Road to Hana, Maui. It comes for $9.99

Road is beautiful with lush greenery, variety of plants, waterfalls and roads with hundreds of turns. Its amazing experience especially in a small group. Network is not good and hence having the app helps.

Key point to consider to ensure this an enjoyable trip - start early (ideally before 7 am) and return early (~3.30 pm). The return route is 2-3 hours depending on from where you return. 

There are several turns and single lane bridges. Driving slow is not only safe but also helps in watching the beautiful nature - trees, ocean beaches and waterfalls!

Areas we stopped - local fruit vendor - star fruit was full of juice and the best fruit we ate there!, Eden arboretum (we spent more than 1.5 hrs here). What we missed doing (dearly!)- Wai'anapanapa State Park, this park needed online reservation. This beach has black sands. We tried going there again on Day 5 as well, we went halfway through, but had to return because of the road situation caused by the thunderstorms a day earlier.  

This is a good restaurant couple of drive from Waianapanapa state park. We had yummy pizza, salad and coffee

Day 5 (Dec 18th) - Molokini Crater boat tour

We had booked this via viator with ~$200/person and felt was worth its price. It was one of the definitive highlights of the tour. Boat started around 8 am, few mins after the FIFA world up nerve-racking finals that ended with our favorite Argentina win!

The weather was good but we knew was about to turn extremely rainy anytime soon. The boat ride towards Molokini  crater was amazing! We enjoyed snorkeling; and having the Day 1 experience, we were able to do it like a pro 😄. The water was calm, clear and we could see different color fishes in the reef, reminded us of the animated movies Finding Nemo and Turtle Tales! 

Mrudula, Somya and I also found the courage to do Snuba diving which was going around 30 feet under water. Controlling breathing with mouth using the snorkeling equipment, effective use of ears under the water due to air pressure was a unique and satisfying experience!

By the time we returned to the shore, the weather had turned from being clear and beautiful to heavy rains. We were lucky to get this experience just in time.  

We slept like a baby after we returned to our hotel. For dinner, we ate first vegan food at 'Aloha Eats'. Its a food truck with decent vegan good. Then we went with our friends to Mala Tavern restaurant to enjoy couple more dishes!

 Day 6 (Dec 19th) - This was a forced rest day because the weather previous night turned ugly, and per even the locals it was unusual. We still went a did a short road trip to Hana, though had to return mid-way.

We had lunch in Moku Roots (vegan restaurant), it was ok, not as good as it was hyped. The smoothies were good, we probably ordered the dishes that we should not :(. We later saw the sandwiches that were being served were looking great.  

We ended up having dinner in our Hotel (Royal Lahaina Resort). The pumpkin soup was perfect for the weather and the pasta that we customized to make it vegetarian turned out to be quite good!

  

Day 7 ( Dec 20th last day) - 

We started the day with beach walk behind our hotel. We were not prepared for getting drenched in ocean, but ended up doing it and enjoyed that to the fullest! Weather was just right!

 

We had delicious brunch in AA roots!

We wanted to still do the Road to Hana with the intent to do the things which we could not do in the last 2 attempts. We realized though that it is too ambitious as we had a return flight later in the night. I tried booking the cocao farm tour that I wanted to do since begining, but it was not  available anymore. Mrudula found one more customized cacao tour - 'Private waterfall rainforest Adventure in Magical Maui' . This tour was priced at ~$120/person. 

The guide Jeeva Das was awesome! and the tour was for a not for profit org, although the experience was good, but was short and felt was priced higher!

Few unique things we enjoyed experiencing was- Hawaii local culture, beautiful rainforest, hawaii local rituals linked to the different plants, background of Hula dance!

Few of the plants below, none of these are Hawaii indigenous. The polynesian people brought these overall last several centuries - 

Ti - Red color for spiritual purpose. This plant is needed while moving to a new house to make sure the evil spirits stay away 

Ti - Green color, for spiritual purpose, to welcome good spirit

Coconut palm tree

Red Elephant Ginger plant 

Cacao Tree (one which brought us to the tour!)

The tour guide then took us to the chocolate tasting tour. Chocolate tasting was good, although the best part was the new things we learnt from him, that I think we may not have learnt otherwise - 

Raw Cacao has the highest anti-oxidants. It should not be confused with 'Cocoa', although both look alike and several products mention Cocoa. 

Both Cacao and Cocoa are generated from the same Cacao tree, although Cacao is in the raw form that retains most of its nutrients. Cacoa is roasted at a high temperature, is better tasting, but loses several of its nutrients in the process. 

We also learnt how to make chocolate in few minutes using Cacao powder, sugar and coconut oil! It was delicious!

The tour guide was knowledgeable, funny  and was the best part of this tour! He told us that he was adopted by Hindu parents. His dad has now taken sanyaas and moved to Calcutta. He takes care of his mom in Maui. 

While returning, we stopped in Paui. We enjoyed the shaved ice in Paui. Shaved Ice with ice-cream combo was yummy! We ended up having dinner in a Tex-Mex restaurant in Pai town. We realized that although, its small town, was more happening than the city Lahaina we lived in (lol!)