Waikiki Beach is great, but why hang around there when you can be on another Hawaiian island within an hour? On day three, we took a trip to Maui.
We were originally considering going to the Big Island to see some real magma (pronounced as Dr Evil would), but that was going to require a fair trip inland to only possibly see a small amount of lava, and an overnight stay to make it feasible, so we decided that with accommodation in Waikiki Beach already paid for, we’d be better off going somewhere else which we could do in one day. Maui is half the distance from Oahu to the Big Island and it only took about half an hour to get there by jet plane which landed at Kahului on the north shore. The travel guides all recommended taking the scenic drive to Hana on the east coast. We figured that in the time we had, we could do that, then double back and drive around the north-western mountains.
The Hana Highway runs along the north edge of Maui towards the east, much of the way through lush forests and occasionally atop cliffs next to the ocean. Apart from the first half-hour or so, there was very little development along this road, just the occasional sign advertising artists’ galleries. We heard that about 300 hire cars do this road every day, and I think that day we saw about 200 small red or yellow 4WDs. We were the odd ones out in a small reddish sedan. One of the highlights along the Hana Highway is the black-sand (pebble) beach at Pailoa Bay in the Waianapanapa State Park. Combine blackest volcanic rocks, greenest trees and bluest waters, and you’ve got a photographic hit!
Hana was just a little further south. There’s not much of a public centre there, but we found a cool place for lunch. The road doesn’t continue all the way around the south of Maui, so we doubled back on the Hana Highway back to Kahului.
The north-west of Maui is dominated by a peak called Puu Kukui. The Honoapiilani Highway runs between the base of this mountain and the coast, so while driving along this road there’s always hills to the right and ocean to the left. The guides suggested a town called Lahaina as one of the more worthwhile stops along this road. In Lahaina’s front street (called Front Street), there’s a huge Banyan tree which takes up two blocks. The architecture was very colourful with lots of timber and lots of balconies, lit by the orange late-afternoon sun, making for some great photos.
We continued north along the same road until the time we had to turn around to make it back to the airport in time. We reached the northern tip of this peninsula where the road runs very close to the coast, sometimes close to sea level, and other times high in the cliffs. There was something mysterious about this place – very isolated, yet begging to be explored. Maybe next time. We were instructed by the hire car company not to try to take the road any further past that point as it becomes narrow and windy, and probably takes a lot longer to traverse than expected. So we doubled back to the airport along the same road, onto the plane and back to Oahu.
A couple of days later we hired another car to look around Oahu. Not far from Waikiki Beach is Manoa Falls. A 20 minute walk through some lush and diverse forest took us to a waterfall with a small rock pool below. The sign at the start of the trail, warning of Leptosiprosis bacteria in the area, turned us off taking a dip, but it didn’t stop others. Anyway, we had a whole island to circumnavigate that day, so we jumped back in the car and drove north-west towards the north shore. It was suprisingly undeveloped up there, or at least any development is well hidden from the coast road. I was getting really hungry by the time we reached Sunset Beach so I was looking for a cafe or restaurant, but there’s nothing much like that along that strip, mostly just houses. We did find a cool hippy shack though, nestled under some huge old trees, and built from sheets of corrugated plastic bent over a minimal timber and bamboo frame. My body was starting to ache thanks to my pesky cold, so I was desperate for a good healthy meal, and that’s exactly what they served up. We spent the rest of the day driving around the edge of Oahu, first along the north shore then down the east side, stopping a few times along the way for photos of the amazing natural scenery, then back to Waikiki Beach.
We took another trip to Hanauma Bay the next day for more snorkelling. We were rained on this time, but it was a sunshower and it didn’t last long.
In between all that adventurous madness we mostly lay on Waikiki Beach, walked around the many shops or sat in cafes or restaurants. One night there was a free traditional Hawaiian dance and music performance next to the beach – I’ve never seen so many ukuleles in one place!
Dom went to drool at the tokidoki bags a couple more times during week, but showed great restraint and resisted forking out over $200 USD for the one she wanted.
I was just glad my cold didn’t stop me from doing most things this week, but I’ll be glad when it’s gone. Next we’re going to a much colder New York, so I hope it goes very soon!
Here’s some photos from our drives around Maui and Oahu:
