My trip to Maui, Hawaii was…awesome! We barely did anything but it felt like we did so much. We went in the middle of May and the weather very perfect, it rained just a little bit while we were there.
1. Rent a car:
You should definitely rent a car while you stay in Maui…the island is pretty spread out so it will be nice having your own car. We had to drive to all the places we wanted to go visit. I’m glad I asked my friends before going to Maui. I’m usually pretty cheap and most the time wouldn’t rent a car when I visit a big city. But she recommended we get a car and so I did. And I was glad that I did! We used up about one and a half tank the whole five days we were there. And at the end we used gas at Costco to fill up so it ended up to be pretty cheap!
2. Rent out snorkeling and boggie board for the time you are staying there:
We were there for about five days, so we decided to rent out the equipments for the whole time we were there. It’s cheaper doing that than renting for one day. I guess you could buy them also but we didn’t want to have to carry them back in the plane with us. I rented mind from the hotel I stayed but I saw many shops around Maui that you can rent equipments from….not sure how much that would be but there is the internet ;)…We rented out three boogie boards and three snorkelers for about US $105 for five days.
3. Eat POKE!!!
Before I set out my journey to Maui, I had to look up what and where to eat…of course! And decided that I had to get poke while I was there. Poke is basically raw fish (I got the Ahi Tuna) cut in small pieces and mixed with a variety of different sauces. It could be served on a bed of rice or just by itself. I LOVED poke!!! Loved it!!! And of course when eating raw fish I also take caution of where I eat. After much research (as in five minutes of searching) I got my poke from two places: The Fish Market and Eskimo Candy. They had other type of seafood there also that was not bad but nothing beat poke!
How to get there:
a. The Fish Market: 3600 Lower Honoapiilani Rd, Lahaina, HI 96761.
b. Eskimo Candy: 2665 Wai Wai Pl, Kihei, HI 96753.
4. Eat other foods:
Besides these good poke places, I found other shops that had really good ratings and wanted to try them out.
a. Ululani’s Hawaiian shave ice:
This place seriously had the best shave ice…the ice was finely shaved (not chunky like you usually find)…the flavors were just spot on…..oh…so…good! They had the craziest flavors so of course I had to try them out. I had: pickled mango, lychee, green tea, tiger’s blood, tamarind, and li hing mui. The flavors were spot on! We literally went there everyday when we were there…I’m pretty sure that’s like 60% of where our money went… -_- … You can also get ice cream that goes in the bottom…which was also delicious!
There are a few Ululani’s shave ice in Maui, the one that we went to was on 819 Front St Lahaina, HI 96761. It is located in the downtown area where you can walk around and check out alot of tourist shops and neat restaurants located right next to the ocean.
b. Star’s noodle:
This is a chinese restaurant but don’t let the name fooled you. It is not any cheap chinese place to get order out. I was expecting the not-so-upscale place so it felt weird to be there. We went straight there from the beach so we didn’t look very “upscale”. The food was good but the portions were small and we were hungry. The price was on a higher scale so we didn’t really order a lot of food…so sadly… we had to eat in our hotel after eating there…-_-…It would still be worth the try if you have some money to spend.
c. Get other traditional Hawaiian food:
Besides poke, there are other foods that you should try when visiting Hawaii like kalua pig and spam musubi.
5. Go snorkeling and boogie board.
Most of the things in Hawaii was much more expensive than where I live but besides eating out, all we did was laying on the beach and snorkeling. We rented boogie boards but when we were there we couldn’t find very good places that we could go boogie boarding (well… there were a few places that we saw suffers used but there were so many rocks around that we thought it would be dangerous for beginners like us). These are the places I would recommend you go snorkeling:
a. Black rock:
This beach is right next to Sheraton Maui —> Google Map
We saw our first sea turtle there :)… it was cool and scary at the same time. The water wasn’t very clear and so when you saw a large sea creature swimming underneath you, it was a bit scary …-_-….
b. Kapalua Bay:
—> Google Map
I would recommend this beach to beginners since the fishes and corals were pretty close to the beach. I didn’t have to swim very far out to see the fishes at all. We couldn’t find the beach at first…the signs were really hard to see. When driving down Lower Honoapiilani road, look out for Napili Kai beach resort. The parking spot for the beach should be right next to the resort. Additional parking place is next to the tennis court that is right across the street.
c. Napili Bay:
—> Google Map
This beach was right next to Kapalua Bay and again it was hard to find it. When you drive on Lower Honoapiilani road, look for Hui Dr. As long as you turn on that street you will see a sign for the beach.
This is my favorite one for snorkeling! The reefs were close enough and there were really cool fishes there. We saw about three sea turtles ! So cool! Just a side note, don’t touch the turtles, according to our concierge, oil from your hands can damage their skins and that makes them prone to diseases… we don’t want that.
Yes….that is a real turtle up close! He wanted to eat the seaweeds on the rocks that was pretty much on the beach…what a bad ass turtle!
d. DT Fleming beach:
This is a good beach for boogie boarding. The waves weren’t very strong (which is good for me)… however, we only caught a few good ones before they all died off.
6. Go visit Hana road or not:
I honestly didn’t like going on Hana highway very much. The road was windy and long. I wanted to check out the Waianapanapa state park (or the black sand beach) but didn’t realize that it would take three hours to get there…We also stop at Hookipa beach, which is famous for windsurfing. By the time we got to Waianapanapa state park, the water was too cold to swim in. If you do decide to check out road to Hana, remember to bring food and drinks or cash (can’t use credit card). There are bathrooms along the way and few places that you could get food from. But you would have to drive a while to get food so its better to be prepare.
Whatever you choose to do, remember to spend one whole day is laying on the beach and don’t worry about anything else…I promise it will be worth it! 
Happy eating! -Trang-
