2023 Maui

 Aug 8 Tuesday -- Our Maui trip started as our other Hawaiian trips. We boarded the direct flight with big smiles and beach vibes. Pilot notified us that the big wind might cause turbulence while landing. He added it's normal for Maui. During landing, we experienced a roller-coaster ride type of turbulence. Our airplane was filled with screams and hysterical laughter. I pondered the relationship between laughter and fear and exchanged nervous looks with Will. This kind of landing doesn't feel normal even for Maui. 

Before we got out of the airport, Norah announced that she loved this island and would like to move here if possible. We picked up our luggage, waited for the crowded tram to the rental car place, got our car and headed directly to Costco for our island supply. By this time, we forgot all about the wind and landing. Costco is as packed as the ones in Dallas. We fought our way through the store and finally headed to our home for the next four days -- Wailea Ekolu Village. 

View from our lanai

I have been saving my Hyatt points for the last few years. This trip is the first time I redeemed them. I booked this trip in June so it's too late to redeem those hot Hyatt properties like Andaz. Last trip, we stayed at Maui Sands Condo at Kaanapali. I planned to check out the south side and booked a two room condo at Ekolu Village for 4 nights. Then we would move to Hyatt Regency in West Maui for another 4 nights. 

We checked in with Destination Maui at the Wailea Gateway center. Our condo is on the hillside and has a 10 min walk to the nearest beach. Our Lanai has a beautiful ocean view. Two kids have their separate beds. We had a quick dinner and headed to Wailea beach for a late afternoon stroll. Kids were running in the waves. Air was filled with ocean scents and laughter. 

Aug 9 Wednesday.  We woke up early from the time difference. We started receiving text messages of concern before our day started. Brush fire in West Maui? We hadn't registered the severity of the tragedy. We drove out to the booked surf lessons in Kihei after breakfast. When we talked to our instructor, he was concerned and said many lives had been lost. At that time, news reported 6 deaths. 

After the surfing lesson, we checked out Ulua beach near our condo. It was recommended for snorkeling. The wave was a bit too strong for me to snorkel for long. We saw 5+ turtles surfing the waves at Mokapu beach in front of Andaz.  We went to Maluaka beach in the afternoon. Will set up the SUP board and had the first paddling on the board. But the wind in South Maui in the afternoon was fierce. We did a little paddling and some exploring on the nearby Oneuli beach. Oneuli beach is also called black sand beach. It is more primitive and has no rinse station. 

When we were getting ready to go to South Maui garden to watch the reserved Hula show at 5pm, I read the cancellation email at 4:10pm. When I looked to reserve a Luau show for this trip, I was shocked to find that any luau would set us back $1000. (Compared to 2014's $100/pp) I tried very hard to find this Hula show with a reasonable price that only happened on Wednesday. Disappointed, I called SMG to ask. The lady who received my call was audibly shaken. She told me some dancers were still in shelter or had no contact. That's when we realized how bad the fire was. It was not an East Texas brush fire that only burned in no man's land. This fire has now impacted every local on this island. We drove out to the nearby restaurant Monkeypod and saw the sign that they were close for the day. We knew this vacation would be different. 

Before going to sleep, we checked our next hotel. Website said it was temporarily closed till Aug 11.

Aug 10 Thursday. In the morning Hyatt Regency had already updated that it would only open till Aug 13. We started our long phone call to rebook our second part of the trip. We managed to finally extend our stay at Ekolu after a couple of hours on the phone. Then we headed out to our hike today Waihee ridge trail. The road was closed to tourists 3 miles before the trailhead. We changed our plan to check out Hookipa lookout point. We saw big waves, advanced surfers and 28 beached turtles. Jaws are not far from here. But our attempt to check out Jaws was stopped by bad roads.  

We went back to South Maui after the failed attempts to explore the north part of the island. In the afternoon, we hiked the Hoapili trail (King's highway) in the lava fields. On the way there, we saw many beautiful houses and people snorkeling Ahihi cove. We did a 4 mile total hike and came to a secluded beach by ourselves. I loved the hike with impressive blowholes, Mars like trails and a private beach to ourselves. 

Aug 11 Friday. We went back to Maui Waveriders to surf on Friday. Cove park has the best beginner condition we've seen so far. The waves are consistent and long. Two kids took their turns to surf with Will. We stopped by the food trucks in South Maui Garden for lunch and met a pet tortoise. A little girl (Mona?) invited Norah and Jackson to feed George his favorite food, Papaya. and help him take a shower. This lunch setting is ideal for a casual between surf meal. We were surrounded by tropical plants, birds and butterflies. 

After our afternoon surf session, I promised kids Hawaiian shave ice. We drove to Ululani's Hawaiian shave ice and dropped our jaws when we saw the line. However, we outvoted Will 3:1 to stay with the line. At the beginning of the line, a lady gave Jackson and Norah a rainbow flavor shave ice since they got an extra one. After eating that cup of shaved ice, both kids think it is worth the wait no matter how long. An hour and half later, we got our order. It was really good but not a 1.5-hour-wait good. 

Aug 12 Saturday. Although we decided that we wouldn't drive to Hana on this trip, with most of the island closed, we drove to Hana. With a 7 and 10 year old, RTH is not an excellent idea. Plus Norah has motion sickness. We stopped by a small black sand beach (Honomanu Bay) for Norah. It was clouded in marijuana smell when we arrived. At Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside, we hiked to the waterfalls. This was my favorite stop. Our destination is Black Sand Beach in Waiʻānapanapa State Park. We drove in and saw the signs of required reservation. Starting in 2021, this park added a reservation system. We turned to Red Sand beach as an alternative destination. Property now built up around it and we couldn't find parking to walk to the beach. 

Feeling rejected, we went back to Hana bay beach park and hiked to our lunch spot. Water here was very blue with the red stone/sand backdrop. After lunch, Will inflated the SUP and did more paddling in the calmer waters of Hana Bay. Our next stop is Hana Lava Tube. It is located on private property. Before we went in, we chatted with a Canadian couple who stayed at the West Maui side from Sunday. They had to sleep in the car on Tuesday and shelter on Wednesday, and finally got a place in Kihei later. And they just got their passports back yesterday. 

On our way, we tried to stop by the "greenest place on earth" Nahiku. Sadly after meandering one way down the slope, a sign says "no tourists". We stopped at Kaumahina state wayside to stretch our legs and headed back to home. RTH has changed from when we were here about 9 years ago. Lots of No Parking signs popped up and East Maui clearly does not want hordes of tourists. 

Aug 13 Sunday. Will read that at La Perouse Bay, dolphins come to play every morning at 7am. We packed our snorkel gear, woke up early and headed south. We arrived just around 7am and were welcomed by a whole beach of people and the smell of marijuana again. Seemed like people were illegally camping out here. No dolphins were in sight. We checked out the tide pools and quickly departed. The next stop is Ahihi cove for snorkeling, again we got dissuaded by the large wave. We moved on to the Makena beach and the wind looked even stronger. Finally we settled on Maluaka beach for SUP and relaxing after so many stops in the morning.  We went for ice cream at Wailea shopping plaza after lunch and scouted out our family portrait locations. At sunset, we took a few family photos. Lesson learned: bring an iphone tripod next time!

Aug 14 Monday. We went back to surf at the Cove Park. Four of us surfed for three hours and we completely ran out of steam. This is the first time I truly enjoyed surfing. Wetsuit helped regulate the temperature and the wave condition here was just perfect. All of us caught some good waves and rode far into shore. There were so many turtles in the murky water. Both Will and I accidentally stepped on one. 

In the afternoon, we convinced Norah to do the Waihee ridge hike. From the map, it seems they moved the close point just where the trail started. We decided to give it a try. We held our breath until we got stopped by a police officer. He nodded us to the trailhead after we told him our destination. We were there! This hike took us high in the west mountain. We almost reached the clouds. Norah made friends with a local couple Anna and Harry, their dog Basil. Anna said she would be snorkeling at Makena landing the next day and could guide us. She used to be a 7th grade English teacher but changed to a snorkel boat photographer when she moved here 4 years ago. She lost her job because of the fire and took the hike to cheer up. 

We checked out the nearby Monkeypod for dinner against Norah's wish. Norah doesn't like to go to restaurants. However, she loved her food and asked to go again the next day. It was our only dinner dining out and I loved it!

Aug 15 Tuesday. We surfed again on Tuesday. The condition was not as good as yesterday as the ocean was very calm. We left Cove Park after 2 hours to make it to Makena landing at 10am with the hope of meeting Anna. Makena landing is near this turtle town location snorkel boat takes people to. The visibility was not that good since it was cloudy. When I was standing near the shore, a big turtle swam by me. Other than the turtle sightings, I was not impressed with the snorkeling spots on this trip. 

In the afternoon, we took a coconut husking class at Wailea Center. Because of Sunday's ice cream stop, we learned about the free activities at this shopping center. After an educational class, we went to check out one of the beautiful Wailea beaches -- Palauea beach. Kids read their books and we walked along the beach. We even found an egg at the beach. We watched the Hula Show at the plaza at 5:30. 

Aug 16 Wednesday. I bought four Andaz resort passes for the departure day. Our flight was at 7pm and we would need a place to shower before the airplane. Andaz has a beautiful stretch of sandy beach - Mokapu beach. There were turtles that swam across the beach each day. A third party vendor rents out SUP, outrigger, boogie boards. We did more SUP, boogie board and went to the hotel to have lunch at Lehua lounge. The pool was nice and eating poolside was convenient. However, our resort pass didn't include an indoor shower. Will talked to the manager and she was apologetic and brought us soap to use at the outdoor shower. She explained FEMA was occupying the indoor lounge. We hastily showered outdoors and headed to the airport at 4:30pm. 

Airport is much more empty compared to when we arrived. Sadness loomed on the island. We said bye to this beautiful land and returned to our Texas home.  

Side note: On this trip, we discovered Jackson's gluten sensitivity. Now both Will and Jackson are on a gluten-free diet.