Maui

Date: December 1, 2018 – December 2, 2018
Location: Maui Island of Hawaii

During the weekend between our two weeks of teaching in Honolulu, we went to the Hawaiian island of Maui. On the island we stayed in Kahului. To see the island we ended up driving a figure 8 around the island starting with the road to Hana.

The road to Hana, Hana Highway HI-360, has many curves and 59 one lane bridges. It was raining when we drove it so we couldn’t see any views toward the ocean but the waterfalls we saw were nice.

This is Three Bears Falls.

This is Makapipi Falls.

We stopped at the Hana Lava Tube.

You don’t have to do a guided tour to go into the tube, and the entry fee includes use of a flashlight.

The lave tube is the 18th largest in the world. In the lave tube it is warm, unlike the lava tube we visited while on the Tenerife Canary Island, where it was so cold that you needed a jacket.

Part of the tube is named the chocolate corridor, as it looks like the lava forms Hershey kisses.

After the lava tube we continued driving and saw Wailua Falls.

Many people turn around in Hana and drive back. We continued driving, to make a loop, and the road turns into dirt for part of the way. It is also very narrow in spots and we were glad that we saw few cars going in the other direction. This part of the island doesn’t get as much rain and it was clear out.

The rain forest was replaced by fields and mountains that were formed by lava.

This is Manawainui Gulch.

Once the road turned toward the north it started to rain again. We stopped at MauiWine.

We did a wine tasting and enjoyed the pineapple wines.

On the northwest side of Maui the road is similar to the road to Hana with many corners and several one lane bridges. Less people drive this section of road, though.

We stopped in Lahaina and saw the Banyan tree. The Banyan tree was planted on April 24, 1873 and was 8 feet tall. The tree is now 60 feet tall. This is the main trunk.

The tree spread out and rooted into 16 other trunks. The canopy of the tree covers 0.66 acres.

The town of Lahaina has many art galleries and shops. The main road leaving Lahaina follows the beach and we pulled over on the side of the road to watch the sunset.

The total drive was around 180 miles and a driving time of 7 hours. With the stops, we were gone for around 11 hours.

The next before flying back to Oahu we went to the Hali’imaile Distilling Company. The company makes vodka from distilling pineapples. They also make Gin, Rum and blend Whiskey.

We took a tour of the distillery and had a tasting.

Maui has many rural areas. We did not drive up Haleakala, as the top was in the clouds, but we feel like we saw most of Maui.