Maui 2015
Maui Beach
Maui 2015
My wife and I went to Maui for our honeymoon over 21 years ago and told ourselves we would be back there for our 20th anniversary…which we did! We had been there a few times in between, but this one was a little more special.
Usually, when we visit Maui (home), we stay in Lahaina, but this year, it wasn't in the budget, so we got a less expensive place in Sugar Beach. Still close enough to Lahaina to get to our favorite places to eat. It was actually a pretty nice place and centrally located. The resort was nice, everyone was friendly, and it "forced" us to explore an area of the Island we had not ventured off to, and I'm glad we did! The beach was a bit murkier than Lahaina, but the water was still great to in. We did have to watch out more for Tiger Sharks, as they tend to hide in the murky waters.
We had always wanted to watch the sunrise at Haleakala, but could never bring ourselves to wake up at 2am on a vacation. This time was different! We did it the day after arrival, so really it was only 5am “our time”. It was WELL WORTH waking up so freekin’ early! I am not really a “spiritual” kind of guy, but something was different up there over 10,000 feet, freezing my ass off with about 5,000 of my closest friends on top of that mountain. The drive up is a nice windy road with some pretty sharp turns and hairpins, but it's not bad because you don't have any traffic coming down at you. Once at the top, it was difficult to find a place to park. We had been warned that it can be cold on top of the mountain, but when you're told this by locals, we expected "cold" being 50 degrees. We're from Washington, it gets wet and cold there most of the year, we can handle this with a sweatshirt and long pants...... NOPE!!! It was 33 and then add the wind cutting through you. Definitely take a warm coat/ windbreaker up, or do like we did when we went back on our last day, we took the blanket and comforter off the hotel bed to wrap up in while we watched the sunrise.
As I mentioned before, I'm not really a "spiritual" person, but on the first day, up on that mountain, we watched the sun come up out of the clouds below, and I felt way different. I can't really put it into words, but I tell you what, it made the whole vacation different for me. I generally carry the stress from home on vacations and it finally subsides near the end of the trip, but not this one, being on the mountain on our first full day, my stresses vanished, and the whole trip was super chill. Again, can't really convey this into words very well, YOU HAVE TO EXPERIENCE IT! ’Nuff said! After the spectacular show, we cruised back down to the condo for a couple-hour nap.
We decided to alternate activity days and relaxation days. On that first day (after napping) we cruised on up to Lahaina (our favorite town) for some playing and shopping. With each trip to the Island, we visit our beloved Banyan Tree on Front Street, head over to the Lahaina Beach Resort where we spent our honeymoon, then go to Betty's Beach Cafe for food.
We always have a great time on Maui without going to all the touristy places and other pricey tourist traps, but we did make an exception this time and went to the Maui Aquatic Center. Yep, we should have done this years ago too! I found out they offer a deal where you can swim with the sharks, hell yeah, sign me up! Well, you have to be dive certified, and bring your gear, or rent it from somewhere else on the Island. Well shit, guess I can go swim with the sharks...... My wife did offer to let me do another shark swimming excursion though….. she said she would be happy to take me out in a boat, cut my arm deep so I could bleed a lot to attract the sharks, then throw my ass in the water. I married such a sweet girl!
Another touristy thing we did on this trip was a sunset dinner cruise on the night of our anniversary. This was a very special night, and we got a great table on the top deck of this smallish boat. The boat set off from the wharf in Lahaina, we spent a couple hours out on the water with meals and drinks, watched a beautiful sunset, and had a great time. Except for the small bought of seasickness I got. It wasn't too bad until the boat stopped, and the rocking motion got to me. All in all, a spectacular night with my lovely wife! As we left Lahaina heading back to Sugar Beach, we noticed a lot of stars visible. Upon returning to the resort, we grabbed a blanket, went down to the beach and looked up at the stars. I downloaded an app on my phone to show us where each constellation was, and we spent hours just looking up, and comparing to the app. Fun and free, can't beat that combo!
We had a lot of beach time, shopping, driving, and just enjoyed each other's company. On the last day, we decided to do it again: wake up at the butt crack of dawn, head up to the top of Haleakala, and watch the sunrise. It was such an incredible way to begin and end our second honeymoon. I highly recommend it!
Aloha!
