Maui/Oahu Day 4
Day 4, was packed with a lot of movement. Autumn and I woke up early and grabbed our swimsuits and snorkel gear and headed off to Ahihi Kinau Natural area reserve. It was about a 20-30 min drive from where we were staying and it was a pretty drive. The road to get there gets a bit narrow and rough, but there’s a parking lot that you pull into and are able to hike down the rocky path to the beach. All of the surrounding rock was black and rough on the hike down. As we were hiking down we noticed two things that didn’t bode well…. surfers and large swells. We got to the spot where theoretically we should have been able to go snorkeling at, but we would have been “worked.” The surfers that we stopped and talked to said it was a great day for them with the swells but not a good day for us. We had to turn back and try to find another beach. I was very disappointed as we had heard this would have plenty of reef and fish activity.
We drove back to the area near our resort and found another Snorkel Bob’s that we stopped at. We asked the person who was working where else we could try to snorkel at since that spot on the south side of the island was way too crazy to try and snorkel in. We were told to check out Ulua beach park near the Andaz hotel. It was still early so we got parking spot and walked down to the beach and set our stuff down in a shaded area. We saw several people snorkeling and even some diving groups learning how to dive. The water wasn’t very calm but it was nothing like Ahihi. Still, the rough waves made visibility a bit difficult. As we snorkeled around we weren’t seeing much in the water, a couple schools of fish but not the marine life I was hoping for. After a couple hours we called it and headed back to get cleaned up for our next adventure.
Our checkout time was around noon so we got cleaned up and packed up and were on our way to give the road to Hana a try. But first we decided to stop for lunch at Coconut’s Fish Cafe, which is known for their fish tacos. They were incredible. All of their food was. Once we finished lunch, we made sure we were fueled up with food, fuel, and beverages. Kellyne was going to meet a friend of hers at a small town market place that was just before the start of the road to Hana so we dropped her off as this type of activity wasn’t really on her list of to do’s.
The road to Hana is a 64 mile stretch of highway on very windy roads that takes about 2.5 hours without stopping. But the point of the road to Hana is the stops. There are also several one way bridges, hikes, waterfalls, interesting facts, and picture spots along the way, but the road is fairly narrow and takes time to complete the journey. My first time taking this trip was with my family of 5 in a small rental car, where you had to stop at a gas station to pick up a cassette to play as you took the drive. The cassette was a challenge for 3 younger kids who didn’t really appreciate nature and beauty at the time. All we knew is that we were stuck in a small car, prone to car sickness, and were spending the entire day doing it. This day in age it’s way way better. We knew we wouldn’t have time before our flight to whole drive, but we wanted to get a few hours in. We downloaded the app, which you have to purchase for like $10, but it uses GPS so it provides information based on your exact location vs playing a cassette that guessed never truly lined up your location and was a challenge to know where you were exactly. The app was called Maui Road to Hana Driving Tour- Shaka Guide.
After dropping off Kellyne, we were off with our downloaded app. We made it about 1.5 hours into the drive and decided to turn back. From what I remember about the drive compared to what I was seeing was a bit surprising. There was a LOT of overgrowth and vegetation that flourished, but then again, it had been a while since I’d been on that road. We made a few stops for pictures and we did enjoy the information and history that the app provided us. We will have to go back and do the whole thing again, stops included, especially since Hana is pretty neat from what I remember.
Once we turned back, we stopped off and picked up Kellyne and decided to head back to town for a snack and to get ready for our next flight. If you pass by some very familiar places, you’ll notice some very unfamiliar things on their menus. For example, McDonald’s is recognized all over the world, but did you know you could order a very unique breakfast plate with spam, Portuguese sausage, and fried rice? Or how about a taro pie? It’s unique and very colorful. Funky for sure. Super cool to see unique things in different locations that are so different yet have some familiarity.
Off we went to the airport. Our flight was a brief 23 minutes and we were back in Oahu. Kellyne parked her car and we picked it up and went off to dinner. Hawaii has some incredible Asian food and a favorite of Kellyne’s is Gyu-Kaku, a Japanese BBQ place and it is fantastic. Seriously, check it out. Stuffed and exhausted, we headed back to Kellyne’s apartment to turn in for the night since we had a big day planned in the early morning.
