Maui Honeymoon

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Maui Honeymoon Use Your Browser Back Button to Return Here when you click on external links.

[I'll get the travel griping out of the way FIRST!]

Sherrian and I left for Maui in early October, 2001. The events of 9/11 less than a month earlier had a BIG impact on our traveling experience. It took a longggggg time to get through security. The additional challenge was that we first had to go to Los Angeles from Phoenix. The second leg took us from Los Angeles to Maui. Our return trip back from Maui was even worse. Huge lines at the both the LAX and Maui terminals and another long wait at the gates.

The pilot of the United flight coming back from Maui made an interesting little speech before departure. It went something like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to thank you for flying today . . . (blah-blah) . . . if there are any terrorists on this airplane, I'd like you to look around you. There are a lot of angry people on this plane and we will take you down!) Or something to that effect. That got a few nervous chuckles out of the passengers.

Anyway . . . it was fun to finally be on our way to Maui. Sherrian had never been to Hawaii and I hadn't been there since a family vacation back in 1975. There wasn't much to see on the flight from Phoenix to LA as there was nearly solid cloud cover the entire flight. We couldn't even see much of LA as we punched through the cloud base just before landing at LAX.

The flight from LA was on a big Boeing 777 that gave us a nice ride to Maui--those darn clouds never left! Just as we came in for our landing, we got a nice view of the island. I even WON the "Halfway Point Contest".

Passengers were invited to fill out a card with their best estimate of the "halfway point" of the flight in Hawaii time. The pilot said that the estimated time enroute was 4h 40 min, our departure from LAX was at 0625 HDT. I just rounded the time enroute up and divided it, then I added it to the 0625 HDT departure time and came up with 8 h 50 min 00 sec.

Just before we landed in Maui, they announced the winner--with the EXACT halfway time of 8 h 50 min 00 sec. Yours truly, in seat 21H!! Light applause followed by our receiving a beautifully-wrapped bottle of chardonnay! What an auspicious start to our vacation!

The air was warm and fragrant as we strolled through the open terminal. The wind was really whipping, though. Getting the rental car--a cheesy white Chevy Lumina (can you say Grandpa car?) was a breeze. HERE WE COME--MAUI!!

The map on the left depicts Maui. I think the island resembles a statue, with the "head" on the left and the "shoulders/body" to the right. We drove from the airport at Kahalui (the back of the neck) through the narrow part of the island (across the neck) and up the "face" to the resort in Lahaina. What great views we got! Sugar cane fields as we left Kahalui and great ocean views as we joined the Hono a Pi'ilani Highway a drove along the coast.

We drove through Lahaina along Front Street (the main tourist drag paralleling the ocean) to check out the tourists and many shops. Cool! Kinda muggy, though--not like the dry air of Arizona. We almost drove into the Embassy, but changed our minds and head back into downtown Lahaina. We had lunch at Bubba Gumps. Use Back Button to Return

We got a nice, but hot and sunny, spot on the patio by the water. Spectacular views of two or three parasail operations at work, two big cruise ships parked nearby, views of Lanai and Molokai in the distance and some great people-watching!

Our waiter, Joe, was a real character: friendly and wisecracking. He said business had picked up some since 9/11--when no one was traveling and the locals were "starving".

The food and beer were good, but we were feeling tired, hot and sticky (Lahaina means "cruel sun" in Hawaiian). A shower and a nap were in order. We got "hosed" (the first of many "hosings" to come) on prices. After lunch, Sherrian bought two souvenir beer glasses in the gift shop. Total bill: $76!! Not bad for lunch, eh? After some brief shopping along Front Street, we head to the Embassy Resort. It is just north of Lahaina at Ka'anapali ("rolling cliffs") Beach.

We checked into our room at the Embassy. The spectacular view you see from our balcony (picture above) was achieved on our second day in Maui. Thanks to Sherrian fighting for our rights! (Don't get Sherrian on your bad side). We took a nap that lasted until Saturday morning. A couple of a regular Rip van Winkles!

Motel 6--this ain't!! The picture (at right) is a brochure shot that--except for the set table--mirrors our room. We're talking kitchen, bathroom with dual vanity sinks, soaking tub and shower, living and dining rooms and a huge balcony! Nice!!

The room faced out onto the pool, koi pond (see picture below), garden and--of course--the beach! This was paradise! The nice thing about the time share part of the Embassy Resort is that we saw plenty of families with kids, young couples and senior citizens. It was truly a luxurious resort without the "luxury" attitude--just regular people having fun.

Breakfast was a fun experience every morning as we took the elevators down (enjoying the fabulous views on the way) to the pool area where we pigged out on a lavish breakfast buffet as we took in the sights and sounds, plus did some people watching.

They offered a complimentary Happy Hour from 4:00 pm until 6:00 pm every afternoon. It was nothing to write home about

[TIP: AVOID the Mai Tai's--yuuchh!], but the price was right. Some of the "regulars" at Happy Hour seemed the barfly types, so we generally drifted over to one of the tables by the koi ponds enjoying the quiet and lack of smoke.

We made up our minds from the beginning that we were here to relax and not to run around like idiot tourists trying to see and do everything. But . . . we did do a few "touristy" things.

Sherrian had one agenda regarding food in Maui: SEAFOOD!

Our first night in Maui, we made a beeline for the nearest sushi restaurant. It was right across the highway from the Embassy! We nearly had the place to ourselves; it was dark, quiet and romantic.

The Embassy had a terrific location right on the beach as well as a huge pool with a water slide. Yes--we even indulged in that. It was great to just plop down on a lounger by the pool or the beach while gals circulated taking drink orders.

Sun and fun!! "Maui No Ka Oi"--means Maui is the BEST!!

On Sunday, after breakfast, I wandered over to the shack where they gave away towels and rented pool rafts and snorkeling equipment. I HAD to ask about the scuba lessons. Sherrian had tried it some time ago and wasn't meant for the sport, but I'd never tried it and always wanted to. I got signed up for the Monday morning class. View from our balcony in the morning

Monday morning: there was a group of about 8-10 of us who gathered at the pool shack and we were all signing stacks of release forms/waivers. (Gee--just like skydiving!). After our instructor, Maya, got us all outfitted in wetsuits we walked into the pool to learn the needed skills. We learned about clearing our mask in case they filled with water, how to equalize the pressure in our ears while diving, how to use the buoyancy vest, how to use our fins correctly, how to breathe through the regulator--all kinds of stuff. I passed the pool portion of the dive and was cleared for the ocean dive in the early afternoon.

A few hours later, Maya took me and three other people down to the beach. With our fins in our hands, we waded into the water and then put on our fins. We inflated our vests for easy floating and paddled with our backs to the ocean about 200 yards out. Maya set up the "diver down" buoy, made sure we were all doing OK. We put the regulators in our mouths and slowly let the air out of our vests and slipped below the waves. And into a new world . . . .I felt like a spaceman.

What a world! We settled about 25 feet deep and started swimming up and over the coral formations. We glided over the formations and headed even deeper. Down to 35 feet.

I saw many sea turtles, fish of many varieties and sea urchins. Maya had a camera along and took pictures of us. I found out--later--that it's a crime and a big fine to grab, touch or swim after the sea turtles! I admit it--I brushed my hand over the back of a couple. At least I didn't try to use one as a tow vehicle. That's me (below) doing a major no-no. Oooops!!!

About 45 minutes later we surfaced, swam back to shore and rinsed off the salt water (picture to the left--that's me after the dive tugging at my ears). Feeling STOKED!!

A few days later, Sherrian and I rented some snorkel gear and swam around the pool together, then took a short excursion into the ocean.

Lahaina has become VERY touristy, but it's neat to check out all the shops, try the many restaurants and people watch. The big cruise ships would park just offshore and dump a ton of tourists who, no doubt, made the locals happy as bought T-shirts, souvenirs and ate in the local restaurants.

We did explore the island--a little. On Monday we visited Iao ("cloud supreme") Valley State Park. Less than a mile from Iao Valley, we stopped at Kepaniwai Park a model immigrant village dedicated to the Japanese immigrants of Hawaii with a gorgeous Japanese cultural heritage garden (see Sherrian admiring a pond below).

We drove from there to Waihe'e Beach Park. It is a beautiful and more primitive-looking spot. The sea looked foamy and deeper blue. It reminded me of the Hawaii from my childhood days (when we lived on Oahu for a year or two). It even smelled salty and foamy like I remembered.

There were a couple of local kids frolicking in the surf, but it was not a typical lay-on-the-sand-and-catch-rays type of beach.

That's Sherrian (below/right) admiring the view.

After Waihe'e Beach, we headed toward Ma'alaea Bay. On the map, it would be the "Adam's apple" of the statue. It is one of the two major sport fishing spots (Lahaina is the other) on Maui.

It looks like the opening shot from "Gilligan's Island" with all the boats and the tropical views (see below). There is a cute shopping area across from the harbor where we did some shopping and browsing. We had a very nice lunch at the Blue Marlin of--what else?--seafood. It was very good and the service was friendly and helpful.

That was pretty much the extent of our sightseeing. We spent the bulk of our time, sunning, swimming, reading, eating and relaxing. Tough job . . . .

We cruised into downtown Lahaina several more times for dinner. We barely scratched the surface of the many eateries in Lahaina alone. We ate at Bubba Gumps twice. We both loved the shrimp and oyster po' boy sandwiches. We had some great seafood at Erik's, too. Dinner at Moose McGillyCuddies was filling but short on quality. Very trendy--probably a major "meat market" at night. My prime rib still had marks where the jockey had been beating it!

On our last night in Maui, we indulged ourselves on shrimp, lobster and steak at Kimo's.

We said Aloha to Maui on Friday morning. We'll be back!

We had a great flight to LA but when we got to the gate for the flight to Phoenix, it was overbooked. We volunteered to be "bumped". We got a free dinner, a night at the Sheraton and $400 in travel coupons. What the heck!! We were tired anyway, so we decided to stay in LA for one night.

It was not bad at all. The Sheraton was very close to LAX and the windows were as thick as bank windows and we could STILL feel and hear the roar of the jets taking off and the security system for the elevator made us feel extremely safe. Next morning enroute to the airport we passed police roadblocks which were setup to check for terrorists. Time to wake up to reality again.

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