The long-awaited Maui pictures

Below are all of our Maui pictures. Hope you like them!

We did do many things that I did not take pictures of, mostly because I did not want to water-log my camera. Here was our itenerary:

Saturday
Arrived around 1pm Hawaii time after spending our night on an airplane. We stopped at the activities booth at the hotel and booked all of our tours/etc. all at once. Then, we went to Tedeschi Winery, which took about 1.5 hours from Kiehei to drive.

Meals:
Maui Tacos (very good, like a Maui Chipotle's!)
Thailand Cuisine (slow service at first, but food was very fast)

Sunday
Whale watching in the morning on the Maui Princess, then we drove the West Maui Road (all the way around) for the rest of the day. A great day!

Meals:
Cheeseburger in Paradise (was a place before Jimmy Buffett ever knew about it)
Bada Bing (early in the evening, service is quite good. Good inexpensive meal)

Monday
Drove the Road to Hana and around Haleakala. Maps will warn you not to go around there if you have a rental car, but we did not have any problem with our Dodge Stratus. If you have any questions, I'm sure the park officials at Ohe'o gulch will let you know if it's safe to drive.

Meals:
Breakfast of Champions -- Skittles/M&Ms and Diet Coke (Paia service station :) )
Cafe Ciao (in Kea Lani, Wailea. Very good food, service was a bit slow but they gave us our dessert for free)

Tuesday
Snorkel trip to Molokini Crater and the infamous Turtle Town. Molokini Crater was used for bombing practice after Pearl Harbor, but is now a bird sanctuary. Beautiful fish will swim within three inches of you. Very safe and calm waters here. Turtle town was great since we got to see so many sea turtles.

Shopping in Lahaina -- Lahaina is a great place to shop. Although the shops are mostly tourist-oriented now, the downtown area has retained its' character, which is great.

Somehow during this day I got really sunburned, but only on my face. I had to put makeup on to cover the burn so that people did not feel sorry for me :).

Meals:
BJ's Pizzeria (good but not worth the wait at lunchtime)
Sarrento's on the Beach (best service I have ever had, great dinner, make sure you get a reservation early so that you are there during the sunset!)

Wednesday
Kayaking day. We took a kayaking trip along the cliffs near Papalua beach. To make it more exciting, Frank and I had to share a double kayak (we've always insisted on separate kayaks since neither of us canoe well). We survived with only one capsizing, and got to snorkel in some amazing places along the cliffs!

Maui Ocean Center. Frank and I went to the aquarium on Maui. It was really great, although privately owned and quite expensive. The fish exibits were really wonderful, and the gift shop is one of the better ones on the island.

Meals:
Greek Bistro (very good greek food and wine, wonderful Baklava!)

Thursday
The infamous mountain bike day. Frank and I got up at 2am (!) in order to get to a bike shop. The bike shop then fitted us with super helmets and other goodies, then bussed us up to the top of the crater to see the sunrise. Then, we biked down the mountain on our own with only a map of where the bike shop was and some vague directions given in the dark to us. We made it, but it was dangerous. We saw one girl put her head into a guardrail, and another flip over her handlebars while trying to come to a dead stop on an incline. They were both relatively OK. But the fact that we made it down unscathed was a big deal for me, since I hate biking downhill.

At night, we went to Kaanapali and walked along the beach. It's a beautiful place as you will see below. Probably the best relaxing night we had on the island.

Meals:
Alexander's fish and chips (pick your fish for your fish and chips, good and inexpensive)
Hula Grill (very good food, and the floor was all sand!)

Friday
Hiked Waihe'e Valley and did the hike along La Perouse Bay. Then we watched UK win against Utah.

Meals:
Manana Garage (Great! Go here for lunch and have wonderful latin food!)
Sala Thai (not very good Thai food. We wanted to go to Bada Bing's, but the host was a real jerk to those waiting so we left)

Then we went home, where it snowed for three days straight. Argh!