Maui Hawaii Trip

 

Maui is the second largest island in the state of Hawaii and it also happens to be the second most popular Hawaiian destination for tourists. The weather on the East side and the West side of the island are quite different. East side is generally dry with lots of amazing snorkeling spots. The West side, however, has a lot of rain. The famous Haleakala National Park is located in Maui as well and the sun rise at the summit has always been the must go to place for visitors.

We did a 5 day Maui vacation during Thanksgiving. We flew from Portland to Kahului by taking Hawaiian Airline. Since COVID restriction was still in effect, we had to upload our vaccination card online first, then go to the gate at the airport to receive a wrist band indicating that we have been cleared to go. The whole process was quick and easy.

We arrived at Kahului Airport by 11AM. When we got off the plane, we could feel the humidity in the air and it was hotter than what we thought. We had to take this little tram from the terminal to the car rental center that is 5 minutes away. This time we rented car from AVIS. When we got to the rental counter, the lady asked us if we wanted a convertible at no extra cost, we thought about it and said we didn't want it because we plan to go to Haleakala in early morning. Then she gave us a Dodge Challenger. This was one big car for us to drive!

Since it was about noon, we first went for lunch. We looked around and decided to try out Kitoko Maui. It served bento like food and we liked it a lot. Afterwards, we went to Wailea Beach resort and checked in. When we were checking in, the server served us glasses of guava juice. It was quite refreshing. Also, the resort was quite large. It took us 5 minutes to walk to our room.

After taking a short rest, we headed to the shopping center across the street. There was this strong sweet smell coming from this ice cream shop, thus we grabbed ice cream from Lappert's Hawaii. It had some really special handmade ice cream flavor.

On the second day, it was the Thanksgiving Day. This was the day for us to go to Molokini for snorkeling. It was an amazing experience not just for snorkeling but also saw flying fish and whales. Afterwards, we just headed back to Wailea and enjoyed the beach.

On the third day, we woke up extremely early to go to Haleakala National Park. It was a long wait in the cold wind, but the sun rise was definitely worth it. When we got back down the mountain, we headed towards Hana. On the way to Hana, we stopped by Coconut Glen's for a quick ice cream snack. Then went to Huli Huli Chicken for lunch. The drove to Hana was painful due to windy road and some part of the road was in terrible condition.

On the fourth day, we went snorkeling at Kapalua Bay. We even saw a turtle! After snorkeling, we drove to Lahaina. It was a busy town with lots of people and interesting shops. It also had one of the largest Bayan Tree! We then went to Ululani's for the best Hawaiian shave ice. We loved it. On the way back, we stopped by Leoda's Kitchen for the famous pie. Afterwards, we went to Ono Teppanyaki & Seafood for a late lunch.

On the fifth day, we enjoyed an early morning walk by the beach and head back to the airport. Although it was a short stay, we enjoyed every moment on Maui. Maui was not as developed as Oahu, but we still enjoyed it very much. We will definitely visit again when we have the chance.

Ono Teppanyaki & Seafood

 

Ono Teppanyaki & Seafood is a food cart located at Kahului. It is very close to Kahului Airport, just about 5 minutes away. Ono Teppanyaki & Seafood serves both beef dishes and many other seafood such as shrimp, Ahi, and lobster. The place only opens 4 days a week however, and closes from Sunday to Tuesday. So make sure the place is open when heading over.

We got to Ono Teppanyaki & Seafood around noon. There was a lot of people there and the sitting area was full. When people were enjoying lunch, there were many chickens running around looking for food.

We ordered a steak & shrimp combo, and an Ahi plate. It was as pricy as any other place at Maui, so we weren't too surprised by the price.

We got our order after about 20 minutes of wait time. It took a while to get the steak cooked. Although we wanted to have the steak cooked with medium rate, the steak was more like medium well. We were okay with it since the steak was still quite juicy. We really liked the shrimp as well since it was very tendor.

The Ahi was not as good as we would have liked. We felt like it was a bit too salty for us. The plate did come with 2 larges pieces of Ahi however, which was really worth the price.

Ono Teppanyaki & Seafood is not a bad place to get lunch from. However, there were also many other choices at the same food cart area that serves shrimp, Thai food, and other local Hawaiian cuisine. We would probably try a different food cart next time.

Leoda's Kitchen Pie Shop

 

Leoda's Kitchen Pie Shop is a famous pie shop located in Maui. It serves various type of pies and mostly served with creams. Leoda's Kitchen Pie Shop is located about 10 minutes from Lahaina, right on the side of the road, but it is technically in the middle of a random place. Many people come here and grab the pie to go.

We got to Leoda's Kitchen Pie Shop in the afternoon. There was still a lot of people there. Although there was not that many parking space, but people just buy the pie and go. So there was always space to park the car.

While we were lining up, we were checking out the pies that we want to get. Each pie was about the size of a palm. We ordered 3 pies including Coconut Cream Pie, Chocolate Mac Nut Pie, and Banana Cream Pie.

The Coconut Cream Pie has fried coconut sprinkled on the top. The cream seemed to be mixed with coconut. This was not our favourite because the taste was more plain and not too special. The Chocolate Mac Nut Pie looked amazing. It had chocolate cream at the bottom, and topped with whip cream and macadamia nuts. We liked this one a lot. The Banana Cream Pie had a lot of creams filled with few pieces of banana in it. It wasn't as special as we were expecting and we felt that it had too much cream.

In general, Leoda's Kitchen Pie Shop was not as special as what we expected it to be. The flavor of the pie may be hit or miss because these pies have a lot of cream in it. So after having 1 or 2 pies, the taste bud starts to get tried of it. Also, the cream could be heavy for some people.

Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice

 

Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice is one of the most famous place to have shave ice at Hawaii. It is said to be the best shave ice in Hawaii base on the reviews. It has over 30 different flavors and you can also add toppings to the shave ice. Since this place is so popular, it is definitely something that we will not miss when visiting Hawaii.

We went to Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice located at Lahaina after having a great snorkeling experience at Kapalua Bay. When we got there, there was already a long line of around 10 people at the front of the store. While we were waiting, we checked out the menu to see what was available. The toppings that could be placed at the top of the shave ice includes azuki beans, which was the red bean paste. Other than azuki beans, there were also choices such as fried coconut and condensed milk cream. All these toppings looked so amazing to us.

We made 2 shave ice order. The first shave ice we ordered had mango, passion fruit, and coconut flavor. It also had azuki bean and condensed milk as the toppings. When the person was making it, it was shaving the ice to be a perfect sphere. Then he drilled many holes on top of the shave ice to allow flavored syrup to soak in more. The azuki bean paster was quite soft and sweet. When mixed with condensed milk, it was simply amazing.

The second shave ice we got had chocolate and coconut flavor, and included azuki bean and fried coconut as toppings. The fried coconut smelled so good. The crunchiness of the coconut mixed very well with shave ice. We really liked it.

Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice did not disappoint. It really was the best shave ice we have ever had. We would definitely go again and try different flavor next time.

Huli Huli Chicken

 

Huli Huli Chicken is a famous Hawaiian dish in Maui. Thie chicken is slowly cooked on the grill with special sauce poured on top of the chicken. On the East coast of Maui near Hana by Koki Beach, the famous Huli Huli Chicken is located there. It is so famous that the top chef Gordon Ramsay have visited this place and amazed by how juicy Huli Huli Chicken is. The video of Gordon Ramsay can be found on YouTube.

Since Huli Huli Chicken was so famous, we definitely had to try it when visiting Maui. We got to Hana by around noon and drove to Koki Beach Park. There were signs along the road indicating the direction to Huli Huli Chicken. The sign even said the place opens every single day. When we got there, there was already a lot of people. When we saw the closed sign hanging at the front of the tent, we thought all the chickens were sold out. Then when we saw rows and rows of chicken cooking on the grill, we figured that the owner was too busy and didn't have time to remove the sign.

We ordered the half chicken plate and it comes with half chicken, 2 scoops of rice, macaroni salad and green salad. We took our food to one of the tables along the beach. The breeze from the ocean felt so good, it was an amazing spot to enjoy Huli Huli Chicken.

When we opened the box, the smell of the chicken was so good. We immediately put a piece of chicken in the mouth and the chicken was very juicy. We loved it. The macaroni salad was really good too. There were potato bits in the salad. After having few more pieces of chicken, although the chicken was tasty and juicy, we started to find it to be salty. We had to drink a lot of water.

Overall, Huli Huli Chicken did not disappoint. We really enjoyed it and it is definitely the place to go to when visiting Hana.

Coconut Glen's Ice Cream

 

Coconut Glen's Ice Cream is an ice cream specialty shop. It is located along the road to Hana. The shop is simply a small food cart stall parked in an open area and serves ice cream for travelers going to Hana. The ice cream that it serves are coconut based and dairy free.

We were on our way to Hana and came across this Coconut Glen's Ice Cream. When we got there, there was already a lot of people there. There wasn't really a designated parking lot, so people just parked the car at any open space. We also saw a lot of coconut being chopped open on the ground.

There were only few ice cream flavors available to choose from and each cost $8, which was very pricy. We got the chocolate flavor and coconut flavor. The ice cream was placed in a small cup with 2 to 3 small scoops. The ice cream is not as creamy as the ones made from dairy product since it was coconut based. Since the ice cream is hand made here, the ice cream was not that cold and was melting quickly. The flavor was okay but it was just too pricy.

Since Coconut Glen's Ice Cream is located on the road to Hana, people tend to stop by this ice cream shop after a long drive along the winding Hana Highway. So even if it's pricy, people still stop by to get some snack.

Lappert's Hawaii

 

Lappert's Hawaii is a local Hawaiian shop specialized in ice cream. It offers variety of ice cream with special Hawaiian flavors. It also has 3 different types of waffles cones for people to choose from. It includes the regular waffle cone, chocolate dipped, and rainbow dipped cones. Other than ice cream, it also sells cookies and smoothies, but most people come to the shop just for ice cream.

When we got to Wailea, we did not have any plan to get ice cream from Lappert's Hawaii. When we walked into The Shops at Wailea, we immediately smelled something warm and sweet. It smelled so good. So we went on to search for where the smell was coming from and arrived at the front of Lappert's Hawaii. The smell came from the waffle cones that were being made.

The line at the front of the shop was quite long, thus we decided to try the ice cream. We waited in line for about 10 minutes since the shop was only allowing 4 customers to enter at once. We got the coconut caramel flavor and macadamia nut flavor, and got both of them in the regular waffle cone. Total cost was $12, a bit on the pricy side.

Each scoop of the ice cream was quite large and filled up the waffle cone. The coconut caramel ice cream had light taste with coconut flavor. Compared to vanilla flavor, it was less creamy. We did like the light coconut taste however, it was quite refreshing. The macadamia flavor was our favourite. We loved the scent of macadamia from the ice cream and there were small pieces of macadamia nuts in the ice cream as well. We really loved it.

Lappert's Hawaii is definitely a great place to get ice cream in Hawaii. The ice cream is hand made and offers variety of flavors. We definitely recommend it.

Kapalua Bay

Kapalua Bay is another popular snorkeling place at Maui. It is like the Hanauma Bay on Oahu where the bay is protected by the rocks on the 2 sides extending all the way out into the ocean. Thus it prevents big waves from crashing in into the bay. There are also a lot of coral reefs at the bottom of the bay and thus many sea turtles venture into the bay for food.

We got to Kapalua Bay early in the morning around 7:30AM. We got here early because the public parking at Kapalua Bay beach had very limited amount of parking spaces. We first had a walk along the coastal trail to wait for the temperature to warm up a bit more. While we were taking a walk, we saw a beautiful rainbow on the far side of the ocean. The rainbow was a full arc and was very clear and bright.

By 8:30AM, we went back to the car to pick up our snorkeling gears. When we were there, the parking lot was completely full. We were glad to get here early. Now the later comers would have to park far out on the street.

After putting our beach towel and bags down on the beach, we were ready to go into the water. The middle of the bay was full of rocks, so it was safer to enter the water from the sides. When we entered the water, the water was a bit chill but our body got used to it soon enough. The clarity of the water was not the best due to the sand, but we still saw a lot of fish along the coral reef at the bottom.

As we swam further out towards the side, there were even more variety of fish. Then as we swam around, we suddenly saw some soft patty paper like thing floating. As we approach closer, we realized that it was a leg of a turtle. There was a turtle lying at the bottom of the reef feeding on the seaweed.

It was our first time seeing the sea turtle in the ocean right beside us. We were so excited. We kept our distance from the turtle and swam around the turtle to see how it navigate through the ocean. Sometimes when there was a strong current, the turtle might get too close to us and we had to swim away. We stayed by the turtle's side for a very long time, but we really enjoyed it.

We really enjoyed Kapalua Bay. The water was calm and the beach was nicely maintained. There was also washroom and shower right by the parking lot, which was quite convenient. It was definitely a must visit place at Maui.

 

Molokini

 

Molokini is one of the most popular snorkeling place at Maui. It is not along one of the beaches on the coastline, but it is further out in the ocean. Thus a boat is required to get there. Molokini is a crater and naturally have a crescent like shape to protect the people from big waves. There are also many type of fish and coral at Molokini. At Maalaea harbour, there are many boat excursions that take tourist to Molokini every morning.

We went with Four Winds for the Molokini excursion. We got to the dock around 6:30AM in the morning and the boat leaves at 7AM. There was no free parking there and payment was required there. However, although the payment machine seems to take credit card, it did not work. Once the credit card was inserted, the machine would hang and restart. We were having trouble getting a parking ticket there. Fortunately, we were able to collect some cash and the machine was still working with cash. It was a nightmare.

When we got on the boat, it was offering breakfast such as muffins and fresh fruits. We went up to the second floor to have a better view from the top. Four Winds excursion also provided snorkeling gears such as mask and fins for people. There were also few masks with optical prescription.

As we headed towards Molokini in the early morning, the ride was very smooth. We saw many flying fish at the front of the boat. They were quite small. After about an hour of ride, we finally arrived at Molokini. There were already several boats there. The water here was quite clear and we could see deep into the water.

As many people were doing snorkeling for the first time, most people were still on the boat taking some basic lessons. We went into the ocean first. The water temperature was warm enough and did not feel cold in November.

At Molokini, the water depth was around 5-7 meters. As we swam towards the rock wall with blow holes, there were even more fish around there. We could see fish with various color such as black and yellow.

As we were having fun, we noticed that many people did not seem to be able to swim. There  were wearing floating devices around their waist and carrying floating boards. We even saw a kid who seemed to have collapsed and needed to head back to the boat. We figured that he might not have been in the water with such depth.

After 1.5 hours in the water, we headed back to the boat to grab some sandwich and drinks for lunch. When the boat was heading back to the harbour, the weather was getting extremely windy. We could see the white caps on the surface of the ocean.

We also saw several humpback whales on the way back. It was just 20 meters away from the boat. The captain of the boat stopped the engine of the boat to let the whale to come closer to us. We were lucky to see the whales raising its tail and did a deep dive into the ocean. It was quite an experience.

It is best to go to Molokini in the early morning when the ocean is calm. If the weather is too windy, some boat excursion would cancel its trip to Molokini to avoid the risk. 

Kitoko Maui

 

Kitoko Maui is a food cart restaurant that serves fresh sea food dishes in bento box. It is located on the Southwest side of Maui, just North of Kihei. It is located in the gravel parking lot right beside Azeka Shopping Center. Although Kitoko Maui is a food cart type of restaurant, it has received positive reviews from its customers due to the freshness of the food it serves. Thus it is a must try for us when visiting Maui.

As soon as we got off the plane and got our rental car, we drove straight to Kitoko as we woke up quite early and have not had any real food for the day. When we got there, there were about 5 food carts there. There were not that many tables for people to sit however and there were many wild chicken and chicks running around. Some roosters were quite large.

As we walked to the front of Kitoko, we had problem trying to figure out what to try. There was a daily special on the menu which includes lobsters. We were told that the portion of the daily special can feed 2-3 people, but it was also pricy and cost around $85. We later decided to try the Marlin Bento and Grilled Kauai Shrimp. We really wanted to try the sea food here.

We got our orders after about 10 minutes. The food was served in metal bento box, which was pretty interesting. The Marlin Bento came with 4 pieces of marlin that were slightly grilled. It also had a piece of grilled rice on the side. The side dishes in the bento included seasoned greens, egg plants and pickled cabbage. The pickled cabbage was sour than what we liked. The marlin had special dressing over it which made it quite tasty and it was very fresh.

The Grilled Kauia Shrimp came with 5 pieces of shrimps placed on top of the papaya salad. The shell around the body of the shrimp was removed, but the head was still attached. We enjoyed the grilled shrimp a lot. It was very tendor.

Overall, it was a great experience and we enjoyed the food at Kitoko. We were quite worried about the chicken in the beginning as we saw some flying to the top of the table. But when we sat down, the chickens stepped away.