Maui on my mind

[Luanne]

We have a few days left on what has been a wonderful trip to Maui. Dh and I are spending two weeks here at Maui Hill (where we own). We are not staying in our unit, but Trading Places Maui (LOVE them!) was able to put us into the same unit for both weeks so we didn't have to move. We've decided to come back next year and stay in the unit we own (a 3-bedroom at the end of August) and Trading Place Maui (did I mention I LOVE them) has already found us an adjacent week.

This trip we took two separate sunrise whale watch tours with Pacific Whale Foundation. The first one was so great we decided to do another one and went out this morning. On the first trip we saw a lot of whales and as we were coming back towards the harbor one whale did the "whale tail" thing at least 10 times in a row. I've never seen that happen before. Today was equally as good. We saw a mother and baby whale both breech, one after the other. Saw another mother swimming on her back. Amazing stuff.

The only negative we encountered was that they are now charging for parking at the Iao Needle. It irritated dh to the point we didn't stop. We ended up driving a ways up the back side of the island to an area we'd never been before. So the negative turned out to be a positive.

 

[Quimby4]

We have a few days left on what has been a wonderful trip to Maui. Dh and I are spending two weeks here at Maui Hill (where we own). We are not staying in our unit, but Trading Places Maui (LOVE them!) was able to put us into the same unit for both weeks so we didn't have to move. We've decided to come back next year and stay in the unit we own (a 3-bedroom at the end of August) and Trading Place Maui (did I mention I LOVE them) has already found us an adjacent week.

This trip we took two separate sunrise whale watch tours with Pacific Whale Foundation. The first one was so great we decided to do another one and went out this morning. On the first trip we saw a lot of whales and as we were coming back towards the harbor one whale did the "whale tail" thing at least 10 times in a row. I've never seen that happen before. Today was equally as good. We saw a mother and baby whale both breech, one after the other. Saw another mother swimming on her back. Amazing stuff.

The only negative we encountered was that they are now charging for parking at the Iao Needle. It irritated dh to the point we didn't stop. We ended up driving a ways up the back side of the island to an area we'd never been before. So the negative turned out to be a positive.

How much are they charging at Iao?
What do you mean back side of island?
Maui is always on my mind

 

[artringwald]

Iao Valley State Park charges $5 for parking. A small price to pay to help keep the park maintained.

 

[Luanne]

Iao Valley State Park charges $5 for parking. A small price to pay to help keep the park maintained.

I think what bothered us was that we've been coming to Maui since the 1980's. Last time we were here was 2 years ago and no charge for parking then. We wondered who really manages the parking, is it the park, or a private company (with the park getting a cut).

I did a quick look up and found that the parking fee does not apply to Hawaii residents (which is nice for them). So, stick it to the tourists. As we've been to the Iao Needle many times most likely we won't go back.

 

[Luanne]

How much are they charging at Iao?
What do you mean back side of island?
Maui is always on my mind

Not sure if "back side" is the correct term. We took highway 340, the Kahului Beach Road out of Kahului, which became the Waiehu Beach Rd. We went as far as the Waiehu Golf Course and beach park. The road after that, according to the map, is not good. If you continue on that road you'd eventually end up in Kapalua, then Kaanapali and Lahaina.

 

[Kauai Kid]

I drove the "back side" once. The road is carved into the side of the cliff with rocks on the road that had fallen from the cliff. In places it is only one lane wide, with no guard rail. Remember too that the cars going up hill have the right of way because drum brakes work better when you are going forward.

There is no scenery to see either because the driver is concentrating on the road in front of the car and the passengers all have their eyes closed. :hysterical:

A few years ago when the mountain side above the tunnel was on fire they wouldn't let anyone use the "back side"road so many people had an extended vacation since airline crews were on that side of Maui.

I wouldn't do it again unless my life or my wife's life depended on it.

You dun the rite thing by turning around.

Sterling

 

[Luanne]

Years ago I did the "back side" for a bit starting from the other side (Kapalua). As I recall it was quite pretty and I think we did turn around when the road started to get bad. So I'd never been on the stretch of road we were on yesterday before. There is a whole little town up there, and the gold course looks quite nice. The parking lot for the golf course was pretty full so I'm guessing it's a popular place.

 

[LisaRex]

They've made quite a bit of improvements to the road that runs along the "skull" of Maui. They've blasted out the sides of mountains to widen the road and reduce the chance of meeting someone else on a hairpin turn, and installed guardrails. The improvements went from Ka'anapali to the Nakelele blowhole (and perhaps beyond, but that's where we stopped). I don't know if they've made any more progress in the in the 2 years since I've been there, but I was amazed how nice it was in '10.

We went on a guided hike in '08 that involved driving this road counter-clockwise. I was glad that a local was doing the driving!

 

[ampaholic]

I drove the "back side" once. The road is carved into the side of the cliff with rocks on the road that had fallen from the cliff. In places it is only one lane wide, with no guard rail. Remember too that the cars going up hill have the right of way because drum brakes work better when you are going forward.

There is no scenery to see either because the driver is concentrating on the road in front of the car and the passengers all have their eyes closed. :hysterical:

A few years ago when the mountain side above the tunnel was on fire they wouldn't let anyone use the "back side"road so many people had an extended vacation since airline crews were on that side of Maui.

I wouldn't do it again unless my life or my wife's life depended on it.

You dun the rite thing by turning around.

Sterling

I agree; if you want to see that coast - take a boat tour along the north shore - or use google earth.

Even the google mapping car turned around there.

 

[klpca]

They've made quite a bit of improvements to the road that runs along the "skull" of Maui. They've blasted out the sides of mountains to widen the road and reduce the chance of meeting someone else on a hairpin turn, and installed guardrails. The improvements went from Ka'anapali to the Nakelele blowhole (and perhaps beyond, but that's where we stopped). I don't know if they've made any more progress in the in the 2 years since I've been there, but I was amazed how nice it was in '10.

We went on a guided hike in '08 that involved driving this road counter-clockwise. I was glad that a local was doing the driving!

That's good to know - we backed down the hairpin turns in 2008 because a small tour bus was coming downhill and after that tense experience we said never again! When we finally made it up the hill we discovered that we had been almost to the place where the road widens. Why the tour bus couldn't have backed up 100 feet I'll never know. Now we'll have to make another trip up there to check it out.