Maui Bound

After 6 long years, I am finally back on my way to Hawaii with Tony. I can’t believe it’s been so long since leaving LA and, in consequence, leaving the beautiful 24-hour layovers in Hawaii. My favorite then was Lihue (Kauai), but Maui is Tony’s favorite, as well as another dear friend of mine. I’m excited to explore more for the next 10 days!

We woke up bright and early in Boston at 3AM to make a 6:50 flight to Seattle. We got upgraded to Comfort+ and took advantage of a free mimosa to celebrate the beginning of our trip. We passed the nearly 6 hour flight by watching the first two John Wick movies. Neither of us had seen any of them, so we figured now would be the perfect time for a movie marathon.

Before we knew it, we were landing in a cloudy Seattle, with no views of Mt. Rainier. Bummer! If you’ve flown into SeaTac, then you know the view I’m talking about, hehe. I could take hundreds of photos of it, and it would still not be enough. We found a lounge we could get into with Priority Pass, and we had a few drinks and some snacks while we waited for the flight to Maui. When I tell you this was the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever had, it’s the truth! It was spicy and so flavorful! My goal now is to concoct my own BM recipe and perfect it! Hehe

We didn’t get upgraded for the flight to Maui, but we did get a row to ourselves! Love when that happens! We finished up the third John Wick movie and then watched Sherlock Holmes. The closer we got, the more excitement permeated the entire airplane. JUST before landing, we could finally see some of the island, and it was tantalizing. We’re so close!

Once we arrived, Tony texted his friend Christian, and we worked our way to baggage claim. The long-awaited reunion between these two was almost as if it was out of a movie, nearly running towards each other, both with beards they didn’t have the last time, embracing each other in a heartfelt hug.

We grabbed our luggage and quickly made our way to a food truck plaza for some much needed dinner. We hadn’t really eaten much besides snacks and leftover pizza the entire day.. nearly 20 hours total of travel time. Tony and I shared a Poke bowl, and I ordered pulled pork sliders, and he ordered buffalo chicken sliders.

After polishing off our delcious meals, we made our way to Christian’s parents’ house, who were kind enough to allow us to stay with them on our trip. The house is amazing! Really unique octagonal architecture and a huge porch in the back, with a view of the town lights and chickens in the yard. We finished the tour and decided to call it a night. We were exhausted after all, and the shower was calling our name.

Day 2:

Holy Moly, did we sleep like rocks! The room we’re staying in has a couple of fans, and it was the perfect temperature. Warm enough to almost not need a blanket, but cool enough to wrap up and cuddle with it. Glorious.

We awoke early to the sound of roosters and to the needs of our bladders. We slept in for another several hours, truly recovering from our long travel day. And when we finally got up to get ready for our first day, we noticed fresh squeezed orange juice in the bathroom for us. How sweet! And how yummy it was! Tart and fresh and the perfect way to start off the morning. As we were getting ready, we wanted to pass off a small gift we had brought for our kind hosts, some coffee from New England, and a Boston mug. Christian’s mom, Susan, then offered to make us lattes. How could we say no? Hehe. After humbly denying the fact she wasn’t a barista, Susan brought us the most delicious and frothy lattes…..again, what better way to start the day! Hehe, mahalo! We chatted with Susan and Gerry, getting to know them a little better.

Soon though, we parted ways, and Tony and I began packing a day pack for the beach. Today was all about relaxation and a slow introduction to the island. But first, a stop at Baked on Maui, a delicious coffee spot Tony came to every day when he last stayed in this area, and highly recommended by my friend, Jaimee. I got more coffee and a skillet breakfast that was to die for, and Tony got a chai latte and a BLT. We’ll definitely be stopping by here again, if not every day, hehe.

Once we finished our breakfast/lunch, we meandered our way through sleepy Paia and towards the beach. We ended up at the Secret Beach, not so secret, but also not very busy at all. The waves here were quite large and intimidating. I may have mentioned before that I have a healthy respect for the power of the ocean. She is not to be messed with, hehe. I never got in further than my knees, but Tony bravely went further, and I watched as he got knocked around, confirming my decision to stay at the edge of the surf, hehe.

There were plenty of boogie boarders and a couple of surfers out, but the most inestering one was a man with a remote controlled surfboard toy. We couldn’t wait to see him put that baby in action, lol. It was so cool! And we had never seen nor heard of anything like it. You just never know what you’ll stumble across.

We walked down towards the end of the beach where the ruins of an old bunker stood, holding on for dear life. As we approached the dilapidated structure, we saw a sea turtle on the beach. He didn’t look so hot, and we wondered if it was even alive. It had a big tumor-like mass next to its head, and one of its eyes looked worse for wear. As we’re trying to decide if it’s alive or not, a big wave came up and submerged the little guy, and it was enough to disturb his deep sleep. He moved his head around a bit and eventually put it back down and returned to a deathly still sleep. We hope he was healthy enough to eventually get back into the water.

After several hours, we packed our things and decided to try another beach, one that I had found, called Baby Beach. Named because the beach was protected by a rock reef/sand bar, and the waves were not as strong; perfect for small children and, Amelia, lol. There were two sides to this beach, and on the left, we could see the ‘Īao Valley Mountains, and there were a ton of big volcanic boulders we could walk across, with small tide pools in between. Lots of little fishes and crabs.

The Baby Beach side was really cute and lived up to its name…A bunch of families with small kids, hehe. Perhaps because of the rock outcropping, this beach also had a lot of shells and rocks to look at while walking along.

We saw another sea turtle here, too! She was HUGE! Way bigger than the last one we had seen. And it even took us a minute to see her. We probably would’ve tripped over her if we were paying any less attention, hehe. It was so cool to see these two sea turtles just lounging on the sand, and nobody was bothering them. I hope we get to see more!

After waking around here a bit, we decided to head back to town for some dinner. The traffic was horrendous. But, it didn’t take long before we reached a public parking lot and were lucky enough to find a spot! We strolled around and window shopped for a bit before deciding on eating at the Paia Coffee and Bar Company. They had live music and a very open space.

We enjoyed a couple of cocktails here, a Bloody Mary that paled in comparison to that of the airport lounge, hehe, and a coconut espresso martini….yum! Hehe. We shared a dish called the local moco….absolutely phenomenal; wagyu beef with rice, carmelized onions, pickled cabbage, and a very tasty sauce.

After dinner we went for some gelato! I got POG (passionfruit, orange, guava) and haipu (a creamy coconut flavor). The person who served us said he used to work for Delta in Venezuela! How funny that I’d run into another Delta employee.

Once we had our fill, we drove back to our lovely accommodations to call it a night.

Day 3:

Started the day off right at Baked on Maui for some breakfast and some coffee. Love this place!

We met up with Christian and Paige, and they drove us up on the road to Hana a little bit to a bamboo forest that was off the side of the road. Literally, we parked the car and then tried to find an opening in the bamboo to get in. If it looks like the trail, it is the trail, haha. It was surreal being in the midst of so much bamboo…looking left, and looking right through all the plants almost made you feel dizzy.

We meandered our way down to a beautiful river and began following a trail alongside the river and hopping across rocks to make progress closer and closer to some waterfalls. We saw 3 medium-sized waterfalls, all absolutely beautiful! Next to one of them, in order to continue on the trail, we had to climb a ladder and use a knotted rope to hoist ourselves up to the next level. Talk about some adventure! Haha.

But we weren’t done there….we kept going until we came to what looked like the last of the waterfalls, and we noticed a bunch of belongings scattered along a rock ledge. Paige and Christian began to unload their shoes and clothes, preparing to jump off the rock into the river, where we would then swim to get up close and personal with this “last” waterfall.

We jump in tentatively, knowing the water is going to be chilly. What an understatement that was! Haha, the water felt frigid! But off we go! Haha. We were told earlier about a waterfall scramble, and I sort of just went along with it, not really knowing what that meant. Maybe the ladder and rope we climbed? Nope!

Literally, we would be scrambling up the waterfall to the next level of the river. Ummm……okay? Is this really safe? Lol. Paige goes first and monkeys herself up in no time, followed by Tony, who gets up pretty quickly, and then it’s my turn. I watched how they got up, but there was a point where I didn’t feel secure enough to hoist myself up with the handholds I had found. Tony grabbed my hand and helped pull me up. Not sure I could’ve done it without him! Hehe, thank you! Mahalo!

As soon as we had achieved what felt impossible, we were hugely rewarded with the most magnificent waterfall of all! It was easily 5 times taller than all the others we had seen and was just gorgeous! The death-defying waterfall scramble was worth it! We sat on some dry rocks to try and warm up, but it didn’t help much, hehe. The sun didn’t reach this low in the valley, and we were just gonna have to suck it up and let the beauty of the view warm us from the inside out.

After basking in our achievements and the view, we made our way back. Thankfully, we had the option to jump back in by the waterfall we scrambled up. I wouldn’t want to do that in reverse, lol. We did our best to dry out a little bit before gathering our things and making our way back towards the car.

I had decided on the way in to go barefoot, as my trail sneakers were no match for the slippery mud and rocks, which worked for me for quite a while, but then, I leaped from on rock to another to cross the river, and I came down hard on my right heel. Ouch! I felt the shockwave go through my body. Well, that sucks. Nothing was broken, and all in all, a minor injury, but not very comfortable! Haha. I hobbled around on the rocks until we got to a place I could put on my shoes. At least my poor heel had some cushion, even if I was slipping and sliding, lol.

We drove back to Haiku and stopped to grab some post-hike grub at a food truck area. I had one of the best Mediterranean plates I’ve ever had! Would love to go back before we leave the island.

After our lunch/dinner, we walked over to the local market and picked up some beer to enjoy while we sat out by the pool at the house. This pool was beautiful! It had a grotto with a waterfall when turned on. Hehe. The pool looked like it hadn’t been used for a while, so we opted not to get in. It was also pretty cold, and we were still warming up from the cold river water. Hehe. But, the four of us hung out and enjoyed our beers for a while until it was dark, and then we called it a night.

Stay tuned for more Maui adventures! 😉