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If you know me, you know I love a good flight deal… so in October, while we were driving up to Yellowstone, we decided to make good on a flight deal and buy tickets to Maui for $370 roundtrip. So, at the beginning of January 2020 Matt and I went to Maui, Hawaii.
Since we were traveling during the Covid-19 pandemic, Hawaii has gotten more strict and has a lot of requirements before you can enter their state. This includes getting a negative Covid test by the time that you land. If you aren’t able to show proof of a negative test when you land in the airport, they will send you straight back home. Not only do you need to show a negative test though, it HAS to be a “Hawaii approved test” from a “Hawaii approved testing site.” To find out more about testing requirements go here, and to see which testing sites are Hawaii approved, go to this site.
In Utah County and Salt Lake County, at the time of our testing there were only three Hawaii Approved testing sites. They are all Walgreens locations in Draper, West Valley, and Tooele. Each site has 25 time slots per day that you can sign up for, but again, this was for all Utah and Salt Lake Counties, so you can imagine how competitive it was to sign up for a test. Here is a checklist of everything required to get your test.
- You must find a Hawaii Approved testing site.
- Your test has to be taken within 72 hours of your flight into Hawaii.
- You must sign up for your test time three days before.
- In order to sign up three days before, you have to get onto the website right at 5PM (no later) and refresh the page 1,000x until the time slots become available and you can snag one. BE QUICK! These time slots fill up in less than one minute!
- Take your test and get a negative result before you land.
- Make an account and upload your test result to Hawaii Safe Travels.
Here is a breakdown of how this all went down. Since we were flying out on Thursday (Jan 7th), we knew we would have to get tested within 72 hours of our flight, which meant we needed to sign up for a test on Monday (Jan 4th). This meant we had to log on to the Hawaii Approved testing site signup page at EXACTLY 5pm on Thursday (December 31st) since the slots are released 3 days before. Then once we took our test and got our result back, we needed to upload it to Hawaii Safe Travels and have a printed copy of our negative test to show to Hawaii officials when we landed.
PHEW! In the end, the week before traveling was extremely stressful because there was no room for error. But luckily, everything worked out great and we had an amazing time in Hawaii.
If you have read any of our other blog posts, you know that Matt and I love to travel with friends, we think it makes the experience more fun. We absolutely loved going to Maui with my parents (read about their blog post to Maui, here), and my fun Aunt and Uncle, Shauna and Don. It not only was a blast getting to travel with them, but it also helped keep costs down, as Hawaii is quite expensive.
We boarded our flight early Thursday morning and arrived in Hawaii around 3:30pm. Our first stop was Costco, near the airport, to stock up on some snacks for our week-long stay. Since our trunk was full of luggage, Matt and I had to wedge some food in between us in our rental van.
We rented an Airbnb condo right across from the beach in Kihei. We had an incredible view from the lanai and watched many sunrises and sunsets here. We loved staying in Kihei which is on the southwest side of the island. We loved how central it was and had lots of great restaurants and activities.
Once we got unpacked at the condo and all the food put away, it was time for dinner. We checked google maps for great reviews of restaurants close by and found a couple of local food trucks just up the road. Aloha Thai Fusion and Kinaole Grill both serve delicious local food and are here almost every night.
Since we were so close to the beach, we decided to walk down and find a table to eat dinner and watch the sunset. It was beautiful!
We woke up early the next morning and headed North towards Lahaina and went snorkeling at Black Rock and Kaanapali Beach. Black Rock Beach is a very popular beach and has crowds most of the time.
When we arrived, the beach was almost empty and we saw only about 30 other people. This spot is great for snorkeling, playing in the sand, or even cliff jumping off of Black Rock. We felt this beach had good visibility and had some cool reef and fish to see. To get to the reef we had to swim around Black Rock into a small cove. We even saw our first sea turtle here.
After Black Rock we headed to Kaanapali Beach which was a much busier beach. The reef here parallels the beach which is great because you don’t have to swim too far out into the ocean to explore. However, we didn’t love this beach or reef as much and only snorkeled for a bit before heading out. The reef here just didn’t seem to have as much sea life, maybe due to how exposed it was. There weren’t many good places for fish to hide.
After snorkeling, we stopped at Teddy’s Bigger Burgers in Lahaina for lunch and it was delicious! I especially appreciate a good, crispy fry that is seasoned to perfection.
On our road back there is a cool lookout point where you can see humpback whales during whale season. We loved being in Hawaii during whale season and saw many blowholes and whale breaches at this lookout and while driving along the coast.
After showering off the sand and saltwater, we drove up to Haleakala National Park. Haleakala translates to House of the Sun in Hawaiian. To get there, you must journey up the switchback road rising from sea level to 10,000 ft in only 38 miles…one of the shortest ascending roads to this elevation in the entire world. During the drive you’ll ascend above the cloud layer and emerge to what seems a whole different planet.
Haleakala is one of the two volcanos that make up Maui and the summit is 10,023 feet above the ocean. It literally felt like we were on top of the world up there.
One side of the summit looks down into a massive crater about 7 miles across, 2 miles wide and close to 3000 ft deep. On the other side you can view the observatories and the other Volcano that makes up the north part of Maui from a distance.
We loved exploring the summit and saw some amazing views, but our true purpose for going to the summit was to see the sunset. On Haleakala, it is more popular to see the sunrise and you are required to get a reservation in order to do so. This would be a unique experience, as the park rangers lead guests in a morning ritual to welcome the sun each day. However, after doing some research, we read that the sunset is equally as stunning, but you don’t need a reservation and you won’t have to worry as much about crowds. We found this to be true and it was incredible. We saw only about 5 other cars up at the summit around the same time as us watching the sunset, and we were able to have completely unobstructed views and no photo-bombed pictures.
After watching the sunset, we headed back down the mountain and went to a delicious Italian restaurant called Serpicos. It was a small restaurant that was very busy and it seemed all the locals enjoy.
On our second day, Matt and I went scuba diving with Prodiver Maui and absolutely loved it. We did a two-tank scuba tour and they took us out to Molokini Crater. Molokini is located 3 miles off Maui’s southwestern coast. This crater is popular for snorkeling on the inside of the crater as the crescent shape protects snorkelers from powerful currents. You can also dive the outer wall which is a sheer 300 foot drop and has amazing visibility of around 100 feet.
We absolutely loved diving here and it was an experience like no other with the reef vertical to the ocean floor. It was so cool to be 75′ deep, exploring the reef, and listening to the incredible songs of the whales, which were constant!
Make sure to turn your sound up on this next video!
The reef was on one side and the Big Blue ocean was on the other. Our boat captain told us to explore the reef, but to continually keep looking out to Big Blue because you never know what you will see. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any whales, but they were so loud and our captain saw them while we were diving and said they were very close to us. However, we did see lots of beautiful fish, several moray eels, a handful of taqos (Japanese-derived slang for octopus), and the other group of our tour saw 2 6-foot reef sharks, but they were gone by the time we passed the “shark-cleaning station”. :'(
After our dive, we headed back to the condo to shower and get ready for a Luau. We headed up to the Northwest side of the island near Lahaina and explored some shops and saw this cool Banyan Tree at one of the parks. When planted, this tree was only 8′ tall but now stands over 60′ tall and has rooted into 16 major trunks, apart from the main one. This specific tree is not only the largest Banyan tree in Hawaii, but also in the US.
While we were exploring the grounds, a huge downpour of rain came. We didn’t have any umbrellas with us so we used the large branches of the tree for cover until the rain slowed.
The rain finally slowed to a drizzle after about 20 minutes and we headed to the Luau which was called the Old Lahaina Luau. This was the only thing we booked for our trip before coming to Hawaii and we were sure glad because it was AMAZING! It was definitely the highlight of our trip, but be warned, it books out fast! We loved that Old Lahaina Luau is the only traditional Hawaiian Luau, meaning there are no fire dancers, because that’s not technically traditional to Hawaii.
Pre-COVID, this luau was an open buffet, they have changed it into a traditional service dinner due to health code reasons. They served us a 5-course dinner with each dish being traditional to Hawaii, and it was all delicious. We got to try many new things and even though I’m not a seafood fan, the fish tasted great! We ordered (Virgin) Lava Flow, after Lava Flow, after Lava Flow and it was delicious!
The music was performed by a live band and the dancing and costumes were amazing.
The show included a story of how Hawaii came to be and was very authentic and captivating. It was about 3 hours long from start to finish, and about halfway through, it started to rain. Not rain like traditional rain, but rain that misted for an entire hour. It wasn’t cold and we weren’t completely drenched, but with a constant misting for that long, we were definitely wet by the end. The rain didn’t deter anyone. The dancers kept on dancing and no one left. If you decide to book a Luau while on Hawaii, which you should, I recommend bringing an umbrella. 😉
On our third day in Maui, we drove the famous Road to Hana. It is a very well-known drive along the north and east side of the island, and passes straight through the town of Hana, which is how it gets its name. Most of the drive is along a cliffside road that is barely big enough for two cars to pass each other, with countless narrow bridges along the way. It is a twisty road with tight turns, so if you get even slightly carsick, like Matt does occasionally, we suggest preemptively taking dramamine to make the ride enjoyable. The drive itself is only about 64 miles, but it will take 7-8 hours, as it is very crowded, and nobody should travel faster than about 20mph at any time. There are also several places to pull-off and view waterfalls, go on short hikes, or eat at local food trucks in Hana.
While most people take the traditional route and end their drive at Haleakala National Park before backtracking, there is a more dangerous and unmarked way known as the backroad to Hana. My dad found this path and decided it was the best option because it allowed us to start at the portion of Haleakala that most people end at, and therefore do the hikes and sights with less of a crowd. Be aware though, most car rental agencies include in their agreement’s fine print that taking the backroad to Hana is not allowed with their vehicle, so I wouldn’t suggest planning this route unless you are a bit of a rebel.
The two hikes that we did in the Haleakala NP at the beginning of the day were the Seven Pools and the Pipiwei Waterfall. The Seven Pools hike is about 0.5 miles roundtrip, with a waterfall that flows into several large pools before emptying straight into the ocean. It has some beautiful sights and we would recommend it to anyone. The Pipiwei waterfall trail is and out-n-back trail that is about 4 miles round trip.
On the Pipiwei trail there is a huge banyan tree, that both Matt and I found more impressive than the famous one in Lahaina, as well as a spectacular bamboo forest, and the trail ends at the 400ft waterfall.
The waterfall is too high to safely swim in the pool below it, and the trail ends quite a ways off, so it is something more to enjoy from a distance, but still amazing. We both enjoyed the banyan tree and the bamboo forest part of this hike more than the waterfall at the end.
After leaving the park, we continued along the Road the Hana until we reached a pull-off for a food stand called Huli Huli Chicken. They have a place right along a black sand beach, and their food is incredible. It is a small ma and pa restaurant, with HUGE portions, and amazing flavors. We would recommend sharing a standard plate between two adults, or getting the family plate to share with 3-5 adults.
The rest of the drive was beautiful, but somewhat underwhelming for Matt and I, as we were stuffed in the backseat of our rental mini-van and had limited visibility. While the drive is considered one of the most beautiful in the world, it is not one that we would readily do again. After the hikes at the park and the Huli Huli chicken, we found that we would have been happier spending time in the water searching for sea turtles than stuck in a car going around seemingly endless turns.
Before we ended the drive, we made a short stop at a beautiful black sand beach.
After the drive, we went to Tiki Lounge for dinner which has DELICIOUS pizza and super yummy breadsticks, before heading back to our condo and taking the rest of the night easy.
The following day, our last full day on the Island, we started out the morning going snorkeling at Maluaka beach. This is located about 20 minutes south of Kihei, and was by-far our favorite beach we visited. The beach itself was empty when we arrived at about 8:00am, and had plenty of space for groups to spread out. We started out swimming along the south side of the beach first, and found some spectacular reef life and a lot of sea urchins and fish. We found one part of the reef with all the sea urchins still in it, carving their paths through it, as can be seen in the picture below.
Then we swam up to the north side of the beach, looking for sea turtles, but unfortunately found none. However we did see two taqos fighting or possibly making love, it was hard to tell which…
Once we got out, we headed to the rinse-off station, which was also one of the nicest we have ever seen, and then headed back to the condo to get ready for our whale watching and snorkeling catamaran tour that afternoon.
We booked with Four Winds, and due to the limited capacity of Covid, were on a boat meant for 100 people, with only about 30 guests total. It was an unforgettable experience. We saw countless whales breaching with their backs and tales, and too many blow-holes to count. We left out of the Maalaea harbor, and headed toward Molokini crater for the snorkeling. Typically, afternoon tours visit Coral Gardens for the snorkeling trip, but the wind and waves were calm enough that the crater was an available option. It was about an hour ride out to the crater, with several stops for whale viewing along the way. Then we docked at the crater for an hour and a half of snorkeling and lunch, before heading back to the harbor.
Between our two dives a few days earlier around the backside of the crater, and this snorkeling experience inside the crater, Matt and I had the opportunity to explore almost all of Molokini. The crater itself has a depth of about 30-40 feet in most spots, and was a perfect location for us to test out our novice free-diving that we were introduced to through our Open Water dive certification.
The whole catamaran tour was about 3.5-4 hours, and afterwards we went back to our condo to shower and change, before heading to Coconut’s Fish Grille for dinner. It is a local eatery with two locations in Kihei, and had great, fresh tasting seafood and chicken. Matt ordered the Ono (locals call it Wahoo, which means delicious). Ono is a local fish that has a mild seafood flavor and tasted great with the lemon marinade it was cooked in. I ordered the chicken and it was also “wahoo”…. 😉
On Tuesday morning, we tried one more snorkeling trip out to Turtle Town. We entered the water from the lava rock beach near Makena landing and Five Graves, and immediately saw a sea turtle that was invisible underwater, but only about 5 feet from our entry point. Unfortunately we spooked it, and it quickly hid in a deep alcove. The official turtle town dive site is a significant swim out into the ocean, and we headed that way, but after not having any luck finding turtles, we headed back closer to shore.
That is where we spotted her, MA30 (at least this is the identification marker painted onto her shell). She was beautiful! We hung around her for about 30 minutes, watching her swim and observing from a distance, only occasionally diving down to see her closer up, doing our best to stay the 10ft away that is required by Hawaii law. After saying bye to her, our snorkeling expedition was complete, and we knew we could fly home that night happy.
After snorkeling, we went back to the condo to pack up our things and finish up some souvenir shopping, get lunch, and eat some shaved ice for one last time. We were lucky as our favorite shaved ice stand was right next to our building, and the greatest t-shirt shop ever was only a short five-minute walk down the road. If you go to Maui, you must go to Peace Love Shave Ice. There is the original located in Lahaina, but that owner’s son opened one just a year ago in Kihei, and it was amazing. Great flavor combinations, and large portion sizes, and the owner is so friendly and always up for a chat.
Up the road among other souvenir shops is a little gem called 808 Clothing. They have the most comfortable t-shirts we have ever worn and very unique designs. They hire local tattoo artists from Maui to design all of their shirts, and change up artists every 3-4 years so keep things fresh. They had a BOGO 50% off deal going while we were there, so Matt bought two shirts and two hats, and I bought a shirt and a hat for myself as well. We also convinced my parents to each get a shirt, as well as Shauna and Don, who all agreed that the quality and designs were top-notch.
For lunch, we visited Joy’s Place and got sandwiches and macaroni salad. It was good and fresh, but the most outstanding thing there was the friendly service. We felt like and were treated as regulars, even though we had never stepped foot in the shop before.
For our last adventure of the trip, we visited Iao Valley State Park, and did the short walk up to the lookout of the Iao Needle. It is a geographical formation that was carved by excessive wind and rain over millennia and was considered by the Hawaiians to be sacred. It is 1200-feet-tall, and a stunning sight. There is also a short garden walk and other picturesque viewpoints in this small valley.
After Iao Valley, we headed to the airport for our flight home.
Our experience in Hawaii was unforgettable, and the kindness that we experienced from the locals was always noteworthy. The Island lifestyle is truly a happy one, and it is hard to not bring that care-free attitude with you back home. We are so grateful for our experience on this island, and look forward to a time when we can go back and explore Kauai or possibly Oahu or the Big Island.
Mahalo Hawaii, and Aloha ’til next time.
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