{"id":1634,"date":"2024-04-16T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amberrfield.com\/staging\/1483\/?p=1634"},"modified":"2024-04-15T13:38:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T18:38:28","slug":"maui-hawaii-an-excellent-place-to-chill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amberrfield.com\/staging\/1483\/maui-hawaii-an-excellent-place-to-chill\/","title":{"rendered":"Maui, Hawaii: An Excellent Place to Chill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, I wrote about the first half of our spring break trip to Hawaii’s Big Island<\/a>. This week, we dive into the second half of our Hawaiian Vacation: the island of Maui. Maui was by far my favorite of the two islands, but that may just have been a reflection of what we chose to do there. We purposefully decided to take it easy and skipped crowded places such as the Road to Hana<\/a> in favor of having more time in nature and less time in the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lahaina’s Recovery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost, let’s talk about Lahaina’s recovery from the devastating fires last August<\/a>. That is to say, in no way is Lahaina recovered. The whole area that used to be Historic Lahaina is gone and it’s blocked off to make room for trucks hauling out debris. Visitors can still see all of the destruction from the main bypass, as well as a lovely memorial to the people who lost their lives in the fires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lahaina
Lahaina Fire Destruction<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Lahaina
Lahaina Fire Memorial<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We kept in touch with our condo owners & the people we rented our car from to ensure they were doing ok and to ask if they wanted us to find another reservation so that people who lost their homes could have a place to live. Both came back with the same message: “Please don’t cancel your trip to Maui! Our economy is tanking and we need the tourism.” So with that, we went to Maui and I’m so, so glad we did!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maui’s Beautiful Beaches & Nature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Napili Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most of what we did on Maui was relax at the beach and eat delicious, local food. Our condo, which was 12 miles North of historic Lahaina, had a beautiful view, complete with great snorkeling right off the back patio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Maui<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We saw whales often in the distance, dolphins, and lots and lots of turtles (that we were careful to keep 10 feet away from per Federal law).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our favorite beach was Napili Beach (pictured above), which was 10 minutes North of where we stayed. It was a bit hard to park if you got there after 9am, but relatively uncrowded, sandy, and also a great place to snorkel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maui has many such beaches tucked into every corner. We passed by several like this one during a hike on the Kapalua Coastal Trail<\/a>, which is an easy 2-mile hike one-way through resorts, beaches, and rocky outcroppings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kapalua Bay Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kapalua
Kapalua Coastal Trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trilogy Snorkeling Excursion to Molokini Crater<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The very best thing we did on the entire trip to Hawaii that everyone agrees was amazing was our snorkeling trip with Trilogy Excursions<\/a>. I could not believe how highly-rated Trilogy was when I was planning this trip, but now I know they are worth every, single penny you spend on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Molokini
The Girls @ Molokini Crater | Photo By Island Dream Productions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We set sail in the morning on one of Trilogy’s six catamarans. They fed us a homemade cinnamon bun & fruit for breakfast while we sailed to Hawaii’s Molokini Crater. This was an excellent snorkeling location if you like fish and clear, blue waters. We saw a lot of coral, a starfish, and all kinds of tropical fish at this stop. Then, we sailed to a place called “turtle town” in search of some sea turtles and were lucky enough to see several despite the high waves at that spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was just an absolutely perfect weather day too. On the way back we got an exceptional lunch (BBQ chicken, rice, salad) and all the drinks (alcoholic and otherwise) we wanted. The kids were asked to take several servings of ice cream. I think that’s the reason they<\/em> highly recommend this tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my favorite part was that on the way home, our snorkeling tour turned into a whale-watching tour! We saw several humpback whales (moms with their babies and maybe a male escort or two) and learned all about them. The crew was fantastic. They even had a whale microphone so we got to hear them talking to each other. They did not sound like Dory from Finding Nemo<\/em>, for what it’s worth. Hear for yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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