We ate at Aloha Mixed Plate restaurant which was highly recommended by our guidebook, but we were not that impressed. The restaurant has two sections – one section closer to the water, with better views (including a nice sunset view), does not serve alchohol. The other section, on a deck with limited ocean ... (read more →)

We ate a couple of times at the Sunrise Cafe. It’s a little hole-in-the-wall next to the harbour, serving delicious eggs, omelettes, french toast, etc. The second time we went, the service was very slow, but they did warn us this would be the case. It’s just off the main street. There ... (read more →)

After our great experience with the Pacific Whale Foundation on the whaleatching trip, we decided to go with them on their 5 hour snorkeling trip. The trip started from Maalaea harbour, and checkin was at 6:15 AM – a rather ungodly hour, given that we were a good 40 minute drive from there since ... (read more →)

The Pacific Whale Foundation is a non-profit research group that is also one of the primary boat tour operators on the island. They have several whalewatching trips a day, some leaving from Lahaina, and some leaving from Maalaea. Our morning trip was 2 hours long, and cost $35 each with the AAA discount. ... (read more →)

For our last night in Maui, we wanted to stay close to the airport, since we had an early flight out the next morning to Kauai. There isn’t much choice for hotels in the area immediately surrounding the airport (Kahului) but with Expedia we found the Maui Beach Hotel, at $130 a night. ... (read more →)

For dinner we headed to the Hana Ranch Restaurant. It’s one of the 2 restaurants open for dinner in Hana (the other is at Hotel Hana, and is apparently very high-end). They serve hamburgers and macaroni and cheese. There is a veggie burger, made from taro root. It’s pre-made and is ... (read more →)

We decided to overnight in Hana, so we didn’t have to drive there and back in one day.  We had a hard time finding a moderately priced hotel room in Hana, and we ended up at Hana Kai Maui Resort, an oceanfront condo resort on Waikaloa Beach, which, at $250 was more than we were ... (read more →)

We stayed at the Sheraton, which is at the end of Kaanapali Beach.  It faces Black Rock, a popular spot for locals who want to try cliff diving.
There are beach “cabanas” and loungers available to rent from the Sheraton.  Other hotels had the same rentals going on. The water was sometimes a little rougher, but ... (read more →)

The Sheraton Maui is right on Kaanapali Beach, and has a prime spot next to Black Rock. The grounds are fairly large and there is a big pool with multiple sections and a small slide to connect 2 different levels. The pool is free-form and surrounded by “lava rock” and tropical plants and palm trees. ... (read more →)

Our first 5 nights on Maui were spent at the Sheraton Maui, on Kaanapali Beach. The property is very large, with hundreds of rooms of different types. We were booked into an oceanfront room. The hotel offers free valet parking for your first 24 hours, a very nice touch which we took advantage of. The ... (read more →)