Maui, Hawaii | Exploring the Whole Island | Road to Hana + Molokini Crater & Haleakala

Alright, early in the morning, it's 6:30 a.m. m. and we headed onto the

road

towards Hana. Today we are in Maui and heading on the

road

to Hana. It's a 64 mile trip. Now they say it could take up to 10 or 12 hours because there are so many stops along the way that we want to make, so it's 6:36 in the morning, we really haven't slept well since we arrived in Hawaii these first few days we've gotten up like 4 or 5 a.m. We've been sleeping really well but we've been falling asleep at like 7.30 or 8 o'clock at night and then this morning I woke up around four o'clock so we decided to just say hello.

Get up, let's get an early start and hit the road to Hana. We have downloaded the gypsy travel guide app and there is a voice that will guide us along the journey today. It works with your GPS to know where. you're on which is great and points out the different places you want to get to along the way. We have our own list. We've done some of our own research, but it's nice to have that little extra. of peace of mind that we are going in the right direction, so our first stop here on the way to Hana is the twin falls.

First chance we get to see waterfalls, so we just park. There was a parking fee. How much was it? it's 10 dollars 10 dollars now we're on the trail there's a ton of other people here so I guess everyone likes to get up early it's the first stop so yeah everyone's here the trail opened at seven, so here we are while we were walking Adam said this is what I thought Hawaii would look like so yeah it looks like a white pool. If you come to Twin Falls, don't forget to do it. There's Madeline. Don't forget to go to the back falls too.

It is a very beautiful waterfall. Brilliant. area to walk around here in the rainforest, I guess the jungle is a very good thing, well that's a twin that stays behind me, a fun little stop and we're going to keep rolling. Another fun thing about today is that we have a convertible so we can really enjoy all the surroundings. Well, we came out here at a waterfall and there's a little hiking trail here, so we'll take it and see where we end up. We are really in the jungle. I like the place. I'm going to look up what it's called. but it's just a two or three minute walk and a really pretty waterfall and I'm going to do a kind of hike through the jungle back to this waterfall in a really beautiful area that we just made it here in ka and if you look behind me We're basically seeing where we came from, you can even see parts of the path from here.

We've come quite a long way and this has been such a beautiful journey so far. Sometimes I can't believe it. I'm here it's like it keeps reminding me Hello, you're in Hawaii, this is a really beautiful stop on the way to Hana here, just to take a minute and relax, get out of the car and enjoy some beautiful views that remind me of. big sur in california now let's keep rolling and see what we find next we just stopped at aunt sandy's house to buy banana bread she says it's served fresh it's always served fresh and first of all this bread here It's hot and it smells like banana bread in this area right now, so they're definitely cooking it as we speak, so we're going to unwrap it and we'll have a little bit, we can be here all week and we're going to eat this bread all week. .

This is our first snack here on the way to Hana. I don't even want to cut it. Can I just break it? Do you mind? I'm going to smash it like a monster. Looks great. Wow, I'm very hot. it's moist i know everyone loves that word moist i love banana bread okay we've got our snack we're ready to go you really feel like you're on the edge of the world here we found little sebastian we came all the way to

hawaii

and We found little Sebastian, we found him, so overall it's been a great stop here on the way to Hana.

We took some nice photos. We got some banana bread. We could see the waves crashing on the black rocks. I highly recommend it. Just making a quick stop here and relaxing a little. Is really nice. Now we're going to head over to the k a arboretum and look at some native Hawaiian trees. Adam likes to call the arboretum a tree. Zoom, these are our big trees, these are them. the rainbow eucalyptus trees are so cool, it looks like someone painted the trunks different colors. Alright, we really enjoyed the arboretum and now we're back on the road.

I wonder what we'll see next. Now we are halfway there.

hana

these are the falls of the three bears baby that is the baby that was the falls of the three bears there are three waterfalls there is a small one there is like a medium one and a large one obviously mom dad and bear um you park on the road there is a detour They are probably about a hundred meters, um, maybe not that far and then you go back down and there's a little section where you can take your photos, take your video over the bridge, we've reached Hana, okay, we'll stop for lunch. here at huli huli chicken we're just south of

hana

this is a lunch we've been waiting to eat all day it's huli huli chicken and they have a couple makeshift kitchens they have a guy grilling here they have all the food back there and refrigerators, they have this amazing huli chicken and this pork lola and the environment is unreal, we are looking at the pacific ocean, there is a beautiful rock there, there is a beach, people are surfing, I mean this is what you come for.

Think, and when it comes to food, the food looks absolutely amazing, we just order both and let's dive into the chicken, first we put some sriracha in there, oh man, that's perfectly grilled chicken, they're so tender, look at that so. They have a little bit of macaroni salad and just a little bit of green salad, that's the best macaroni salad I've ever had. Okay, nailing the pork here. Oh, I can't understand this rice. Wow, it's so good, it has a great smoky flavor. and like Adam said, there's nothing better than this view we're seeing right now, we were pretty hungry today on our trip here to Hana, so this is our prize, this is my first time trying poi, I'm not .

I'll eat it with my fingers, it's one finger, two fingers or three fingers, depending on the consistency and I think it's a personal preference, it all depends on how you like to do it, but I would say it's pretty thick so it's probably one. finger it's a little sweet interesting I feel like it feels like I should eat it on something or with something I know it's made from tarot root I guess I haven't really eaten any other than those like tarot chips it's not something I've tried I've tried it before. It's interesting. We are throwing in the towel.

I hate leaving food on my plate, but the portions here are huge and we're going to keep driving, so luckily that's all we can do. Now we are on the other side of Hana. Something to keep in mind is that Hana isn't exactly a destination, it's called the road to Hana and that means the end of the trip you're taking, but it's really more about all the stops you make along the way. Okay, so we're in the kipa hulu section of Haleakala National Park and we're going to hike to the Ohio Pools, so now we're hiking to the pools and then we're going to go up the pbi trail.

I don't know if we'll make it to the top. We'll see how we feel. Many times we are quite ambitious in our walk and then we don't always make it to the end. let's play it by ear okay the elevation always increases it gets you here in Hawaii now we're in the bamboo we're in the bamboo forest I didn't even realize wow we're in the bamboo forest so a mile about a mile exactly a mile it's been about half an hour we're heading to the falls that's another eight mile point worth it so far we're not working we'll do it until the end we weren't sure it was madeline's call on video my call we are fine continue I am a big fan of this bamboo rainforest.

It's definitely one of the coolest places I've ever walked. Well we are not sure what the falls look like but there are some waterfalls right up there we have reached our destination the falls are right here it is not too far away once you go through the bamboo forest it started raining just as we reached the falls so good that we are back in the bamboo jungle We are caught in a sudden storm in the rainforest and it happens that we quickly walk in those waterfalls, it was sunny and about three minutes later it was pouring rain, so I think that's it the Hawaiian experience right where we are driving. bumps on the way out, well that was our first foray into Haleakala National Park and we finished the trail ppy okay ppy yyp why peepee we finished the trail pby to the waterfall?

It probably took us about two hours, I think we started just a little bit. after two and it's four o'clock, oh, I think we're probably fine, I think we honked, I think we honked enough now let's drive back in the other direction, um, back to where we were We stayed, there are some places we didn't make it, we're going back and we'll make it later this week, but it was such a beautiful trip, such a beautiful day, a little rain, some clouds, but the sun kept coming out and it really is a trip so beautiful. so it's worth it, the road to Hana is definitely a must do if you're traveling to Maui and if you've been here let us know in the comments where your favorite stops are along the route.

There are so many great places and like I said, there are a few left that we will have to visit next time we head towards the northwest side of the

island

behind me. You can see lanai. This is just a scenic detour. Right here and the views are absolutely incredible, but we have a full day. Go ahead and we are very excited to explore more of this

island

, so our first stop on our trip today was Leota's Kitchen and Pastry Shop. Now there was nowhere to sit inside so we decided to take our cake to the beach, okay, eat cake. on the beach is not a bad idea, okay, we ordered a macadamia nut and chocolate cake.

Chocolate macadamia nuts have been our favorite snack practically since we arrived on the island, so we'll continue that tradition here in the shape of a pi, okay? to get a little bit of everything in my first bite here this is like one of our first meals of the day we had a very small breakfast so we are starting the day with a cake that is rich and delicious and probably not what we should eat before to go to the beach, but we are in Hawaii, so we are going to have a good time. I can always tell that Madeline really likes something and she had to take off her glasses.

She liked this one so much. I'm looking forward to my first bite. We fell in love with macadamia nuts here when you go to the grocery stores they have chocolate covered macadamia nuts like they basically have their own aisle and we've been through several um. several boxes of chocolate macadamia nuts so far three days the caramel toppings have really stood out so I'm getting a fully loaded bite here let's make this it was delicious it's a really delicious chocolate cake whipped cream really Fresh, amazing crust and you. Put the macadamia nuts in there too, they don't really have much flavor, they're like a very light flavored nut that has a nice crumble to it, that's a good way to describe it, yeah, yeah, macadamia. the nuts don't have a strong flavor, yeah, but what enhances it, oh my gosh, there's caramel, there's caramel, strange that it's caramel at the bottom, yeah, oh my gosh, wow,

maui

, so you know the setting too.

You are looking at another island. You have a sailboat crossing the canal blue water teal eating cake while we were planning this trip we were talking about like oh I don't think we're going to eat too many sweets we're going to make sure we eat a lot of fruit and there's going to be a lot of fruit stands we're going to stop and we're going to buy fruit we're going to buy smoothies and Hot chocolate, we've been eating a lot of chocolate since we got here, I'm not complaining, I just thought we'd be a little healthier with this. trip but so far honestly who are we kidding bye bye macadamia cake let's keep rolling our main goal today is to get out the snorkel gear we brought with us we each have a set but we are total beginners when it comes to snorkeling so there are some places further along including Honolua Bay that are good for beginners to just go out and snorkel because we've never done it before but that's our big plan for the day we're going to have lunch at the fish paella. market right here on Front Street in Lahaina and one of the reasons I wanted to come to this place because they have fresh fish.

I'm trying to try as many different types of fish, fresh fish from the ocean here in Hawaii as I can and They have a special day, it's called pacapaca. I hope I pronounce it correctly. It's basically a Hawaiian snapper. I love snapper. We have it sautéed and we can't wait for it to come out. We also have mahi-mahi fish tacos, so when we split everything because it's pretty. a lot like we always do stir fry and lemon, garlic, butter, a little bit of salsa here, some cajun rice tacos, there's a little bit of cheese, lettuce, tomato and then,They're corn tortillas, but the bottom one is crispy, so I'm like getting a double soft shell taco, yeah, a small soft and hard shell taco at the same time, so behind us is the lahaina banyan tree that It has been here since the late 19th century, not only is it the largest tree in Hawaii, but it is also the largest tree in the United States it is on almost two acres here right in the middle of Lahaina and it is right across the street from where We went for lunch at the paella market which was absolutely delicious as Adam said, it will be hard not to come here for lunch. every day for the rest of the time we're here, but we'll actually have dinner in Lahaina a little later at Lahaina Grill, we'll go there and do some snorkeling and there's a marked trail that takes you there. to the bay, there you go, this is the hardest, it's part of the path that leads to the bay where we snorkel, it's pretty crazy, it's like a savanna on steroids, snorkeling was fun, it was a very rocky beach, so The hardest part of Snorkeling was getting in and out of the ocean, we saw a lot of fish, it was fun, but we are just learning, maybe we will get better.

We want to continue

exploring

the north side here and maybe find a sandy beach a little easier. to navigate well we have stopped here at the nakalele blo

whole

which is down there we are not wearing the right shoes because we just left the beach so we will see how far they walk there we brought sandals to the beach and they are not the right shoes so we're going to stop right here it's not really a road so my sandals are a little better I'm going to take my chances madeline back off she gave me the go ahead one of the interesting parts of this blo

whole

is that it's a fog it's a fog and then the sun hits the mist and makes a rainbow, which is quite appropriate, it's like they're old, there we go, we're coconuts again, the first coconut in Hawaii, actually, hammer, oh that's sweet, not too sweet. but uh, it's refreshing, it's supposed to be very hydrating, coconut water, well, I need it, so it goes down easily, you want some, sure, oh, it's heavy, there's a lot of water in here, it's very sweet, it was very impressive to see him cut into pieces.

By the way, I've only seen that, like on Survivor, which is a small cookie, yeah, this was a small coconut, there's a bigger one. We're here at Dt Fleming Park and the sun is starting to set, but this is a really beautiful beach, lots of sand. I mean, there are still a good amount of people here because the day is coming to an end, but we're going to hang out here for a while and then we're going to dinner tonight in Lahaina. We are going to try a restaurant that was named one of the top 15 fine dining restaurants for the last four years and that is the lahaina grill and I am very excited looking for the menu they have.

I'm in Hawaii, I think I'm going to see, well, we're getting started. Tonight we're going with a chili Relleno stuffed with tiger prawns and we're also starting with a Maui onion soup. Now the onions come from here, let's get straight to this chili rieno, oh my goodness, that stuff is holy, it smells amazing, yes, I would like it. you guys would smell this delicious seafood, they're really subtle, but you'll pick up the peppery flavor, obviously, it's fried and then you'll get this great tomato sauce, which is amazing, there's really no fancy way to eat chili Relleno, what does it taste like good food? , OK?

In Maui French Onion Soup, French Onion Soup is very spicy and stays hot forever, so we've been letting it cool, let's see if it's ready. Oh, that's good, so the Maui onion is a sweeter onion, so it's like a traditional French onion. soup but it's a little sweeter, I love onion soup, yes my goal on this trip is to try as much fresh Hawaiian fish as possible, so tonight I'll have the special, which I've never had before, frankly, I've never had heard about it. Madeline wants some dirt, so she's having braised short ribs and I think they're both going to be good.

We've been watching the dishes pass by and they all look amazing, so this is my stain, it's on top. a wild mushroom risotto and it has verblanc champagne this is one of those beautiful plates of food that I have ever seen in my life this is my first bite of mon chong I'm going to have some risotto there is a richness there it's another level like this is a madness for blanc the leblanc champagne is uh it's very decadent that's the only way I can describe it it's very sweet and salty the fish is very flaky it's like a sea bass I'm very very happy with this okay this is my braised short rib on top of mash of potatoes it's huge I don't even know, it goes down the middle oh yeah it's just going to fall apart oh man absolutely beautiful I love ribs it's delicious it's just falling apart melting in your mouth. the sauce is delicious, let's get some potatoes too, this is the kind of food that sticks to your bones, the potatoes are really, really, really good, oh for dessert, let's order berry pie when we were in Maine, we We fell in love with blueberry pie.

Out there, so this will bring back little memories. Look, that's so beautiful. You look happy. This place does not lack flavor. We just finished at Lahaina Grill and can't say enough good things about our food. The food was delicious. The service was excellent. Top notch, everyone was very friendly. We had a great evening. If you're here on Maui you should definitely stop by Lahaina Grill because I don't think we're going to top this meal on Maui or in Hawaii because it was absolutely phenomenal right now we're driving to

haleakala

national park we're driving to the top for sunset tonight and the drive-in is gorgeous, we haven't spent any time in uptown

maui

yet and it's so lush and green and just the opposite of the beach, it's full of cattle farms and there's a winery up here, oh wow, and There are also beautiful views down to the beach and beautiful views of Haleakala where we are headed.

Right now, today we are heading to the summit. The other day when we made the trek to Hana we explored the Kipahulu area of ​​the park and hiked the ppy trail, but today we headed to the summit. I think we're going to do some hiking there too. They warned it's cold there, which is crazy because it's been in the 80s all day on lower Maui, but we brought some jackets and some long pants if we needed them, they said it might be a uh, they said it might reach 40 degrees up there. Now we come from Chicago, so we are used to the cold weather, but we may have adapted to the Hawaiian temperatures. so we'll see when we get there how we feel we just made a quick stop here we got out quick took some photos and you can see all the way down pretty much all of Maui from up here so we're.

We'll keep going up

haleakala

so we're a little bit um we're a little bit more than halfway up the side of the volcano right now and these are spectacular the temperature has dropped from the mid 80's in the lower 65's so we put the recharge on from the car um yeah no kidding it's going down quickly as we go up okay we're about to enter haleakala national park we threw out our jackets just uh just in preparation we're really climbing here we're getting a Un little nervous about that, at the edge of this path, we have reached the summit.

I said it was in the 60s when we got here, but it's pretty cold. I won't lie, I think I doubted it, but it's definitely a lot cooler here. Everyone has their sweatshirts on, they're bundling up, I think we're all adjusting to the 80 degree weather on the base, so if you look over there, that's Madeline, but there's the big island, you can actually see Mauna Kea and the observation domes. What do they use there from here, which is crazy, well we're here on the summit at the top of Haleakala looking up at the

crater

s and waiting for the sun to set, I mean, here we are above the clouds, which I don't know Yes I've ever really been above the clouds unless I've been on a plane before, so this is the first one in the Rocky Mountains or something, but it's not like that, it doesn't look like that, you can see everything that We arrived here a little over an hour before sunset.

And the parking here is filling up so there is extra parking up there but then you have to walk to this area so I recommend getting there earlier rather than later because parking is limited, well it's cold there. I think I doubted it, but it's in the 50s and it's pretty windy, yeah, we were lucky to get here when we did, because we got a parking spot all the way to the top, we weren't actually going down to the

crater

today because that's a big elevation change for a hike and we would prefer to lie on the beach.

I think it's a really cool hike, but the good thing about being up here is that it's windy and it's cool, so we decided to come sit in the car and just uh, we're warming up a little bit, we probably have like half an hour until the sun goes down so sometimes we'll re-emerge in the wilderness, you just get out of the wilderness so you can see the night, yes, but if you've gone down I went into the crater and done any of the hikes in Haleakala. Let us know in the comments below as we get out of the car again.

It's about 10 minutes until sunset, so as the sun sets behind me, you can also see this great telescope right here. that's the university of

hawaii

, this mountain is the fourth best place to see the solar system, so the university of hawaii got a big telescope and they can see a basketball in space 20,000 miles away, which is Really useful when a space jam occurs. There is also a US naval base right there, sorry no, US naval base, US observation belongs to the department of defense and they monitor space activity, so there is about 8,000 objects in space and they track them all from that place, well that was holly sunset holly aquila that was sunset in haleakala that's nice sunset the moon is on the other side and we're running back to our car so we're not the last person out of this park you want to get stuck in traffic well that was the sunset in haleakala it was beautiful if you're here you have to do it it's really i don't think it's something you can capture on camera we tried, We'll see how it turns out but it was absolutely beautiful at the moment We're heading to the Eow Valley today, we start our day off here in the Eow Valley and behind me is the Eon Spire that we just came through and it's beautiful.

There is a parking fee of 10 and an entrance fee of 5 per person, so follow along. that in mind when you go to this park when you are planning your trip this is right where we start our day we have a lot on the agenda so let's move on because we are returning to Hana a little later this is one of the wettest places of the Earth and, in fact, we are here on a crystal clear day. I said it rains about an inch a day and I feel very lucky that we had such good weather. If you come to the Iowa Valley, don't forget to go down the trail next to the river.

The view of these tree-covered mountains is really impressive, you are listening to a tropical jungle and what a nice day we were lucky not to do that! It does get some rain, like I said before it's one of the wettest places in the world, they averaged an inch of rain a day and there's actually not a cloud in the sky right now and it's amazing. I can't recommend a visit to Eow Valley enough. The spire is very very cool, the environment is amazing especially how it is created with the trade winds, learn about the history and then also how green and lush this area is.

It's really a must do on Maui, but we have a big day so they're going to keep rolling, so one of the best places I want to try when we were in Maui was Ten Roof Maui. Now their chef, Sheldon Simeon, has been top chef twice, unfortunately he came in second both times, but he grew up on the big island of Hilo where it rains a lot and the tin roof is kind of a reminder of the 10 roof he had in his house growing up and that sound of the rain hitting that roof 10, so his food is all about family and I really wanted to try this place. and I'm glad I had it for lunch as we hit the road to Hana.

We stopped at a local beach because it's an exclusive takeout spot. We have mokiko chicken and chopped steak and they both look delicious. They are chicken thighs. Double fried topped with sauce, I got them over garlic noodles, that's one of the things it's known for is garlic noodles, look at those garlic noodles and a nice big piece of chicken breast here, one of the things the chef talks about, he has a cookbook that I'm going to buy when I get home that's all about how to cook authentic Hawaiian food. I know you know that Hawaiian food isn't necessarily all spam, ham, pineapple, and pizza.

Hawaii is a very ethnically diverse place, you have a lot of Japanese Filipinos, you have native Hawaiians, so there is some fusion of that food, but each culture brought their favorite dishes and, you know, they picked and chose their favorite dishes from all of them. The differentcultures, so you see a lot of fusion. on the menus, but you actually see some traditional items. One of the fun parts of coming here is trying all the different foods and learning why they are here and what they are doing with them now and how the food is shaping their culture.

Adam ordered it animal style, it's not exactly like an animal style burger, but it seems like maybe it's a little nod, okay, I feel like we continue to have amazing meals here on Maui everywhere I've gone has been absolutely amazing, this is just another one to add to the list, then we will leave this beach for a bit and then take the road to Hana for the second time, it will be a much more relaxed place. trip therebut it's such a nice day and such a nice trip, why not do it again? I really like this beach, it has beautiful water, nice breaking waves.

I wouldn't swim here. There are lifeguards somewhere, but only for rest and relaxation. The beach is doing it for me. We will stop at Ho Okipa beach. We can see surfers and sea turtles and we just want to see them closer. This could be the city of turtles, but it is not. There are like 50 turtles down there. Oh. I could have stayed and watched those sea turtles all day. I had never seen anything like it before and it was absolutely fascinating. I really could have stayed there and watched them, but now we are going to continue moving along the path towards Hana, we are our eldest.

Today's destination is Waianae Panapa State Park to see the black sand beach. We missed it the other day, that's a big reason we came back because I know it's a must do on this trip, the reason we didn't go to Waianae Panapa Park. The other day it was because they have a reservation system and they don't take reservations by the day so you have to book them at least 24 hours in advance and when we decided to drive down the road to Hana the other day, um, that's how it was. a last minute decision, you know, we had gotten up early and said, let's go to hana, so if you're doing this trip, make sure you reserve your parking and admission to waianapanapa state park because, you don't want to. be like us and miss something but we're not missing it because we're making sure we come back so we stopped at this retreat we missed it the other day it's the Wailua Valley State Trail and you can get a great view of Haleakala right there, I'm blocking it out and there are multiple waterfalls in the distance that you can make out and, yeah, a lot of times it's covered in clouds, you can't see the top like that, so we're very lucky that today we have a good view and There's just a little cloud up there, so it's beautiful.

We were there to watch the sunset last night. Look how far we've come. We arrived at our destination at Waianapa Napa State Park. We will go to the black sand beach. Oh, we just got our first glimpse of the black sand beach there. This is a beautiful area. I mean, the cliffs are amazing. I'm so glad I came back and this was it. This is something we missed the other day and I'm so glad we made up for it because I wouldn't have wanted to miss this. Well, we arrived at the black sand beach. There are more of a bunch of small black rocks. and then once you get to the water you sink into it because it's wet, it's a little strange because you're not used to Santa being this color.

Well we bounced around the ocean for about 30 45 minutes and the water was perfect. very clear you can see basically down to a black rock bottom and now we are going to walk this path along the beach here we look back at the beach and there are some caves here the caves have an interesting Hawaiian history one of the kings They brutally murdered one of the queens here because she saw her reflection in the cave and discovered where she was hiding and every spring, this bay is where the shrimp hatch and those shrimp turn the bay red and it is to signify her blood. brutal murder, such a beautiful place and such an unpleasant backstory.

This is certainly a highlight on the way to Hana, maybe even the highlight, and in fact the reservation system works in its favor because it limits the number of people who are here now. We returned on the second day because we decided to take advantage of the moment to go earlier in the week, when we got up very early and the weather was pleasant. The weather is unpredictable here because it rains a lot and at best you can check the forecast and try to determine the least cloudy day. Make a reservation for that day. Well, now we're up here, looking down at the beach.

This is such a beautiful place. I really feel like this is Hawaii. this is the landscape we were going to see this is exactly like that and it's definitely a must stop if you're on the way to hana you won't want to miss this it's beautiful of course it's a beautiful day it could be rainy it could be cloudy but i still think that You should come see it because the scenery here is just beautiful and you can't see anything, I mean there are no other islands on this side so it's just a full view of the ocean.

Which is really cool. I'm fine? You are free to fly. Well, this morning Madeline and I'm going to do something we've never done before. That's when we get on a boat and head out to the middle of the ocean. a crater and we're going to go snorkeling so we're heading to the boat right now and we were really looking forward to this it's one of the big activities we're going to do on this trip and I'm I'm really excited well I'm on board the Calypso I've got With my reef sunscreen on, it's like white chalk, but behind me is Maui and we're probably half an hour from Molokini Crater, where we're headed first. the water temp for the day was 75 degrees, they said this canal is basically a lake like condition so we picked the perfect day by chance and we are so excited to get out and do this.

There is a very rare monk seal here today, which is quite exciting. um in the area Hey guys, this is crazy, well here we are in the crater, it was so much fun. I'm fine, you are free to fly. Well, we had about an amazing hour and a half here in Mulkini Crater and now we are. We are going to head to an area called turtle town, there are supposed to be a lot of sea turtles there, I was able to see the seal here, that was really cool and what an experience, this is the back of the Molokini crater, it was once used as a site of military tests.

That's how good the conditions are today we are in Turtle Town swimming with these sea turtles. You've seen so many, it's incredible. Many have been swimming just below us. Is incredible. What a great experience in Turtle Town! a lot of turtles I could have done that all day well we're back on the boat we had a ton of fun and we're going to keep rolling here and now he wants to come back to land it's our last full day here and uh I could have stayed in Turtle Town all the day because the best experience so far, after an incredible morning of snorkeling, we are getting hungry, so we are going back to Lahaina, we are going to buy some ice cream, a craft beer and some dinner.

This is our last night in Maui and it's going to be hard to leave. We have a lot to wait for. We're going to the big island. We're going to Oahu, but Maui has set the bar high for our first stop in Hawaii. So tonight, Maui, we want to get a little more situated, so we go to a fish market that also serves hot food. I bought an ono burger, it's 100 ground ono, which is another fish I haven't tried yet. I'm excited to try it on a burger. Madeline got two tacos, she got a Baja fish taco and a Kahlua pork taco.

They both look great and we're going to break it all down, so we're looking forward to it. Okay, I'm going to delve into the ono. burger has lettuce it has sauce it has some grilled onions on the bottom oh yeah it looks like a turkey burger I think this might not be it it was really good there's a lot of pork here we're shredded and um I thought we were going to eat a lot of pork here in Hawaii, but you really don't. I'm so glad I went with this super crispy pico tonight and then the sauce came on the side here we go I won't.

I'm sure what it is, but the sauces have been on point since we were in Hawaii. I have to say we haven't had a fried fish taco yet so to mix it up again, this is a great place, well the fish market was absolutely delicious, I love it. the tacos, the ono burger was a big hit, it's going to be hard to top, you know, we love visiting local independent craft breweries and leo, it's the red sand amber, which I guess is a nod to the haleakala national park in that crater. You have a lot of red, we'll see how it is, so this beachy blonde nail falls off very, very easily and is very refreshing.

I haven't started surfing yet, but I can imagine a long day hanging out in the water. that we were in the water today we were hanging around, not as cool as surfing but you know we saw some turtles so it was fun but this boils down, I wish they would bottle it and ship it back to the mainland. We are in ululanis. and we are buying shaved ice, we have coconut, guava and passion fruit and it also has macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom. The first shaved ice in Hawaii. I'm going to incorporate all the flavors when you get Thai Hawaiian ice cream at home.

As a thick, it has a very syrupy topping, which was different. We are

exploring

South Maui. We're in Kihei and headed to Coconuts Fish Cafe for lunch. We're here to eat fish tacos. We love fresh tacos. Let's do it. We're about to eat fresh fish here in Kihei, South Maui, and this is a macadamia encrusted fish, it's local fish. We have eaten a lot of macadamia nuts because there were chocolate covered macadamia nuts in our Airbnb when we got there, so I thought well. let's keep the macadamia nut train going and let's put it in the mahi-mahi, which is what we've done here, so let's dig in, oh man, that looks beautiful, isn't that a big bed of brown rice, first bite here on Maui, it's a very, very good fish.

It's an incredibly fresh and nice crust on that fish. I usually like just one mahi, but I'm glad I have two. Okay, so we have fish tacos. It even says on the door that his fish tacos are famous. That's why we came here. looks absolutely beautiful there's cole slaw there's pineapple tomatoes this is uh it's going to be a little messy let's go for it then I'll probably eat the rest with a fork that was really good the pineapple on top is delicious and then this The slaw Cabbage here has a hint of sweetness and really pairs well with this south of the border dip.

I have to find out what's in it and obviously the fish is delicious, it's fresh, we're in Hawaii, look how beautiful this taco is, it's huge. the taco too, the salsa is really good, fresh fruit, it has so much fish it usually makes you hungry after fishing but just because I don't eat enough fish, that fish will keep me full, it was a delicious meal here at Coconuts and it was a great start for the rest of our trip here in maui we're here exploring more of maui right now we're at kia lea pond I'm saying it wrong let me know in the comments below but it's a wildlife preserve here I think we're actually going I'm going to end up going to the beach here, it's really beautiful, we were just coming to see it, but it's called Sugar Beach and it looks very quiet and there aren't many people here, so I think we could go to the beach, it's a beautiful day and yeah, we could head back to south Maui a little later, well, nice stop at Sugar Beach, we got some sun in the morning and it's also a little windy right here.

We are going to take one of the quintessential dishes of Hawaiian cuisine and that is the poke poke that really exploded on the mainland. They basically doubled the number of places serving pokey in the early 2010s and now I find it pretty much everywhere, but I'm here and I want to try the real thing and I want to try it on every island we visit, so we're on Maui and We picked a place here in South Maui where we're going to go eat some pokey, hoping to eat some really fresh fish. They make different types of poke depending on the fresh catch and I'm excited about that.

Well, we just placed our order at Well, we just placed our order at South Maui Fish Company. I have the poke bowl, it's half spicy, half traditional and a little bit. of slaw and Madeline is making the fish tacos, we're probably going to split everything up, but we're really excited to see them grill the fish right here and I know they already have the pokey made and it looks so fresh. some live music here in this plaza we're eating in, they really turned this mall patio into a restaurant and then in the little bar here they have live music, let's get right into the tuna aspect. "And that beautiful fish, very pink, so fresh, a little sauce, they put sesame seeds on it, very crunchy, that's real.

I've never had a prick like that. We also have their daily special, which is a salad of macaroni with smoked marlin. Looks absolutely beautiful.” I'm eating a lot of macaroni salad in Hawaii. I didn't know it was a delicacy here. Very good. I am learning a lot on my journey. It is delicious and the sauce that is drizzled on top isfantastic. I don't think so. I'm just going to eat all of this Adam can eat poke well, this is mine, we just finished at South Maui Fish. Adam loved the poke, the tuna tacos were great, I have to say the fish was very fresh and I really love it.

I'm only going to eat the macaroni salad here for the rest of the trip. South Maui Fish Co was amazing. I highly recommend it and now we are going to continue filming here in South Maui. We're here to eat pizza in the parking lot. Here at Outrigger Pizza in Kihei on South Mountain, everything on the menu looks absolutely amazing, but we decided to go with two local favorites: the first is Maui Onion and the second is Lilly Koi Portland, oh my goodness the crust is amazing, the pork It's delicious. there's uh there's a lilikoi sauce drizzled on top.

I'm so happy we're in Maui eating pizza. This is the other pizza that is delicious. We had a great time at Outrigger Pizza. We will continue exploring the south. We are now entering Wailea. Although that was our stop at Walea Beach. Limited parking here, nice little beach surrounded by resorts. Our plan for today here in the southern part of Maui was to visit the different beaches. Spend between 30 and 45 minutes on a beach. Find out which ones we like. and then we'll probably come back later in the week when we find the one we like the most, such a pretty little beach, but we'll keep exploring and the weather was getting a little dark.

We continued driving south and ended up here. natural area reserve that is full of black rock, not sure if it's volcanic rock, it looks like everything was destroyed so it doesn't look like solid lava so I'm not really sure what's going on here but I'm just driving around and checking it out um yeah, I don't know if you drive down, you know, all the way south, this is what you're going to do. Our next stop here in South Maui is Maui Brewing. company, this place is huge and has a great view of the mountains to the north, as you may or may not know that there is not much room for fields or crops here in Hawaii and what they have in terms of agriculture is very sustainable and generally for fruit, so they have to get all their barley from the mainland, they ship it and brew the beer here and sometimes they ship the beer back, so logistics in action, so we have two beers here, we have the barefoot beer, this is Waimea Red. oh man, great stop here at Maui Brewing Company, we have one more stop we want to make, I think we're going to go get a sweet, uh, we're at the Sugar Beach bakery.

The Sugar Beach bakery is actually owned by the owner of The Uluwani shave ice we had the other day was fantastic, so we said okay, we'll go check out your bakery too. I'm glad I did because if you've been watching any of our videos, you may have noticed it. We've had a love affair with macadamia nuts since we arrived on the island. We bought macadamia nuts covered in milk chocolate. We have macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi with macadamia nuts. And we have had macadamia nut ice cream. finish some macadamia nut brownie covered in white chocolate and uh it's hot it's melting this is a good candy well it's not the last one because Madeleine has a fun one too so I bought a lilly key lime pie koi and lilikoi. a fruit that I just discovered today because some of it was on my pizza before, but it is similar to passion fruit, it is not exactly the same but it is pretty close and I love key lime pie, it looks very good, it has key lime pie mixed in with the sweetness and the koi lily and then it has a very, very crumbly graham cracker crust.

I haven't had key lime pie here in a long time. We're a long way from Key West, yes, but it fits the setting pretty well, but I can't believe how much cake and candy and baked goods we've eaten since we got to Hawaii. I really thought we would eat fruits and very lean foods while we are here, but these, huh. These big box stores have been bringing it, that was our last day here in Maui, like I said, it's really really hard to leave, but now we have to head to the airport because we're going to catch a plane to the big island.