Maui - what you absolutely should do

 I will not pretend to be an expert as I have only been to Maui once. We were lucky and have family that live, have lived, and visit often to this island, so we had a lot of advise. But I was still scared that I was going to miss something or choose the wrong things. My intention in posting this is to remember what I loved for next time we visit and  maybe this will help you have an awesome and relaxing Maui vacation as well. I hope this helps. Aloha. 

Here are the things I recommend doing when your in Maui. 

I have marked a few things with ** I highly recommended these things.  (you will miss out if you don't do these things)

- **Costco in Kihei to pick up sustenance and gas for the week.

This is super close to the airport. Buy pineapple here. Make sure it is Maui gold that means it was picked ripe on Maui. This is the cheapest pineapple you will find.

- you have to wash off the main land right  when getting to the island. Close to the airport is baby beach, Baldwin beach and ho'okepa. I would recommend any of the three.

- Other beaches I recommend seeing while in Maui (we spent most of our time relaxing on the beach. It was wonderful: 

**ulua near Kihei

**Ho'okepa. This is where a lot of turtles live. They come up on the shore to rest. While we were here this particular day, there were 7 turtles on the beach and 2 seals.

secret cove in wilea It's hard to find but worth it. 

**Napili bay in Lahaina. This is behind a resort. I highly recommend this beach especially for snorkeling even though you will have to sneak past the resort and the sea house reseraunt. 

Hamoa beach park on road to Hana.

- Road to Hana. I fee like you have to do this drive at least once in your life. Bring cash for all the fun stops.  Here are the stops I recommend:

**Auntie Sandy's in keanae. 

Definitely buy banana bread and **coconut candy. (I looked over the entire island for more of this kind. It doesn't exist except here)

-Coconut glens vegan ice cream. 

-Twin falls.

Busy but pretty. Worth a dip in a waterfall. Give a little time for this one it is about a 1.5 mile hike. 

 **Wainapanapa (highlight of my trip)

Swim in the legendary fresh water caves and visit the black sand beach.

 

-Hamoa beach. Apparently this beach is world renowned. Big, strong, waves!

- I would have loved to see the 7 sacred pools but we were on a time limit and I think it was closed pending flash floods from the rain. I would have been disappointed to not swim in it any way. 

-Go to a Farmers market.

On Saturday you should go to a farmers market. There is a cool one up toward Haleakala crater called **up country farmers market. It was fun to see all the wierd organic fruits and veggies. Definitely buy a drinking coconut here. Ours was $3.  Don't pay more than $5. In wilea someone tried to sell us one for $15. When your done drinking it have it cut in half so you can eat the coconut. Yummy.

definitely splurge and buy lots of yummy fruits. 

-Snorkel cruise.

I didn't originally plan on doing this, but I am glad we did. Look around for prices. We went on the four winds II. It was about $45 per person which is a great price. We paid extra for lunch. I recommend doing this because snorkeling was exauhsting, we were for sure hungry. 

 

-Visit Iao valley.

This was a neat experience with nature. Spiritual place. Worth seeing. 

-Shopping. Buying gifts for family and friends is part of anyone's Hawaii vacation. Here is where we went, I am sure there are many others and probably better ones but this is where we went:

-Lahaina lots of fun shops. Including amazing galleries with art that I could never afford. 

-paia is cute. There is a cool store off the Main Street that I liked I can't remember the name but they had lots of funny cards and gifts including beach signs. 

-Keihei open air market. This is where I got most of the little gifts for my kids like bracelets, puka shell stuff and hair clips. 

-we got a couples massage and if that is something you are interested in, I would recommend wilea massage and body care. http://www.singlepage.com/wailea-massage/menu?ref=integration

-Places to eat. There were so many good restraunts, but theses are the ones that were recommended to me and they were amazing. I HIGHLY recommend you visit some of these places. 

**ululani's shaved ice. 

You must get coconut ice cream on the bottom. 

*****cool cats. Lahaina. I got the luna burger.  

 

This was hands down the best burger I have EVER eaten. I will dream about his burger. 

** Kihei cafe. Don't think about what to order just get the French toast. 

Everything we ate there was amazing but the French toast with coconut syrup was out of this world.

Get ther early and plan to wait in line. It is worth it!

- Jaws taco truck. 

We saw it in Lahaina. It was an interesting burrito. Different then the norm which was good.

Have fun in Maui!!!