Chocoholic
Contributor
We were on Maui for 12 days and loved it. My hubby is a non-diver and he spent the vast majority of the time golfing, his favourite was Makena golf course. He golfed Wailea Old Blue, Wailea Gold, Wailea Emerald and Makena courses.
We found all sorts of great restaurants by asking locals and looking on Yelp.com. Some of my favourite restaurants were; Cuatros (great fusion food and excellent waitstaff), Pita Paradise (Greek food), Izakaya Matsu (little hole in the wall with fantastic Japanese food) Café O Lei (my favourite) and for lunch the little green pulled pork shack on roadside close to Big Beach.
We stayed at Kaanapali Beach Club for awhile and I really liked it. The food was just ok at the hotel but the surrounding area has a lot to offer for food choices. The room at the Kaanapali was large. The ocean and beach off the KBC was calm with a sandy bottom (some rocks) and we spent lots of time floating and messing around in the waves.
We stayed at the Grand Wailea for several days, it was posh and luxurious. The freeform pools were beautiful and warm. We spent hours floating in the ocean and then wandering around in the pool area and hot tubs. The food at the restaurants was good but overpriced.
We then stayed at the Maui Lea at Maui Hill condo in Kihea, this was my favourite place. The condo units were big with lots of room for your stuff. The grounds were beautiful; lots of flowering trees, shrubs and plants, with a tennis court, shuffle board and BBQs dotted around the area. The Maui Lea at Maui Hill has a staircase that leads down to the main road and it is across from the Kihea boat ramp (it takes about 5 minutes to walk) which is where I met the dive boat.
The diving was way better than I had imagined. I did several days of shore diving; Ulua Beach had ok visibility and lots of stuff to see, 5 Caves/Turtle Town had terrible visibility but we still saw a lot of life. We saw lots of eels, nudis, turtles, rays, sharks in a cave and many tropicals, as well as several octopi and the water was warm. I also did several days of boat diving out to Molokini. The visibility at Molokini was stellar and I saw a huge manta three times. Molokini was like diving in a huge fish bowl, many varieties of fish, white tips, rays, eels galore and nudis. I knew in advance that there wouldnt be much in the way of large coral formations but I didnt expect the awesome vis or that many fish. I dove with Shaka Doug for the shore dives and the boat dives with Emi and John of Dive & Sea Maui. I was happy with both dive ops and really enjoyed all the little things both Shaka Doug and Emi were able to find as well as the big things - sharks in the cave and Mantas! Im already trying to figure out when I can go back.
We found all sorts of great restaurants by asking locals and looking on Yelp.com. Some of my favourite restaurants were; Cuatros (great fusion food and excellent waitstaff), Pita Paradise (Greek food), Izakaya Matsu (little hole in the wall with fantastic Japanese food) Café O Lei (my favourite) and for lunch the little green pulled pork shack on roadside close to Big Beach.
We stayed at Kaanapali Beach Club for awhile and I really liked it. The food was just ok at the hotel but the surrounding area has a lot to offer for food choices. The room at the Kaanapali was large. The ocean and beach off the KBC was calm with a sandy bottom (some rocks) and we spent lots of time floating and messing around in the waves.
We stayed at the Grand Wailea for several days, it was posh and luxurious. The freeform pools were beautiful and warm. We spent hours floating in the ocean and then wandering around in the pool area and hot tubs. The food at the restaurants was good but overpriced.
We then stayed at the Maui Lea at Maui Hill condo in Kihea, this was my favourite place. The condo units were big with lots of room for your stuff. The grounds were beautiful; lots of flowering trees, shrubs and plants, with a tennis court, shuffle board and BBQs dotted around the area. The Maui Lea at Maui Hill has a staircase that leads down to the main road and it is across from the Kihea boat ramp (it takes about 5 minutes to walk) which is where I met the dive boat.
The diving was way better than I had imagined. I did several days of shore diving; Ulua Beach had ok visibility and lots of stuff to see, 5 Caves/Turtle Town had terrible visibility but we still saw a lot of life. We saw lots of eels, nudis, turtles, rays, sharks in a cave and many tropicals, as well as several octopi and the water was warm. I also did several days of boat diving out to Molokini. The visibility at Molokini was stellar and I saw a huge manta three times. Molokini was like diving in a huge fish bowl, many varieties of fish, white tips, rays, eels galore and nudis. I knew in advance that there wouldnt be much in the way of large coral formations but I didnt expect the awesome vis or that many fish. I dove with Shaka Doug for the shore dives and the boat dives with Emi and John of Dive & Sea Maui. I was happy with both dive ops and really enjoyed all the little things both Shaka Doug and Emi were able to find as well as the big things - sharks in the cave and Mantas! Im already trying to figure out when I can go back.
Glad to hear you had such a great time and saw great critters under water.
