Honeymoon Part 2

I'd better write this while I remember it!

The next stage on our honeymoon was Maui, 'the garden isle'.

Accomodation and Logistics
We stayed at the Whaler on Ka'anapali Beach, which is an apartment complex, a mixture of privately owned and rentals. The first room we stayed in was 619 - if you're ever there avoid any rooms ending in 19 as they back onto the lift shafts which led to a particularly sleepless night. One room move later and then we were blessed with a view of Black Rock, no elevator noise and a terrace that wasn't in the sun so we could actually sit out on an afternoon.



Maui has a very small public transport system, if you want to go anywhere, get a car! We were driving a Chevy Aveo, which was low on bells and whistles, but more than adequate to get us up to the top of Haleakala crater, despite what the Alamo rental guy said.

Snorkelling

Black Rock was a great snorkelling place. If you get there early (as in 7:30am) there are loads of fish swarming around. We also saw Manta Rays and turtles moving majestically through the water. We booked onto a tour to go to Molokini, and to be honest we were slightly disappointed. If you haven't done any snorkelling on your holiday already then you'll have a good time, however, I felt Molokini was crowded, where you spent half your time avoiding other people instead of seeing fish.

Horseriding

We rode into Haleakala crater with Pony Express this tour is carried out at walking pace as the downhill into the crater is very steep. The horses were well cared for and very sure footed. The main role of the rider was to stop their animal from eating the endangere species on the way down the hill. At the bottom of the hill we had a picnic lunch and a good stretch of the legs before setting off up out of the crater.



When were were there, we saw several downhill cycling tours setting off. Originally Mark had really wanted to book onto one of these, but seeing the way the pace was dictated by the slowest rider he was pleased he hadn't spent the money. This was definitely extreme sports packaged in a lawsuit friendly way.

Road to Hana

The Road to Hana is a famous road trip on the island - a long and windy road (single track in places) leads to the town Hana. If you're going to do this set off REALLY early (as in 8am at the latest), as otherwise you'll end up stuck in huge tailbacks and struggling to find parking bays. To be honest, the scenery is spectacular, but neither of us were sure it measured up to the hype about it on the island.

Food

We ate out less on this island as we had a kitchen and a Safeway supermarket nearby. There were no meals that really stood out, but these restaurants had great sunset views and more than acceptable food , Leilanis and Kimos. One evening we ate at a little 'hole in the wall' bar and burger place "Jonny's Burger Joint" near to our hotel, the burgers were good and freshly cooked and the bar well-stocked. This seemed to be a place for locals to go eat and grab a beer after a long day working in the service industry.