This summer, I had the best week of my entire life. IN MAUI!! This was my very first time to the islands and to say I was excited would be a bit of an understatement. I spent two weeks packing and getting my gear together for Hawaii. The morning of our flight finally arrived and the nerves set in (flying in a suspended aircraft over miles of ocean is not my idea of a good time guys). 6 and a half hours later, we landed on Maui and I was immediately stunned by the palm trees that lined literally every single street. Even the airport was an open building, with the warm Hawaiian breeze flowing through baggage claim. Although it took awhile to grab our bags, pick up our rental car and get to the hotel, we were able to drive along the coast for our 45 min journey to the hotel.
I’m pretty sure I was in shock the whole first day we were there because everything around me was so beautiful. The water was the clearest shade of blue I’ve seen in my whole life and there were pineapples everywhere weeeeee! Our hotel, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa, was gorgeous. I noticed that most buildings on the island had similar architecture and were very open with fresh air flowing from everywhere. Located right on the water, we were steps from the beach and even had an ocean view – does it get any better?! Fast forward 30 minutes from getting to our room and my sister and I practically ran downstairs to jump in the 80 degree water.
I’ve decided to break up our daily activities because we did SO MUCH in just one week. Follow along below 🙂
DAY 1
Flying/driving/overall excitement and frolicking. Basically just a day of travel haha
DAY 2 – ROAD TO HANA
In the weeks leading up to my trip, I was on Google, Pinterest, Tumblr, Trip Advisor, you name it looking for cool things to check out while in Maui. One of the most popular I kept finding was the Road to Hana so this was a definite must. We were warned it was an all day journey so we packed up and left our hotel by 8:30 that morning and began our drive. It was crazy how different the climate was on the opposite side of the island! The eastern part of Maui was far more tropical, with lots of rain and houses spread out through the jungle. We stopped at several hikes along the way and saw the most beautiful waterfalls! We drove past the Black Sand Beach, but unfortunately it was raining too hard to stop at the beach 🙁 Once we finally reached Hana (about 8 hours later) and our very last stop was the Seven Sacred Pools of Ohe’o. We did one last 6 mile hike, which took us through a bomboo forest and ended with a 400 foot waterfall which was breathtaking!! We took the chance to get closer and play right under the giant waterfall and prepare for our hike back. Our last stop was to venture down to the pools. They were pretty dry but there was still a large lagoon area where people were swimming and jumping off rocks. After such a long day, we jumped back in our car and continued our drive around the island. How crazy is it that you can drive your car all the way around Maui in less time than you could drive up along California?! We got back to our hotel around 9:30 at night and immediately all showered and passed out in our cozy beds.
DAY 3 – RELAX
After a 13 hour adventure to Hana, we were ready to relax and take in the views from our hotel. We laid by one of the several pools with front row views of the beach and ordered some of the most delicious drinks ever from the pool bar. We had reservations for an authentic Hawaiian luau that night so once the sun started to set, we drove over to a neighboring hotel for some hulu girls, fire dancing and yummy buffet of food!
DAY 4 – EXCURSION TO LANAI
This was the day I was waiting for all week Snorkeling in the crystal clear waters of Maui! We arrived at the docks in early morning and got on the giant boat that would take us to the neighboring island of Lanai. The boat trip took about an hour and a half but it was filled with yummy sandwiches and drinks. After docking, we trekked down to an empty beach reserved for our tour and were given our snorkel gear! We were also given floaties to wear around our waist for safety but after about 15 min I was able to swim out farther with one of the lifeguards and take my floaty off to dive down to the reefs 🙂 I think I snorkeled for a solid 2 hours and channeled my inner mermaid haha I also had my trusty GoPro so I was able to capture all the little fishies and even an eel! After a perfect day of swimming and snorkeling, we jumped back on the boat for a very bumpy ride back to Maui. But the free alcohol made it better 😉
DAY 5 – ZIPLINING
Our adventures didn’t slow down by day 5! Luckily we booked our ziplining the second day at our hotel because it had already booked up a few days in advance! We took a small bus up to the top of the course with only about 8 other people and were given our gear. This was probably the most fitness I got all week trying to carry all our gear up hill and from course to course. That stuff is heavy guys! The views were breathtaking and we even saw a rainbow since it had just rained that morning. Our tour guide was super informative as well, even sharing a secret of how to keep your pineapples sweet 🙂 Once again my trusty GoPro came along for the day and got some epic shots of us flying though the air.
DAY 6 – SURFING AND PARASAILING
Our last full day on the island was split between activities. I took an awesome surf lesson and my sister went parasailing right next to our hotel! This was the first time I had ever surfed with nothing but reef beneath me and it was definitely hard to get used to at first. My instructor made sure I knew not to fall with my arms or legs straight out in fear of hitting the reef just a few feet below us. The best part of this whole day was being able to surf in just a rashguard in 80 degree water that was so clear you could see right down to the bottom! Luckily my personal photographer of a dad was there to capture some of my finer moments.
DAY 7 – PACKING AND THE TRIP HOME
AKA the saddest day ever. Our flight didn’t leave til later in the afternoon so we were able to head down to the pool and beach in the morning for some last minute fun. Then we packed up our bags and headed back to the airport to start our trip home.
WEEKS LATER
I’m pretty sure I had a “Hawaii Hangover” for a couple weeks after getting back to sunny SoCal. The water wasn’t as clear, no palm trees dropping coconuts, no oceanfront views. But I am beyond thankful to have taken the vacation of my lifetime and finally experience island life! Even months later, I have already begun planning my trip back.
I also have a special HAWAII video in the works! Music is still being created but expect to see a full-length (AKA 8 minutes haha) long video of all my adventures from my week in Maui!
Thanks for following along! I hope all my tropical pictures encourage you to take a much-needed vacay!
xo,
Maddy
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