An Exhaustive Review of Our Exhausting Hawaiian Adventure

[KimS.]

I will say it again your review is wonderful- really appreicate the GPS info. hope you'll continue to do that. I need to some how print off just your review and take them with us-is that possible without also printing off everyone else's comments? We are going with another couple who are close friends of ours, I keep emailing my friend your review to read as you add to it! We have cruised the Caribbean a few times and it seemed it was so much easier planning those trips, but this cruise, is different-there's just so much to do and see. So it's really good to read reviews like yours to really help us sort out what we what to do. Again thank you!

[kwbound]

I will say it again your review is wonderful- really appreicate the GPS info. hope you'll continue to do that. I need to some how print off just your review and take them with us-is that possible without also printing off everyone else's comments? We are going with another couple who are close friends of ours, I keep emailing my friend your review to read as you add to it! We have cruised the Caribbean a few times and it seemed it was so much easier planning those trips, but this cruise, is different-there's just so much to do and see. So it's really good to read reviews like yours to really help us sort out what we what to do. Again thank you!

 

Hey Kim - Your comments make me so happy. I'm so glad to be helping. A lot of the review I'm typing offline and then cutting and pasting into CC, so a lot of it I will have in one Word doc when I'm through along with the original itinerary. I could send that doc to you when I'm finished. It just wouldn't have the pics.

 

I agree, it was much more difficult and time consuming to plan this trip than to plan a Caribbean trip. When planning a Caribbean trip, I'm pretty sure that I might be able to go back again. So it is easier to choose things, knowing that that I'll have other opportunities to do the things left out during a future trip. But I'm not sure I'll ever make it back to Hawaii, so I wanted to get the most from every minute.

[GypRasc]

I need to some how print off just your review and take them with us-is that possible without also printing off everyone else's comments?

 

You'll want to do this section by section: Highlight the 1st part you want & right mouse click COPY. Minimize the page, open a blank MS Office document and PASTE the comment on the page. Minimize the Office document, maximize the CC page, go to the next section you want & copy it. Go back to the Office document and paste it below your previous copied section. Do this for all the sections you want to copy.

 

Good luck!:D

[kwbound]

Day 4 Continued – RTH – The Garden of Eden

More Background – I’m a plant person. Gardening is another hobby. DH and I are they types that get up at 5am to go get line early for the annual garden sale at our local arboretum. One of the most enjoyable things we have ever done on vacation was at Islands of Adventures in Orlando. I contacted them and asked if they ever had any type of behind the scenes tours focusing on their plants and landscaping. They don’t. But the head of their horticulture/landscaping department contacted me and volunteered to give DH and I a private tour. It was so nice. He spent a couple hours with us going through the park, telling us about the plants, writing the names down, etc. But I digresss….my point is, I love plants and so do the others in our party.

 

So being a plant person, I’m declaring the Garden of Eden Arboretum a must-do. If plants don’t do much for you, you might still like it, but may not want to spend as much time there as we did exploring the paths and gardens. There are some wonderful views there of the ocean and two different waterfalls. And many of their plants are labeled, which I appreciated. I could take a picture of the garden sign and then the plant for easy plant hunting later. There is an entry fee of $10/pp.

 

We arrived at the gardens at about 10:30am. We were there a little over an hour. I could have stayed longer. Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming up: Kaumahina State Wayside....

[kwbound]

Day 4 Continued – RTH – Kaumahina State Wayside

Our next stop was the Kaumahina State Wayside, just to check out the view. We arrived here about 11:50am and were only here for long enough to take some photos.

 

These photos are looking right (southeast) at the Ke’anae Peninsula.

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was the pullover between MM 14 & 15

To the left was the iconic view of the RTH and to the right are more views of the Ke’anae Peninsula.

 

THE view

 

Coming up: Ke'anae Peninsula...

[kwbound]

Day 4 Continued – RTH – Ke’anai Penisula

We enjoyed this stop and I would consider it a must-do also. The village on this peninsula was completely destroyed by a tidal wave in 1946, except for the church which still stands today and is open for visitors. Inside the church there is a sign-in book for visitors and also a donation box for those wishing to make a donation, which we did. There is a small cemetery nestled beside the church, and next to the church is a little league baseball field. I bet every game in that park seems special. I would have loved to seen one. The peninsula is surrounded my black lava rocks and tidal pools. The view is beautiful everywhere you look. We arrived about 12:30pm and spent about 45 minutes here.

 

Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Halfway to Hana Stand

Once you come off the Ke’anai Penisula and turn left back on the highway, you will come to the Halfway to Hana stand pretty quickly on your right. We stopped here to buy some of their world famous banana bread and to eat our lunch on one of their picnic tables. I was not that impressed. There are no competing businesses in the area, so they have the banana bread market covered I guess. They also have sodas, chips, and coconut candy. NOTE - They don’t have bathrooms. We bought some banana bread, a small bag of coconut candy chips, and a post card and it was $13. Definitely overpriced I thought. The bread and candy weren’t bad, but they weren’t to die for either. We wound up throwing both away when we packed to go home. It was pleasant to eat our picnic there. They have two tables under a cover and one that is not.

 

We finished lunch and got back on the road. We jumped out of the car at Upper Waikani Falls (3 Bears) and took one picture.

 

We stopped at Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside Park to use their restrooms.

 

TIP: I had read somewhere to bring some toilet tissue with you on the RTH, because some of the restrooms along the route would run out. I bought some Charmin in a little travel package. You can get them in grocery/drug/discount stores on the isle with all the sample/travel size toiletries and cosmetics. At the Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside Park restrooms we were glad I had brought it!

 

Coming up next: Wai’anapanapa State Wayside Park...

[kwbound]

Day 4 – Continued – RTH – Wai’anapanapa State Wayside Park

 

We arrived at the Wai'anapanapa State Park about 2:30. This park is my last must do. It's beautiful, there is a black sand beach, caves, sea arches, blow holes. It's a one-stop park for sure. In hindsight I wish we had driven straight here and spent a couple of hours and turned around and gone back. Not that I didn't enjoy the entire day, I did. But I'd wish we'd been able to spend more time at the favorites and had skipped some of the others.

 

Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

I know its not right, but those little stick figures on the sign just crack me up.

 

 

Coming up: Hamoa Beach....

[kwbound]

Day 4 Continued - RTH - Hamoa Beach

 

We arrived at Hamoa Beach about 3:30pm. I was disappointed in this beach. I'd read such wonderful things about it that I guess I had built it up too much in my mind. The facilities at the beach are owned by the Hotel Hana Maui for their guests but there are some restrooms (one shared stall for men and women and can I say :eek:!) and an outdoor shower for the public. There are no concessions. We did go in the restroom 1 at a time and change into our swimsuits, but the surf was so rough that only DFH was brave enough to venture into it. I wish we had skipped this and gone strait to 'Ohe'o Gulch Pools.

 

Here are some photos from Hamoa Beach:

 

 

 

 

Coming up: Ohe'o Gulch Pools...

[kwbound]

Day 4 Continued - RTH - 'Ohe'o Gulch Pools

 

 

It was about 4:30 by the time we got here. This is a beautiful area and I know there are a lot of trails that would have been wonderful to hike, and the pools were beautiful. The problem was the stretch of road between Hamoa Beach and here was so stressful, it was getting late and we knew it was going to be way after dark before we got back to the ship, and we were all getting tired by now. So it was difficult to relax and enjoy it. If this is on your must do list, and if you are a hiker it may be, my suggestion would be to go straight there as early as possible and then when you leave decide if you want to go back on the Hana Hwy or make the loop around.

 

Here are some photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming up...ARE WE THERE YET?!

[kwbound]

Day 4 Continued - RTH - Are we there yet?!

 

I am feeling about this review much like I felt about the actual drive...about this time I was ready to be finished. So I'm going to post some photos in the order they were taken and wrap this day up.

 

This is what the unpaved portion of the road looked like. It is not the surface of the road that concerned me, but the width of it and some of the blind hairpin turns like the one coming up in this photo. Fortunately the vistas opened up pretty quickly and you were able to see up ahead and know when to expect another vehicle.

 

 

 

We didn't stop here, but I'm pretty sure it is the church where Lindbergh's grave is located.

 

 

We did enjoy our stop at the Kaupo Store. I bought a lovely angel ornament and we enjoyed talking to the clerk. She graduated from Hana High. There were 26 students in her class.

 

Coming up: A few more Upcountry photos and a Day 4 wrap-up...

[riofriotex]

Halfway to Hana Stand

Once you come off the Ke’anai Penisula and turn left back on the highway, you will come to the Halfway to Hana stand pretty quickly on your right. We stopped here to buy some of their world famous banana bread and to eat our lunch on one of their picnic tables. I was not that impressed. There are no competing businesses in the area, so they have the banana bread market covered I guess. They also have sodas, chips, and coconut candy. NOTE - They don’t have bathrooms. We bought some banana bread, a small bag of coconut candy chips, and a post card and it was $13. Definitely overpriced I thought. The bread and candy weren’t bad, but they weren’t to die for either. We wound up throwing both away when we packed to go home. It was pleasant to eat our picnic there. They have two tables under a cover and one that is not.

 

The bold, italicized sentence above is my emphasis. I don't think this is where we stopped. We stopped at the Ke'anae Landing Fruit Stand which is near the boat landing near the entrance to the Ke'anae Peninsula, and features Aunt Sandy's banana bread. Our private tour guide, Greg, said it was the best on Maui. We bought two loaves right out of the oven. Now, my mom makes a mean banana bread, and I don't think this was better than hers, but it did taste good on a cool, rainy day!

[kwbound]

 

 

 

 

 

Idk what this church was, but there were several cars stopped here, so we stopped here and looked around. There were some beautiful plumeria plants and bougenvilla plants that must have been years and years old. We all left within a few minutes of each other and sort of formed a caravan back. It got dark within just a few minutes of us leaving the church and we were glad to have our little parade of cars. Once you are past Kaupo Store, actually from a little ways before that, there is nothing bad about the road, it is just long and there are a lot of curves and dips that force you to go slow.

 

It was about 8pm when we got back to the ship. The closest parking lot was full so we dropped DFs off at the security gate and parked in the overflow lot along the seawall. It is a little farther of a walk but it was not too bad. We drove almost all the way to the end of the seawall and there were about 11 spaces left at that time. I would suggest not taking one of the closer spots in the overflow lot even if they are available, because it is possible that someone else could park in and block you, or at least make it difficult to get out, which is what DH said had happened when he went and picked up the car the next morning.

 

For dinner this night we just went to the buffet and were happy with it. The dessert choices were not the best but they did have ice cream. And about the ice cream - it is not available 24 hrs like on Carnival.:( They shut the ice cream machine down promptly at 9pm. After dinner it was off to bed.

 

Tomorrow - Snorkeling the Molakini Crater, and a Honu sighting!

[kwbound]

The bold, italicized sentence above is my emphasis. I don't think this is where we stopped. We stopped at the Ke'anae Landing Fruit Stand which is near the boat landing near the entrance to the Ke'anae Peninsula, and features Aunt Sandy's banana bread. Our private tour guide, Greg, said it was the best on Maui. We bought two loaves right out of the oven. Now, my mom makes a mean banana bread, and I don't think this was better than hers, but it did taste good on a cool, rainy day!

 

I wish we had stopped there instead of Halfway.

[kwbound]

Here is the link to all of the Day 4 photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/dmbryals/Day4Hana?authkey=Gv1sRgCOCR7ov_8_voIw#

 

Final thoughts on the Road to Hana - We had a wonderful day and we were all glad that we had driven it and had gone all the away around. DH had no problems with the driving. We are thankful for the experience, but we were all in agreement that it is not something that we need to do again. If we are ever back on Maui, we will spend more time in Lahaina and the beaches on that side of the island.

 

Aloha!

[kwbound]

The best source of info I found for the RTH was a book called the Hana Highway - The Road to Hana & Beyond by John and Natasha Derrick. It is not a very thick or heavy book, like the Revealed books, so it is easy to take with you. Everything in the book is listed in the same order you will come to them on the drive. The only problem with the edition I have is that when it was printed there were road closures between the pools and Kaupo and those roads have been opened since the book was printed. Hopefully newer editions have corrected that.

[jjduck]

Oh, wow, laulau....so THAT's what the RTH looks like. :D I have never been to the end of Hana. Too dizzy-ing for me.

 

Speaking of laulau, good for all of you for trying Hawaiian food. So the wallpaper paste didn't go over too well, huh? LOL! Poi is supposed to be very nutritional. Well, it's the first baby food we use here. Followed by tofu. Yum-o!

 

You have collected such wonderful picture memories, runner-friend. Thanks for sharing.

 

Aloha,

Noreen.

[sue402001]

Thumbs up!

[Old Foaggies]

The best source of info I found for the RTH was a book called the Hana Highway - The Road to Hana & Beyond by John and Natasha Derrick. It is not a very thick or heavy book, like the Revealed books, so it is easy to take with you. Everything in the book is listed in the same order you will come to them on the drive. The only problem with the edition I have is that when it was printed there were road closures between the pools and Kaupo and those roads have been opened since the book was printed. Hopefully newer editions have corrected that.

 

 

Very impressed with your review and the time put in to be so detailed.

 

Am sharing the information with my husband as we will be headed there in January.

 

I am interested to know what camera you used for your photography. Would you mind sharing?

 

Thank you!

 

Mrs. Old Foaggie

[kwbound]

Very impressed with your review and the time put in to be so detailed.

 

Am sharing the information with my husband as we will be headed there in January.

 

I am interested to know what camera you used for your photography. Would you mind sharing?

 

Thank you!

 

Mrs. Old Foaggie

 

 

Hey Mrs. OF - We took two cameras with us: an Olympus model SP510UZ, 7.1mp, 10x optical zoom and a 2 gb hd card and a Canon PowerShot D10, 12.1 mp, 3x optical zoom and an 8gb hd card. The Canon is waterproof to 33 feet. Both of the cameras will take video. We took the Olympus because of the higher optical zoom, but I don't think it made that much of a difference.

 

If you are looking for a new camera I would definitely recommend the Canon D10. I'm really happy with the underwater and land shots. And for whatever type of camera you get I would recommend getting the largest best memory card. That allows you to take a ton of shots on the highest settings. I usually take several (at least) 2 shots of everything I shoot as insurance in case the first shot doesn't turn out.

 

For reference, on the RTH shots, the photos from Hamoa Beach and the pools were taken with the Canon. The other shots were taken with the Olympus. The Olympus is several years old, so that model has probably been updated. The Canon is also very small and easy to carry.

 

Day 5 will include underwater shots from Molakini.

 

Aloha!

[Old Foaggies]

Hey Mrs. OF - We took two cameras with us: an Olympus model SP510UZ, 7.1mp, 10x optical zoom and a 2 gb hd card and a Canon PowerShot D10, 12.1 mp, 3x optical zoom and an 8gb hd card. The Canon is waterproof to 33 feet. Both of the cameras will take video. We took the Olympus because of the higher optical zoom, but I don't think it made that much of a difference.

 

If you are looking for a new camera I would definitely recommend the Canon D10. I'm really happy with the underwater and land shots. And for whatever type of camera you get I would recommend getting the largest best memory card. That allows you to take a ton of shots on the highest settings. I usually take several (at least) 2 shots of everything I shoot as insurance in case the first shot doesn't turn out.

 

For reference, on the RTH shots, the photos from Hamoa Beach and the pools were taken with the Canon. The other shots were taken with the Olympus. The Olympus is several years old, so that model has probably been updated. The Canon is also very small and easy to carry.

 

Day 5 will include underwater shots from Molakini.

 

Aloha!

 

Thanks for the input. Well framed photos and the quality is very impressive.

 

I am, in fact, shopping for a new camera.

[Bucky3]

I came across this thread just before bedtime last night - and my bedtime is not usually 2AM!! That's when I finally decided Hilo would be a good place to start again later in the day!!

 

Thank you for taking us along on your wonderful adventure. Hawaii is our favorite place. We don't even have a favorite island. They are all so different and wonderful. I surely hope you are planning to submit your final copy to the "Reviews" section of Cruise Critic as it is so exceptional, it should be preserved and not "lost" on just the "Hawaii" board.

 

We have traveled the road to Hana a few times and find your descriptions and beautiful pictures amazing. I do agree with another poster here about the banana bread stand. I think you missed the one most talked about here - the one on the road to the K peninsula that is on the right side of the road not far after you turn off the main highway. I guess you'll just have to make another RTH trip!!!

 

Looking forward to your next chapter. If I were visiting Hawaii for the first time, I would print out your review and, voila!, it would be all planned! Thanks for the memories.

 

Aloha

 

Bucky3

[4sisters]

Thank you so much for this detailed review including the pictures! My trip is April '11 and I am loving all the details you're including. Can't wait for what's next!

[vbmom87]

Loving your review and photos. Thanks for taking the time to put it together and share it.

[Eileen G]

Thank you so much for posting your review. We are considering a Hawaii cruise and the POA is really the only choice for us. Your review has been so helpful since we would do many of the things you did. I also would bring baggies for sandwiches from the ship. It just saves so much time and you can eat whenever you're hungry.

[CruisingGoddess]

Thanks so much for your detailed awesome review!! I'm eating it up!!! I've been trying to catch up on reading this since you started the topic!! I'm still on the Volcano Sailby post but wanted to comment before I forget...

 

Day 3 – Hilo, The Big Island – Volcanoes National Park and Richardson’s Beach Park

TIP: As you are leaving Hilo to go to VNP, you will pass a shopping center with a Walmart, a gas station/convenience store and a Hilo Hatties across the street. We stopped here for ice, waters and soft drinks. It is near the airport and a convenient place to fill the car up with gas before returning it.

 

It rained on us off and on during the drive to VNP, and for the remainder of the day for that matter. But it was still a lovely drive and didn’t seem to take very long at all to get to the park’s entrance. When we arrived at the Visitors’ Center, one of the rangers had just started a talk outside next to a 3D model of the park. It was a very interesting talk and he answered questions following the talk. We looked around inside the visitors center for a while and then walked across the road, past the Volcano House Lodge which is closed for remodeling and to the short trail to the Caldera Overlook. This was my favorite place and favorite view in the park. I think a lot of people assume that because the Lodge is closed, all the trails around it are closed and that it not the case. While we were at that spot the sun was shining. It was so quiet and peaceful.

 

Thanks for this info! I thought the Caldera Outlook was closed since Volcano House was! Glad to know it is not!

 

Any tips on which turn offs you did along Chain of Craters? Did you do them all? Don't want to spend too much time there but at the same time, I don't want to miss anything!

 

I love the multipocket folder idea. I will have to check for one. Did you get it at a specialty store? Usually I have everything in a manilla folder in the order that I will use it. However, this cruise is going to be crazy with all the car rentals, confirmations, pre and post cruise stays, etc. Plus having a place for everything at the end of the day makes sense. It is what is natural to me. I like the way you think!:cool:

 

I use one that looks like a plastic coupon organizer but the size of a full sheet of paper. I've seen them at the Dollar Store and Target. It closes with a string or snap. In addition to putting your maps and confirmations in it, I store the photos I bought in the photo shop, postcards, Dailies, and anything else I want to take home and keep flat.