Pyramids in Polynesia: Activities - Part 2

Last time we talked about a few of our honeymoon outings that I would absolutely put in the "win" category.   Today, we'll talk about the things that I still recommend, but I wish we had planned a bit better for.  

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay (Oahu)
Snorkeling is usually up there on a list of things to do on a tropical vacation, and plenty of people recommend Hanauma Bay to us, but we just hadn't made plans to do it.  We were like "Eh, if we get around to it?"

Then something funny happened: because I wasn't adjusted to the time change, I was waking up around 4 AM Pacific time every morning, unable to get back to sleep.  So I spent that time breaking every honeymoon rule by mindlessly browsing the internet, and on Friday, saw that a Facebook friend had shared this article.  Number 17 on the list of "35 Clearest Waters In The World To Swim In Before You Die" - Hananuma Bay!  We were leaving Oahu that day.  I shook Sphinx awake and told him I had to go there before our midday flight to Maui.  So that's how we ended up squeezing a very short snorkeling trip in before heading to the airport.  It was a gamble, yes, but it worked out fine and we didn't end up chasing a plane down the runway (sorry, spoiler alert).

It was a bit overcast that day, and we actually got a drizzle of rain, but not enough to keep me out of the water.

Again, this is a popular/touristy destination, so there was a line for tickets, then a wait for our showtime to watch a video about snorkeling safety and not stepping on the coral, followed by a walk down to the beach, and then finally we had to rent the snorkel equipment. Honestly, it wouldn't have been a significant wait at all, if we hadn't been operating under such a time crunch.  However, if you plan to visit Hanauma more than once on your trip, you can put your name on a list so that you don't have to watch the video again - and it's good for up to a year!

When it was all said and done, I had about a half an hour in the water, which was fine by me.  I saw some incredibly colorful fish, and some cool coral while snorkeling, but I didn't want to venture too far out, since I was by myself.  Sphinx doesn't really enjoy snorkeling, so he relaxed on the beach and took some pictures of the bay - and his goofy new wife.

I'm glad we got to visit here, but I wish we had been able to enjoy it at another time when we weren't constantly checking our watches. Sunbathing on the beach, bringing in some snacks, and exploring different parts of the bay would have been really fun!  Alas, we had other places to be, but now I am 2.8% through the list of "35 Clearest Waters In The World To Swim In Before You Die!"

Road to Hana (Maui)
Okay, so the Road to Hana.  We did it and I still feel like there's a lot we missed, but I've got a bunch of pictures and a few tips to share, so here it is!  It's the road that takes you all around the very edge of the island of Maui, with the easternmost destination being the remote town of Hana.  First off, it's a long day: we left our resort after breakfast around 9:30 AM (way too late), and didn't get back until around 6 PM.  I should mention that part of the reason it took so long for us was because we did it in a weirdo way. Here's a map of our travels, starting at our resort on the green circle:

From my best estimates, we drove about 200 miles that day./Photo from Tour Maui, with annotations by the trip's navigator.

So the R2H starts and ends near Kahului, with most travelers driving clockwise.  Can you follow what we did?  First, we drove down to Wailea and Makena to see the pink sand beaches, and we thought that there was a little road that would connect us back to the main loop.  That assumption was wrong, but our detour brought us through the aftermath of the most recent volcanic flow on Maui - from 1790, and that was pretty neat!

The "pink" sand beach had a combination of red, white, and black sands to give it that color.

After we backtracked, we decided to take the road direction less traveled and go counter clockwise.  Why?  Because Sphinx's #1 to-do in Hawaii was to see colorful beaches.  With pink sand taken care of, he wanted to hit up the black and red sands next.  These were on the bottom half of the loop, so we decided to go that way first to get to them.

We went through many different landscapes that day, in pursuit of the beaches.

And there it is, the black sand at Punalu'u Beach!

On the advice of a reader, we bought a copy of the "TheR2H" CD guide, so that we could just listen along instead of reading from a book.  It was a little awkward since we were going the other way around, but it was still a handy resource to have.

Somebody really enjoyed the 'stang. 

I can't say that R2H was my favorite thing on our trip (because, hello, I already said that about the surfing), but it was a really cool experience that was unique to Maui.  Spending a day in a Mustang convertible driving 600 hairpin turns and 54 one-lane bridges through a jungle that looks like a dinosaur is about to poke its neck out  - that's an experience we won't forget.  Oh, and our first little fight as a married couple - pretty much one week to the hour after our wedding ceremony. But that was because I was hangry and we didn't know where to find food in the middle of nowhere. That's something I could forget.  But mountains and waterfalls and the gorgeous coastline made it all worth it!

We only saw about a billion of these signs.  Still thrilling/terrifying around every turn, though. 

 

I'm a rebel.  But this was my first time seeing real waterfalls! 

 So what did we learn that I could pass on?  Get a convertible or Jeep, it makes the experience so much cooler.  Bring snacks and drinks to keep all parties happy.  Pick up a guide CD, but also grab a real book or do more research than we did!  Drive the opposite way if you like, just plan for the timing of it.  The one thing I'd wish we'd done was the Seven Sacred Pools of O'heo (which is apparently life changing. Whoops.), but that's the last stop on the regular route. We came up to it and didn't want to stop because we were just getting to the good part of the drive.  And start early!  If you'd like to see the Makena coast area, just do that on another day because it really is beautiful.

And while all of these sights made our vacation special, if you're planning a trip to Hawaii, don't feel like you need to pack your schedule full of activities.  Some of our favorite memories were made driving around the islands, listening to Hawaiin pop cover songs on the radio (my favorite part), watching the sunrise from our balcony, and lying on the beach. Oh, and the food! But that's a post all its own...

We  pulled over to just soak in the amazing view one afternoon.

Pyramids in Polynesia

Logistics and Details
Activities Part 1 - Surfing, Pearl Harbor, Diamondhead