It was soon time to take a short flight from Big Island to Maui and say farewell to Juan. I loved my time on Big Island and managed to cram quite a lot into a few days. Maui was hopefully going to be the relaxing part of the holiday with a bit of time spent in the sun before embarking on a couple of days in San Francisco on the way back home.
I arrived at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel in the blazing midday sun. I couldn’t check in until the middle of the afternoon and forgot to pack some sun cream in my hand luggage – so a few hours had to be spent with a drink, shielding away from the sun under a large tree! The hotel was right on the sea front by the most idyllic beach. This hotel also offered a host of Hawaiian craft classes free of charge, which was a really great idea and I decided to enrol on one to learn how to make the famous Hawaiian Lei flower garlands and I really enjoyed it! Just a pity I couldn’t have taken them home with me.
Along by the beach front was a lovely walk that you could do in both directions and took you past an array of incredible hotels, through the trees, and to the lovely Whalers Village that hosted numerous shops and restaurants. There was even a little Starbucks on route that had what I would consider to be the best view any Starbucks could ever have: golden sand, lapping waves and swaying palm trees. I just had to stop there for a coffee to admire the view! The front of the hotel was carpeted with endless, lush green countryside dotted with palm trees, and beyond there was a stunning view of the mountains, partly clothed in silky strips of cloud.
One trip I would have liked to have done in Maui was to go up to the top of Haleakala in the National Park, that is 10,000 feet above sea level, to see the sunset or sunrise. This trip needs to be booked in advance and a clear day is required to make the most of the experience. Unfortunately, a lot of cloud was present when I was there, so I decided, sadly, it probably wasn’t going to be worth it.
