Maui - Haleakala Volcano

On our very last day on Maui (and in Hawaii, in general), we drove to the top of Haleakala Volcano. In the Hawaiian language Haleakala means "the house of the sun". The volcano is 10'023 ft (3055m) tall and it is "potentially" still active.

It is a quite interesting experience to drive to its top from the sea level: at first you are below the cloud cover, then you are driving through the clouds, and in the end you find yourself above them. I do not know of many places on earth that you can experience something as magical as this and I would strongly recommend finding time to get to the top of the volcano if you are ever on Maui.

Above the clouds:

On the top:

Haleakala Crater in the clouds:

Maui - snorkeling

To my great surprise I did not even have a slightest problem convincing my parents to try snorkeling. Moreover, they did seem to enjoy it, even though they did not feel comfortable wearing fins and preferred to swim without them.

We only managed to go snorkeling during our stay on Maui as we were so busy with sightseeing and hiking on the other two island. We rented the gear at Snorkel Bob's (great service, by the way) and went to the nearest beach that had partly rocky bottom. I was astonished how close from the shore one can see first fish and how colorful all of them are. I was also very happy that finally I had a chance to check out my underwater camera set up. I realized that taking pictures underwater is extremely tricky, mostly because everything is moving: fish, the water and you. So forgive not the greatest quality of the pictures posted here.

The beach were we snorkeled:


My father snorkeling:


And that's me!


Many, many colorful fish:

I believe this fish is called Achilles Tang:

Zebra Moray Eel and Spotted Pufferfish:

Sea Turtle (Honu):

Maui - Honokalani Black Sand Beach (Wainapanapa State Park)

The first stop on our way to Hana was on the black lava beach of Wainapanapa State Park. We got there just after sunrise, which was great as we did not meet a single person during our two-hour long hike there. That's important to me, as it seems that my perception of the beauty of nature is strongly adversely affected by the presence of noisy crowds.

Honokalani Black Sand Beach is pretty spectacular as it is set among lava cliffs. The beach does not actually consists of sand, but of small, smooth, lava pebbles. From the beach there is an ancient Hawaiian footpath leading to the city of Hana, called King's Highway. We hiked for a bit along this impressive coastline path watching waves crash against the volcanic rock. It was definitely a beautiful hike and I would say it is an absolute must for anybody who goes to Maui.

Honokalani Black Sand Beach:






One of many volcanic caves that we saw during our hike:


Hiking on the King's Highway:

Maui - road to Hana

More than 600 hairpin turns, 54 mostly one-lane bridges, lush tropical forest, numerous waterfalls, stunning landscapes - all that on the 37-mile-long road to Hana, by many called "heavenly Hana". Even if you know in advance that you should expect a narrow, extremely curvy road (600 turns per 37 miles per 2h = 18 turns per mile, 5 turns per minute), still, once you actually start driving there, you find yourself in disbelieve that a such road exists. I was the lucky driver in our party and I enjoyed driving on the road to Hana more than you can imagine. Driving there felt more like playing a computer game rather than driving a real car!

Our hotel was located near Lahaina (on the western side of Maui), which is only 71 miles (but around 3-4h according to all guidebooks) away from Hana. Therefore, we decided to start heading in direction of Hana at 4 am, so that we could get there before sunrise and all the other tourists. In that way, we figured, we would be out of sync with the crowds, and we would have the beautiful Hana road only for ourselves both on the way there and back.

Let me start with saying how impressed I was by my parents, who were amazing enough to wake up at 3:30 am and be ready to leave the hotel room by 4 am. All that without uttering a word of complaint.

Second, if you ever happen to be planning to drive to Hana, I would strongly recommend that you start as early as we did. Even in a retrospect, I think it was a very smart idea to start driving so early. There was basically no traffic anywhere, and thanks to that, our trip to Hana took half the time it would normally take.

A few minutes after sunrise we stopped at Honokalani Black Sand Beach (aka Black Beach) where we had a well-deserved breakfast. Afterwards we went for a short hike along the coast that I described in a separate post. From there we drove to Oheo Gulch, which is located a few miles past the city of Hana. Surprisingly, the road leading there is even narrower, more windy, and in general in worse condition than the road leading to Hana! I think my father was close to a heart attack several times as we were approaching some of its narrow blind turns located too close to the cliff as for his taste...

On the way back from Oheo Gulch we stopped for a moment in Hana. There is really not much to see in this city. I guess the only highlight of Hana is its unique red beach (see photos below). But as all guide books tell you: the road to Hana is all about the journey, not so much about the destination... Part of our journey was stopping at the Lava Tube Cave (see this post) and several beautiful waterfalls that you can see on the photos below.

One of many waterfalls:

Tropical forest:

A tree with strange root-branches:


Red lava beach:

My happy parents:

Young bananas!

Yet another waterfall:

It is easy to give flowers to a woman if there are so many of them growing around you...

Lava coast:

Maui - Oheo Gulch

10 miles past the city of Hana is the Coastal part (Kipahulu area) of Haleakala NP. We did not get a chance to explore it well, mostly because it seems that for my parents traveling is not about travel, but about destination... So we just had enough time to walk to the Oheo Gulch (the Seven Sacred Pools) that you can see at the photo below:


I would definitely recommend spending more time there than we did. The whole places was very green and beautiful, and virtually tourist-free! And according to my "Hiking in Hawaii" travel guide, there are a few of Hawaii's most spectacular hiking trails there.

Maui - Hana Lava Tube Cave

One of the attractions on the scenic road to Hana is Hana Lava Tube, also known as Ka'eleku Caverns. As the name implies, the cave was formed by flow of lava. The most interesting sight in the cave are very beautiful lava-stalactites that resemble dripping chocolate. They were formed already during the formation of the cave, probably when the hot lava was leaving the tube. As the patches of molten lava were dripping from the ceiling and cooled, the lava-stalactites were formed.

The whole lava tube is more than 2 miles long, but the part that is open to sightseeing is "only" 0.25 miles long. The cave is quite wide as well and its floor is almost horizontal, so it is easy to walk on. My father is supposedly claustrophobic, but had no problems there. You can visit this cave on a self guided tour, which costs 12$ per person. Not sure if I would recommend it though. I guess it depends if you are into caves or not...

Entrance to the cave:


Actually, for the most part the cave is quite tall and wide, and there is no need to get down on all your fours. But we did it anyways!


My parents in front of the wall of beautiful stalactites, also called "chocolate tongues":


More lava-stalactites: