Travel Tuesday ~ Maui ~ The Magic Isle

This photo is of me and a Canadian couple who were on the helicopter ride with my sweetie and I. We landed at the top of Haleakala and opened a bottle of champagne and toasted each other. Can't remember their names, this was taken in 2001, but I do remember how nice they were.
Since for some reason we didn't get any photos of my sweetie and I with the helicopter, I wanted to show it to you. There were six people in this as we toured the island, doesn't look that big huh? There was also a window on the bottom of the helicopter so you could look down and see the scenery. It was well worth the ride and so exciting. We went all over the island and seen pretty much everything.
This is a photo of my sweetie at Iao Valley. Iao Valley is a state park that is home to the 1200-foot Iao Needle. And it is gorgeous. I'm not just saying that, everywhere you went in Maui was just gorgeous. It is paradise.
This was our view from our room on Ka'anapali beach. I would sit on the balcony and watch the windsurfers play and in the distance you could see the island of Lanai. I really could have stayed there all day.
Just wanted to show you one more photo from our helicopter ride. We went with a company called Blue Hawaiian Tours and they did a great job.



Let's just imagine it's not cold and dreary outside and let's just pretend we are sitting on that balcony in Maui and watching the windsurfers play. We can do that on this cold January day, can't we? So let's talk about Maui, Maui is known as the "Magic Isle" and with good reason. It is magical and it will cast a spell on you. My sweetie and I only had a few days to spend there and we loved every minute we were there. So let's begin, the most popular resort areas of the island are on the western shore. We stayed on Ka'anapli beach, Ka'anapali is a four mile stretch of beach and has many hotels, condos and open air restaurants and it also is where the Whalers Village shopping is located. Ka'anapali also has a paved beach walk.
Two miles south of Ka'anapli is the historic whaling village of Lahaina where my sweetie and I went shopping. In Lahaina Town there are boutiques, galleries and places to eat all along Front street. If you go a little farther south you will hit Wailea. Wailea is where many of the luxury hotels are located and they are something to see themselves.
Now you may be asking what is there to do on Maui, well there are so many you'll have trouble choosing just one so give yourself plenty of time when you visit. Travel inland to the base of the Haleakala Crater and then up 10,000 feet to the summit. A popular tour is is the downhill bike ride and sunrise excursion. I did not do this but I have heard it is wonderful.
And don't forget the drive to Hana. It's a bit hair raising but oh so beautiful. Hana is a 57 mile coast hugging stretch which takes you over 59 bridges and through more than 600 curves. Most people continue the 9 miles beyond to waterfalls and pools at Oheo Gulch. And here's a bit of trivia you might not know, more than 3000 humpback whales visit Maui each winter. I also don't want to forget about Molokini, which is a tiny crescent shape island off Maui's southwest coast which people go to and snorkel.
Once again I can't give enough space to this wonderful destination but if you want to learn more about the Hawaiian Islands, here is the site where I go for all my information. They do a great job in telling you about all of the islands. I went to what this site calls the School of Hawaii a while back and got my "Akamai" degree from them which means "Hawaii Expert." It was the most fun I ever had at school. :-) Next week we are going to Kauai, which we didn't make it too but hopefully I will get enough info and photos from my Hawaii website so you can get a good picture of this island. Kauai is on my must do list of places to see in my lifetime. Have a wonderful Tuesday and remember you are on your balcony in Maui watching the windsurfers having fun, you are not looking out the window at snow and gray skies. LOL



P.S. Go to the bottom of my blog and check out the really cool photo album I added. Just a few photos for now but isn't it cool? The talented girls from the Bowerbirds Nest , Jenn & Jacqui gave me this idea from their blog, now if I can just figure out how they get that bird to fly all over on their blog, LOL. Go visit their blog, it's so much fun.