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2025/12/08 Back in Maui 15 Years Later

π 2025-12-08 01:01 in Hawaii, Ntrips, Trips

It had been a while since I had been to Maui. My 2nd trip was around 10 days and had plenty of time to see everything around Hana, do the upcountry, hike Halekala, and plenty of diving around Kihei, but while I had been to Lahaina, which was beautiful at the time, I never stayed there. Updates for this trip:

The road to Hana with a night in Hana was fun to do again. Hana is super expensive to stay at, but thankfully I had some leftover Hyatt points that were put to good use for a night there (Luana Spa where I stayed before was unfortunately not usable to sleep there anymore).

In the past, I regretted not staying a few days in Lahaina. Unfortunately, it's now all burnt down and hasn't recally recovered yet. It will likely take many years to probably not quite get to the level it was at before.

But more unfortunately, Lahaina has become unreasonably expensive. On top of that, they've added punitive parking fees. That's very short sighted as driving away tourists that are supposed to help rebuild after covid and the Lahaina fire and destructions, isn't really going to work (parking 20mn by Dragon's Teeth was $35, parking in the condo complex just north of Laihana, after already paying a lot to stay there, was another $150. WTF?)

The rest of Maui was mostly like it was 15 years ago, so not too many new things outside of Alpacas and Butterfly farm that were fun. However it had more things that you can't do anymore, making things worse, including closing seven sacred pools, mostly closing venus pools and removing the only legal parking spots that were there. They also force reservations that have to be made the day before for black sand beach or you get denied access. They also prevented access to the end waterfall at the end of the Pipiwi trail (with a fine if you continue to the end, which I did anyway), and even the Io Needle also needed advance booking and timeslots to be allowed in when it was half empty. All bad changes in the end, not impressed.

The one thing that improved was the backroad from Hana to up country had significantly improved and can't be considered unsafe in any way. It was trivial to drive this time around. And the private road from upcountry to Waimea, also known as the Oprah road, is unfortunately private property so you have to drive around.

With that out of the way, let's go through the pictures. We arrived later in the evening:

Day 1 & 2: Hana Loop

The road to Hana is still fun and Eden's Garden is still an enjoyable stop. Stayed close to the start of the road to be ahead and got up early-ish to make the most of the shorter winter days:

glad to be back

peacocks are the local chickens

Did I mention the ducks were hungry, hilarious how they wag their tail when they are happy

the mini doves were parked on the bird seed box :)

plenty :)

Then the garden tour:

After a good time there, back on the road:

triple waterfall

they were ready for tourists :)

Then I went back to Kahanu Gardens which do close early (15:00):

But unfortunately the Hana lava tube next door was closed:

So there was a bit of leftover time to check out the airport and nearby chocolate places:

And finally was able to go back to black sand beach which is now a bitch to go to as they require timed reservations that have to be done the day before and you can't get in before your timeslot. Sigh...

very nice lava hike by the beach

wonderful cave in the rocks a 20mn hike away from black sand beach. A real gem and totally unmarked

beautiful beam of light

Lots of cats on the trail going south:

Then there was enough time to check out red sand beach, which thankfully still had its access path intact:

monk seal sleeping

Then there was just enough time to check in the Hyatt Hana, which was beautiful:

The next morning, we continued the loop, starting with a few beaches:

I went to venus pools, but they "nicely" blocked all the legal parking spots and I was warned that the water may not be clean or save anymore (Bacteria):

A few more nice views on the way:

Until seven sacred pools:

sadly it was forbidden to go down now :-/

and forbidden to go in the pools, sigh...

From there, I did the Pipiwai trail again, which is beautiful, but now you were not supposed to do the end bit. I still did, but it's sad...

Bamboo forest again:

the bamboos clacking in the wind were coo

And then after all the hiking, this... WTF?!?

from far

and close once you go past the sign

the waterfall was still very nice, but sad you had to break the law to get there

bonus rainbow

Then back on the road to finish the south loop:

straight road :)

haha

The drive took a bit more than 1h, enough time to go see Maui Wine:

And still just enough time to get to Kula Botanical Garden which closes early:

And then it was time to drive up to Haleakala to enjoy it a bit before sunset:

local birds

of course they were hungry :)

Then more time to wait for sunset:

still a very cool view

Then a long drive down behind a slow car that was blocking everyone, all the way to Kihei took around 1h30 but got there eventually.

The Pineapple plantation was interesting:

interesting to see how pineapples are hand harvested

Next door was a fluffy bunny and alpaca farm, that was fun:

Alpacas are so cute:

And not too far still was Surfing Goat Dairy I had been too years back and was fun to see again:

the small goats were funny to watch

The next day, went to Iao Valley which was nice for 30mn, but just that:

Another small botanical gardens:

On the way back, went to Maui Ocean Center (clickme):

On the way to Lahaina, stopped at the the butterfly farm, which was very enjoyable:

praying mantis

Got lucky enough to see some wild Nene:

Then, went up to Dragon's Teeth, which is now sadly behind an overpriced parking lot from the bastards at parklinq, $35 for even a few minutes.

The new place at Kaanapali was very nice, but Kaanapali Royal had a ridiculously priced parking lot ($150 when you already paid to stay there), so I cannot recommend them. That's very silly, I hope they get the clue that this is not ok.

working hard after the dives :)

There isn't much left in Lahaina, which is sad, but the old Lahaina Luau was thankfully spared:

The food was yummy:

The show was good too:

The rest of Lahaina was still sad looking:

the old tree on the main plaza was mostly spared

The last morning, I did a short flight around the island (clickme)

And then it was time to fly home:

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2025/12/11 3rd Dive Trip to Maui, 15 Years Later

π 2025-12-11 01:01 in Diving, Hawaii

GPS map:

It had been a while since I had dived in Maui. It's not a bad place, but there are many other places to dive around the world, so I went there too. Things that changed in Maui were:

Maui has become unreasonably expensive, and unfortunately on top of that, they've added punitive parking fees, very short sighted as driving away tourists that are supposed to help rebuild after covid and the Lahaina fire and destructions, isn't really going to work (parking 20mn by Dragon's Teeth was $35, parking in the condo complex just north of Laihana, after already paying a lot to stay there, was another $150. WTF?)

At the time I regretted not staying a few days in Lahaina. Of course, it all burnt down so now it's really not much to look at except expensive resorts and golf courses. This also means there is only one company left diving out of Lahaina. That's better than 0, but 1 means it's a huge mess of total beginners, mixed with advanced divers. Not good...

There are some dive companies that dive out of the pier close to the aquarium in the middle of the island, but it doesn't make sense to stay in Lahaina just to drive back down and then boat up, unless they go to Molokini in which case you should stay in Kihei which is a bit cheaper.

Pro Diver Maui in Kihei

The first 4 days were spent in Kihei, diving with Pro Diver Maui. There are still multiple dive companies that dive from there every morning (06:15 at the harbor, ugh), but not that many that cater to advanced divers or do 3 dives instead of 2. Ed Robinson has moved on of course (he was already old 15 years ago), so I found Pro Diver Maui which do 3 tank dives from time to time, but not the days I was there. However, instead of the 3 tank dive on saturday, they did a special trip to Lanai to dive Cathedrals 1 and 2, which turned out to work great. The crew was professional and did a good job letting more advanced divers enjoy longer dives while the beginners run out of air early.
All the dives ended up being at Molokini frontside (I was told backside is really not that great for fish life and is just a deep wall dive) and the guides did a great job making sure divers of each level got to enjoy the most diving possible. Here are the best pictures:
Kihei Based diving starts before sunrise to go diving before the wind picks up and the conditions worsen:

the harbor can't keep boats but every morning they get put in the water

the lobster had eyes inside it ;)

Lanai Cathedrals with Pro Diver Maui (from Kihei) and Dive Maui (from Lahaina)

I thought the traverse to Lanai would take a lot longer from Kihei, but turn out they had a faster boat and it took a bit over 1H at 20kts or so.

Two days later, I was back with Dive Maui from Lahaina, their boat was slower and the sea was rough, so it too just as long to get there as it did from Kihei, and sadly the smaller boat filled at capacity included some total beginner divers that absolutely did not belong on that boat and ruined the trip for everyone else. I got less than 10mn underwater before we were recalled under water to look for an inept diver that lost the group from the start and did not swim back towards the boat, making us go get her and cancelling diving for everyone else. How is that even possible? :-/

thankfully that dive shop was not damaged by the fires

boats were very filled to capacity, 14 divers

got to hear whales under water and see them

after a bouncy and wet boat ride, got to cathedrals in Lanai

yeah, that was it. 3H trip there and back for less than 10mn in the water :-(

3rd try going to Cathedrals, another slow-ish traverse (more than 1H) but the conditions were good:

Lahaina Jetty with Dive Maui

The rest of the dives were shore dives, especially as the boat trip to Lanai was cancelled on the 3rd day due to rough seas, so I did more shore diving on the 3rd day. Turns out the Jetty dive in front of the dive shop was actually excellent.

swimming frog fish

2 lovely eagle rays

even got a monk seal, which is rare!

After the Lanai trip was cancelled on the 3rd day (sadly 2nd cancellation out of 3 trips), I ended up doing 2 more shore dives that were pretty decent. Thanks to Sean who came back to work to come dive with me:

the Hawaii state fish, a kind of triggerfis

4 eagle rays came to visit!

many turtles

Ending Words: Still Pretty Good Diving, But Less Affordable and Welcoming as Hawaii Used to Be

All in all the diving was pretty good, but I'm not sure I'd consider Maui a top dive destination anymore due to the problems with Hawaii (pricing, and tourist scamming). The diving was decent, but out of Kihei you can only dive in the morning, and out of Lahaaina, you're paying a fortune just to stay there or deal with a 1h-ish drive from Kihei, and once you've done the jetty dive a few times, and it was excellent, you're going to run out of things quickly. The Lanai Cathedrals were good, but a pain to get to, even from Lahaina, and I just can't recommend it as a diving destination given the tough traverse that can cancel the trip, and the currently sole diving company going there daily that mixes totally beginner divers with advanced ones, putting everyone at risk for cancelled dives and everyone subject to the weakest link. Unfortunately there does not seem to be any boat diving locations from Lahaina when the boat can't go to Lanai.
Once you add that Hawaii has gotten way expensive and sharks-like parking companies deciding to screw over tourists (that is you parkling.com, you are blood suckers, GFY), not understanding that they are going to suffer the same fate than Vegas if they continue (i.e. tourists not coming back and warning others not to go). Hawaii, you need to get rid of those blood suckers urgently if you still want people to come back.

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2025/12/17 Maui Ocean Center

π 2025-12-17 01:01 in Aquariums, Hawaii

Since I love and collect aquariums, of course I had to visit the one in Maui. It is a pretty good aquarium although it is unfortunately located in a shopping center that was taken over by the Parklinq f'ers that feel it's a great a idea to now ask for anyone parking in that shopping center to give them money, or else, damaging every business located there. Well done...

Anyway, back to the Aquarium:

inky!

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2025/12/18 Another Shorter Flight Around Windy Maui

π 2025-12-18 01:01 in Flying, Hawaii, Nflying

15 years ago, I did a lovely flight around Hawaii's Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, so I figured I'd do it again this time around. It was still fun but unfortunately the winds were strong and greatly limited where I was able to fly, so it was just a quick loop around half the island as it was apparently not safe to go to West Maui, Lanai, or Molokai: