Ka'anapali Dreamin' » Trip 4 Plans

Trip 4: Final Countdown / Site Preparations

Kris — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:36:00 +0000

As you can imagine, it’s been a busy final week before we leave for Maui Sunday morning. With only one more day at the office left and a few final errands to finish on Saturday, our mindset is already set to vacation mode.

Site Preparations

I haven’t had a lot of free time to post this week, but I have been doing a few things behind the scenes to make this upcoming trip a little more interactive. As I had done last year, I plan on opening up my Maui Twitter page with updates throughout each day of our trip. Of course, if you’re on Twitter yourself, you can also just follow me (@webnelly), too.

That’s not all I’m working on, however. I’ve been testing out two other online goodies to help you keep tabs on what we’re doing and even what we’re seeing. The first is the Twitter photo sharing service, TwitPic, which will allow me to take photos from my cellphone and post them directly online. My goal is to share about 3 photos a day, so we’ll see how that goes.

The other service I’m testing out is brightkite. This one allows me to ‘check-in’ at different times and places on our trip. Say, for example, when we’re enjoying that long awaited slice of Hula Pie at Leilani’s. Whenever I ‘check-in’ during our trip, you’ll be able to click and view exactly where we are on a Google map at the brightkite website, and at the end of it all, I hope to be able to use that info to literally map out our travels each day.

Of Course, The Blog

As I have done for the last two years now, I will also be switching our blog here into diary mode, with daily journal entries of the previous days highlights and happenings. Be sure to follow along and add your comments each day.

Lastly, many mahalos to our readers that have been following us through these last few months as we plan our return to Maui. This trip, more than ever, we’ve received so many great ideas and comments from our readers and on Twitter. For my Twitter friends on Maui, Cindy and I look forward to meeting you IRL (in real life) very soon.

Mahalo!

Entertainment Lineup for Whale Day 2009 Announced

Kris — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:23:00 +0000

The Pacific Whale Foundation has just announced the entertainment line up for the Whale Day 2009 festivities this year, and you can get all the details from this press release. Some of the more familiar names include John Cruz, Willie K, and George Kahumoku Jr., and seeing that we always love to see live entertainment when visiting Maui, we’re really excited.

Be sure to check out the Maui Whale Festival 2009 website for all the details of this year’s activities. We’ll be on the island and attending the Whale Day Celebration on Saturday, Feb. 21st, so if you’re planning on being there, too, drop us a line and say Aloha. Liza from A Maui Blog is working to arrange a Maui Tweetup at the Whale Day Celebration, so if you’re interested, reach out to her on Twitter (@AMauiBlog). As a reminder, you can also find me on Twitter at @webnelly.

Mahalo.

Trip 4 – Final Plans

Kris — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 17:22:00 +0000

Another big week for the planning of our next trip, so I wanted to post an update. We finalized (or tried to) our final activities for our little 2 weeks of heaven on Maui in February, and we’re entering into our last trip preparations leading up to our flight.

Booked: Vacation Portrait Session

This was something I inadvertently left off the previous planning posts, but was something I was really interested in arranging this trip. I had seen a little kiosk setup at Whalers Village last year, and thought it was worth looking into. Well, we booked our session for Friday, Feb. 20th with photographer Natalie Brown.

It is going to be an hour session at Keawakapu Beach in Wailea, just before sunset. The spot was recommended by Natalie, and based on some of the photos in her portfolio, we know it’s a safe bet that things are going to be wonderful. She was also kind enough to recommend two top restaurants in the area, Sarento’s On The Beach and Five Palms Beach Grill. Both look wonderful, and regardless of which one we choose (or yet another option), this has all the makings for a magical evening on Maui.

Booking: Whale Watch and Dinner Cruise

The plan was to book these two this morning and then be done with all the pre-booking stuff, but issues with the Pacific Whale Foundation site were keeping me from crossing this off the list. We know there are other fish in the sea (pardon the pun) when it comes to these whale watches and dinner cruises. We’ve just grown accustomed to PWF because of all the work they do on the islands and for the environment, and plus, they sure know a lot about whales.

According to our early week planning, Wednesday, Feb. 18th is going to be our afternoon whale watch out of Lahaina Harbor. This is essentially the same one we did last year, but a little later in the afternoon (and hopefully with a lot less motion sickness). It’s a two hour affair, and with all the whale activity going on in Maui waters this time of year, I’m really, really excited.

The second booking with PWF will be the Dinner Cruise on Thursday, Feb. 26th. We had scheduled this last year as well, but after the rough waters on our whale watch, the three of us (my mom being the 3rd that trip) agreed to stick to land. We like to opt for the premium seating on the upper deck, and really enjoy drifting along the West Maui coastline just at sunset. We’ve done dinner cruises on the Maui Princess in the past, so we pretty much know what to expect.

Scratched: Star Gazers Maui

It soon became obvious that we had a tad too many things going on for our two week trip. Unfortunately, the Star Gazers Maui tour planned for Friday the 20th had to get scratched, and we’ll only be making one trip up Haleakala this time around instead of two. If things go well, we might be able to leave a little earlier for the sunrise so I can get some star photos before sunrise. Just don’t tell Cindy.

What’s Next

Well, tomorrow will mark 3 weeks before we leave for Maui. At some point next week, we’ll start figuring out what we’re packing, do a trial run filling up our luggage, and any last minute shopping between now and the time we leave. I’ve been meaning to pick up a different carry-on bag, and as if we didn’t think it was possible after last year, I’m bring along even more techie toys this trip. Yikes!

There are still some other site updates I’m hoping to wrap up here before we leave, as well as dust off my Maui Twitter page. Seeing that Twitter is a bigger part of my life these days, I shouldn’t have a problem remembering to tweet with updates. I really liked how my Twitter posts from last trip went and the final output ending up in our Itineraries section. You can read more details about what to expect here.

That’s all for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

Mahalo.

Trip '09 – Week 2 Plans

Kris — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:04:00 +0000

Last week I posted our initial plans for week 1 of our February trip to Maui. With making reservations last Friday for an overnight stay in Hana for our second week, it’s now time to share our week 2 plans.

Sunday, February 22nd

At the moment, Sunday is looking to be another beach day for us, although we normally don’t hit the beaches on the weekend. You see, unlike what some folks think about people living in Hawaii, they don’t actually spend each and every day at the beach. With the high cost of living the island life, many people work two jobs during the week, which makes the weekends with the ohana so special. Those weekends are generally when many residents make it out for some fun in the sun themselves.

We’ll probably be doing laundry at some point on Sunday, too, which would make this a pool day instead. Yes, we do laundry on vacation, one of the drawbacks of a two week vacation. It’s either that or packing two weeks of clothes, and trust me, we do not want the hassle of any more luggage than we already have.

Monday, February 23rd

Day one of our return to Hana. It will be our third time making the trip, but only the first time driving ourselves. Since we’ve seen many of the popular sights already, we’re not going to be in any kind of a hurry to fight the crowds, opting to take our time and finding the areas that are lesser known.

Also, as mentioned on Friday, we’ll be spending the night at the Hotel Hana-Maui, which will certainly include dinner at Ka’uiki. If there weren’t so many other great things we’ll be doing this trip, staying in Hana would be the hands down highlight of these two weeks.

Tuesday, February 24th

One of the benefits of staying overnight in Hana is that we’ll be able to see the sunrise over the ocean in East Maui. Right now, I’m thinking of greeting the sun from Hana Bay. After that, we’ll probably head over to the O’heo Gulch for some photos, which we didn’t visit on our trip to Hana last year. The rest of the day is taking our time getting back to Ka’anapali and stopping at places we might have missed on Monday.

Wednesday, February 25th

The day itself on Wednesday is pretty open right now. Possibly another whale cruise, a trip to the Maui Ocean Center, or maybe a day in Lahaina. The evening, however, is reserved for one of our traditions each trip, a Luau. We’re sticking with our regular Ka’anapali Sunset Luau as we have the past two trips, which is also right on the grounds of the Sheraton.

Thursday, February 26th

Another day at the beach on Thursday, to get the finishing touches on our tans before returning home to the final weeks of winter in Chicago. The evening will be our dinner cruise this trip, which we normally do on the last night, but will come a day early this time (and for good reason).

Friday, February 27th

The last full day is always a somber one, so we’ll likely just take it easy during the day and not try not to dread going home. We’ll probably do the laundry again, just so we won’t have to when we get home. In spite of the mood of leaving Maui yet again, we’ll be ending this trip on a very high note. Friday is the HAPA concert at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, and seeing what a magical night the show was last year, it will be the perfect end to our vacation.

Saturday, February 28th

Alas, our wonderful vacation has to end sometime. With the changes to our flight plans this trip, it will be interesting to see how it works out. Usually, we take the red-eye home, which means requesting a late checkout and then driving around with a car full of luggage. This time, we’ll have less time to kill and possibly less of an impact on our normal sleep patterns by the time we get home.

Some Vacation, Eh?

Kinda of makes you wish you were coming with us, doesn’t it? While not intended to brag or boast about how great our trips are, I hope these plans give you a good sense of just how many great things there are to do in Maui. To some, this list might sound a little light, or a few might even thing we’re trying to do too much. It certainly is a balancing act, and we’ve been pretty happy with our past trips as far as not burning ourselves out.

It truly is better to pace yourself when visiting Maui, and accept the fact that you’re not going to see everything in a single trip. That might not sound promising, but the reality is that you just need to keep coming back, like we do. Trust us, after you’ve visited Maui and have seen all the magic it has to offer and how it changes you, that vacation savings jar at home becomes a lot more popular.

Mahalo.

Trip '09 Plans – Our Hana Overnight

Kris — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:03:00 +0000

We made yet another part of our upcoming Maui trip official yesterday by booking a night at the Hotel Hana-Maui in Hana.

We have been thinking about making arrangements to stay in Hana for months now, which will give us two full days to experience all the hidden treasures along the Road to Hana that our previous guided tours did not have time to cover.

Cindy and I had the wonderful experience of dining at Ka’uiki for lunch last year, which is the main restaurant at the resort. From what we were able to see while we were, the resort looked stunning. That, and the prospect of seeing the sunrise over Hana Bay nearby, just added to the desire to spring for an overnight stay.

The Way It Should Be

I hear a lot from fellow Hawaii and Maui fans that people who take their time along the Road to Hana get more out of the experience. Some visitors think it’s just about driving all the turns and bridges and not losing your lunch. Others get to Hana and think, that’s it? And then there are some who pick up a guide book and try to stop and see everything in a single day’s drive, not spending nearly enough time to stop and enjoy each individual sight.

Hana and the entire East Coast is yet another example why making multiple trips to Maui is so rewarding. Just like you can’t possibly do everything there is to do on Maui in a single vacation, it’s impossible to see everything there is along the Road to Hana in just one day. Being able to take our time getting there the first day, and having a second day to finish our explorations and make our way back to Ka’anapali gives us plenty of time for just about everything we’re looking to discover. That, and the fact that we’ve already seen many of the popular spots in our two previous trips to Hana gives us even more time for new finds.

The Rest of Week 2

Booking this overnight was the cornerstone of our week 2 plans, which I’ll be posting next week. In case you missed it, you can check out our plans for week 1.

Mahalo.

Hockey on Maui?!?

Kris — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:58:00 +0000

How about a little tanget, eh?

After sharing some of my recent outdoor skating adventures here in Chicago on Twitter, Liza from A Maui Blog shared this link with me. www.mauihockey.com

The site’s tagline really says it all, “Hockey in Paradise.” While it is of the inline variety, it is hockey none-the-less, and from the looks of the league stats on their site, relatively popular at that. I remember seeing a mention of this league online a few years ago, and I believe it was in reference to this league being a USA Hockey sanctioned inline league (which it is).

It’s really nice to see one of my lifelong passions, hockey, getting a dose of the Aloha Spirit.

Trip 4 Plans?

Not sure if we’ll be working any skating time into our plans for February, but seeing that the rink is located at Kalama Park, the same area in Kihei as the Whale Day Celebration, we will likely pay it a visit.

The do offer public skating 3 nights a week, but it is not likely that I will be packing my rollerblades this trip. They’re pretty heavy relative to everything else we need to pack, and they take up too much room in the suitcase. We are planning to visit for an entire month in August next year, and for that, it will be very hard to resist leaving my skates at home.

If we do end up renting skates while we’re there next month, you can expect to see a few pics and maybe some video of it here.

Talk Story

Anyone here seen the rink or watched any of the games? You can find schedules on their website, and it looks like the next season starts Jan. 22nd. It really is a great sport, and if you’ve never seen a game in person, check out the keiki play. Those kids playing hockey when they’re so little is absolutely adorable.

Mahalo.

Trip 4 Official – Week 1 Updates

Kris — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Although it seems like we’ve been talking about our 4th trip to Maui forever now, our final payment for this trip has cleared and now it’s official! It’s always one of those bittersweet moments when you’re trip is officially paid for. You know there’s nothing stopping you now, but that last 4 figure number showing up on your bank statement isn’t always that fun.

Could we have travelled cheaper? Most definitely, especially with all the great deals out there right now. Will there be any buyer’s remorse? Maybe a little between now and when we takeoff. But one thing is for sure, once we land and settle in back on Maui, it will be the farthest from our minds.

Trip Planning Update

With less than six weeks to go, I thought I’d share another update with how our trip is shaping up. This is just a tentative schedule and is off of the working agenda we posted earlier. Our plans are always fluid, though, and we like having the ability to just go with the flow and decide as we go.

Sunday, February 15th

Our arrival day, which will pretty much stay the same as before. The only difference is that we might make an effort to get to bed a little earlier than usual.

Monday, February 16th

It will probably be decided Sunday night (if not early Monday morning), but right now we’re pencilling in a drive out to the summit at Haleakala to see the sunrise. Regardless of whether we make it up there or opt to sleep in, our day one habits are sure to continue.

Tuesday, February 17th

Our first beach day for the trip. Seeing that we’ve had a brutal winter so far here in Chicago, a day of sun and sand couldn’t be more welcome. One of a few beach days planned, but no decisions yet as to which ones we’ll visit on each day.

Wednesday, February 18th

Thar She Blows! We’re planning our first whale watch of the trip for this day in week 1. Depending on how successful (or unsuccessful) this one is, we may add a second tour. Dinner at Leilani’s is likely, along with some Hula Pie.

Thursday, February 19th

This is Cindy’s day, which she will undoubtedly spend at the spa. The question is, which one? We’re not sure right now whether the new spa at the Sheraton will be open in time, or if she’s going to stick with the Westin that she has enjoyed in the past.

Friday, February 20th

Who’s up for some hiking? Although we’ve been staying in West Maui these past few years, we have yet to make it out to the Iao Valley State Park. We hope to change that on Friday of week one. Also, all signs right now are gearing towards scheduling a night with Star Gazers Maui, if for anything their down jackets.

Saturday, February 21st

Saturday is our day in Kihei, attending the Whale Day Celebration and meeting up with Liza (from A Maui Blog) and her family. It looks to be a fun day.

Week 2

There’s still quite a bit left for week 2 as well, but I’ll save that for an upcoming post.

Until then, have a happy Monday!

Mahalo.

Trip ’09 Plans – A Haleakala Decision

Kris — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:20:00 +0000

For almost the last year now, I (alone) have been gearing up to make the trek up Haleakala bright and early to see the sunrise. And as our next trip gets even closer, we have a tough decision to make…

Haleakala Sunrise vs. Haleakala Sunset/Star Gazing?

There was a similar question posted on Go Visit Hawaii back in October, but I didn’t pay too much attention to it at the time because I had my goals set on a sunrise. Yet, looking at a few guided sunrise tours (which as it turns out, there are only a few) that 2am-3am departure time from Ka’anapali still seems a little underwhelming. We were planning to do go up to Haleakala that first morning we were there, which is recommended because of the time difference and the jet lag coming in from Chicago, but we still aren’t that sure about it.

Seeing the limited selection, and pricing, of the guided Haleakala Sunrise tours, I started weighing the option of driving ourselves, and not knowing the road very well. As a comparison, we’ve taken two guided tours on the Road to Hana on our past trips, and it’s only now do I think I’m ready to brave the drive myself.

Then I started rationalizing against the sunrise on Haleakala this trip because we’re planning to spend a night in Hana, and could see a spectacular sunrise off the East Maui coast. Added to that, I began comtemplating a replacement for the Haleakala sunrise by doing a star gazing tour with Star Gazers Maui. That would include both the sunset and star gazing on top of Haleakala, and includes dinner, down jackets, and hot chocolate to keep us warm. There is no transporation provided, however, so we’d still have to drive to and from the summit ourselves.

There wasn’t a lot of information on the Star Gazers’ website, so I emailed them a few questions yesterday and am waiting to hear back. I did find a few reviews on Trip Advisor that seemed very encouraging. Cindy’s aunt and uncle also did this tour a few years ago and had nothing but good things to say about it.

A Tough Decision

While this is turning out to be a tough decision to make, I guess by most standards, this is a relatively nice problem to have. At this point, I’m starting to lean towards the side of caution and just saying we’ll do both. Driving up to do the sunrise ourselves would still mean leaving too early and not knowing where we’re going, but doing a trial run down from the summit in daylight will certainly help for when we’d have to do it in the dark for the Star Gazers.

There’s a lot of information on the Haleakala sunrise in guidebooks and in the blogosphere, but not too much about stargazing up there. I know you can see the stars from Haleakala before sunrise, too, but I think a night tour would give me more time to add to my Maui Stars collection. We’ll probably make up our minds sometime next week depending on what we hear back from the folks at Star Gazers Maui. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, experiences, or other guidance that you’d like to share about either of these options (or doing both), we welcome your input.

Mahalo.

Trip '09 Plans – Whale Day Celebration

Kris — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:11:00 +0000

Well, with a good part of the busy holiday season behind us, and getting a chance to rest up this coming week, we’ve starting picking dates for the various activities we’re looking to do on our ’09 Trip in February. It’s always fun when we get to take our working agenda of things we want to do and spread it out over the course of two weeks. Just last weekend Cindy and I were going through the spiral notebook that I scribble all these details in, and thumbed through the same exercise we’ve done for our last two trips.

Saturday, February 21st
One of the first things we’re putting down for sure is the Whale Day Celebration, which is being held by the Pacific Whale Foundation. This is the same event that we mentioned back in October when we entered our little whales into the Whale Regatta Race. The entire Whale Day Celebration will be taking place from 9am to 4pm in Kalama Beach Park in Kihei. At the moment, we’re planning to make the entire day of it and stay in Kihei or Wailea for dinner. Believe it or not, after three previous trips, we have yet to see the sunset from South Maui.

If you haven’t yet entered the Whale Regatta Race, there is still plenty of time to do so. You can find more details about how to enter at the PWF website as well as the page with the official rules. It’s for a good cause and it should be a great time. If you do enter, be sure to let us know and we’ll cheer on your whales, too, while we’re there.

Mahalo.

Trip 4 – Working Agenda

Kris — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:10:00 +0000

Even though Cindy and I already have a lot going on right now, I still thought it’d be good to post the working agenda of things we’re hoping to do on our upcoming trip in February. With Thursday being Thanksgiving and all, February seems so far away by comparison, but never-the-less, here it is.

Watch the sunrise atop Haleakala – This one has been on my list for ages now, and I think we’re actually going to make it happen this time. Since we arrive on Sunday, we’re thinking either Monday or Tuesday morning will work the best. Crossing my fingers.

Another Whale Watch Cruise - As we did this past April, we’re itching to get back out on the water and get up close and personal with some happy 40 ton mammals. We’re going to need to hit the seasickness remedies pretty hard after last time, but I think it will be worth it. Besides, the whole point of going in February is to see the whales and maybe stop by the Pacific Whale Foundation Regatta Race.

More Astrophotography - Ever since my first round of shooting the night skies in Maui, I’ve been borderline obsessed with repeating my beginner’s luck. In fact, I picked these two weeks in February specifically because the second week (Feb. 24th) is going to be a new moon. We’re also hoping that we can schedule the Tour of the Stars with the Hyatt again this year and not have it cancelled because of clouds.

Driving the Road to Hana - After two years of guided tours along the Road to Hana, I think I’m ready to make the drive myself. To give us some extra time, we’re also considering an overnight trip with a stay at the Hana-Maui Hotel. That would give us one day to drive down, and one day to drive back. Plus, since we’ve already seen many of the major stops like the Black Sand Beach, we can pass those up and get to the more hidden treasures. The more photo ops, the better.

New Beaches - We have a tradition of visiting at least 3 new beaches each trip, which we happened to do all in one day this year. Ideally, I’d like to break it up across a few different days, and besides checking out beaches along the East Coast, I’m thinking of going back up to Kapalua and visiting Napili Bay, getting shots of the other two Ka’amaole Beach Parks for my collection, and maybe one or two others. Wailea Beach is calling as well.

HAPA, in Concert - As if seeing them already this year at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center wasn’t a dream come true, HAPA is coming back Friday, February 27th! Needless to say, we already have our tickets. It was just this past Sunday that I was talking about our final night tradition of taking a sunset cruise and watching the sunset one last time before the end of our trip. Well, it looks like we’re taking a year off with that tradition.

The Iao Needle - One of the gaps in our trips in the past has been visiting the Iao Valley State Park and seeing the Iao Needle. I’ve seen a lot of great photos on Flickr and elsewhere, and am looking forward to adding some of my own to that list. Also, with a renewed appreciation for the outdoors this past summer, I’m up for a little hiking.

Two Luaus - Since we stay at the Sheraton Maui Resort every year, we enjoy the convienence of taking part in their luau while we’re there. Being right there on the resort is a big plus, not to mention getting to enjoy a fantastic sunset and the Black Rock Cliff Dive ceremony all in one evening. It’s very special. And since we have two weeks to spend on the Valley Isle, we’re also thinking of making our first trip to the very popular Old Lahaina Luau, and from what I’ve read, we should have a very nice time.

New Black Rock Spa - Cindy always enjoys the spas while we’re in Maui, and this year, she’s going to have yet another option to pick from. The Sheraton is going to be opening up their renovated Black Rock Spa literally any day now, and come February, she’ll have something to compare against the Heavenly Spa at the Westin Maui. She says the Westin is going to be hard to beat, so we’ll have to wait and see.

I’m probably forgetting a few things, but I think this list is a good start, don’t you? For all our friends and family that think we’re silly for going to the same place every year, they obviously don’t realize just how much there is to do on Maui, let alone the rest of the Hawaiian islands. And with a two week trip, we’re able to do most of what I’ve mentioned here, and still have a few days in between to just relax, unwind and enjoy being on Hawaii time for awhile.

Could you really ask for anything more? We don’t think so.