Hawaii.

I love to see new places, I really do. I just hate the travel to get there - and back.

So the wife produced a group text... Kauai for four days, Maui for three. She has already made all the arrangements, so I suppose I have to lay back and enjoy it. Some of the plans are already in place, but I want some of the "off the radar" dining and experiences. I'm not going to sit on a plane for umpteen hours to go to the Hawaiian equivalent of Applebees

In reality, I am looking forward to the experience. A sunrise ride down a volcano, SCUBA diving off the coast and a lot of hiking are already planned.

I would like to not do everything that the typical tourist does though. I want to dine with the locals, hit the dive bars next to the VRBO (not sure where we are staying yet, but we will have rental cars).

Any suggestions will be noted and I will try to work them in.

The locals hate you.

quote:

Originally posted by dusty3030:
The locals hate you.

Pretty much true anywhere in the world.

But they do love your money.

My daughter lives on Maui. The locals absolutely hate you but love your money. That's why I hate the place. I know I'm painting with a very broad brush but the locals are worthless as fuck. The "Defend Hawaii" bumper stickers wear really thin with me. If my grand kids weren't there I'd never go back. That aside, you probably want to pick one island. You will burn a day to change islands and you don't have that many days. You are going to lose two days flying in and out. Upon arrival there isn't going to be much time to do anything and when you leave it will be the same story.

All of the trash I just spoke aside, if you've never been there you guys should have a great trip. My problem is going there once or twice a year is a bit much.

Seriously think about staying on one island.

Try the Old Lahaina Luau on Maui. It fills up quick so book now. This is a neat Luau where they tell a story of Hawaii in the dance. Worth it.

Paia Fish Market on Maui was really good. We went to the Paia location--not sure if it matters. Take the time to drive to the top of Haleakela (bring a jacket-it was 50 degrees up there at 2 pm in late July). We ate a Kula Lodge on the way down and it was good.

Don't know if it's still there or not, but when I was there in `94 or `95 there was a place in downtown Honolulu that was about a city block big, two (I think) stories tall, and contained individual food booths from all over the world. International Food Pavilion, or something like that. Not too far from Waikiki beach, like walking distance. I was only in town for a couple of days, but I had some good meals there.

^^Sounds like International Market Place. It was recently renovated. It's right on Kalakaua Avenue, just across the street from Waikiki Beach.

Order these books for the islands that you'll be on.

https://www.hawaiirevealed.com

Great books written by a local couple. Not your typical tour book, they're practical information for the common man. Order now and help plan your trip with them. All kinds of useful information like where to find Wal-Mart, best shave ice, cheapest rentals, cheapest gas, hikes, drives and other places off the beaten path. Don't laugh on the where to find Wal-Mart, prices are expensive on the islands and you can save a lot of money buying things like water, snacks and sunscreen there.

Haven't been to Maui, but I have been to Kauai. The big attractions; the Napali Coast, snorkeling on the north side of the island and the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. The two best things we did there were a helicopter tour and a sailing/snorkeling tour of the Napali Coast.

The sailing/snorkeling tour was great. The wife snorkeled, I didn't. It was just great to be out on the water and get a different perspective of it. There's no roads on that side of the island so the only way to see the Napali coast is by air, boat or hiking.

The helicopter tour was phenomenal. We debated long and hard about it having both done our time with air assault units in the Army. We agreed afterwards it was one of the best experiences ever. We chartered from a company that flew Hughes 500's and left the doors off, only way to do it. Fuck the tourists flying with the doors on and listening to Enya piped in over the headphones. Our tour actually included landing at a waterfall and pool for lunch and we could go swimming while there.

Decide on where you want to stay on Kauai, the north and south sides of the island are very different. The north side is lush and wet, the south side is dry and sunny. Poipu is on the north side and has a lot of resorts. Our favorite place for dinner was Wrangler's Steakhouse on the far south end of the island in Waimea. Yes, it sounds cheesy, but it was incredibly good.

Have fun and don't let the flight and TSA get you down.

quote:

Originally posted by kkina:
^^Sounds like International Market Place. It was recently renovated. It's right on Kalakaua Avenue, just across the street from Waikiki Beach.

I would agree with you on that.

I was lucky to get away with my life when I went into a bad neighborhood. A few guys were calling me to come up a driveway when a taxi came up and told me to get in. The driver said this is no neighborhood for a Haole. Another time on Hotel Street I was visiting a buddy that was a Marine stationed in Pearl Harbor, a group of natives came up and asked us what was our beef? I didn't know what was going on. Several of my buddies friends (Marines) came around the corner and the locals backed off.
Having said that, on the Big Island I had no problems at all. A native told me don't go to the beach at night in Hilo as the drugs were so bad we would be robbed. A beautiful place to visit. As in anywhere you go that you are unfamiliar with keep your eyes out and you will be fine.

I would very much agree with Bytes advice, if you have 7 days, pick one island. Do Maui, hard to do it wrong, you can't do it all the first time. Agree with going to the Old Lahaina Luau. And book some sort of snorkeling, turtle/dolphin watching trip with this guy.
https://captainsteves.com

His captains will put you on the animals. It's at Mala harbor, just a short distance down the road from Old Lahaina Luau.

quote:

Originally posted by 2000Z-71:
Order these books for the islands that you'll be on.

https://www.hawaiirevealed.com

Great books written by a local couple. Not your typical tour book, they're practical information for the common man. Order now and help plan your trip with them. All kinds of useful information like where to find Wal-Mart, best shave ice, cheapest rentals, cheapest gas, hikes, drives and other places off the beaten path. Don't laugh on the where to find Wal-Mart, prices are expensive on the islands and you can save a lot of money buying things like water, snacks and sunscreen there.

I'll echo this but add:

the couple lives under cover unlike most guide book writers so they get treated like a normal tourist

they have a book for each individual island (e.g. Maui and Kauai)

they have an app (at least for iPhone) for each island that is georeferenced which really helps with spontaneity. For example, you've just finished one of their recommended hikes or recommended snorkeling spots and ready to eat so you click the map, choose restaurants, and they'll bring a list of Ono (Hawaiian for good) restaurants near you. Wide range of things from fish taco stand to nice restaurants. The couple does seem to prefer Italian.

I buy both the book and the app. I use the book for reading before the trip, selecting hotels/VRBOs (more popular than AirBnB in HI), and planning the main event for the day. I use the app for the last minute add-ons nearby the days main event such as lunch, shaved ice (aka sno-cones), shopping, etc.

I've been to Hawaii 7x (all 4 main islands - Big Island, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai) and one of those trips the first half was in Kauai and second half in Maui. There may be a coincidence between # of Hawaii trips and living in Alaska and Canada for 7 winters

You can see the least amount of the island via road on Kauai so if you're ever going to do a helitour this is the island for it. I've ridden in our corporate chopper many times in the GoM so I was blown away how much quieter and nicer the Eco-Star that Blue Hawaiian Helicopters were. I saw the waterfall from Jurassic Park, the beach where much of the Harrison Ford film Six Days Seven Nights was filmed, some gnarly coastline that I never could've hiked, rain forest, dessert, beach, etc.

In general in Hawaii, skip the lunch/dinner cruises as they're almost the same money as snorkel trips, you see just as much sea life, your food is about equal, but at the end of the boat ride you get a mindblowing snorkeling.

Save your snorkeling for Maui as Kauai has really dangerous riptides/currents.

On Kauai, in general the good snorkeling spots were ugly beaches, the good beaches had dangerous riptides/currents, and it's the only island King Kamehameha didn't take by force (lost his Navy at least twice trying) due to the water conditions.

On Maui, I really enjoyed the catamaran over to Molokini for snorkeling. Maui Revealed recommended a tour that was only a few more dollars, but it was a smaller boat and normally sailed half-full. They called the competitors cattlemarans since people were packed in their like cattle at the stockyards or humans in line at Disney. The difference became apparent once we set sail and there were two male gray whales chasing a female (awesome breaches) and then got into a school of dolphins. I was able to walk over to whichever side of the boat and see the sea-life. I looked over at the cattlemarans and they were so full you could only see if it happened on your quadrant of the boat. Also, getting on/off the boat to snorkel was less hassle with much fewer people, and eating was much less hassle with fewer people.

Fishing in Maui. While living in Alaska, I got to know a charter fishing captain who earned a lot of his hours as a deckhand and captain on fishing charters out of Lahaina, Maui. He said the 95% of the photos on websites are from their 8 or 12 hour charter, and that they know the 4 and 6 hour charters it's a fluke to catch a fish. The good fishing grounds are not in front of Lahaina harbor (i.e. where the 4 and 6 hour charters "fish"), and you need the hours to go where the fish currently are hot. I wish I would've met him before I booked a 6 hour charter out of Lahaina where the whole charter got skunked, but at least we had a nurse shark swim up to the swim deck for a photo.

EDIT: There is a rum distillery on Kauai that Kauai Revealed recommended and I enjoyed. Their rum was fine, but I was blown away by their mai tai mix since it was real fruit (not high fructose corn syrup). It was better than the hotel's and the nearby restaurant's mixes so I kept some in the fridge in the hotel on subsequent Hawaii trips. WARNING! Prior to my '16 trip, they had reformulated and it was the fake nasty crap everyone else sold. If you see recommendations for it, they're for the original formulation not the reformulation.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tatortodd,

---

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

Great suggestions so far. I would have preferred one island, but I was not in on the planning. Tickets have been paid for.

2000Z, if you can remember the helicopter tour company, let me know. That sort of thing in on the border line of our plans, not sure. I already have an older version of the book you referenced, 5th edition I believe. They are up to 11th and also have an iPhone app if I can remember my password.

I am more interested in the Kauai portion of the trip as it seems a bit more rural. There is something in the book about some ATV rentals at a working ranch. I may look into that further for me and my boys. They have both cowboyed here in FL.

Why would the TSA get me down. Is it more difficult than mainland travel?

quote:

Originally posted by dlc444
Why would the TSA get me down. Is it more difficult than mainland travel?

You have to go through both Hawaii ag inspection and TSA so it's a double pain in the ass. Don't know why, but the TSA people did seem bad even by TSA standards.

For example, at the time (doubt it's changed) they did not have a separate Pre-Check lane in Kuaui and you have to ask for a neon card which you have to do something special with to leave on your shoes and leave your laptop in your bag. The TSA was real poor about telling you about what to do for Pre-Check, and all I remember is that it was a different procedure than the Pre-Check in the small town my Dad lives.

Maui is a giant tourist trap. A nice one, but still a tourist trap. It's pricey even by Hawaii standards. The one place that stuck in my head was Mama's Fish House. Expensive but so worth it. Great fresh seafood served right on the beach.

Kauai is like going back in time, good and bad. Great hiking, beautiful scenery, VERY laid back, to the point they roll up the sidewalks after dinner. No joke, my wife and I wanted to go see a movie after dinner and the movie theatre across the street had closed at 8 or 9 o'clock.

We did the Blue Hawaii helicopter tour, and even though my wife isn't a fan of small aircraft or helicopters, even she had to admit it was worth it.

When we went the Ag inspectors had an x-ray machine, just in case some thing we were bringing from Hawaii could have survived a Midwest winter and wrecked havoc on the mainland (sure), while the TSA folks had to do luggage inspections by hand on all our dirty clothes after a week of hiking and such. I don't know why they couldn't just look over the shoulders of the Ag inspectors.

Just saw the thread. My recommendations:

Luau - Old Lahaina but can be booked up months ahead in busy seasson.

Helicopter Tour - Blue Hawaiian. Hint: fly early in the day and wear dark clothes so they don’t reflect back in your photos.

Scuba trips or lessons - Maui Dreams.

Buying Scuba Gear - Maui Dive Shop often has best prices.

Molokini Snorkel trip boat - Ali’i Nui

Best place to see Turtles - Ho'okipa Beach rocky shore on far right when facing ocean. Cant see them from upper lot lookout but great view from lower seawall.

Best Restaurant - Mama’s Fish House is far and away the best but quite expensive because you’re paying for the incredible location and ambiance in addition to the amazing food and service. If you go, try to book so you stroll the grounds just prior to sunset, then dine as the sky darkens. Generally need to book way in advance, especially for good times, though I may be able to help with that if you run into difficulty if you let me know in time to make arrangements.

My Favorite Nice Restaurants - Cuatro (byob - $10 corkage per check) It’s close. I go 2-3x/week.
- Kula Bistro (byob - no corkage) Up country and worth a drive but I
suggest going after if you make an afternoon visit to Haleakala.
Local Grinds - Da Kitchen. Kahului location best but Kihei good too. You will be with locals.

Best Dive Bar With Music - Kahale’s

Best Paia Hippy Watching Lunch - Milagros Food Company patio seating.(They have bathrooms too)

Have fun. Let me know if you need anything.

Devon, can you figure out where you're staying on each island? Not precisely, but on Kauai, are you staying near Poipu or up in Princeville/Hanalei? Same with Maui, western bubble or eastern?

Thanks,

Not exactly sure, but I think our VRBO is in or near Lihue. Would not have been my first choice, but I suppose it is fairly central on the island.

As I said, we will be renting a car on Kauai.

I believe we are more central on Maui and will likely Uber as I cant see us spending $150/day on car trips.

Lihue is actually a pretty good base for day trips. When are you coming?

p210

We will land in Kauai on Dec 23, late afternoon. We will hop over to Maui on the 28th and flying out on Jan 1, late afternoon.

If the opportunity arises, would like to meet up. I have met many folks from this forum over the years.