Maui -- Day 5 6/10/12

Up at 5:50, I knew I wanted to make one more trip to Lahaina.  I tried to head to Caffe Kihei first for breakfast but it was way too crowded.  Hit Starbucks instead for  yet another yummy latte and a breakfast sandwich then it was back on the road for me.

Living in Atlanta, it’s easy to forget how much I like to drive.  It’s actually an enjoyable experience where you don’t have anywhere you need to be.  And being able to see water most of the trip – bonus.

The tiny town of Ma’alaea is my first stop.  The aquarium is here as well as a dive school, a pier, and several small shops.  Only the shops were open so of course I managed to be divested of even more of my dwindling cash.  Purchases in hand I got back into the car.

When I got the car from Alamo they gave me a map of the island.  On it are several places that are marked as forbidden territory as in if you take the car over these roads you void your leasing agreement.  That made me curious.  Were these roads unpaved? Plagued by daily avalanches?  What made these parts of the road so impassible to anything but a 4WD?  Let’s find out, shall we?!

So I droved past Lahaina and Ka’anapali, past anywhere I’d been on this road before until the busy four lane highway narrowed into two lanes.  Then it started to get twisted and dark because of over-hanging tree limbs.  Turns out this part of the road is forbidden because the narrow road hangs off the side of a cliff at various points and there are only sporadic guard rails.  Oh.  That explains it.  I pulled into the last overlook before the road got really interesting, took some pictures, and headed back down.

There are several towns along this road, most of them I just drove through.  But I did stop at one; Oneloa beach.  To get to Oneloa you go through a very high end community, past the golf course, the country club, and the community store before you can find parking.  There are signs for a trail that partially winds around the beach so as soon as I park I decide to follow the trail.

Even though all of the beaches on Maui have public access, Oneloa feels more like a private beach.  With houses fronting the water instead of hotels and resorts, most of them with very easy access to the beach through their backyards, there is more a secluded feel to the place. 

The trail signs are a little confusing.  I initially went along the wooden path that borders the beach but stopped when the wood gave way to dirt.  I went back to the parking lot where this part of the trail began and ended up walking along the street for what seemed like forever.  I wound up in the parking lot of the Ritz Carlton before I realized that I needed to turn around. Retraced my steps to the wood trail and then went further.  This part of the trail is very hilly and rocky with the ‘trail’ being almost impossible to pick out in certain areas.  It eventually leads to the edge of the rock cliff overlooking the water.  There are a bunch of little tide pools and caves on this end that were really pretty.

Making my way through the rocks and back to the wooden path, I found a couple who were trying to navigate the path as well.  They asked me to take their picture while I told them how to get to the rocks. The guy was kind enough to return the favor.

On the way out, I stopped by the community store.  It’s a nice place with groceries, souvenirs, and a café in the back.  I scored some buy one get one free Kona coffee and some chilled pineapple (both must-buys while in Hawaii).  I gobbled up the fruit in the parking lot then got back on the road.

Back in Lahaina, I stopped at the Cannery Mall, a place I missed the last time I was there.  The mall is small with a few nice shops in it.  There was also a stage set up where they’d have hula shows on the weekends.  I caught part of one before returning to Kihei.

I grabbed a salad and my beach gear and walked to Kama’ole to eat.  As always, it was nice to just sit on the beach but it wasn’t long before I was getting sand blasted by the wind (I even found sand caked behind my ear later on!).  Really need to hit this beach in the morning.  It’s just way too windy in the afternoon. 

I walked along the beach to Kama’ole I and Kama’ole Bay.  Each was smaller than Kama’ole II and rockier but still very nice beaches.  The rocks also seemed to block the wind a bit more.  This allowed me to sit out for a little bit longer before finally heading back to the hotel for the night.