We took next to no vacations this year. And not by Fuller standards – by any standards. I took so few vacation days from work that I had to start forfeiting them, and by the time September rolled around, I decided enough was enough. We were going to plan a trip for November – Italy, Spain, Laos, Hong Kong, somewhere. But with time constraints, near-winter weather, and the ever-present Zika threat, our options were limited and we slowly, grudgingly had to cross almost every destination off our list. We were just about to give up when I found flights to Maui for a steal: $350, round trip, direct. Unbelievable. (For anyone that hasn’t discovered Google Flights yet – do!)
Here’s my one gripe about Hawaii: it’s expensive. I’m still fixated on places like Bali or Thailand (yes, still) where hotels, food, and services are shockingly cheap (hello $10 massage on my private lanai), so by comparison, the hotels in Maui had me a little panicked. Panicked enough that I cancelled and then rebooked our flights. Four times.
I didn’t want a trip that doesn’t even require a passport to cost us a fortune, so I devised a plan. We would find a new, clean, convenient condo for the first half of our 5-day trip, where we could eat fresh fruit for breakfast, make sandwiches for lunch, and bring our own bottle of champagne to the beach. We’d skip the frills of the resorts, and give ourselves a little more freedom to explore the nearby independent coffee shops, restaurants, bars. Then we’d go over to the resorts in Wailea for our last few days and see what the fuss was all about.
It wasn’t as easy as I thought to find such condo. At one point we had a B&B in Lahaina booked, but couldn’t cancel fast enough when we realized the bed was queen-sized. Somehow I stumbled on the Napili Surf Beach Resort, and while the outside isn’t much to look at, its located directly on the beach (in a little bay called Napili, which had already caught my attention for its snorkeling), and all the units were recently renovated top-to-bottom. It checked every one of my boxes.
After grabbing groceries and poke near the airport, we checked in just in time to see the sun set on our beach. I had a feeling right then and there, that I was going to LOVE the area we chose to stay, and I was right. Napili is about 15 minutes north of Lahaina, but it feels much more peaceful, with lots of little bays and walking trails carved into the land, and a mix of condos and gorgeous resorts like the Ritz.
Full disclosure here: I sucked at taking photos this trip. I always say that taking little to no photos are a sign that you’ve had an amazing time, and that rang true here. So I’ll piece together what I have, but wish I had more to illustrate my story.
Our first morning, we wanted an easy, but scenic trail close to where we were staying, and we found it in the Kapalua Coastal Trail. This trail starts in Kapalua Bay, which was the bay right next to where we were staying, and is a relatively flat stroll that takes you along the coastline and past several beaches. We always love a little cloud cover when we’re hiking (me for photography purposes, Jake for sweating), but we got more than we bargained for: clouds quickly turned to drizzle which led to…. so many rainbows.
We’re big fans of snorkeling, so after our walk, we returned to Kapalua Bay to test our luck in those waters. Rating: 5/10. Easy access and we saw some pretty fish, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. The beach was lovely though. Just after we got back from Maui, Jake stumbled across this article – turns out Kapalua Bay Beach was voted #1 beach in the world in 2018 by Dr. Beach! (Whoever that is.)
On our walk that morning, we passed another beach that we named the ‘secret beach’ (real name, Oneloa) since it was the only one that was deserted and had a long, wide stretch of white sand and a pretty good surf – much different than the other beaches that had more shallow sandy areas littered with people and completely calm waters. We returned to Oneloa later in the afternoon and it was still deserted. (Yay.) Jake got to do some body surfing while I awkwardly watched on (I can’t hold my own in big waves) and got bit by little ants, but it was still one of my favorite memories of the trip.
We had checked out Whaler’s Village in Kaanapali our first night (just 10 minutes south of Napili), and that felt a too touristy for us, so we decided to stay local for our second night and try out Merriman’s, which had come highly recommended. Since Merriman’s is also located in Kapalua Bay, we had popped our heads in earlier, just long enough to get a glimpse of this gorgeous restaurant and find out it hosts a happy hour daily from 3-5 pm.
When we returned later that afternoon the place was already packed, so we settled at the bar, which is where we ended up staying so we could chat with the bartenders and get continuous refills on our $6 (!!) martinis. By the time we left, we already had plans to return the next night – in my mind, nothing would beat this place. Bright, airy, and open to the ocean, you get incredible views and a heavenly breeze that’ll leave you coming back for more.
Always fun trying to explain how to use my camera to a stranger. Head out onto the patio for sunset… or if you’re lucky enough to snag them, get seats on the deck over the water.
The next morning, we traveled a little further east to walk the Ohai Trail (a tip from one of our bartenders). It took us about a half hour to get the trailhead from our condo, but the drive was beautiful and we had the road to ourselves – and even better, we passed not a soul on the trail! This is an easy, mile-long loop that is so green and picturesque – and the perfect remedy for a fuzzy post-two-martini head.
More snorkeling at Honoluo Bay was next up on the agenda, as I had read that this secluded cove offers some of the best snorkeling in the area. It’s a bit tricky to get into the water at this location and you have to swim out about a half mile to get to the reef, so I was really hoping to be amazed by what we saw in return, but wah wah. No. It was okay, but I’m going to go ahead and rank our experience a 2/10 – lot of effort, little return. I will say the walk to the bay from the parking lot is very cool (you feel like you’re in Jurassic Park), and the snorkeling may very well be better at different times.
A bit defeated, we decided to head back to Napili beach for the remainder of the day, and surprise of surprises…. we had the best snorkeling experience of the trip right in our own bay. The water is incredibly calm, clear, and blue (the most similar to the Caribbean of any beach we had been to in Maui… or Kauai for that matter) and the reef is shallow and close to the shore. Within 20 minutes we spotted a turtle, and followed him until he met another turtle, and then another. Pretty thrilling.
We wound up at Merriman’s again for happy hour, and then went into Lahaina for Ono Gelato, which was amazing.
The following morning we took one final walk in Napili and then drove over to Wailea to check into the Andaz. On our way, we were craving poke again (daily thing in Hawaii) and stopped off at a local’s recommendation called Tamura’s. This caused a little bit of confusion because this is actually a liquor store, but sure enough, they carry fresh poke (and lots of varieties at that) that is SO GOOD. Good enough to base our plans for that night on – we’d buy a couple pounds of the poke, along with a couple bottles of champagne (the liquor portion of the store came in handy), and we’d park ourselves on the beach at sunset for a picnic dinner.
And that we did.
By the way – we loved the Andaz. We were debating between a couple different hotels, including the Grand Wailea and the Four Seasons, but the Andaz was priced right in the middle and I was really drawn to the sleek design (reminds me of hotels in Asia).
Again in search of the fish, we booked a snorkeling tour for the following day to take us to Molokini Crater and Turtle Town.
Molokini was different than I expected, with a lot of boats parked up against the shore, and really choppy waters that kept threatening to smush me against the crater wall. The water is somewhat deep, but really clear so you do see a lot of fish. Turtle Town had less visibility but we did manage to spot and follow a couple turtles and saw a huuuuge manta ray – pretty breathtaking. All in all, I’d do it again, but Napili Bay still ranks #1 for me.
Our last night called for champagne on the beach (now tradition) followed by happy hour at Gannon’s, which is in the Wailea Golf Club and sits on gorgeous grounds.
Our last morning, we rose early to see one more sunrise and to have the Wailea Beach Path to ourselves for a bit. (This pretty path goes along the coastline from the Fairmont to the Andaz and it gets BUSY. Be prepared to dodge runners every 90 seconds in the morning.)
Had a little more beach time before we had to pack up and leave our lovely hotel. Our flight wouldn’t leave until 10 pm, which gave us plenty of time to at least start the Road to Hana.
Start was about all we did. We saw the cool surfboard wall at Mile Marker 0, and the first set of waterfalls at Mile 2.5 before deciding our hearts weren’t in it (neither were our stomachs…. those are some windy roads). So off we slunk, back to our hotel, where they kindly re-admitted us and we happily spent the rest of the day ordering pool-side drinks and cheers-ing to a wonderful vacation 🙂
Much mahalos to that!