Day 7: Wow – The West Maui Loop

This was my most favorite day here so far. In fact, it was probably one of my most favorite days I’ve ever spent with Jill. We drove the 60-mile loop around West Maui, enjoying some amazing sites, hikes and food along the way.

Though we took off around 8:30 a.m. and really got going by around 9 a.m. after stopping to see some birds at the wildlife refuge along the roadside, and grabbing gas. Because we’d just visited Lahaina the night before, we were able to drive past it and onto the vast Ka’anapali beach area along the far west side of this section of the island. The beaches here are similar to the Wailea beaches, gigantic, golden sand and sunshine!

We determined quickly that this area would not be our first choice for lodging. Unlike our ‘hood, it really seemed to just be condo after condo – they all kinda looked the same. If I had kids, this would be perfect – as most are right on the water and it’d be easy to transport you/your stuff without dealing with loading/unloading a car.

We walked a beach path down to a snorkel area and watched a zillion folks in the water around Black Rock, a rock that separates the two major beaches in this area. On our way back to the car, we wandered through The Whaler Village shopping mall where there was a Coach, Louis Vuitton and a bunch of little shops. We just picked up a few trinkets at the ABC and then moved on.

We hit a fabulous little farmer’s market/grocery and got food for a picnic lunch (turns out, my sister and her husband visited this shop daily on their trip here a year ago for his 40th bday!). The store had a ton of homemade goodies and Jill got pineapple bread that was to die for! We also got a few spreads and dips and fruit for lunch. We then blew past a ton of beaches, since we’ve seen plenty of sandy beaches, and got to the rougher part of the coastline.

Our first amazing stop (there were 3) was a lava formation called Dragon’s Teeth. We walked a little bit along the edge of a golf course and came to this lava-made rocky area right on the ocean. The waves were incredible, the water was so blue…and we saw a bunch of whales. We couldn’t believe how amazing this place was just a hidden little stroll from a parking area.

Next we stopped roadside at an overlook hanging over the last sandy beach on this side of the island. We had a gorgeous view, situated our beach towel and ate our goodies before driving on the mile or so, parking and hiking down to the beach. We had it completely to ourselves and hung out a little bit there. The beach had a lot of rocks, and within the water were HUGE boulders that we had seen from above but they looked so different from the same level.

Our second killer stop was the Nakalele Blowhole. The hike down among a lot of lava rocks, many of which were really dry and sharp, was a good workout. The return trip was too! The blowhole itself was a little lazy and though we saw it perform, it wasn’t anything really exciting. But, the view was amazing! And again, the waves crashing along the shore made the trip worth it, along with the various species of little fish and crabs moving about.

The most stunning of all our stops were the Olivine Pools a couple miles down the road. This was by far the most treacherous hike in, not far but steep, again among sharp, dry lava rocks. When we got to the bottom, we were again alone – this time amongst pools formed by ocean waves crashing up and over the rocks behind them.

Some of the pools were shallow and quite warm, but the best one was cool, blue and deep enough you could cannonball into it! We didn’t though, because you could also see the many species of tropical fish swimming about. They didn’t seem to mind us being there...they’d just swim around you like you weren’t even there. It was like snorkeling without ever going under water! Departure was difficult as the wall of lava rocks looked all the same, but after a few roadblocks, we found enough of a path to get us out.

The rest of the drive was a lovely, winding road through green lush hills. It reminded us a lot of the drive to Hana, but was way more accessible. We both agreed that Hana was cool, and we’re glad we did it – but don’t really feel like we need to do it again. The West Maui loop, though, we figure on doing every time we come here. Great return on investment! We were gone about 8 hours, and were probably only in the car for 2 hours, tops – we got the most sun of any day here because we were in it for 5 hours! We both tend to get a little bored after a couple hours of lying around by the pool or at the beach – we had a blast being active, seeing some of beautiful Maui, and getting sun!

The day wrapped up with sushi with Todd & Tanya, and way, way too much to drink for me. Oy! We won’t go into that, though.

Tomorrow we move to the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea, about 5 miles down the street. Should be fun to be in a fancy hotel for a few nights before heading home!