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Hale Ono Loa is in a nice quite neighborhood along the ocean. These pictures are along Lower Honoapiilani Road. Restaraunts and shops are within walking distance. This neighborhood doe snot have much traffic and not have single traffic light!
We enjoy shopping at the Star Market with a great Deli section and it has decent prices and tremendous selection, especially on seafood. Safeway in Lahaina has better prices on standard items ad is exactly the same as a Northern Calif. Store. We get our beef from Long's Drug store in Lahaina! Yes, Long's is the only place that carries genuine Maui Beef at extraordinarily low prices even by mainland standards. The small meat display is in the back near the small produce section.
Great beaches nearby are at the Honokowai Beach Park, across from the Farmers Market and south toward the Embassy Suites. S-turns is to the North about 1.5 miles just before you get to Kahana Towers; good surfing and boogie boarding there. Our favorite activity beach is Napili Bay; it is about 2.5 miles north, look for the Napili Sunset sign and park in the roadway and look for the path between two story apartment buildings. By the way, when driving the coast, look for the blue "Shore Access" signs with white lettering; these spots are legal right of ways for you to enjoy the shoreline. They usually have parking spaces as well. In fact nearly all major hotels next to the ocean have public access and free parking; just look for the blue signs and "Beach Access" parking spots. Of course your best chance of getting a free space is early in the day! From the Grand Wailea to the Ritz, each mega hotel project has some form of public accomodation - you do not need to check into a $600 a day room to use these!
Kapalua
The Sushi place at the Kapalua Shopping Center is magnificent! The breakfast buffet at the Ritz-Carlton is amazing and pricey ($35 each.)
Beyond Kapalua
If you drive north past Kapalua the road gets narrow. Honolua Bay is about a mile past a very large luxury home that is on a point looking out to Molokai. A green chain link fence and some small signs indicate the parking area and entrance to Honokohau. Walk down to the sandy beach for a great experience; the reef with lots of fish are to the left and out near the point.
Drive further and past a one lane short bridge and up a steep hill. Just past the "Blow Horn" sign and the Mile 33 marker look for an opening in the gurard rail and a dirt road to the left that drops off a "bit" steep. Drive that dirt road for a great view of Molokai. This in the cliff where you can see surf competition and find all the workers who take a day off when the surf is up!
When the surf is up the expert surfers are busy catching waves and you can see it really close along the cliff. At the very end is a turn around. There is a very cool secret beach at the end of the road and down a trail to the right. That beach has grove of coconut trees and a tiny secluded coral sand beach. The sand may be all gone in winter.
If you keep going on Hwy 340 you will have a "Mini-Hana Road" experience. The beautiful town of Kahakaloa has a few homes you can stop and buy some local fruit and maybe they will show you the taro root plantation. The road is narrow the rest of the way but paved. Look out for oncoming cars and be ready to squeeze by and even back up to safe wide spot to make that happen. It is only 20 miles or so and In about 45 mins you will have done a full circle of West Maui and will be in Wailuku, the county seat. There are Macadamia nut farms that line the highway just befoire you get back to town. In an emergency when Highway 30 is closed (accidents or brush fires) they use 340 to get people back to Kahalui airport. The rental car companies sometimes say not to use this road but while it it is narrow it is totally paved. While in Wailuku the Iao Needle is nice visit and very historical; it is there the Maui warriors were wiped out by King Kamehamea as he conquered the whole island chain.
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Restaraunts
Roy's at Kahana is very fancy and great reviews.
Outback Steakhouse is a "Big-Food" place and has a to-go menu. McDonald's is the old standby and has some Hawaii only items such as Portugese Sausage Breakfast and Saimin Noodle Soup.
Other favorites of ours:
- Buzz's at Maalea. Great Maui Onion soup, steamed clams, and Fish and chips. We stop by there on the way in from Kahalui Airport for our welcome to Maui meal!
- Moose McGuilicuddy's in Lahaina on Front Street. The $1.99 breakfast from 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM is fantastic!
- Ruth Chris Steakhouse in Lahaina on Front Street. When you want the best high priced steak in the world here it is!
- David Paul's in Lahaina. The owner is A neighbor of ours at the Eldorado and he done quite well by being a fantastic chef operator.
- Castaways at the Kaanapali Villas. This is our personal favorite for any meal! It is right on the beach in one of Kaanapali's oldest resorts and was once a Hilton Hotel. It is near the new Westin timeshares at north Kaanapali; look for the lava rock Kaanapali sign at the end of the at Sugar Cane Train and Int'l Colony Club intersection ... head to the ocean side then take a left at the Villas. It is a beach front operation. Great Fish n Chips and try their Tuesday night 2 for 1 pasta specials!
Surfing and Sunset Scenes - from the view deck - about 75 feet from the unit!
When the surf is up from the north (usually in winter) the waves in front of the resort can be nice sized; while in Honolua the surf can get 15 - 25 feet here we get 5 - 10 footers. In the summer it is calm as a lake! There are natural reefs so be careful if you get in here.
Enjoy the sunsets every evening from the view deck: completely unobstructed!
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The Hana Road experience is a once in a lifetime experience; that is, you probably will do it only once even if you had the chance to do more! The scenery is fantastic but the kids in the back seat will be pretty tired of it one third the way (one hour) into the route! The well to do know how to get there ... by air taxi! 
The National Park has a parking lot at the "Sacred Pools" for $10. And the area is really lush and tropical. Lots of mosquitoes here so bring your repellent! I find the wild mango trees to be a treat. The pools are a nice swim but there are no white sand beaches one this side of the island.
Go around the Hana Road! Instead of heading back, just keep going on Highway 31! While the pavement ends just past the Park Service lot there is now just 5 - 7 miles of gravel/dirt road that you will get through in 30 minutes or less. Some rental car companies don't like you suing this route but it's really not bad anymore. The state is paving 2 miles per year of the not often used route and will finish soon enough. While on the dirt road You will find a nice grassland with marvelous views of the lava flows and south flank of Haleakala. The ocean views here are vast and you will see whales, lots of them, in Winter/Spring. There is one quaint general store at Manawainui, the road then turns paved again and rises steeply and undulates up the volcanoe flank. You will have views of Makena and Molokini. In 15 minutes you will be at the Tedschi Winery and just 30 minutes way from Kahalui. The winery is fair in comparison to the best wineries of the world and makes some decent product; the pineaplle wines and champagne are a bit too fruity for us. But who knows! Try it for free while you are there.
Haleakala Volcano
About a million years old, this beautiful peak is the world's fastest/highest climb you can make in a car; from sea level to just above 10,000 feet in less than 2 hours. If you used to sea level, the peak can be a dizzy sleepy experience. Click here for a live view from the peak.
Before you get to the park boundary you may see counters of flowers and/or fruit in front of people's homes: these are honor stands where you should pay for what you take. They have prices listed but usually no one there. You can get HUGE avocados, papaya, and protea flowers this way.
Biking down the Volcanoe is a great experience! Especially after you have just arrived from the mainland ... because you will need to get up at 230AM to catch the first ride and see the sunrise. But you will be done by 10AM to do other things. Outfits such as Maui Downhill will pick you up in a van and get you to breakfast after.
If the weather is good at the peak the "sunrise" starts an hour before you see the sun! It is really cold up there as well! In the winter it can snow there! In 1989 snow fell down to the 3000 foot level and several feet at the top. Even West Maui was snow capped!
Snorkeling, Diving, Boating
We recommend doing the Paragon Sail to Lanai over Molokini trips now. Just way too many visitors to Molokini have eroded the experience and environment. While Lanai sees maybe 200 visitors a day, Molokini can get busy with 3000 in the morning! The reef at Manale Bay is just as lush as Molokini was decades ago. An advantage of heading to Lanai is that the boats depart from Lahaina whereas Molokini trips are at Maalaea which is a 30 minute drive. But if you do go to Molokini NEVER take the afternoon trip .. way to windy and often never even gets there!
Scuba diving off Lanai is a warm and crystal clear experience. Paragon or Maui Dive is a good start.
Fishing for Marlin is best done on the Kona Coast Big Island, but you can try it on Maui at Lahaina and Maalaea; the smart skippers head to deep waters off Lanai or Molakai. Your chances are not good though and likely you will end up with Mahi Mahi instead. It's about $600 for a 3/4 day boat charter or $100 a person for split charters. It is customary that the boat skipper keeps the catch so be sure to pre-arrange this deal if you plan to keep it yourself; you should tip the crew heavily to make up for it! They make about $5 a pound for your fish so you better tip good or no deal!
Our big secret is NIGHT DIVING! Just buy a night light and dive in at dark! The water is warm and WOW do you see sea life! And if you are daring, you can catch lobster, crab, and octopus!!! After August you can catch lobster by hand (use gloves) at night as easy as picking pineapple!
Activity Desks - the secret behind them!
As you walk down Front Street or the beach walk on Kaanapali you will see supposed bargains such as $19 Luaus, $39 helicopter rides, and so on. BEWARE! these packages are only available if you first see a timeshare presentation. There are activity desks that are straight commission desks that do not require timeshare shows. These may seem to be higher priced but not in the long run.
Just our opinion but timeshares are about the worst investment on earth! No one ever makes money on these. But if you are strong willed you can get through the presentation and just say no! Also, if you do fall for it, by law you can rescind the whole deal within a week when you get home. Most timeshares never appreciate and while you think you will be coming back to Maui year after year, trust us, it does not happen often! IF YOU DO want a timeshare, and there are a few good resons for these, you can get them at 50% off or more at reseller's offices or any realtor ... there are hundreds of them listed on the Multiple Listings. Some of the new timeshares at the Westin and Marriott may be a good deal if you always vacation every year since these have trade ins around the world and Maui units are always the highest value around. You can expect to pay $5,000 to $20,000 per week for a timeshare.
Real Estate Investing on the Islands
We are bullish on investing in Maui Real Estate! We are not realtors nor attorneys so our advice is worthless, ok? But in any case, you can see all the properties for sale on Maui at Maui Listings . Our realtor is Jon who can be contacted at jnamnath@gmail.com or 415 717 9309 Her web page .
We see 2007/2008 as a low periodwith steady pricing and bargains for the determined value buyer. Maui will steadily appreciate over the long haul as almost all the land is owned by the Gov't, a couple of agricutural companies, and royal estates. It takes just a few well healed investors to move this market. I think Maui real estate follows the fortune of Southern California in sales rate but the long term gains are larger.
The tourism is keeps doing well because it is so ideal on a destination and still in the USA (you know that) and airlines are doing more new non stop flights to Maui than ANY other Island. Hotel rates are ever increasing as occupancy is the highest in the world here!
One thing you need to get familiar with is that the underlying land on many properties is leased and not sold; you pay rent on that land and in some cases when the lease is up (20 - 40 years from now) you end up with NOTHING.
Alas, these are just our own totally worthless personal opinions and you need to do your own research.
Getting to the Islands
With the Internet you can always get good deals on flights to the islands. It seems that the major airlines get high fares when you buy way in advance so $700 - $900 rt from SFO/LAX is normal. Often you can get best fares by waiting 2-3 months ahead. In late summer the fares go as low as $200 rt from SFO/OAK/LAX!!! We recommend using the major travel sites such as Expedia and Travelocity and then see if Priceline will beat the best deal by 33%
We use ATA and Aloha most often out of Oakland and Northwest and Delta out of SFO. s good.
Car Rentals
Similar to airlines, we recommend using the major travel sites such as Expedia and Travelocity and then see if Priceline will beat the best deal by 33% or more. Bidding 25% less than the best rate seems to always work but watch out for the huge overtime should your rental go beyond what you pay Priceline!
Golf
Apologies but we do not golf and totally ingorant about it! We hear that Muni course in Wailuku is not bad for $40 green fees but Kapalua and Kaanapali will set you back $130 and more. I suppose if that is your thing you can afford the $600+ a night hotel rooms so you are not likely one of our value minded renters! Our kids get in 2-4 holes sometimes around 3PM for free! Yeah the Marshall shows up sometimes but they take off before he gets there! -