Day 02 - Good Morning Maui!

July 24, 2022

Thanks to jet lag, I wake up at 4:30 am...

After tossing and turning in bed multiple times and informing all friends and family back home about our arrival, I sit outside on the balcony with a coffee and wait for the sunrise. It's surprising how many people are already out and about at 5:30 in the morning - dog owners taking their dogs for an early morning walk, joggers, mothers with strollers, etc.

The husband joins me on the balcony at 6 am for the sunrise, and the kids slowly crawl out of bed around 7:30.

We have breakfast with the cornflakes we bought yesterday and discuss what we can do on our first day in Maui.

Most days are scheduled - we didn't come here just for fun 🤭 - but today we can do whatever we want.

Other than shopping - yes, we still need to do some "real" shopping - there's nothing else on the agenda.

We decide to go snorkeling at the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve. The drive takes about 20 minutes, passing by the 5-star hotel bunkers with golf courses and amazing gardens.

We park at the Ahihi-Kinau Marine Preserve parking lot ($5 fee) and a ranger explains where exactly we can snorkel and where to enter the reef.

The entry is very rocky, and we carefully climb over the stone slabs into the water and are rewarded with many colorful fish.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my old outdoor camera for underwater photos. I haven't gotten around to using my new camera and its underwater case yet - I really need to try it out in the coming days. Luckily, my daughter's phone case works underwater. Unfortunately, mine doesn't work at all. My phone goes crazy as soon as it's underwater. It types emails and opens all apps but refuses to take photos. So, only a few snapshots. Too bad...

Since the wind is blowing quite strongly and it's very shady at this small beach section, we settle for a snorkeling trip and head towards Makena Beach / Big Beach. Since the main parking lots cost $10, we park a bit further along the roadside and take one of the official paths through the dunes to the beach. Short walk, free - recommended!

We immediately rush into the turquoise blue water and have a lot of fun with the bodyboard and the ever-increasing waves. They eventually become too strong for me, but my son can't get enough.

Just as we come out of the water, a lifeguard zooms past on his beach buggy and places a "red flag" with a "Dangerous Shorebreak" sign in the sand. Oh well, good thing we're done with the wave hopping...

However, it seems that neither the sign nor the flag attracts any attention from the water enthusiasts. Everyone is still in the water...

Well, we're hungry now and walk a bit further along the roadside to the food truck, where they have delicious tacos and burritos.

Once refreshed, we head back to the condo where my son and I test out the pool.

There are now danger signs everywhere at our beach park, and the red flag is waving. Hm, this wasn't what I had imagined...

While the kids chill in the condo, the husband and I go shopping. We go to the Safeway around the corner, where we were yesterday evening as well. After taking a closer look at the prices today, we have even less desire to buy anything at all. It's fortunate that our fridge still contains the "leftovers" from the previous tenants. Very convenient, as there's still a full bottle of coconut rum, half a bottle of margarita mix, and numerous BBQ sauces. We also find three packets of pancake mix in the cupboard. How convenient!

The kitchen is otherwise well-equipped, with the necessary things like spices, vinegar and oil, coffee, and honey, etc. - and a few extras 😜

Nevertheless, a small baby watermelon for $15 ends up in our shopping cart, along with various cookies, toast bread, crackers, butter, cheese, and just the essentials for the next few days. By the way, there's more than enough vegetarian food here (which makes me as a vegetarian and the rest of the family as flexitarians very happy)! The pack of veggie burgers also ends up in the cart. Perfect, then we can grill them in the BBQ area of our condo.

The cart isn't even full, but at the end, we're greeted with a $250 receipt. Oh man, this could be interesting...

The jet lag is making itself felt. We're completely exhausted by 6 pm. We treat ourselves to a sundowner, have dinner, and fall into bed at 7 pm. Maybe not such a bad idea, because the alarm clock will ring at 5 am tomorrow - that's when our first excursion starts!