Lahaina Area

Lahaina is really nice area. It's like the downtown of Maui; full of shops and night life. Most of the time when we were in Lahaina we just checked out the town and went window shopping.


The first day we went to the beach to sun tan and chill for the day. We went to a beach called D.T. Fleming Park. It was really nice; lots of grass and a very pretty beach.



The following day we went snorkelling for half a day. We went to two different beaches. First we went to Mokuleia Beach which has white sand bounded by cliffs and looks out on Molokai. The snorkeling was good here but we didn't see any turtles (friends we met at the hostel told us to go here because they saw lots of big turtles while snorkeling) unfortunately.
Next we went to Napili Bay which also looks out on Molokai and has a huge white sand beach. It was a very crowded beach but was beautiful. We chose this beach because the book said the snorkeling here would be "delightful". It was actually the worst place we've been so far for snorkeling....we saw maybe 5 fish altogether! It was very disappointing to say the least. After this we were done with snorkeling for the day.


After 3 nights in Lahaina we planned on camping for 3 nights at Kanaha but it was so windy that our tent kept blowing away! Seriously it was crazy! SOOO......we changed our mind and decided to look for a hostel. Considering we didn't want to go to bed right then (5pm) to hold our tent down we thought it would be best. We didn't want a broken tent; we need it for the Big Island!

We found a hostel right away. The first hostel we tried, Banana Bungalo, had room for us in the dorm so we took it. Since we've been staying in a hostel since being in Hana and will be for the rest of Maui we've been in the dorms because it's way cheaper. This does mean we're not in the same room even but it's been ok. It's been a nice change from camping and we've been able to cook food which is also nice. We did bring a small stove to cook over a camp fire but fuel is expensive and typically only comes in big bottles here. We would have to leave it on the different islands and then buy more each island. So we just decided we would rather have fresh, raw food like salads, veggies, fruit plus whatever else at the grocery store we can just buy. It's been good actually. But now that we have a stove at the hostels we've had different rice/bean noodles with seafood, pork, or chicken. The other bonus is that we have a fridge to keep stuff in. We've been just eating what we buy that day so it doesn't go bad. So that is also nice. More than that even we've had warm showers! I don't think I'll take a warm/hot shower for granted again. Plus having a private shower is also wonderful. It gets a little more than weird showering in public at the beach or the camp ground. This way nobody watches you shower. Let me tell you that was one of my least favorite things about camping.


We've defintely appreciated being in the hostels for these and many other reasons. But camping is not all that bad......haha It's really been better than I thought for sure. At least in the tent if you're careful you can be insect free! Don't tell Brian but a small part of me can't wait to be back in the tent..........