Activities we did and saved $$
Written: Apr 09 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: lots of things to do if sitting on the beach ain't your thing
Cons: getting more touristy, but still great
The Bottom Line: Maui is fabulous, Reefdancer sucks and that's all I have to say about that.
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| jayjoans's Full Review: Maui |
My family of 6 just returned from a week on Maui. I have two sons 14 and 8, and two daughters 13 and 3. We took them to Honolulu first for 2 days, to see Pearl Harbor, the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Mormon Temple and the BYU Hawaii campus. Another reason I wanted to take the kids there is so that they would appreciate Maui even more after being in the Las Vegas of the South Pacific, Waikiki. It was an eye opener for them to see some of the living conditions for the many that have to work for minimum wage behind the scenes to present the sparkly facade of Waikiki to the tourists. We enjoyed our time there, but we were ready to get to Maui and see what we think is more of what Hawaii used to be (and that's slipping fast)
I booked most of our activities online before we left for HI, a lot of activities offer a discount for booking 7 days in advance, and some offer discounts for booking online. By far the best deal I was led to was the AOA card. It is a card that gives you discounts at certain activities and restaurants on Maui. Their URL is
http://www.maui.org/goldcard/gold.html
Even after I had booked activities I called back the companies after I got the card and they gave me the discount from the card. I was told about the card by Blue Hawaiian helicopters, since we were a group of 6 we rented all the seats in one copter for a tour of the island immediately after we arrived at the airport. (I did not want to burn a day driving back and forth from Lahaina to Kahului.) That gave the kids a general "lay of the land" and they got to see the Kaanapali Alii that we stayed at long before we got to that side of the island. Blue Hawaiian is one of the few companies in the world to have the new ECO-star helicopters which are truly the BMW of helicopters. It is very smooth and quiet and the windows and seats are much larger than the A-10 copters that everybody else uses. My wife and I went on an A-10 last visit to Maui and about lost our lunch during the bumpy ride. (we still howl at the video we bought of us turning different shades of green in the copter) You can read all about the ECO-star and how it came about at the Blue Hawaiian website. I think the discount with the AOA card was 20%, which paid for the card on that activity alone. I was very impressed with Blue Hawaiian and the kids LOVED the trip (the 3 yr old had a great window seat and immediately fell asleep for the whole tour...perfect vibration and soothing music in her headset) We saw pods of whales from the air and the lush valleys and waterfalls where movies have been filmed. I would have gone with Blue Hawaiian no matter what for the ECO-star, it was a bonus that the AOA card offered more discount.
Maui Mtn. Cruisers does a great job if you choose to ride a bike down Haleakala. The AOA discount applies with them also, once again I had already booked with them before I knew about the card since I had ridden with them before and was impressed. They gladly discounted the trip even further when I called back with the card. Unfortunately for my wife and older kids the mountain was socked in with clouds and they could not see the sunrise over the crater, and the rain and wind was whipping at the top. They came home wet and tired, (they were picked up at 2:30am at the Alii) but they said they had fun.
During their bike ride I stayed with the younger kids and took them into Lahaina harbor for a trip out on the Reefdancer boat. It is a submarine looking boat that has virtually a glass hull. You go dowstairs and sit at a window that is underwater and the boat glides over reefs and such. They put a diver in the water to bring things to the window to show you when they stop on the reef.(EXACTLY like the old sub ride at Disneyland, only that was better) I got a discount here too, another one I had planned to do anyway and found that the AOA offered a discount.
**********THIS IS TOTALLY A WASTE OF MONEY DO NOT DO IT AT ANY PRICE************************************************
I cannot stress enough how worthless this trip was. I think I paid about $45 for me, the 8 yr old and the free 3 yr old. The narrator was offensively stupid and "laid back" (meaning speaking in surfer speak and not too sure of his facts) The diver lady was a nice person, but brought to each window a sea anenome and a piece of coral, end of diver show. The big thrill was when the captain on top of the boat threw in bits of his cookie and a bunch of small black fish went nuts over them for about 10 seconds. The sea floor was all green all the time, really a weak presentation. This was the only time
I felt like a tourist lemming leaping over the cliff on our whole trip. They even had the audacity to ask us to fill up the "tip monkey" (hollowed out coconut with a face drawn on it) on our way off the boat. They did give us a free trip voucher since the trip was such a loser, at least they realized it, but who's to say it wouldn't suck the next time too? (maybe they give those out all the time so they can sleep at night with their conscience) BIG WASTE, RUN AWAY
Pacific Whale Foundation whale watch trip was great. Very interesting live narration and you could tell these guys know whales, love them and want you to also. The law is that they cannot approach a whale closer than 100 yards, but cannot stop a whale from approaching the boat. A mother and calf came right alongside the boat and we saw them less than 20 feet away. This was a thrill and the trip was very well done. I had booked this already too, and found that the AOA offered more discount which they honored when I called back.
Four Winds catamaran to Molikini crater. I'm sure this is just about the same as any Molikini trip, although it was a different boat this time it was pretty much exactly how I remember it 5 years ago with another company. You must do the SNUBA dive. This is where you are connected via a hose to the surface to an air tank in a raft on the surface. You can dive down and stay underwater and breathe through a regulator just like a scuba diver but without the certification classes and the tank on your back. The older kids absolutely had a blast, as did I watching them underwater. There is a scuba diver down there with you, and he brought a crab, sea cucumber and spiny-walky-thing for us all to hold and touch. My older kids both are dying to SCUBA dive now, this is a great way to see if you like breathing underwater. Definitely do the SNUBA, it makes Molokini special, otherwise it is a mediocre snorkel site. On the way back we ran across 3 or 4 escort whales vying for the heart of a female whale and her calf. They battle to see who gets her for next year and they put on a great show. They were fully breaching out of the water and splashing down about 50 yards from us, they rolled on their back and flipped their "arms" and dove down and showed us their tails. We would not have bought the video of the Molokini trip but after the whale footage they got on the way back we did buy it. The whales were fabulous and with the SNUBA that was the best activity we did.
So, there is certainly plenty of great things to do on Maui, especially if you're like me and can't sit on the beach and fry day after day. I'd rather fry while doing.
BTW, the whales are in season Nov. to May. They saw the first whale this year in October, and there were still plenty to see last week, even from the beach you could see the blows and splashes. During whale season you can't jet ski, parasail, motorboat or any of the other noisy watercraft stuff that harrasses the whales. Keep that in mind if that's what you are looking to do.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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Epinions.com ID:
jayjoans
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Reviews written: 4
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