How many of you have been to Hawaii?

My wife and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary next month. She started asking to go to Hawaii on our 5th anniversary and we never were able to go. It was either a lack of money, a birth in the family (daughter or son) couldn't get time off from work or for some other event. However, I have been playing down out 20th anniversary for several months now telling her we have too many things going on with our daughter who's moved back in our home after getting pregnant along with scheduling a baby shower and with my wifes sister coming to stay for a couple of month on vacation we just couldn't leave now.

Well unknowingly[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] to my wife I have booked a Hawaiian vacation on Maui. We are going to stay at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa for 7 days in an ocean view room. I booked a night time dinner cruse, a bike ride (peddle type) down a mountain, a privet back country hike with tour guide who promised to take us to some huge waterfalls. In addition I booked Ulalena Musical Extravaganza and a Luau. To drive around the island I rented a Mustang convertable.....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

The day we are to leave for the airport I have made arrangements for a stretch limo to pick us up. My daughter will be packing everything for out trip so my wife will be completely surprised. She won't know until the limo shows up.....what a stinker I am....lol
I'm sure she will be concerned about her job but I know her boss very well and I told him what I was wanting to do and he told me he would pre-approve her time off from work......

So, is there anything that is a must see that I haven't thought about yet?

 

Man I hate Hawaii... sorry to $hit on your vacation, but I could not find one interesting thing to do. Even the fishing was less than exciting... yea I got skunked. The whole time I was looking for something to fix or take apart, no I'm not a tweaker, just a gear-head with ADHD. The TV almost lost a few screws. It wasn't that is was not peacefull and relaxing but I gotta have something to do. Laying on the beach with a book is not my idea of a good time. Besides you could buy another DS for the scratch its going to cost to go to the islands. Overrated IMO, I won't go back. I hope you have a good time though.

 

Dude, will you marry me? Helluva guy she has there.
I was stationed in Hawaii for three and a half years back in the mid 80's. If they still have these things called Robert's OverNighters I would highly recommend the Big Island to take in the Volcanoes National Park. There is nothing like the sheer beauty and force of seeing a river of lava pouring out of the earth and running for miles before pouring into the ocean. Just being a mile and a half away and hearing the roar of the boiling ocean is phenomenal. Pretty much guarenteed to to see whales and sharks, and talk about waterfalls, they don't come any bigger than the Big Island.
She is sure to enjoy the trip regardless of which Island you go to.
Enjoy it.

 

we rented harleys and rode around the island from lahina over the top and back around to big beach and back cost about $150 and was well worth it. we also did the holliocula (not think i spelt it right?) bike ride down the mountain that was a blast and you don't ever have to really pedal at all. make the trip to big beach for one day and wonder over to the nude beach that's one thing you'll talk about for years to come!! good luck have fun.

 

Sweet...right on Don. Now I know why you've been laying low. Never been myself. But look forward to your stories. Hope you two have an amazing time.

 

I was on the big Island, I was bored. Except when going to the beach or playing golf.

The Volcano is cool but it's along walk to get anywhere near the lava.

Went to Pearl Harbour, thought that was cool.

i heard Maui is great though.

Have fun.

 

On my honeymoon, we went to Kauai, Poipu Beach. What I liked about Kauai was it was totally natural. No sky scrapers, no big buildings either. Even the hotel was only two stories tall. Walk out of your room and just a few steps you are on the beach. They got boogie board rentals there too. I went on a zodiac boat on the other side of the island and did some snorkeling - saw a sting ray and our driver even took the boat into some water caves. We drove up to to the canyon and saw all the waterfalls from above. The entire island speed limit was 35mph. You could just stop the car, pull of the side of the road and walk to an empty beach. It was extremely peacefull, relaxing and yes, very romantic. All the doors in the hotel open to the outside air and are louvered with screens. Lots of geckos everywhere too - we found them all over the place, even in the hotel room! We never got a chance to to the hiking thing, but there is a hiking camping area on the north side of the island where the zodiac's launch from. Apparently, quite a few "long term" tourists stay there, sometimes for months.

 

I have done a lot of geological work on the big island. If you look for the right things, there is a whole lot to do with you never getting bored. If you have any questions ask me.

 

Scoundrel,

Your going to love it there. I cant wait to go back! I went to Maui in Feb. of 2000 and stayed at the Ritz Carlton Kapalua. You'll find that Ulalena and the Luau are the same thing, the same story anyways. Just Ula. is told in a theatre form instead of a dance. Both were way cool. In all honesty though, I would skip Ula. and use that evening doing something else. No since in repetitiveness I feel anyways, too much other stuff to do. The Luau is more native feeling as well.

I recomend on your first full day there to do a helicopter tour. Blue Hawaii does some nice tours. This way you can see the island and decide where you want to go to see. I actually would recomend not having all the reservations because once you do the copter tour, you might change your mind and want to do something different. Your concierge will be able to book you anything you want to do in moments time, your not going in peek season and that is a smart choice!!

I recomend taking a Catamoran to the Island of Lahni and go snorkeling over there. That was one of the funnest days I had there. You get to see another island that is NOT your typical Hawaii island.

Cudo's on the Mustang conv. That is the way to go! The Jeep's are also alot of fun if you want to get off the beeten path.

Food is really good there. Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was a great choice for lunch in Lahaina (SP?) and Sam Choi's was absolutely FIRST CLASS there in lahaina as well. One thing tho, the food at the luau is so-so, just dont go in with high expectations and you'll do great. The artisans at the Luau ere realy good and you can barter with them. I recomend getting a tiki man there. I got a Dolphin and a Tiki man carving there and they are to this day my favorite souveniers I ever bought.

If you have other questions, shoot me a P.M.. I would be glad to help ya anyway I can.

p.s. I stayed at the Hyatt Grand Cypress in Orlando on my honeymoon and all I can say is WOW, sweet place man! Cant go wrong with Hyatt!

 

Jeffroe is right about the Harleys. My dad and I rented two Harleys and rode the perimeter of the whole island. We came across some awesome parts that were not your typical tourist trap type.

The bike ride down the volcano was fun thing. What most people don't tell you is they pick you up at the 4am and when you get to the top it is freezing cold up there! They provide you with everything you need though. I recommend doing that on your first day as the time change helps in getting up so early.

Sounds like you planed tons of things to do, make sure you leave some free time to just relax on the beach. Have fun!