Maui Travel Journal-Friday

June 16, 2006

South Maui Beach and Snorkel Day. We had breakfast in the room then went for a walk around the south end of the point. There is a small bay here called Honokeana Cove. It is right below the Napili Point condos. The bay is totally calm and there were at least 3 turtles just floating on the surface. There was a couple of people snorkeling and they went right past one of the turtles without even seeing it though from our vantage point it looked huge. Vowed that we would have to snorkel here later. We also saw a small pod of dolphins off shore. They appeared to be bigger than the spinner dolphins we had seen previously. We hopped in the car and headed for Ahihi Bay. Stopped by Secret Beach along the way. This spot is gorgeous. A lot of couples get married here and I can see why. There was only one other couple there when we arrived. A police car passed us as we were getting back in the car. There was some sort of accident about 200 yards up the road. We had to wait a few minutes until the ambulance left. Word of advice, when the sign says Slow and Limited Sight Distance, pay attention! They mean it. Ahihi Cove was packed as usual, not many folks at the bay though. It was nice to see a park ranger in the parking lot at the bay giving people information on the Reserve Area. The water was a little murky close to shore and the cloud cover made it difficult to see at times. Just didn’t seem as clear as our previous trip possibly due to all the rain that Maui had over the winter. This didn’t stop Matt from seeing a turtle. I saw a huge blue fish that I think was a parrotfish. The bay started to fill up so we decided to head off to Big Beach. All the way along the road to the Big Beach lot I was looking for the Jawz taco truck that I had heard about on Trip Advisor but it wasn’t out. Now I was bummed. However, as soon as we got into the parking lot there was the truck parked right next to the path. The parking lot was packed but we found a spot and headed straight for the truck. Best mahi mahi tacos ever!! I was really craving the shave ice since it was hot out but the taco was so huge that the shave ice would have to wait. We took some pics at the beach and made our way back to the car since it was only 11am and blazing hot already. The south end is really hot and dry. I can’t even imagine staying in this part of Maui during the summer. We stopped at the beach in front of the Maui Prince. We parked in the south lot and didn’t have a problem at all finding a spot. This place is great. Nice parking, shower and best of all a clean restroom. Lots of grass and shade around but it was all taken. Looks like a great place to snorkel so we will have to try it next trip. Since it was still early in the day we didn’t want to head back to the condo yet so off the Tedeschi Winery in Ulupalakua. Matt has the winding road driving thing down by this point. The tasting room is very pretty; they had a nice gift selection. We were wary of drinking the wine that we had bought at Safeway on a lark until we sampled them. We need to get the Ulupalakua Red. The Maui Blush was pretty good. Stay away from the framboise, very syrupy and sweet. Back to Napili around 3pm. Hit the shower, Napili Market for dinner to go with our wine. Another gorgeous sunset with loads of turtles swimming in the bay.