8/4/24
Today was our first day docking in Maui. We would be docked here from 8:00 a.m. this morning, until the next day at 5:30 p.m. I decided to rent a car for the first day so we could go out and do some sightseeing on our own. The Road to Hana is the big excursion here, but three of us get carsick, soooooo…
Here’s the Freestyle Daily with all of the day’s activities on the ship.
(Also, I wanted to show this cool feature outside of each stateroom! It was a dial to let your room steward know if you were ready for your room to be serviced.). So smart!
We took a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental car. Taxis were readily available just off of the ship. The ride was about 10 minutes and cost about $11.00. We rented the car through Alamo and the total cost for the day was $67.40.
We wanted to drive to Paia about 20ish minutes away. I had read that it was a cute little town, and there were some stops with turtles nearby. Our first stop was Ho’okipa Beach Park. We went to the lookout above it. It was really windy!
This is looking down on the beach from the lookout:
It was at this moment that we realized that those were not rocks! They were turtles!
There were alot of people snorkeling here.
My youngest did walk down there to get a closer look.
From here, we drove to Kaulahao Beach. It was just a tiny parking lot and a tiny beach. Many locals were set up for the day with tarps, food, tables and chairs. We saw the biggest turtle here!
Next we went into the town of Paia. We parked in a public parking lot. There were so many amazing small businesses here! Very artsy, thoughtful shops. We walked around visiting shops for about an hour and a half and then decided to get some lunch.
Milagros Food Co.
My youngest got a grilled chicken breast:
We got some snacks to share. Quesadilla:
Taquitos:
Fries:
All of it was very good! And we were ready to continue our trek around Maui.
The next place we wanted to check out was Lahaina. The fire that ravaged that area was terrible. The road was just recently reopened.
We stopped at a few lookouts on the way.
You can see how dry this area was. And as we kept going closer to Lahaina, it was veryyyyy dry. The landscape was totally different. Unfortunately I do not have any photos or videos for the rest of the day on the island! I was driving and we were really just taking it all in.
We did see fire damage, charred grassy areas, burned out abandoned cars, completely leveled houses and businesses, and all roads leading to the downtown and beach areas were closed.
On our return to the port area, we stopped at a Walmart and picked up a bunch of souvenirs! They had a great selection and the prices were great.
We returned the car around 3:30 p.m. and took a taxi back to the ship.
That evening we tried dinner in the Main Dining Room again, but this time upstairs in the Liberty Restaurant. It’s the same menu as downstairs, just a different atmosphere.
There was definitely a good variety of options on the menu!
Fruit Plate:
This was good. Just your normal fruit.
Caesar Salad:
This was average for a Caesar salad.
Bruschetta:
This was really good!
Herb Crusted Rotisserie Chicken:
I don’t know why there was gravy on this. I think this was just okay.
Grilled New York Strip Steak:
This was just okay too. I am not a huge fan of extra sauces and gravies, soooooo…
Kid’s Menu Cheese Pizza:
I think this was fine.
Warm Apple Strudel:
This was actually really good!
This was our most disappointing evening of the trip. Our wait staff served our food and were never seen again! We never got drink refills, including our water. Also, we were supposed to be served a cake for my mom’s birthday and they never brought it out. We ended up just getting up and leaving. Big disappointment!
After dinner we went to see Aloha Polynesia in the theater. It was really good!
We were able to see the dances of Tahiti, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and the island of Hawaii, as well as learn a little bit about the different cultures.
That concluded our day!
Next up, Day 2 in Maui!
Taryn's Mad Hatter Adventures 