Maui Here We Come!

Our SF flight was early this morning with alarms going off at 3:45am and a plan to meet in the lobby at 4:15am. But we had a party bus shuttle! Oh joy. 

Luckily, we had no hiccups with check-in and getting the magical wristband which allows you to avoid the mandatory quarantine in Hawaii. The flight was uneventful and surprisingly served food (of course it wasn’t tasty, but we were surprised to even be served food in the Covid era).  

The downside of catching the 7:15am flight is that you arrive in Maui exhausted at 9:30am and you can’t check into your condo until 3pm. Sooooo we headed out to Iao Valley which is only about 15 minutes from the airport to check out one of the sights on the island. 

It’s often called The Needle and we had a pleasant little hike up a couple flights of stairs to the top where we took the obligatory photos. 

We also checked out the Korean garden right down the road, as well as the Portuguese Garden. So many wonderful cultures all mixing together on this island!

Once we had our fill of the wind, because it was extra windy up there, we headed down the hill to the island Costco to join all of the other tourists in stocking up on food and booze for our island adventures. 

Two pizzas, a mocha freeze, and a car full of groceries later, we squeezed into the rental van with food on our laps, and began our 55 minute journey to the condo. Hence the reason why we chose to go to Costco before leaving this side of the island.

Upon arrival, we were quickly reminded of why we love Napili Point Resort. The views here are to die for, and they are the thing we’ll all be staring at this week as we drink, hang out, play cards, and make memories. The condos are all individually owned but there’s on site management for housekeeping and all of your needs. There are two pools and BBQs with natural gas, but the best part is the cove the condo complex sits on. Every single time we snorkel, we see turtles It’s nearly guaranteed. There isn’t a sandy beach right here but it’s a short walk around to Napili Beach. We aren’t huge fan of messy sand, but the cove and snorkeling are why we come back. And the view of Molokai in the distance is pretty amazing.

Our bodies were exhausted by the time we unloaded the cars, played Tetris with the Costco food in the fridge, and got settled. Some of us took naps, a few of us swam, and a few of us even went out to Safeway! Ah, again, to find all of the other tourists buying booze, ice, and other essentials like sunscreen.

A few mai tais later, courtesy of this awesome chef, and we were all yawning at 7pm. It’s been a long long day and our exploring will continue tomorrow!