Our Honeymoon Adventures

My husband and I got married in October 2021, we had not decided on a destination for our honeymoon yet. Right before our wedding we went on a week-long road trip along the Oregon coast. So we felt we could push it back a little. Well, it ended up being also exactly a year after our wedding we went on a honeymoon.

We planned to go to Key West. Both of us didn’t have our passports at this point in time so we looked at destinations inside the US. We were dead set on somewhere tropical or warm like Florida, the Hawaiian Islands, or some southern beach towns. After we booked the flights and hotel we were so excited, we still had 9 months until we left. But unfortunately, a hurricane pushed us to redirect our honeymoon to Maui!

Our flight departed at 7:00 am so we woke up at 4:30 am, not uncommon for us we normally wake up that early for work. As soon as we got to security we found coffee. I heard a month prior that Good Coffee opened up a location at PDX so we grabbed a latte and mocha and some pastries.

The flight was one of the longest flights I had at that point, good thing I was prepared with movies on my laptop and downloaded podcasts.

We landed at around noon and we were both starving so we quickly got our rental and went out to find food. I ended up choosing a random little Hawaiian restaurant close to Kahului Airport called Faithful Grinds. Had some of the best Loco Moco I think I’ve ever had.

Because we couldn’t check in to our Airbnb until 3 pm we explored a bit after arriving in Lahaina. We found a brewery in Lahaina and took a little bit of a break while trying the beers at Kohola Brewery. My husband ended up buying one of their dad hats.

After that, we decided to park the car in our parking space reserved at our Airbnb and walked to the beach, and swim a little bit for the last hour. While soaking in the warm sun and water, within 5 mins I noticed something large moving close to us. I was slightly concerned for a minute then I realized… That was a Turtle! Still freaked out a bit I backed out of the water and watched from a distance. I was expecting to see turtles when we went snorkeling but I wasn’t expecting right outside our condo within 5 minutes of being in the water. We soon realized that turtles were everywhere here! You could sit on the balcony looking out at the ocean for 10 minutes and see 20 different turtles poke their head out of the water. It was magical.

Shortly after, we were able to check into the condo and unpack our stuff, take a shower, and change into more weather-appropriate clothes. We decided since we had an adventure planned for tomorrow early, we went to the local grocery store to get some food to cook, the condo had a full kitchen. Although we definitely ate out more than cooked meals ourselves. After getting back to the condo we watched the sunset and settled in for the night.

We slept with the patio doors open, mostly because I didn’t find an AC and the nice breeze along with the sound of the gentle waves was very soothing.

Like I said before we are normally early risers, so no surprise to us we woke up early. But this was early early because Hawai’i is 3 hours ahead of the west coast. I woke up at 3 am! Tried to go back to sleep but got up and sat on the balcony for a few hours. By 5 am the closest coffee shop to us finally opened. Yay!

We made this our regular routine for the mornings while on vacation. Coffee and breakfast at Hawaiian Village Coffee. They had Lox bagel sandwiches with too much cream cheese (not complaining), red onions, sprouts, tomatoes, and capers. Just so fresh and creamy! I also always got an iced oat milk latte (definitely my regular). Richard got a mocha and bagel breakfast sandwich with bacon, cheese, and eggs.

The day we redirected our trip to Maui, I booked a surf lesson because I’ve always wanted to learn. We arrived pretty early so we decided to explore downtown Lahaina. Basically right in the center of downtown, there is the giant Banyan tree! It takes on an entire city block. A banyan tree is a fig tree that is famous for sprouting from branches and eventually reaching the ground and taking root. I can see that the tree probably takes full-time trimming maintenance so it doesn’t take over.

We both have never surfed, we’ve snowboarded quite a bit and have always wanted to try our hand at surfing. We booked with Maui Surf Culture. I booked the lesson through Airbnb, and we had 1 extra person learning with us. They provided us with reef shoes, a surfboard, and a rashguard. I went into this with so much excitement. We had about a 20-minute land lesson to show us how to pop up on a board and explained how they were going to work with us out on the water. After that, we paddled out to the buoy where we all waited for each other to try and catch a wave with the instructor. On his first try, Richard somehow was able to stand up. His 10+ years of snowboarding definitely helped him. On the other hand, I was able to stand up once. That’s okay though I enjoyed the time on the water floating around and seeing all the turtles. Here are some pictures of Richard and I surfing.

We both had a ton of fun and our instructor was the best.The vibe at the shop was great! If you are in Lahaina and want to try surfing check out Maui Surf Culture!

After the lesson, we were pretty exhausted but also starving! We grabbed a quick bite to eat at a restaurant nearby. Then drove to our condo and settled in for the night.

Our next adventure was on a Submarine! They take you down to about 300 feet below sea level to a ship that was sunk purposely for all kinds of marine life. This was the only time we saw a reef shark on our trip. He was just chilling at the bottom. We got to see all kinds of fish swimming around. I was a little nervous about going into a submarine but it was a pretty cool experience. Dont know if I would ever to it again. But I’m glad I did. The submarine is a great excursion for kids for sure!

Of course, we had to go snorkeling. I’m so happy we got to do a snorkel cruise! I love being on boats! The breeze, and warm air, it’s just a vibe. The catamaran sailboat picked us up right on the beach. Everyone took turns waiting for the waves to go out, then run up to the first step then climb our way up.

As soon as we got settled in and everyone found a seat. The Captin gave us a safety brief, she also mentioned that the same day Maui officially banned all non-mineral sunscreen. I definitely had some mineral sunscreen so we were good. Then we were off on a 30-ish minute sail to the first snorkel spot. As soon as we were off, music was playing and the crew served up a cinnamon roll and some POG (passion orange guava juice). During the ride, we saw some spinner dolphins and flying fish! The captain slowed down a bit so we could all see.

How cool is that! Never seen dolphins before!

We arrived at Honolua Bay, the crew help anchor the boat then we put on our gear and climbed down the ladder into the water. This is my very first snorkel experience and now I’m addicted. I felt like a mermaid swimming around underwater seeing all the marine life in all its glory. It was also very relaxing once I figured out how to breathe properly and got comfortable. The pictures below were from the onboard photographer.

After we snorkeled around Honolua Bay for a bit we went right next door to Makuleia Bay. This bay was a bit more exposed to the open ocean so the condition was a little less ideal, still cool though. Tons of different marine life.

On the ride back to the pickup location. The crew was able to sail because of the winds. So cool to see how great the team worked together to open the sails. They also opened up the bar on the ride back so we had Mai Tais! And also some food to fuel us.

I highly recommend Trilogy Excursions if you are going to Maui, especially the crew onboard the Trilogy III!

Our next adventure was to the mountainside!

An off-road adventure on some side-by-sides. This trip I wasn’t necessarily as excited about this as I was about snorkeling or surfing. But it turned out to be so informative about the history of the land we were exploring and the nearby islands, Molokai and Lana’i. The guide stopped at a few places and told stories and personal experiences. He also talks about the company’s partnership with Pu’u Kukui Watershed Preserve. One thing that they help with is the resorting of parts of the watershed, so we helped plant a tree that will help regrow a part of the rainforest.

A heads up for these off road adventures, you will get dirty and dusty! Wear clothes you don’t care much about including shoes.

The next few days were more low-key and relaxing. We celebrated our 1st anniversary with amazing food and drink at Mala Ocean Tavern. I had an appetizer that I dream about this day! It’s Called Possion Cru or ‘Ota ‘ika. It’s an Oceanian Dish containing raw fish marinated with citrus juice and coconut milk. This one had some, onion, avocado, cucumber, chili oil in it, and sweet potato chips. I got a Makai Tai and Richard got the Lion’s Tail made with bourbon, brandy, lime, allspice dram, and pineapple cordial.

We drove to the top of Haleakala which is about 10,023 ft in elevation. After our drive, we had lunch at Nalu’s South Shore Grill. Again amazing food, I had a poke bowl, and a mai tai and Richard had a burger and a kimchi bloody mary.

Hawaii was one of the first big trips I went on. It’s one that really kicked off my love of travel. We have been back to Hawaii recently with some friends, we traveled to Oahu. Now very recently we got our passports and have many travel plans to other parts of the world. I can’t wait to share other travel stories with ya’ll.

Stay tuned

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