Hana

It's been a while since I posted on this site.  I've been busy with my kids and life in general.  Last year we were on the mainland visiting family and now we are finally back home in Maui.  It feels great to be back! 

I wanted to post about Hana.  We hadn't been to Hana since we moved here 8 years ago because we didn't want to make the drive while our kids were little.  My kids didn't really like long drives and my son gets a little car sick.  But now they are ages 5 and 8, so it was a little easier to drive the long curvy road to Hana.   We ended up staying for two months in a nice vacation rental that we found on Craigslist.com.  It was a great deal for $1000 per month.

There's a T-shirt that says "I survived the road to Hana", I think we should make a new one for our family that says, "I survived the road to Hana 10 times".  We had to travel that road several times to get food at Costco and to go to various appointments in Kahului. Basically, there is a post office, a police station, a medical center, a school, one main hotel, a couple of churches, one restaurant, two small grocery stores and a small farmers market.  The grocery stores were quite expensive, so we stocked up on food from Costco in Kahului but we didn't buy things that might spoil like milk.  My kids and I got our teeth cleaned at the dentist at the medical center there, but we had to go to Kahului for X-rays and to get some fillings done.  There is no mechanic in Hana to fix your car either and we needed some work done on ours. 
The other problem we had is that we needed internet access for my husband's work and the place we rented was supposed to have internet connection, but did not when we got there because the cable got knocked down by tree overgrowth. It took a few days to get that fixed.  There was no internet cafe and the Hana hotel does not allow access unless you are a guest.  The library only had access through their computers and not your own. So we ended up trying to roam around and find a connection,  but there was nothing that was reliable.  There was a little coffee stand that had a sign that said "Internet Access", but then every time I tried to find it again, it was closed or something. So we ended up going to Kahului to Queen Kaahumanu mall and buying Clear Wire.  Clear Wire works in Hana.  The cable also got fixed, so we had two ways to access the internet which was kind of nice, because Clear Wire works from anywhere on Maui and works great as a back-up connection. It's a little slower, so not great for big downloads, though.  I just thought I'd mention our troubles with this just in case anyone is in a similar situation where you are dependent on an internet connection.

So, anyway, we made the trip on the road to Hana several times without making any stops.  It was not that comfortable for my son, but he seemed to manage okay even though he was queasy. We never even got a chance to stop and enjoy any of the waterfalls along the way because we were always busy doing errands.  To drive the road from Hana to Kahului actually only takes about an hour and a half without stops.  The other thing I should mention, is that you can drive the other way around on the back side of the island, which is recommended in 'Maui Revealed', but I personally would not recommend it. We tried it once, and I will never do that again. I actually did not think that it was very scenic, or at least not as much as the Hana Highway.  Part of it is very dry and boring.  Parts of the road are very narrow and not well maintained and a fairly long part of it is still dirt road, like almost half of the way, it seemed. Or maybe it just seemed that way because it got boring.  Toward the end my kids were actually getting a little worried and my son was wondering when the road was ever going to bring us back to civilization. I was actually kind of worried about our car being low to the ground and not 4 wheel drive. You feel very isolated and there are not very many cars on the road.  There's nothing really exciting to stop for to get out and look at or anything. It's not any faster or shorter and the first half is just as curvy as the other way.  So basically, it's 1/2 like Hana Hwy and 1/2 dirt road.  Finally, at the very end you get to a nice new paved, smooth straight road that goes to the back side of Haleakala which takes you past the Tedeschi Winery.  There is no connection through Wailea, instead it takes you back up the other side of Haleakala.  Maybe for the adventurous and if you are a young couple, and you have 4 wheel drive, and if you are really curious to see the change in scenery from lush to desert landscape... then it might be okay.  But also check with your car rental, because some of the car rentals might not have coverage on the back road from Hana.

But, anyway, there is plenty of information about the road to Hana in travel guides.  The best guide is probably the CD that you can get and put in your car CD player that tells you exactly where to stop along the road to Hana and all the sights there are to see.  You can find this CD in the shops in Paia, or any ABC shop. When I googled 'road to Hana cd' I noticed there is also a GPS tour guide if you happen to have GPS. The "Maui Revealed" guide is probably the best travel guide for Maui and it has about all the information you need about Hana and the road to Maui as well.  There are some other guides, but I didn't really find them to be any better or more detailed. The best time to go is after it rains.  Sometimes the waterfalls are not flowing as well if it has been dry for a while.  Make sure you pack water, snacks and a picnic lunch if you plan on stopping along the way.  It could take you a whole day to complete the drive depending on how long you stay at each stop.  There are a couple of rest stops along the way with bathrooms.

What I think is unfortunate, is that many people do the road to Hana and then drive back in the same day without taking in the sights at Hana.  Hana is a gorgeous little village with awesome beaches and scenery.  I would at least plan to stay overnight one night, or even better for two nights in Hana, so you can really relax and enjoy it without feeling rushed to make it back before dark. We were very lucky to be able to stay in Hana for 2 months.  It is a very healing, peaceful place.  My son even went to the public school there.  Hana school goes from Pre-school to twelfth grade. So all the students are on one campus.  The teachers were all very nice and everyone was very welcoming.  We also attended the church there and it also felt so homey and welcoming.  Everyone is very friendly there and there is a wonderful sense of community.

There are a lot of vacation rentals in Hana besides the main hotel.  We were very lucky to find a great deal.  Our place was spacious and had a nice modern kitchen and was very private.  It was right across from the medical center and farmers market, so we could walk and pick up snacks from the market. We didn't have a view or beach access, but it was fine for our needs.  It was within walking distance to Hana Bay.  Actually, pretty much everything in Hana, you could say, is within walking distance.  But I did drive my son to school.

The other exciting thing that happened while we were there is that we had a tsunami warning.  The tsunami alarm went off at about 5 o'clock in the morning.  I ended up dozing off again thinking to myself, ' Now why is that alarm going off so early and staying on so long?' lol  Because it's common on Maui for the alarms to be tested once a month at the beginning of the month.  So at first I just thought they were just testing the alarm system. It ended up being a 'no-show' tsunami, but it was exciting anyway.  Our place was high up enough and not in the evacuation zone, so we didn't have to evacuate. They had closed down Waianapanapa park, and access to the beaches was closed off until the danger had passed. In the afternoon we went to Koki beach to see if we could see a surge.  It was really weird because it was like it was extreme high tide and extreme low tide in about 20 minute intervals instead of taking a whole day.  The surge was also very powerful. the waves were not that big, though... just powerful.  We walked down the road a little bit and there was a lot of debris on the road and in the water because of the surge.

Two months was just enough time to really 'take - in' all that Hana has to offer.  Probably our favorites were 'Waianapanapa' park and Oheo Gulch.  I'll make another post about the sights in Hana.