Our Babymoon in Maui

I am FINALLY getting around to posting about our babymoon we took to Maui a few months ago. I was hoping to give a super detailed account of everything we did but this prego doesn’t have time for that. So instead, here is our babymoon deets, mostly in photos.

WHERE: Maui, HI
WHEN: 4/19 – 4/25

DAY 1: Arrived in the afternoon, rented a death trap jeep (highly recommend renting a car in Maui, 4 wheel drive is a bonus), stopped at the Costco next to the airport for food for the week to save money on eating out and began our hour drive to the Ka’anapali region where we were staying at the Weston Villas.

During the drive, we stumbled upon this beautiful sunflower field and I made sure to pop out for a quick photo opt 😉

 

 

After getting to our Villa and setting up we headed to the beach with drinks in hand to catch the sunset. We called it an early night because the next morning we would be up at 6AM and on the road by 7AM for our maternity photos!

DAY 2:

We met our maternity photographer at Twin Falls, a very popular sightseeing waterfall & swimming hole at the beginning of The Road To Hana. We met her in the parking lot and then she drove us down some back roads to a private waterfall where we actually took our photos. If you haven’t seen our Maui Maternity Photos you can check them out here: https://mariapelletier.com/maternity-photos/ 

Since we’d already driven so far we decided to continue on and explore the Road To Hana. It’s basically hundreds of waterfalls & lush greens. There’s no way you can stop and see everything so you just have to choose. We lucked out with seriously the most amazing travel book I’ve ever had. It was so easy to follow and he told where to stop for food (last food shack for 10 miles) and where NOT to stop (i.e. burgers are gross and over priced, wait for the banana bread shack 1 mile past). Also, a lot of the best places in Maui are remote with no cell service so you can’t rely on google all the time making the old school guide books a necessity. Our trips success is dedicated to this book. You’ll hear more about it as the days go on. Highly recommend!! Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guide Book

The waterfalls were gorgeous, we chose 2 falls & swimming holes to stop at _________ & ___________ (Wasn’t able to locate the names of these before this post went live, hope to update soon!). Both came highly recommended by the guide book and were relatively unknown to the swarm of tourists.

 

I also made sure to stop at Aunty Sandy’s famous banana bread shack for a fresh warm loaf and smoothie.

A little later in the day we found a hipster fresh fruit stand where she cut up a papaya for me and I had coconut water through a bamboo straw she cut down fresh from behind the hut.

 

Our last stop was Black Sands Beach, the water was warm and gorgeous.

The drive back was long. We ended up missing our turn off and were stuck on some rural roads in a massive downpour in our rickety jeep for over an hour. We stopped in Paia for a quick dinner at Paia Fish Market, no frills and super fresh.

Tips for Road to Hana:

1. Bring a few wardrobe changes – you’re going to get muddy. Ideally, wear clothes that can get wet and are moisture wicking. Like those shorts that have that windbreaker material. I had capri yoga pants on at one point and was very uncomfortable. Wear water shoes or secure hiking sandals. You’ll be walking muddy terrain and the swimming holes are very rocky at the bottom, you don’t want to/can’t explore barefoot. This trek is NOT the time to be glamorous, skip the bikini for a suit that will stay secure and you’re OK with getting muddy.
2. No cell service, have a map downloaded with exactly where you want to stop or guide book!
3. Bring snacks & water – it’s hard to find food and when you do a lot of places are over priced. Also, you’re doing a ton of walking and hiking so you’ll definitely have an appetite. We brought a cooler bag full of healthy snacks & drinks.
4. It’s really hard to do the Road to Hana in one day. A lot of people will camp midway through.

DAY 3:

I woke up very sore and a little grumpy from how intense day two was. Tim made breakfast on the patio and then treated me to a well deserved prenatal massage. After that, I was in much better spirits 🙂

 

We decided to take it easy and relax at the beach and pool at the hotel that afternoon. For dinner, Tim grilled steak and veggies at the hotel and or dessert we went to BareFruit Bar for this delicious ice cream & fruit sundae in a pineapple.

 

Day 4:

Tim wanted to check out some other local beaches. We hit up a few but to be honest, we discovered the beach at our hotel was best. So we packed up early and got lunch. I bought pies to go from Leoda’s Kitchen & Pie Shop in Lahaina and Tim wanted a traditional no frills Hawaiian lunch so we went to Nagasako Okazu-Ya Deli in Lahaina and I got Chicken Katsu, macaroni salad & rice and tim got barbecue chicken and a spam roll.

 

After that, we relaxed on some floats in the pool, Tim enjoyed some tropical drinks and I wrote a few blog posts.

DAY 5: After two relaxing days Tim was itching to explore. We were planning to head to Haleakala National Park to see the Volcano which was a 2 hour drive away. As we were heading out the door I started to feel super light headed and had to sit down. Tim was worried the drive would be too hard so instead we ended up hiking to two waterholes. Photos below, I’m not sure how Tim thought this was less strenuous for me than a car drive and I want to point out how huge of a trooper I was. I will say, this was probably our favorite day of the whole trip because these two swimming holes were EPIC so i’m glad I pushed myself. But FYI, maybe don’t do this one if you’re pregnant and definitely don’t if you aren’t a confident hiker not pregnant.

Swimming Hole # 1 – Known in the guide book as “two tiered tide pools.” A fairly easy hike down grass fields. The water was gorgeous, the swimming holes well protected. This was our favorite. Also, very unknown.

 

Swimming Hole # 2 – (I don’t remember the name of this one but in time for this post but will keep digging and hope to update with the location!) It’s more well known, not as protected from an onslaught of waves, we didn’t like this one as much. There’s this romantic “grotto” where it’s like a private pool but you have to wait your turn and if you don’t time it right with the tide (we didn’t) it’s not really safe to be in there. Also, several people made it halfway down and turned back as it’s a steep incline of rocks. This preggo of course went down no complaints for the record. On our return, we noticed a memorial grave or someone who had fallen and died scaling down to the hole. But again, this was much less strenuous than a two hour drive according to my husband.

 

We ended the day at Front Street in Lahaina, a popular tourist street. We scored an ocean front deck seat at Kimo’s Maui and enjoyed a delicious happy hour.

 

I also got a chance to have famous Italian shaved ice from Ululani’s. YUM!

 

We also stopped in a souvenir shop and scored this super cute romper for Baby P 🙂

** Expert tip – driving back to the hotel from Front Street there was a house with all these beach rentals in the yard. We pulled over and rented 2 beach chairs & and beach umbrella for the week for cheap, and if you return he gives you 50% back. A lot of the hotels will rent you these things as well but for way more money.

We ended the day with a sunset pool dip.

 

DAY 6 – Our last full day! We relaxed at the hotel beach, Tim got to experience some of the excellent snorkling Ka’ananapli Beach has to offer, I finally got the mini photo shoot with my floppy hat i’d been begging for.

**Husband Hack – if your partner is less than eager to go the extra mile for those ‘gram photos make sure to tell him/her you’ll only take the photo they want until they’ve taken an acceptable photo of you. You’d be surprised how quickly he/she will really put in that extra attention to detail when their insta-story snorkle beer funnel depends on it.

That evening we went to the Feast at LeLe Luau. They have a private table per party (some of the other luau options had family style picnic tables) right on the sand. The set up was romantic, all you can drink (Tim was thrilled), the food was OK. I’m definitely glad we went and had a good time. It was very expensive. I feel like it’s a one time experience.

 

I hope this helps. Any faves from Maui I missed? Let me know in the comments below because we definitely want to go back!

Xo,

M