Maui Babymoon V.2.0

I’m now finally catching my breath – enough so, that at least, I can write a recap of Babymoon v2.0- before Baby actually comes! Haha!

Prior to making any solid travel plans, we had to obtain clearance from Dr. P . We weren't worried about the airlines not allowing me to fly, as they typically allow pregnant women to fly up through eight months. Moreover, Steve and I didn’t want to take any chances on even mildly adventurous activities – if there was even a smidgen of possibility that it could hurt Baby Girl.

Dr. P gave his approval on everything except the obvious- e.g. no scuba diving, no horseback riding, no biking down Haleakala Volcano, no driving to elevations beyond 8,000 sq ft above sea level.

So off we went to imbibe some Aloha spirit.

In a nutshell, Maui was fabulous. It was a lot more developed than Kauai and the Big Island, but less so than Oahu. A happy medium, we like to say.

I had a bit of trouble packing for this trip because, gosh darnit, NOTHING FIT RIGHT! Most of my maternity clothes are primarily for work, and thus, not “beach-appropriate.” Oh, and did I mention that I needed to find a swimsuit – long after all the Summer sales have come & gone? Yes, Motherhood Maternity and Mimi were still selling their oh-so-glamorous suits; but I wasn’t about to fork over $35-$80 for something I wasn’t going to be wearing for much longer.
So, thank you to WalMart for their Everyday Low Prices! I scored two exercise/swim shorts and swimsuit for under $10 each in the one remaining clearance rack. Score!

Okay, so back to the actual trip, we stayed in a one bedroom condo at the ResortQuest Kaanapaalli Villas. We've never stayed in a vacation condo/timeshare before, so we didn't know what to expect other than what we read on Trip Advisor. We did know, however, that we wanted to be able to store/cook food to cut down on dining expenses.

A short detour to Walmart fixed that.

The condo itself was a bit dated , but had a nice modern kitchen and a 180 degree view to-die-for. Couldn’t beat the location. Every morning, we awoke to views of Kaanapali Beach, and the nearby islands of Molokai and Lanai. GORGEOUS!

To Steve's relief, we couldn't do all Top 10 Must Do's because of our pregnancy. For those of you who aren't familiar with our respective travel styles, Steve is all about relaxation, kicking back, and soaking up the surroundings; whereas, I constantly like to plan an agenda of things to do and places to see. Obviously, at seven months pregnant, I couldn't sustain that level of energy. So for this vacation, we did alot of lounging, enjoying the scenery, driving, snorkeling, and tasting Maui's fine cuisine.

Island of Lanai:

Black Rock in the background:

Old Lahaina Town:

Enjoying our surroundings:

One thing that Steve and I really enjoyed was the beautiful coral all around the island. We weren't overly impressed with the coral and aquatic life in Kauai when we went in May. However, Maui's sea life was teeming with little and not-so-little critters and gorgeous coral. The beach right outside our condo was very swimmable, so Steve and I rented snorkels from Boss Frog for 5 days. I kid you not when I say you could wade a couple of feet, stick your face in the water, and see tons of fish. Swim a few yards away, and you're right above a vibrant coral garden.

Snorkeling around the island (e.g. Molokini, Turtle Town):

Dinner Cruise on the Maui Princess -sailing along the southwest side of Maui:

The Road to Hana:

As usual, we took so many photos- too many to post. But here's a slideshow of some more of our favorite memories:
For even more photos, check out this link:

Kauai - The Last Hurrah.... for a Long While

This was yet another spontaneous, fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants getaway. Hence, no mention of planning this trip in earlier posts.

In early May, we decided we needed to take a break from everyday life. We really wanted to go somewhere sunny and beachy. However, being that it was so late (we needed to go by Memorial Day weekend), there were no longer any United Frequent Flier Saver Awards to Hawaii, Key West, Bermuda, or to the Caribbean.

We thought perhaps Seattle or Vancouver would work, since both still had Saver Awards seats available. But being that we've had a tough year so far and - more significantly, with a baby on the way, we won't be able to do anymore spontaneous, fly-anytime/anywhere trips - we decided to splurge on the Standard Anytime Frequent Flier miles, and go to Hawaii. Hence, a Babymoon was born!

We really enjoyed our last trip there in July 2006, when we went to Oahu and the Big Island. So this time, the island choices were between Maui and Kauai. We've heard such fabulous things about both islands. I was leaning towards Maui, while Steve was mostly indifferent.

However, when we were planning the logistics, we were surprised at how pricey hotel rooms were in Maui. We're talking "rock-bottom" $350+ per night for a three star hotel. eeeks! At those prices, we briefly toyed with the idea of going abroad to Tahiti or Fiji instead. But at the end of the day, we wanted to stay within the U.S. in case there were any complications with the baby.

Mom and Dad H really liked Kauai (Dad H said it was his favorite Hawaiian island) and I have several friends who have gone there and they all highly recommended it. Being that it was somewhat cheaper than Maui, we thought, "why not?!"

Fortunately, we got two out of the last three seats on the plane. wheewwwhewww!

We left on Wednesday, May 21 and returned on Tuesday, May 27. As you can see in the following photos, we had an absolute blast! Kauai was so much better than we expected. It was just the right island for our circumstances. A week before we left on our trip, I was starting to feel the extreme fatigue that marked my First Trimester. But being that Kauai was not Big City or Urban Crawl, I didn't get overly tired and was able to relax beach-side or pool-side or even on our hotel balcony whenever I did start to feel tired.

As for Steve, he's been pulling some very long work hours (e.g. 14+ days); so he really relished a trip where we had no agenda or itinerary.

Being a consummate planner, however, I did want to do stuff besides lounge on the Beach. Thank you, Trip Advisor. We got some great suggestions off fellow travellers' goLists.

Several highlights of our trip include:

1. Sailing around the Na Pali Coast: truly incredible views of the famed northwestern side of Kauai from Capt Andy's catamaran. The majestic cliffs and vegetation were a sight to behold. Also, the water was very aquamarine in color.We were very fortunate that the weather cleared up in time; and that the tide was not overly strong when we went. Even so, both Steve & I took Dramamine because the Na Pali waters are notorious for being very turbulent and we were going to be sea bound for 5.5 hours.

En route, we encountered schools of dolphins and turtles. The crew gave us one hour to snorkel amongst the fish and coral.




2. Viewing Waimea Canyon: Hawaii's answer to the Mainland's Grand Canyon. Waimea Canyon is much smaller and less majestic than the Grand Canyon, but the views driving up to the Canyon were spectacular - especially on a clear day. It took us about 1.5hr-2hrs to get there from Poipu and there was so much scenery to take in from when we got on the highway to when we got to the last lookout point.

It was extremely cloudy by the time we got to the pinnacle, so we couldn't see much at that point. But everything in between was just beautiful.



3. Visiting Kauai's North Shore and hanging out at Hannalei Bay: On the day we went to the North Shore, "America's Best Beaches 2008" annual survey came out and Kauai's Hanalei Beach ranked #2. We could see why..... Gorgeous gorgeous scenery! At first glance, the bay took our breaths away with the dramatic mountains and crystal clear water. We haven't seen such clear water like that since we visited a private motu near Moorea during our honeymoon.

Since we were staying at the Sheraton, as a treat, we got to use the other Starwood facility on the island, the Princeville Resort. Wow! Talk about luxurious hotelling! At $550+/night, this was way over our budget, though. So we merely used their beach, pool, and ping pong table for the day.





There are so many more highlights to our trip than I've listed here. All in all, I have to say that Kauai was the perfect destination for our Babymoon. It was far enough away from the Mainland so that we actually felt as if we were a world apart; but still close enough that we felt we hadn't left "civilization" in case we needed medical attention because of the baby.

Also, there were enough leisurely activities that an easily restless pregnant woman, such as myself, wouldn't get bored. Admittedly, however, there were some activities that we missed out on because of our pregnancy, namely a helicopter ride over Kauai and ziplining in the forests. Oh well, then that just means there are more good reasons to return to Kauai in the future:)

p.s.
If you view our Kauai online album, you'll see some photos of the omnipresent wild chickens all over the islands. Seriously, I've never come across so many chickens in my entire life. The roosters were just out of control. You didn't need an alarm clock when you had one or two roosters beneath your balcony crowing at all hours of the day. Yes, they crow whenever they want, and however long they want - contrary to popular belief that they only crow at dawn.

Click here for a short slideshow of some of our favorite Kauai photos.