Spring Break Cruise in Hawaii - Day 4 (Pride of America)

 

Kaumahina State Wayside Park

April 1, 2024

Today is our second day docked at the beautiful Kahului, Maui. Today we booked the excursion called Road to Hana Deluxe, through NCL excursion desk. Road to Hana is easily the most famous activity on the island of Maui and famous for the winding, narrow roads. Out of 59 bridge crossings, 46 are only one lane wide. Teddy staunchly told me that he DID NOT want to partake in this activity, but I told him he had to. The two Road to Hana excursions through NCL have very similar itineraries, but the Deluxe version is a smaller van that holds up to 9, and the regular one holds up to 15. For this reason, the regular tour isn't available on the second day because it takes 1.5 hours longer to do than the deluxe version, which means it wouldn't make it back in time for the ship. This excursion is facilitated by Temptation Tours. 

Road to Hana Deluxe

We got on the van at 7am and started our journey for the day. Our driver who was also our tour guide was a lovely and funny lady who talked about her time on the island and some history of the island. The entire drive was absolutely beautiful. The weather had a rainforest feel. There were many hairpin turns and one way bridges.

Bridges that could only let one car through at a time

There were many waterfalls along the way.

Nu'yenle'e waterfall

Our first stop was at Kaumahina State Wayside Park. 

Kaumahina State Wayside Park

Next stop was at the Wailua Valley State Wayside Park.

Wailua Valley State Wayside Park

Waterfalls are practically non-stop from here on out. 

Kopiliula Falls

Wailua Iki Falls

Hanawi Falls

Around here, the guide also told us about many different types of vegetations on the island, including many plant species that are unique to this island.

Next stop is at the famous Black Sand Beach. 

Waianapanapa State Park

Black Sand Beach is located inside Waianapanapa State Park. Make sure you don't miss the Sea Cave, a cave formed by volcanic eruptions located next to the beach.

The entrance to the Sea Cave:

Sea Cave

There is one spot inside the Sea Cave where you can see the sky:

The exit of the Sea Cave:

The exit of the Sea Cave, right onto Black Sand Beach

The beach at the Black Sand Beach is indeed very black.

The view here is beautiful.

After Black Sand Beach, the driver took us to Hana Bay Beach Park. This is where we will be having our picnic lunch as well.

Hana Bay Beach Park

This is the furthest point on our Road to Hana journey, and the trip turns around here. Road to Hana used to go as far as Seven Sacred Pools but since that's been closed for a while now, Hana Bay Beach Park or even the Black Sand Beach has become the new standard of where the turnaround point is. Road to Hana is the nickname for Hana Highway, which goes around the whole island. Personally I would prefer to circle the whole island instead of turning around, but it seems most excursion companies choose to turn around for two reasons. 1. There's not much to see on the other side. 2. The terrain is even tougher on the other side. I believe circling the whole island is about the same distance as turning around here.

Next stop, Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside Park. There were some jumpers at this waterfall here.

Back in the van, we are seeing all the beautiful waterfalls again, except this time, on the opposite side of the road, and also some that I simply missed before.

Upper Waikani Falls

Next, we stopped at Halfway to Hana. A small snack stand that sells the original banana bread and other snacks. We bought a banana bread sundae, a Dreams bar, and a bottle of Hana Tonic. Price was pretty outrageous and they charge a fee for using a credit card, but I figured I might never come back so we had to give it a shot. Everything tasted great of course. Next was the Keanae Lookout. A beautiful rocky area where the younger volcanic rocks are formed.

Keanae lookout

Nua'ailua Bay

Keanae

Keanae was the last stop. We were then taken back to the ship and everything was smooth. I don't think I could navigate the drive myself but as a passenger, it really wasn't that scary. Even Teddy agreed it wasn't nearly as bad as he feared. The scenery was gorgeous. This is probably a once in a lifetime experience due to the cost though.

Tonight's dinner was at Jefferson's Bistro again. It's my favorite restaurant in the NCL lineup. I had the lamb chop this time and Teddy had the pork chop. Yummy. 

Tonight's theater show as Comedy with Derrick Cameron, which we enjoyed.