Maui
Maui has been a wonderful home to us for the past three years. The Island offers a wide variety of terrain to explore. You can go from a volcanic crater above the clouds, hike through rainforests full of waterfalls, cross old lava flows, and relax on deserted white, black, or red sand beaches, and that’s just what’s going on above the water. There is still snorkeling, paddle boarding, kayaking, and surfing to do. So join us on some of our favorit Maui activities, and if you have any questions, shoot us a line on our contact page. Thanks for watching!
Maui Hiking- Waihou Spring Trail & CAVES - Olinda Forest Makawao
We take you on a guided tour of this pleasant bird filled forest trail and explore some caves in a cliff along the way.
Hike down to the caves or do an easy loop trail or both at Waihou Springs Trail in the Olinda Forest up past Makawao town.
This would be a great hike with kids. The hike down to the cliffs is steep, but the switchbacks make it doable for anyone and the trail is not technical at all.
Maui Camping - Tour the Polipoli Cabin & Fun
The Traveling Together Journal takes you on a tour of the Polipoli Cabin in the Polipoli State Recreation Area on Mt. Haleakala up past the town of Kula. This is a rustic, remote cabin in the woods surrounded by hiking trails.
The cabin is situated up in the clouds of Mt. Haleakala. This makes for a cold rainy climate. Come prepared with warm clothes, rain jackets, extra socks, and plenty of charcoal and firewood You do need to bring all your own bedding, and once the fire goes out it gets really chilly.
The cabin sleeps 8 and has no electricity.
Maui Hiking - Polipoli Spring - Day hike loop trail
This is a fun day hike loop trail on Maui up in the Polipoli Spring State Recreations Area. Polipoli is up in the Kula Forest Reserve of Maui on Mt. Haleakala.
This loop trail is between 4-5.5 miles, and can be made longer by selecting a different combination of trails. Polipoli is colder and rainier than most of Maui so bring layers, and a rain jacket, and shoes. This is not advised as a flip-flop hike.
SAIL MAUI TO LANAI - Maui & Lanai Snorkeling, Sailing, and Whale Watching Tour with Trilogy
This tour is one of the best snorkel tours I have done off of Maui. The premier snorkel trip with Trilogy takes off from the harbor in Lahaina, Maui, and sails to Manele harbor on Lanai. We were treated to whales on the sail over to Lanai, and on the way back to Maui.
After getting off the boat at Manele harbor you have the option to walk 5 min to Hulopoe beach in Manele bay to begin relaxing on the beach and snorkeling or you can take an hour-long van tour around the Island of Lanai. We choose to take the van tour, and I am glad we did. I learned so much about the Island of Lanai, and it's rich history. Once the tour was over we still had plenty of time to go snorkeling at Hulopoe beach. I have done a lot of snorkeling on all the Islands, and this was some of the best snorkeling with lots of fish and beautiful reef not far from the surface of the water
Jaws Maui- Meet the Man That Named Jaws/1st Person to Paddle Out Ever! & Hilarious Hitch Hiking
We went to check out the surfers at Jaws Maui a.k.a Pe'ahi on a big North Swell. Jaws is on the North Shore of Maui just past Paia town off the Hana Highway. This video will show you where off the Hana Highway to park and head down to this popular spot to watch the big wave surfer surf jaws
We also meet John Robertson, the man that claims to have been the first person to paddle out at Jaws in 1974. and he tells The Traveling Together Journal about that first scary day.
We, unfortunately, didn't see any surfers riding the huge surf today due to questionable wind conditions, but we meet a gentleman who provided us with a ride up the hill as well as good story's and many laughs. He calls himself Grovestar1 and has his own youtube channel where you can view many videos of surfers getting barrels at Jaws:BALLISTIC TV : www.youtube.com/channel/UCuU-2Geki-MfPKtptjzyp6g
Maui Snorkeling - Maluaka Beach a.k.a Turtle Town - South Makena
Maluaka Beach a.k.a Turtle Town is a nice sand entry snorkel spot, and wonderful soft sand beach at the South end of Makena just past the resorts of Wailea. Add this to your list of Maui activities.
When driving south from Kihei, and past Wailea off the main road you will find this sweet little beach with a large shady grassy area, restrooms, and soft sand to play in. Bring some beach chairs, and your snorkeling gear for a fun and relaxing Maui beach day.
Maui Hiking- La Perouse & the King's Highway Trail
We take you to La Perouse and The Kings Highway Trail on the South end of Maui just past Makena State Park. This trail starts along the beach and goes across Maui's most recent lava flow.
There is no shade once you enter The Kings Highway portion of the hike which makes it very hot. We recommend shoes, lots of water, sunscreen, and a hat.
There is lots to explore here. If your adventurous you can find secluded beaches to visit or to camp. We have taken Jaegger, our dog on this hike a few times, and from our experience we don't recommend getting to adventurous on the lava with a dog. It's too hard on the paws.
Maui Hiking- The Lahaina Pali Hike
We take you on a beautiful Maui hike across the West Maui Mountains past the Maui Windmills on the Lahaina Pali Trail.
When it comes to things to do in Maui, hiking is one of our favorites and this is one of your best options for hiking near Kaanapali Beach, Lahaina, or Kihei.
Maui Snorkeling & Paddel Boarding- Beach Day at Olowalu
Lets have a beach day at Olowalu, Maui! It's a great beach for snorkeling, spearfishing and paddle boarding and it's just off highway 30 at mile marker 14, only a few miles south of Lahaina, on the west side of Maui.
Join us as we play in the water and relax on the beach!
Maui Hiking - Nakalele Point Blowhole- a hike along the sea cliff, and we saw a goat
The Traveling Together Journal takes you on another hiking adventure on Maui. We show you two routes to see the famous Nakalele Point Blow hole, and where you can find the heart shaped rock on Maui called the sweetheart rock.
The first route we show you is a 1/2 mile hike along the sea cliffs of West Maui where we encountered a large billy goat. AWESOME! Pull off HWY 30 at mile marker 38 at a turnout and park, start hiking towards the cliffs.
The other option is a large parking lot a 1/4 mile after mile marker 38. This option only requires you to walk about 100 yards from your car to the first lookout where you can see the blowhole.
This hike is not far from the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, Napili, or Kaanapali.
This hike is between mile markers 9 and 10 on the Hana Highway. We have hiked to this secret waterfall three times now and have never seen another person there. That is why I chose the base of this hidden waterfall as the spot I proposed to Amie.
It's really not a secret since we found this day hike in our Maui Revealed guide book on page 202 third paragraph down it says "if your feeling adventurous" you can go 1/3 mile beyond the marked trail to this waterfall, but it is well hidden and requires some rock-hopping to get there. Have fun!
Maui Hiking- Waikamoi Falls-SECRET WATERFALL!
Maui Hiking - Bamboo Forest, Na'ili'ili-haele Falls
Hike through the bamboo forest on Maui with The Traveling Together Journal. This quick hike along the road to Hana offers waterfalls and swimming holes less then a mile from your car.
Maui Beach- Big Surf at Hookipa
Take a tour of Hookipa beach, Maui, Hawaii. Hookipa is a great place to watch the big surf and the daring surfers that try to ride it. The park has restrooms, picnic benches, outdoor showers, lifeguards, lots of parking and a nice sand beach along the water. We suggest watching the surf from the bluff near the entrance to the park.
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Kauai
The island of Kauai is a beautiful place and is our new favorite island to visit in the Hawaiian chain. We flew over with our camping and surfing gear for a ten day trip in November and thoroughly enjoyed it. In the videos below we show you where we camped and some of our favorite activities on Kauai. If you have any questions, shoot us a line on our contact page. Thanks for watching!
Kauai Camping- Polihale Beach Park- We saw Goats!
In this video Matt and Amie show you Polihale Beach State Park camping and day use areas on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii. We take you on a tour of the camping options, and at the end show you the day use area, and shady pavilions.
This State Park camping area has plenty of restrooms, outdoor cold showers, and space to camp privately or with your whole family (Ohana). There are only 4 campsites, but enough room for 60 people to camp at just one site. Think family reunion. The State will only issue 60 per day.
There is plenty of waves to surf up and down the beach here and you can swim inside the reef at Queen's Bath at the south end of the park.
Kauai Offroad- The Dirt Road to Polihale Beach
Should I drive out to Polihale beach or not? This video aims to show you the 4 mile dirt road to Polihale State Park on the Island of Kauai, and our impressions of it after a solid 24 hours of rain. We had four whel drive since we rented a 4x4 Jeep. We felt that we would not have driven this road on this particular rainy day in a sedan, but on a normal dry west side of Kauai day we would have even drove our older Honda Civic. The road is pretty smooth if you avoid the biggest potholes, so ground clearance isn't a big issue. The road did get slick with mud though after some rain. If you don't have a 4wd, 4x4 vehicle you just need to make a day to day assessment whether this is a good excursion for you and your vehicle or not.
Kauai Camping- Kokee State Park
Take a tour of the campground at Kokee State Park on the island of Kauai. We show you around to see the layout of these well built private campsites with BBQ grills, picnic tables, and natural high walls of wild ginger.
This campground has bathrooms with cold showers inside each restroom. We found on Kauai Hawaii that there are only two campgrounds with BBQ grills. Kokee State Park and Salt Pond County Park.
Kauai Camping- Kokee Cabins
This is a video review of our experience with renting a cabin at Kokee State Park in Waimea Canyon on the Island of Kauai. We hope that this episode of The Traveling Together Journal will help you decide if you would like to rent a cabin. We found it a nice break from tent camping, and cold showers. My favorite thing was the good pressure hot shower. There is a wheel chair ramp making this a handicap accessible place to stay.
There were a lot of negative reviews about the cabins online, but within the last 6 months of our visit the ownership had changed, and the reviews improved immensely. I would definitely recommend staying here if your ok with rustic conditions.
Kauai Hiking- Awaawapuhi Trail in Kokee State Park-WE SAW GOATS
Come hike the Awaawapuhi trail in Kokee State Park on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii with us. The trail ends with incredible views of the Napali Coast and we saw wild mountain goats on the way back! The views from this trail are said to be the best on Kauai. This is a strenuous day hike. You go down, down, down, and on the way back it's up, up, up.
From the cliff view you can see birds of Hawaii and helicopters giving the tour of the island, another wonderful thing to do in Kauai.
When we arrived the view was sacked in with clouds, but we waited around and it cleared up. We sure were glad we waited because it ended up being the best view on the island with exception of our helicopter tour.
Kauai Hiking- Alakai Swamp Trail, Kokee State Park
This is a fun, exciting, and unique day hike in the Kokee State Park in Waimea Canyon on Kauai. Hiking this trail you will be on muddy track or an old boardwalk with missing and broken boards. At the end of the trail you will find the Kilohana Vista. If you are lucky you will have a great view down to the north shore of Kauai.
Expect to get wet from a miss placed foot on the trail or from the rain. You are only a few miles from the wettest place on earth. That doesn't mean torrential downpours all the time, but does mean you are likely to get at least some light rain at some point in the day. To access this trail you must drive a few miles on Mohihi Camp 10 Road. It is a dirt road that I would recommend four wheel drive for. For more info on that check out the video below.
The Mohihi Camp 10 road is one of the reasons we got a four wheel drive rental car when visiting Kauai. The road leads to several less-traveled campgrounds and trail heads, including the Alaka'i Swamp Trail, which is where we are headed in this video.
The road has many potholes and ruts in it, but the biggest challenge was the slick mud that quickly caked on to the street tires our rental was equipped with. None the less, we made it to our destination and back and only slid into one rut that exceeded or ground clearance. Good thing the rental car company only checks the body and interior ; ) Be fore warned: Rental car companies generally don't allow you to leave the pavement and any situation involving offroading or dirt roads will be an unfortunate financial situation for yourself.
Kauai 4x4 Road to Alakai Swamp Hiking Trail -Kokee State Park
Kauai Camping- Where NOT to Camp on Kauai-Lucy Write County Park
Lucy Write County Park on Kauai is located near the beach at the end of Waimea Canyon. The park has restrooms, a pavilion with picnic benches and a nice shady grass area where you can camp with a permit, but the park is unfortunately inhabited by a large and seemingly permanent homeless population.
While we camped alongside transient populations elsewhere on Kauai, this group did not appear nearly as clean or approachable and the open use of illegal drugs beyond marijuana didn't have us feeling any better. Hopefully the county can reclaim their park in the future, but in the meantime we will have to recommend not staying here. Polihale State Park on the beach to the north or Kokee state park in the mountains are two places not too far from Waimea that we would recommend camping while on Kauai.
Kauai Camping Anini Beach County Park
Anini County Park on Kauai offers lots of grass space for camping, picnic tables, restrooms, outdoor showers, and a calm beach with a good reputation for snorkeling. Anini is located on the east end of the north shore of Kauai. https://youtu.be/FfXVB05zY7A
Kauai Hiking Napali Coast- WITHOUT A PERMIT
We hiked the Napali coast trail otherwise known as the Kalalau Trail. We did the part that you do not need a permit for. We hiked to Hanakapi'ai Beach and then up to Hanakapi'a Falls. This is a fun day hike, but dificult due to slippery mud and terrain.
Many people backpack the 11 mile Kalalau trail. You must get your permits to do the 11 mile trail way in advance, but if you did not do that you can still enjoy this challenging day hike without getting a permit. This was a wonderful thing to do in Kauai.
We camped down the road at Haena County Park. This was a nice place to stay and be able to easily get to the trail head for an early start.
Kauai Hiking-Sleeping Giant Trail-Nounou Trail
After camping at Salt Pond county park on Kauai, Hawaii we went for a day hike on the Nounou trail also know as the sleeping giant trail. Very fun hike, lots of incline, and at times rock scurrying. The views of the Island of Kauai along the whole hike were wonderful with the summit being gorgeous.
This was a convenient day hike for us while we were making our way from the south shore to the north shore of Kauai. The trail head is less then 10 minutes drive from the highway.
Kauai Camping Haena Beach Park and Caves
Haena County Park is close to the trail head for the Napali coast hike. It offers camping, restrooms, pavilions, outdoor showers, sinks and a nice grassy area. The beach in front of the park is sandy and nice for swimming and snorkeling during low surf. There is a lifeguard stationed here.
There are also a couple surf spots, tunnels and cannons in walking distance from the park that are good on north swells. Across the road is Maniniholo Dry Cave. From our experience this is one of the best campgrounds on Kauai.
Kauai Snorkeling- Tunnels Beach, Haena County Park
A short walk from our camping spot at Haena county park we went for an easy snorkel off Tunnels beach and saw at one point four sea turtles, and many more while we were out there.
There was a big swell at the tunnels surf spot that made viability less then ideal, but we still had a great time exploring the reef.
Kauai Camping Black Pot Beach County Park
Black Pot county park is a beach park on the north shore of Kauai in the town of Hanalei in Hanalei bay. The park offers camping on the weekends by permit only. The campground has restrooms, outdoor showers, pavilions, grassy areas and a nice sandy beach.
During north swells there are also several nearby waves for surfing. The town of Hanalei has several restaurants and shops, but no large grocery store. Grab you grocery's in the town of Princeville.
Helicopter Tour Kauai with Doors-Off
This video provides information and some highlights from our 60 minute, private helicopter tour around the Island of Kauai with doors off provided by Mauna Loa Helicopter Tours. This was one of our favorite Kauai Activities and things to do in Kauai.
It was a beautiful, fun experience and our friendly pilot, Guy was very knowledgeable about the history and geology of the Island. We went through the Waimea canyon, over the Napali Coast, Kauai beaches, and up close to Kauai waterfalls
Kauai Camping- Salt Pond County Park
This video takes you on a tour around Salt Pond County Park on Kauai. The park offers camping, pavilions with electrical outlets, bbq grills, restrooms, grassy areas, a beach with swimming and a lifeguard during the day. The campground and beach were nice, but the roosters were tortuous.