Sorry, no free trip for the Trunk mOnkey!

We'll probably all be exposed to the virus before this is over. Maybe I should go lick door knobs till I get it, then if I survive I'll be immune, so I can go wherever, do whatever. Is that a viable strategy?

We stayed in The Pacific Beach Hotel. It was pretty nice, but honestly....all we did there was sleep, shower, and lol. I don't think I'd try the door knob thing! Supposedly....just because you get this one, doesn't mean you're immune afterwards. I hope she will stay 10 days to a week, so you guys can see all you want to see. Another thing we did one day was take a trip up into the mountains on Oahu. We went to a place where Mighty Joe Young, Lost, 50 First Dates, and parts of Pearl Harbor and Tora Tora Tora were filmed. We rode 4 wheelers back up into the cove to see some of it. Try to be in front of the line if you do that....it's dusty! We stopped on the way back, to have dinner at The Polynesian Cultural Center. OMG was that meal good! We never rented a car. Everywhere we went was on a tour bus. The trip around the Big Island was very interesting, but it was a long day. That is a big ass island, and we rode over 300 miles making 1 lap around it! Saw a lot of Mopars sitting around though. I hope y'all have a good time!

Thanks!
She says she wants to go snorkeling, and whale sighting. That's good news that she is thinking of stuff. I would like to see pearl harbor, a live lava flow, the sun rise or set over the ocean from a tall mountain, and spend some time on the beach and other tourist stuff.

If you can broom the idea of lava and a mountain...

The rest sounds like Bahi Honda State Park ... in da KEYS

A few of those are easy. Maui: Snorkeling at milepost 14 (between Kihei and Lahaina) is great. The water is calm so very little risk. You don’t have to be an athlete or great swimmer there.
A tall mountain........wow. Haleakala, it’s 10,023 feet and as I recall it’s the only 10,000 foot drive from sea level you can do in a single trip. The sunrises there are legendary, but you will embark EARLY, like 3:00 or so if you expect to see sunrrize. You also get an amazing view of a crater, and the island.

As stated earlier, Maui is laid back, slow, little night life, lots of culture if you look for it.

Pearl means Oahu. Of course, and that means Honolulu and Waikiki beach——ever want to see women in bathing suits they would NEVER wear back home, but should? That’s Waikiki.....seriously. No really, seriously. Honolulu (still right there with Waikiki) has the nightlife, and shows, if that’s your thing.

Go.

I forgot whale watching. Wife and I went on one in Maui, Gray whales, Aka “right whales” and we had to shut down cause a whale was surfacing and bumping our boat.......RIGHT there. The guides said that kind of display happens maybe once every other year-for them—and they do it every day. So Maui is fine for that, but treat it as a boat trip, and maybe you see something, maybe you don’t and have fun. it’s a very seasonal thing, so maybe you are there at the right time, maybe not.

We'll see a whale. We are lucky that way. My wife won a muskie fishing trip as a grand prize in a door prize drawing. The fish of a thousand casts, the guide warned us not to be disappointed if we didn't get one. 20 minutes of casting, and we had a whopper in the boat! It seems to always go that way for us. Dumb luck.

Be ready for "Traffic Shock", even on Maui and Kauai. On Maui, from Lahaina Town back towards the airport area and on your way towards Haleakala and the Road to Hana, I was surprised to see how much traffic had increased, in the 12-15 years in between visits. Same with Kauai. Just be aware. Can't imagine what Oahu is now like.

Get your reservations for rental car as early as you can, when going between November and February; this is high season. And for some activities like luaus and whale-watching trips, you may also want to look at booking before you actually leave. We waited till we were there on our last Maui trip, and could not book the luau we wanted. Same with sunrise on Haleakala-they are still limiting # of people on top for sunrises and requiring visitors to make a reservation for this. I think none is required for sunsets, though.

Do yourself a favor and check out the "blue book" well before you go; it really IS a great help for planning what you want to get into, including the lowdown on the good snorkeling spots and vendors/trips.

Enjoy!!

Wife & I stayed a week on Maui for our 30th back in 2016. We loved it. Neither of us would do the road to Hannah again - PITA drive (I drove our rental car) but there were some beautiful sights - too bad my eyes were glued to the road - you couldn't take your eyes off of it for a second! The drive to the summit of Mt. Haleakala was awesome, & really not that crowded. We found some great restaurants & they were all priced quite fair. Went to a grocery store to get a find Hawaii-grown pineapple - they were all from Costa Rica!

Here we are at the top of Mt. H:

The Hawaii governor just announced a request for all Hawaii tourists to NOT visit for the next 30 days. Suspended inter island travel was also mentioned.

Wouldn’t you just know? We were all set to be there for two weeks starting April 12 (Kauai and Oahu).

Looks like I’ll lose several thousand in VRBO rentals... p

Dominica, 1 river for every day of the year. Snorkeling, hiking, hot springs, gorgeous water. Could use the dollars after Maria.

Thanks for all the help! I got the trip booked for early 2021. Based on the recommendations here we went with a 3 island Hawaii plan: First 3 days at Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort Rainbow tower oceanfront, no car rental here. Then fly to Kauai and pick up a convertible rent-a-car, and spend 5 nights at Waipouli Beach Resort and Spa Kauai by Outrigger at Kapaa/Wailua. Then fly to Maui, get another convert, and stay 6 nights at the Royal Lahaina Resort Kaanapali - Beach, then fly home. THe travel agency picked everything for me, so I hope they did OK. I do have to kick in a big chunck of $ myself, as it exceeded the $5000 award. But still a good deal.

Now that I know where we will be, I need to hone in on an activity schedule for each island. Suggestions are very much appreciated!

I've been to Maui twice, in my opinion it's a fantastic island.

Top Recommendations:

1. Haleakala Crater
2. Snorkeling Cruise
3. Whale Watching Cruise
4. Road to Hana

Mike.

I like Kauai the best ,back in 1985, before the typhoon wreck it.
I'm sure it is more crowded and develop now, make sure and take the drive up and into the Grand Canyon of the Pacific
Have fun and enjoy

Very cool - you will love it! I stayed in the same tower at the Hilton Waikiki, the views are great! Nice lagoon and wander the beach. Lahaina is a great area on Maui - walk south on the beach to the Hyatt and check out the wonderful bird collection they have there including some African penguins! Great plate lunches in the area and Maui is fun to drive around.


View from my room in the rainbow tower. There was a submarine tour that launched from that pier there, i highly recommend it.

Those pics look wonderful, I can't wait. I'll be filtering thru the suggestions and creating an activity schedule, and booking some activities. But probably not until spetember or so.

Do a luau. On Maui, the big one in Lahaina is very good. On Oahu, if the cultural center is stlil in operation, I've read that it is one of the best "old style" ones.

Snorkel on Maui and Kauai, if you're able. Maui is probably the better bet for a whale tour, and you'll be there at a good time for it. If you do a sunrise at Haleakala, you may have to call to get a reservation for it, and bring something warm to wear. Road to Hana on Maui, and keep on driving past Hana and hit the gravel road that circles back around. Look for Pat Benatar in Hana. Go to Pearl and the north shore while on Oahu; you can take The Bus to both, I believe. Lots to see and do, and you'll love it. Hope the Corona stuff is down by then and no mandatory visitor quarantine by then.

Since it may be a once in a lifetime trip, don't miss the chance to go to Pearl Harbor. Study about the attack a little before you go, and recall all of that while you are standing on the memorial over the sunken remains of the USS Arizona. That was the start of the war for our country. Sitting a few hundred yards behind the Arizona is the ship that represents the end of that war, the USS Missouri. The Japanese surrendered on the Missouri.
There are many other things to see on Oahu, and you can get a bus to most all of them. We enjoyed The Polynesian Cultural Center, North Shore, and the International Marketplace. I can't help with Maui, or Kuai. My ex wife lived on Maui for a year after we split up, and said there's a nude beach there....lol. Have a great trip!

That's now a super high-end mall. Its beautiful but I loved the old school marketplace. I bought a tiki from a guy that was sitting there carving them, sending wood chips flying everywhere! Had great food there too. The property was just too valuable

I got an idea for your race with jX !

If he you ... YOU have to take him on your vAcA

Dang! That just sucks. We bought several things while we were there. It's been 17 years since we went, so I'm sure a lot more than that has changed. I read somewhere that the dragstrip is gone also.