Da Kitchen

After descending from Haleakala at sunset, we had dinner at Da Kitchen. It's located at 425 Koloa Street.

Potato Mac Salad accompanies the meals.

Combo #2--$16.50. Kahlua Pig & Teriyaki Chicken.

Saimin--$15.49. Fresh made noodles from Paia, garnished with mixed vegetables, fish cake, char siu and teriyaki beef in seafood and beef broth. I added pork wonton for $3.99. The soup was a little too sweet for my taste. 

2017 10 30

Haleakala National Park

Haleakala National Park was established in 1916 and covers over 33,000 acres. If you plan to see it at sunrise, you'll need reservations:

https://www.nps.gov/hale/planyourvisit/haleakala-sunrise-reservations.htm

Reservations are accepted up to 2 months ahead and cost $1.50. This is in addition to the park entrance fee of $25. The entrance fee is also good at Oheo Gulch and is good for 3 days.

We didn't make it early enough for sunrise. We had planned on driving the Road to Hana but ran into a traffic jam. We changed our plans, turned back and drove to Haleakala instead. We started the road to Haleakala around 10 am.

We stopped at Pukulani Superette, located at 15 Makawao Ave. to pick up lunch before we headed to the summit.

There are 2 visitor's centers: the first visitor's center is found at 7000 feet not far from Hosmer Grove; the 2nd is at 9740 feet at House of the Sun.

It's 2 hours, 38 miles and 10,023 feet to the summit. Bring a jacket. It can be 30 degrees cooler at the summit than at sea level.

Nearby is Science City, an off-limits research and communications center. The University of Hawaii maintains an observatory here and the Department of Defense tracks satellites.

There are numerous trails in the park. The Sliding Sands Trail is 5 miles roundtrip and can be accessed from the summit. 

The volcano's "crater" looks like a moonscape. It's technically not a crater but an erosional valley

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At the summit, you'll find silversword plants. They start life as a rosette and reach maturity between 7 to 17 years when it sends forth a 3 to 8 foot tall stalk. It blooms once then dies.

Those who don't make it up for sunrise try to stay for sunset.

2017 10 30

Komoda Store & Bakery

On the way to Haleakala, be sure to stop at Komoda Store Bakery.

It's located at 3674 Baldwin Avenue in Makawao.

They're known for guava malasada--guava filled Portuguese donuts covered with sugar. They're $1.10 each.

Komoda is also known for cream puffs--$1.75 each. The cream puffs are delicious and much better than Beard Papa's cream puffs, which sell for $2.20.

2017 10 30

The Battle of Poke

Another thing Hawaii is known for is poke--a raw fish salad, usually featuring ahi (tuna).

I had read that Foodland, a Hawaiian grocery store, had the best poke on the island. There are several locations all over the island.

Foodland's poke was very reasonable--$9.99/lb if more than 2 lbs purchased. Otherwise, it's $11.99/lb. You can also get steamed rice for $0.99/bowl--enough for 2 people.

We tried the shoyu and avocado. Both were delicious.

The other highly touted place to get poke was Tamura's Fine Wine & Liquor, a smaller grocery store chain on the island. They have poke made with fresh fish ($18.99/lb) and poke made with frozen fish ($10.99/lb). I must admit I couldn't tell the difference. Tamura does not have steamed rice on the side. You have to get a poke bowl with rice on the bottom and poke on top to get some rice.

2017 10

The Battle of Shave Ice

Shave (not shaved) ice is a specialty in Hawaii. We tried lots of different places but I must admit I was not impressed with any of them. I much prefer the shaved (not shave) ice in Taiwan--it's much finer.

Local Boy's Shave Ice is located at Kihei Kalama Village, 1941 South Kihei Road.

It's $6.50 for a "pretty bowl" (medium). I don't know why frozen water with a little flavoring is so expensive.

Island Rainbow--Li Hing Mui, Mango & Blue Coconut. I thought I would like li hing mui (salty dried plum) the best but the mango was better.

Of all the shave ice on Maui, Ululani's got the best reviews. It's located at 61 South Kihei Road.

It's $5.50 for a medium at Ululani's. Li Hing Mui & Passion Fruit. The li hing mui was a little better than Local Boys.

2017 10 29

Coconut's Fish Cafe

We decided to eat at Coconut's Fish Cafe in Kihei. I was hesitant because they have a location in Cupertino, so I can eat there any time. There are 2 locations in Kihei: 1279 & 2463 S. Kihei Road. The location at 1279 allows you to bring your own wine.

Their specialty is Fish Taco with Mango--$6.50 each. They're quite good but expensive. I like Rubio's fish tacos better--they're delicious and only $1.75 on Tuesdays, $3.49 regular price.

2017 10 29

Maui GyPSy Guide and South Maui

We purchased the Maui Comprehensive GyPSy Guide for $9.99 from the App store and downloaded it to our phone. This was for the entire island. If you only need the Road to Hana or Haleakala, it's $5.99 each. Download it using wifi then use it offline. No cellular or data connection needed as you drive.

It serves as a tour guide and plays automatically as you drive. It tells stories of the places you pass and gives tips and directions for what to see nearby.

We started with the South Maui tour--Kihei, Wailea and Makena.

The tour started at Kihei. We stopped at various beaches along the way and went snorkeling with turtles

Ahihi Kinau Natural Area Reserve is located on the southern coast of Maui just past Makena. It's a marine life conservation district.

The tour continued past lava fields to the La Perouse Memorial.

La Perouse Bay--the end of the road.

There weren't a lot of options for food on the south coast. We were looking for the Big Beach Grill, which got good reviews on Yelp. It's a food truck and the locals told us it was only open when the owner felt like it. I guess he didn't feel like it that day. We saw this Jaws Fish Tacos truck and weren't too impressed with what we saw. We drove on.

2017 10 29