Monday, June 15, 2026 // Day 8
Last nights sleep was bizarre. I recall hearing a helicopter flying in (I assume to Pearl Harbor as if I go outside I can see it down the street) and it was so low and close I was convinced it was going to crash land on the house. This was the second time this trip I had accepted my fate! I asked Aaron about it in the morning, but he was convinced I was dreaming. I swear, I was not.
Then I was wide awake at 2:55AM, minding my own business, when I watched a firework go off out our bedroom window!! Just one. In this very quiet neighborhood. I swear I am not losing it. These things happened!
We piddled about in the morning, showering, eating breakfast, playing with the cat….basically waiting for it to be time for us to go to the airport. We left the house around 8:30, had the rental car returned and were through TSA by 9:15 - definitely too early for our 11AM flight to Maui, but we had nothing else to do. I did FINALLY find a Hawaii ghost story book at one of the airport shops at least! I also found a cotton candy Alani, which was delicious and I need more of them.
We boarded our flight around 10:45, then it felt like we were up in the air and back down again in about 3 minutes. In reality it was 25, but my point stands. We had mostly clear skies which was neat because then I could see O’ahu and where we stayed in Waikiki, and I could see THE WHOLE ISLAND of Moloka’i, and then Lana’i before finally taking in Maui. Flying in to Maui was so cool! We came in from the northwest, looped around the mountains making up that part of the island, then landed in Kahului.
We had to shuttle over to where we picked up the rental car, and boy was that line long. It wound through the rope guard and went straight out the door! The wait ended up only being about a half hour, thankfully. I had originally rented a tiny car, but the lady talked us into upgrading, and since we extended our Maui trip by an extra day I had to adjust the car anyway. We ended up being glad that we did! Though there were no Toyotas available, so I was stuck with a Jeep.
It was 1 o’clock by the time we left the airport and we were hungry. Aaron’s parents followed us in their car to a food truck parking lot where we ate lunch. Aaron and I ate at the Suns Out, Buns Out truck (which was how I found the food truck lot in the first place). We each got a trio - mine was the Little Piggy (ube bao, guava glazed, pork belly, pickled daikon + carrot/jalapeno, cilantro), Bao Chicka Bao Bao (buttermilk fried chicken, buffalo sauce, ranch slaw, house made pickles), and the Island Piggy (kalua pork, guava BBQ sauce, pineapple salsa, pickled red onions). Aaron also had the Bao Chicka Bao Bao and Island Piggy’s and he also had the Off Da Hook (panko crusted mahi, American cheese, shredded iceberg, furitake tartar sauce). We also split a small order of the Truffle Tots. The tots were mouthwateringly delicious, and my favorite bao bun was the buffalo chicken one - though they were all good!
We next headed to Walmart to pick up some groceries for the night/morning before heading across the island to Lahaina where the house we were staying in was.
Oh, the drive was beautiful! We drove back around the mountain that we flew in around - which also meant we were driving right along the coastline. There was metal netting up to prevents rock slides which is genius. Also, the waves crashing in were ENORMOUS. All the beaches we passed seemed to be local surfing beaches - there wasn’t much room for laying out and hanging out, especially as the tide was coming in.
We found the house we were staying at and met the house manager so he could give us the lay of the land. We had a little time to check it all out, then Aaron and I had to head south for our sunset sail. We were supposed to meet at the boat at 4:30. It was only 10 miles away, so we thought leaving at 3:40 gave us plenty of time. We were wrong. It took an hour to get there! The traffic was basically bumper to bumper, and we didn’t hit more than 20 MPH until the last few minutes. I’m pretty sure the reason it was so slow was the surf. There were a couple spots on the way that the waves were coming in so high and hard that they crashed up against the blockade on the side of the road, splashing over onto the road. I think people were afraid their cars would get hit? It wasn’t THAT bad though.
We finally made it to the harbor, parked, and searched for spot 72. It was along a jetty - the other side of which was getting hammered by waves! Again, there was a blockade in place, but the waves were so high and hard that they splashed right over. There was a moment our feet got covered in water from the surf. I watched as two parked cars got completely pummeled with water. We avoided parking in the splash zone for that very reason!
Our sail was with Sail Maui, though I booked via GetYourGuide. The ships name was “Akialoa,” named after the bird that was painted on the ship - its sort of like a hummingbird. The captain and his three crew-mates had us leave our shoes in a bin on the dock, then climb aboard for the safety briefing. Though they could take up to 50 people, there were only 32 of us signed up to go. The captain informed us on our plan for the evening, and we set sail.
We had been told that they can’t serve alcoholic beverages until we were out of the harbor, so we expected to have to wait 10 minutes or so before we were served, but it wasn’t 30 seconds after pushing away from the dock that our orders were being taken! As soon as we received our drinks, I bounded straight for the front of the boat to secure a spot on one of the trampolines. I ended up getting a little splashed, but it was worth it! I learned that the bay we were sailing in is the second windiest bay in the world! We sail out for about an hour to get away from the island and the dark clouds that hovered over it and out into the bay where we would get a clear view of the sunset. As we waited, drinks continued to be served and we had an appetizer buffet of veggies and dip, caprese on a stick, teriyaki chicken on skewers, and egg rolls. As well as brownies and cheesecake for desert!
The sunset was gorgeous, and it really was a perfect night. I expected to get cold with the wind on the water, but that wasn’t the case at all. Once the sun set, we all moved to the back of the boat and the captain turned the motor on and high-tailed it back to the island. He even let the preteen boys on the boat have a go at driving which I thought was pretty awesome of him.
The drive back to the house was much quicker! It was dark, but the traffic was less and we made it back in less than half the time it took us to get there.
We spent the rest of the night outside, laying on the pool deck chairs, taking in all the stars that were visible to us up on the mountain and reiterating how “[we] could live like this!”
See additional Hawaii posts here!
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