MAUI 2021 SOLO VLOG - Lahaina Side

hi i'm nicole and you're watching nicole goes exploring in this episode we're going to maui like many of you i've dreamed of going to hawaii for as long as i can remember so when the opportunity arose to go to maui i jumped at it sandy beaches hidden waterfalls unique wildlife amazing sunsets delicious food and so much more now he has it all of course there are several extra steps you'll have to take if you want to visit maui right now due to the pandemic but once you get it all sorted out you'll be cleared for takeoff using my delta sky miles and cash i was able to book first class seats for each of the three flights i had to take to get to maui in total it took me about 21 hours to get there but the view of the island when i saw it for the first time was totally worth the extremely long travel day [Music] after i picked up my rental car i headed to the food trucks next to costco to try my first bit of local cuisine i highly recommend it if you have the time to go there i also stopped and got some groceries before heading to my airbnb which was in lahaina and it took me about 40 something minutes to get there and i stayed there for the rest of the night [Music] after watching sunrise and getting to see a humpback whale for the first time i decided to make a quick breakfast and eat it on the balcony before heading out to explore for the day [Music] this is the view from my balcony isn't that insane it's very exciting apparently there's a little private beach down there so i'm gonna go see if i can find it [Music] found a fallen flower [Music] google maps showed this area as a private beach but it ended up being a sea turtle sanctuary and was completely covered in large rocks no matter what the tide was doing i didn't see any turtles and decided to check out the beautiful garden and flowers around the property after checking out all the flowers around the grounds i'm headed to my first beach this is napili bay [Music] i just saw some sea turtles over there after i hung out at the beach for a while i decided to head to downtown lahaina my first stop was lunch at cheeseburger and paradise i heard about this place so many times and i was doing my research for maui and i'm happy to report it did not disappoint the food was delicious and the views were incredible so cute definitely have to get one of these downtown lahaina is where you'll find a lot of restaurants souvenir shops boutiques and more it sits next to the water so you'll get to see some beautiful views along the boardwalk make sure to get some shave ice or my favorite dole whip to enhance your stroll [Music] after a fun day of exploring it was nice to be able to come back to my condo sit on the balcony and watch an amazing sunset [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] naui is one of the best places to see humpback whales and while they can be seen from shore one of the coolest things you can do is go on a whale watching tour to get a bit more up close and personal experience [Music] whale watching season is between november and may but peak season is between mid-january to march so i was close to the end of whale watching season but was still able to see a few on the tour we kept our eyes peeled for the water spouts they shoot from their blow holes so we knew which way to head [Music] i suggest bringing monoculars or your longest zoom lens as legally no one is allowed to approach within a hundred yards of a humpback whale what the whales do after the boat stops is up to them if the whales want to get closer they can but you don't always get that lucky also don't forget to bring cash so you can tip your awesome crew [Music] he just went while watching which was really cool it's the end of our watching season but i still got to see some whales and i didn't get to talk about it before because in the cold fashion i was running late in my defense there was a lizard that entered my condo and i was trying to get it out i got it out it's fine now i am at the banyan tree and it's the oldest living tree on maui [Music] so this tree is way cooler than i expected it to be it's like it just goes on forever everything's connected so i definitely suggest coming here it looks like they put up this post so that these ones don't collapse look at that it's all connected okay time to find breakfast [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i got my first shave ice at the banyon treat we just spilled it and now i'm going to sit at the banyan tree and enjoy it full disclosure this thing was hard to eat because it just kept melting faster than i could consume it it ended up dripping down my leg so i decided to take the loss and head to lunch down the hatch was delicious and afterwards i went and walked around lahaina some more [Music] so [Music] after hanging out in the haina i stopped at food land to grab some famous poke before heading back to my condo [Music] [Applause] it really feels like it's been such a long day since i had to get up at 6 a.m to go on the wheel watching tour it's not even 1 30 yet and i'm really exhausted been running around but it's so nice to come back to this view so incredible when i was hanging out on my balcony i noticed some people spotting sea turtles at the honu sanctuary so i decided to head down and check it out for myself this ended up being my favorite spot of all of the places i visited in maui [Music] watching the sea turtles and then having dinner on my balcony at sunset was such a nice way to end another great day in maui [Music] i like this song listen to the hawaiian radio when you come it's just fun i tried really hard to sleep in this day and i ended up getting to the gazebo around 9am it's one of the more popular breakfast places so i ended up waiting in line for about two hours they did have umbrellas and the food did end up being pretty delicious [Music] [Music] i have come to see the blowpole i don't know how to say it or else i would try nakalele maybe it's a big deal here so let's go see if we can see it it's not really a marked path [Music] it's following the people i guess maybe so normally i guess it's a lot more but right now it's kind of underwhelming i'm not gonna hike all the way down there [Music] i always get a little bummed when people are underwhelmed by nature i'm sure it's better if you hike up closer to it i'm just not a fan of blowholes and geysers that much i guess i mean they're cool but like today it didn't do as much as normal so you always run that risk which is fine but you know they're just not for everyone i guess but um it's beautiful beautiful i'm also tired um but it's beautiful here and if you want to come see it come see it it is awesome it's like a it's a really cool nature thing but it's just not my nature thing so i'm headed to go find something that is [Music] [Music] um [Music] i'm debating snorkeling you know by myself but there's people here i may not have snorkeled at honolua bay but i absolutely loved the access trail to get there and back it's a fairly short trail and there are so many beautiful trees it was gorgeous all around i saw several chickens on this trail and most of them hung out near the porta potties in the parking lot this is a great place to stop if you're driving that road and just need a quick bathroom break the only downside is the parking lot is pretty small and fills up really quick reality i did basically a self-timer an interval shooting mode on my camera walked out there took some pictures [Applause] [Music] so everyone says get poke from food land and i did it's raw fish i don't know why we're okay eating that but everybody does it um and this one has soy sauce on it i just tried it it's definitely nothing that like i'm used to eating taste wise but i think i could do it it's weird and look at that i feel like i'm supposed to cook it like that's that goes against my entire training in life so intrigued after my first poke experience i headed to the balcony to do a little bit of work and have my dinner it turned out to be a beautiful night and i just couldn't resist bringing out my camera to do some astrophotography before bed [Music] [Applause] [Music] and take some photos around sunrise without very many people here it's totally worth it this place is beautiful this and it is protected by cove so it's one of the safer swimming places i'm gonna take my gear back and bring my snorkel stuff and try to go snorkeling okay so i know this is weird but i'm eating mcdonald's for breakfast because it was suggestive because they have this local cuisine uh portuguese sausage and spam and rice and there's eggs in there too but um i'm going to try it i'm also eating it in my car so i don't have to take it to the beach with me so very weird but i'm up to trying something new i literally just checked the weather and it said it was not going to rain and now it's kind of pouring so i'm hoping maybe i'll see a rainbow at the beach because that's where i'm headed i love rain in all honesty i have a fear of open water and i knew booking a solo trip to hawaii would either force me out of my comfort zone or i'd have to miss out on some of the things i wanted to do like snorkeling since kaplan bay is protected by natural cove it makes the water less rough and easier to swim in i know if i didn't snorkel here i might not snorkel at all [Music] after a shameful amount of time spent building up my courage while sitting on the beach i finally made it into the water and snorkeled for a couple of minutes thankfully after i tasted the victory on my first solo snorkel i ended up snorkeling for two hours and had such a great time at capiloua bay [Music] i don't know if my makeup is after a successful snorkel it was time to find some lunch i headed to burger shack which took me through a resort golf course area this place has a lot of tall pine trees and luscious flowers it's a slower road but just make sure that you're careful of the golf cart drivers burger shack is part of the ritz carlton it sits outside and overlooks dt fleming beach park and is also known for some awesome milkshakes [Music] [Music] since i was nearby i decided to head to dragon seat access trail to kappalua labyrinth it's an easier trail that starts off next to a golf course and gradually gets a little bit more tricky once you get to the rocks due to the jagged rocks wearing tennis shoes would have been a lot easier than the flip-flops i was wearing dragon's teeth is already an awesome name and when you see the rocks you understand why they named it that it's such a unique area i definitely suggest checking this out [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it was my last night in my lahaina condo so of course i spent it with the sea turtles and watched the sunset one last [Music] time right at the top there [Music] [Music] so it's a very cool so [Music] [Music] but it's beautiful [Music] time to take a walk back i've been here for i think like an hour and a half so i have about three hours until i have to check out so i'm gonna go back to my condo try to take a nap not likely and then head out [Music] hawaii is known as the rainbow state and this was my first rainbow of the trip i was so excited i felt like god put an exclamation mark at the end of my time in lahaina i faced on my parents because i knew that they'd love to see it too and then i just stayed a little bit longer to enjoy the views before heading back to my condo [Music] whoa double rainbow [Music] i had a little time to kill before checking into my airbnb in kihei so i stopped at downtown lahaina to get some lunch at lahaina pizzaco walked around a little bit more and gave shave ice one more try thoughts from today so far lahaina pizzico is delicious thanks bridget it's really thick pizza but it's the best deep dish i've had in a long time i tried shave ice again spilled it again through this process of trial on error i have discovered that i like dole whip much better than shave ice i like the taste better and it's much easier to consume which is just a bonus but i really like lahaina it's got everything you need um it's seven minutes from the place i was staying so i could go north for beaches and nature and you know all the adventuring i wanted to do and i could go a little south for my place to come here for shopping and food so it makes sense why this is like the place to stay for some people i'm really curious to see what kihei has to offer

Channel: NICOLE GOES EXPLORING by Nicole Gentry

Views: 22,181

Rating: 4.8342543 out of 5

Keywords: Maui, Hawaii, Humpback Whales, Solo Travel, Solo Adventure, Solo Hawaii, Sea Turtles, Travel Vlog, Maui 2021, Hawaii 2021, Whale Watching, Snorkeling, Lahaina, Kapalua Bay, honolua bay, nakalele blowhole, Nap, napili bay, Maui Food

Id: 8ZeybUohgjA

Length: 26min 22sec (1582 seconds)

Published: Mon May 31 2021