A letter from first time visitors who contacted me for information and shared their experience with me.

We had a perfect time. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Everything we did was fantastic. There wasn't a thing we didn't love.
The zip-line was a kick-and-a-half and very unique.
The road to Hana was fantastic. Our favorite parts of the Hana trip were the hike through the arboretum with it's amazing trees and flowers especially the rainbow eucalyptus trees, the 4 mile hike through the bamboo forest and up to the Waimoku waterfall at the end (an essential place to visit when going to Maui) and the black sand beach and surrounding lava formations (another essential place to visit). Taking good hiking boots is a must, which we had, for seeing many of the best sights. We left Lahiana at 7:30 am and returned the same way at 9:30pm, eating dinner in Hana on the way back. It was fabulous and driving the road at night on the return was no problem at all.

We ended up taking 2 trips with Maui Adventure Cruises. The snorkel/dolphin tour and the 2 hour whale watching tour. There was not enough whale watching with the snorkel tour to satisfy us high desert folk. Both were great. We also saw lots of whales from the balcony of our hotel room and from the road to and from Lahiana!

We had a very successful snorkel experience just walking into the ocean off the beach at Black Rock by the Sheraton Hotel. We swam out around the tip and to the back side of the rocks and saw a terrific assortment of fish with great clarity and perfect depth. We drove down to the "turtle town" beach in Makena but the waves were too rough and the visibility was nil. We were told early morning is best.

Our favorite shopping place was Whalers Village and our own Hyatt Regency Hotel was terrific too. We didn't like the Old Lahiana Cannery or the Lahiana Front Street as well. We did a ton of shopping, we couldn't resist the great made in Hawaii clothes, jewelery, etc., etc.

The Feast at Lele was fantastic and we loved the different foods and dances just as you said we would. We were blessed to get front row seats.

We spent a day driving to the Iao Needle which was a must see in Maui--amazingly striking. OImage via Wikipedian from there we drove the entire top circle of Maui. We didn't have any trouble with the road, #10, which was sometimes one lane and we took several hikes down to get better views of the volcanic cliffs and of course to the blow-hole. The views were absolutely breathtaking and there was a fabulous artisans gift shop on that side of the island with better prices. Good hiking boots were a must, once again.

We also went to the Maui Ocean Center which is first rate and we went to Pa'ia to hang out for awhile and eat dinner (the pizza at that pizza place on the main street was fab) before our flight home. The shopping there is nice, but the shops close way too early, most at 5:00pm.

Thanks so much for all the help you gave us in planning our trip to paradise!
Cheers,
Kris and Ed