Sights—Whale-watching in the shallow ocean channels or by boat; lounging on any of the island's fantastic beaches; Haleakala volcano.
Museums—Alexander and Baldwin Sugar Museum; meeting local artists at the Friday Night is Art Night on Front Street in Lahaina.
Memorable Meals—An appetizer and a drink at the secluded Mama's Fish House outside Pa'ia; sushi at Sansei Seafood Restaurant and Sushi Bar; a dinner and a show at the Old Lahaina Luau.
Late Night—Local entertainers at Paradice Bluz in Lahaina; Ulalena, the show of Hawaii's history; bar crawling along the strip of historic whaling-era bars.
Walks—The short, paved walk to view the Iao Needle cinder cone in Iao Valley State Park; any of the public walkways near the resorts; a stroll along the path stretching across Ka'anapali Beach; the manicured coastal trail in Wailea.
Especially for Kids—The walk-through aquarium tunnel of Maui Ocean Center; watersports on Makena Beach; the Maui Golf & Sports Park for miniature golf, bumper boats and the X-treme trampoline.
Maui's shape resembles a lopsided figure eight, composed of two volcanoes. The dormant volcano Haleakala (10,000 ft/3,000 m tall) and the rolling hills of Upcountry Maui are to the east. On the opposite side are the dramatic mountains of the West Maui Range (with peaks rising more than 5,000 ft/1,500 m). In between, a central valley cleaves to the island, giving Maui its nickname, the Valley Isle. The island's major roads and towns follow the coastline and run along the central valley. Maui overlooks the neighboring volcanic islands of Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe and the crescent-shaped Molokini.
Polynesian navigators from the Marquesas Islands and Tahiti journeyed thousands of miles/kilometers to first settle the chain of Hawaiian Islands beginning around AD 500. Maui's Chief Kahekili was the first to nearly unite the islands under one command, but it wasn't until 1810 that King Kamehameha of the Big Island accomplished the feat. Lahaina, Maui, served as the Kingdom of Hawaii's capital from 1820 to 1845.
British Capt. James Cook made the first recorded Western contact in 1778. International trade in sandalwood, whaling, sugar and pineapple developed in the 1800s. The islands became known for their sugarcane plantations, and immigrant workers arrived from around the world. At the same time, Christian missionaries arrived on the islands from the U.S. The Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in 1893 and six years later, the U.S. annexed the islands. Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959. The mainstay of the economy, the sugarcane industry, began to falter in the 1990s. The state has since diversified to other industries, including tourism, agriculture and construction.
Some visitors witness a green flash of light just as the sun sets over the ocean horizon. Scientists say that Hawaii's proximity to the equator and the color waves of light reflected from the water cause the unusual, brilliant flash to occur.
Bats are the only warm-blooded animals native to Hawaii.
Take note: There are no billboards on Maui to mar the views.
Every winter some of the world's best surfers compete on waves towering more than 40 ft/12 m at Maui's famed Jaws surf break. Spectators can watch safely from the cliffs above as Jet Skis tow the surfers into the waves.
The oldest school west of the Mississippi is the Lahainaluna School in Lahaina, established in 1831 by U.S. missionaries.
Hawaiian written language, devised by missionaries, uses only seven consonants: h, k, l, m, n, p and w along with the vowels a, e, i, o and u.
If your visit prompts you to consider relocation to Maui, first read So You Want to Live in Hawaii by Toni Polancy. This is a frank, reality-based guide for island living, highlighting Hawaii's unique joys and challenges.
The stacking of rocks, known locally as "hobbits," may have started as markers but has caught on with tourists, who have added the majority of them. A strange profile of neatly piled rocks on an otherwise barren landscape is readily observable at Nakalele on the northern tip of West Maui, referred to as Hobbit Land.
Everyone knows to look for rainbows on Maui, but it is also a great place to view moonbows, a rainbow arc around the moon when it is bright, full and low against a dark sky with water droplets in the air. Haleakala Crater is the prime spot for night-sky viewing.
