Say aloha to adventure on Maui

STANDING on the balcony of my room at the Royal Lahaina Resort, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, my first impression of Maui was of holiday-makers splashing around in the aqua waters with two green sea turtles swimming alongside them.

HIGH or low, there's plenty to enjoy on this Hawaiian island, writes Jennifer Adams

The swimmers seemed to have no idea the turtles were there.

As soon as I headed on to Kaanapali Beach, we stopped filming for our travel series and ran into the water.

Lahaina is the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. A historic whaling village that's now a tourism town, it had a main street sitting on the water's edge where the sun set of an evening. It's the kind of place you could take your time and enjoy an array of art galleries, jewellers , restaurants, bars, and ice-creameries. At the end of the main street, you can't miss the massive banyan tree, the oldest tree in America. The Royal Lahaina Resort is a 109ha property right on Kaanapali Beach, which carries the reputation of being among America's best.

The Hawaiian Islands are part of a chain of volcanoes that began to form more than 70 million years ago and each Hawaiian island is made up of one or more volcanoes. For Maui, it's Haleakala, which rises 3055m above sea level. Haleakala, known as "house of the sun", is the place to be for sunrise. It's the world's largest dormant volcano, so it was with much anticipation that I was awoken well before dawn to make the two-hour journey up the long winding road to the summit with local operator Polynesian Adventures.

As soon as we stepped off the bus, the temperature almost bit me. It's bitter cold and the wind cuts straight through if you are not prepared.

Joined by travellers from around the world, we braced the elements above the clouds and were treated to the most magical sunrise. The sky, lit up a vibrant orange, revealed the Haleakala crater which is 100m deep. Stemming from the Haleakala Volcano was the Molokini Crater. Just a few kilometres offshore in the Pacific Ocean, it's rated one of the best snorkelling spots in the world and is Hawaii's only Island Marine Sanctuary. As soon as I boarded the Pride of Maui, Captain Greg and his team brought the trip alive with their infectious love for the area.

The captain said the magic of Molokini was the visibility, due to the isolation of the crater and lack of sediment in the water.

He said that the tiny fish that live in Molokini never really leave the crater because it's too hard to swim to another reef.

When we entered the water, the visibility was incredible. With some of the densest coral in the state, you could see the water buffeting the rim of the crater, and the fish enjoying the protected area. It's filled with an array of common reef fish and 56 different types of moray eels and is a unique snorkelling spot.

Our day ended just a half-hour boat journey away from the crater, on the shores of the southern coast at what is affectionately known as "Turtle Town". There was more structure to the marine landscape, formed by underwater lava formations, which is why the protected Hawaiian green sea turtles were drawn to the area.

As soon as we entered the water, within a couple of minutes we were welcomed by a 90kg sea turtle that seemed just as curious about us as we were with him. The waters were so warm and inviting, and the company of my fellow travellers and Captain Greg on the Pride of Maui topped it off.

Last stop on my adventure was the Piiholo Ranch in upcountry Maui. Another example of farmers turning their hand to tourism, this time it was with an enormous zipline adventure.

It was the dream of Jeff Baldwin, who is from one of Maui's stalwart families. They had been farming cattle here for 125 years, and he brought his dream to diversify alive by building a zipliner course. There were two courses over the 320ha, the first with six different stations and the second with nine. After undertaking some initial training on the easy courses, I found myself hurtling down an 850m zipline over the lush rolling hills of the property and above a treetop canopy. It was absolutely exhilarating.

Watch this story, and more, on Places We Go at 4pm on Network Ten today.

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