Tour of Stars on Maui

[postalgrrl]

Has anybody done the Tour of Stars at the Hyatt in Lahaina?? I read about it in Hidden Hawaii. It is $25pp and is on the rooftop of the Hyatt. I live in the DFW metroplex and we don't see many stars around here because of all the city lights.

[sceptic]

No, I haven't done the tour of stars. However, I do some amateur astronomy, primarily with binoculars, on almost every trip to HI. And Lahaina (actually, Ka'anapali is where the Hyatt is located) isn't the best place to see the stars, rooftop or not.

 

There's just too much in the way of artificial lights nearby, from Kaanapali, Lahaina, Honokawai, etc. The air is rather humid, and so there is a lot of reflected light bouncing about in the air. Consequently the stars aren't particularly dazzling. Granted, you'll see more stars here than in the middle of a metropolitan area on the mainland. But on the roof of a mega hotel surrounded by other mega hotels is simply not conducive to good night vision and good seeing.

 

If you have a vehicle, drive upcountry. Yeah, it will take a while. But you don't have to go to the top of Haleakala (the stars from their are wonderful!) A nice place is beyond Ulupalakua, where the road goes around the rift zone and you can see the southern sky - and it's really the southern sky that's so dazzling from Hawaii. You can see the Southern Cross (for the first time! - as Crosby, Stills and Nash sung), Alpha Centauri, the beautiful southern milky way. At Ulupalakua you're above most of the haze layer, and looking south there are no artificial lights to bother you.

[konakraft]

I agree with sceptic, you can see more stars if your upcountry. We did the Tour of Stars when we stayed at the Hyatt in 2003. We ended up being the only couple that night, and since we were on our honeymoon, to us, it was very nice (and romantic)......

 

HOWEVER, if you are docked overnight in Maui, and want to rent a car.....do the 3am drive to Haleakala. We saw TONS of stars, and I even took my star map with me (from college Astronomy) and found a bunch of object that I'd never seen before. Plus, the sunrise is the stuff of dreams. It can get very cold, so ask the ship for some extra blankets, if you decide to do Haleakala.

[postalgrrl]

We are docked overnight in Maui on Friday night, but that is the night we are going to the Old Lahaina Luau and we thought we could just do the Tour of Stars after the luau. And after driving back to the ship after the luau, I don't think I want to get up in the middle of the night to drive to Haleakala. Was the the tour of stars at the Hyatt any good?? worth the money??