Caution on West Maui Scenic Road

[Christy330]

Many on this board refer to the Revealed books and I can attest that they were my Bible on our trip to the islands aboard the POH last week. Like many others recently, we chose to not do the entire Road to Hana trip and instead visited Lahaina and then took the scenic road "over the top" back to the port in Kahului. It was truly beautiful, but completely fried my nerves in several places. The author's of the Revealed books decribes the look on many peoples' faces as if they just "bungee jumped into hell" right before the banana bread stop at Kahakuloa Village (which is a must do). Yes, I remember that feeling. As beautiful as it was, and yes, I would probably do it again, I wanted to mention a couple things. First of all our rental car company mentioned that they did NOT wanting us driving on this stretch and that we would not be covered if we did. Honestly, I never would have know that had I not asked the girl what she thought of this stretch, so I'm not sure they're doing a great job warning their customers. Then, the day after we disembarked, a newspaper article mentioned a man on his honeymoon who died on May22nd on this stretch of road. Thankfully, he was alone, but on his honeymoon. He plunged 140 ft into the ocean near Honolua Bay. (That wasn't even the tough part.) The article goes on to say that on Maui most car-rental companies advise customers that their contracts restrict them from traveling on Honoapi'ilani Hwy past Honolua Bay. Last April, a similar incident occurred. I'm sure that this will prompt more saftey measures along this stretch, but in the meantime, please be careful and informed before you drive this stretch!

[spleenstomper]

I'm not doing the road to Hana.... sooo.... what's the deal with the road? Bad road itself? Dangerous curves? Steep grades? My revealed books are already packed!

[Julia’s Journey’s]

I'm not doing the road to Hana.... sooo.... what's the deal with the road? Bad road itself? Dangerous curves? Steep grades? My revealed books are already packed!

 

Also would like to know but it sounds like dangerous curves with no railing etc.

HMM guess we will give it a miss too.:eek:

[rjscott]

We drove the road around the West Maui mountains. It can be a bit hairy at times. There is a stretch where it is truly one lane, and if you meet a car coming the other way, one of you will have to back up. Not an easy prospect on a winding road. But, if you take your time and are careful to pull over to view the scenery, the drive affords some spectacular vistas. In some ways, I liked this drive better than the Road to Hana, which we've driven twice now. Be sure to take the short hike near the Ritz to see the Dragon's Teeth lava rock formations. Really incredible.

[Christy330]

Yes, the Dragon's teeth were really neat. We nearly missed it since the book mentioned nothing about a golf course being right there. We were mostly enamoured by all the sea turtles we saw there. I also loved the Nakalele Blowhole. We never made it to the Olivine pools. Unfortunately it was late and we were concerned with making the drive in the dark. We'll save that for next time.

 

For those of you wondering, the road doesn't get really bad until about halfway to Wailuku and is only for a mile or two in a few places where it goes down to one-lane around mountain curves. The road is paved the whole way so you don't need an SUV. You're supposed to honk for blind cars to hear coming from the opposite direction and if you do meet where there's no turnout, etiquette dictates that the uphill driver needs to back up. You can often see any oncoming traffic from a distance when going around the mountains and honestly, we only passed a few cars the entire way. Traveling from west to east is the best way since you're on the inside (no guard rails) and I heard the view was better from that direction. There were alot of really beautiful things to see and stop at, but it's not for the faint of heart. If you can stand it, it's worth the trip though and so much shorter than the road to Hana. Don't go without the Revealed Books because you'll never see those special spots without it.

 

rjscott - Do you know what those rock piles are for near the blowhole? there were stacked piles of rocks everywhere. We saw the same thing at VNP. I couldn't figure out the significance of them were. Kinda gave us an erie feeling. That and all the chickens everywhere made us laugh.

[beachchick]

spleenstomper: There were several threads recently about the west Maui drive. Here's a sampling to give you some ideas about why it's not recommended for the timid, nervous, or new driver.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=539209&highlight=%22west+maui%22+road

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=539219&highlight=%22west+maui%22+road

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=539294&highlight=kahekili

 

That should help you decide if it's the right scenic drive for you. Only consider it if you are doing it for the beauty and if whoever is driving is up for it. Don't do it if you want to save time; even though on a map it "looks" like it would be less time, it's actually about 2 hours with no stops and at least 3 hours if you take time to really enjoy the scenery.

 

beachchick

[rjscott]

Only consider it if you are doing it for the beauty and if whoever is driving is up for it. Don't do it if you want to save time; even though on a map it "looks" like it would be less time, it's actually about 2 hours with no stops and at least 3 hours if you take time to really enjoy the scenery.

 

beachchick

 

Beachchick, very good points, and the same could be said of the Road to Hana. So many people think getting to Hana is the point of the drive, and those are the ones who don't understand why people rave about the drive. <sigh> We were staying just north of Kaanapali and we took about 3 hrs to do the West Maui drive, and we didn't do all the "recommended"stops. We did spend a bit of time at the gallery in Kahakuloa. Some nice made in Hawaii items.

Christy, I believe the "Revealed" book makes reference to those rock piles. Apparently, they have been done by tourists, who have piled them up to resemble Hawaiian heiaus, but these have no significance.

[cruizinwithkids]

First of all our rental car company mentioned that they did NOT wanting us driving on this stretch and that we would not be covered if we did. Honestly, I never would have know that had I not asked the girl what she thought of this stretch, so I'm not sure they're doing a great job warning their customers.

 

I am not judging and what you do has no bearing on me, I am planning my trip and trying to gather information.

 

Did the rental agency tell you that you would not be covered on the West road and did you do that anyway?

[Christy330]

The rental company mentioned it wouldn't be covered AFTER I asked her for a map and questioned how long that stretch would take to drive. She just said "Oh, well we don't really don't allow you to go into that area and you won't be covered if you do, but since we can't force you (wink, wink), I'll tell you that it's a beautiful drive and just be careful". That's why I had to laugh about how well they were informing their customers. After hearing that we decided to just go a little ways and see how it was and then decide. Problem was, by the time you get to the most difficult stretch, it's really too far to turn around and go back (we were headed for Kahului) and honestly, I'm not sure how you would of at that point. If you were staying on the west shore, I would probably go as far as the blowhole and then turn back if you have any reservations. The Revealed books clearly mark the narrow parts. It's not bad at all until that point, which makes trying to understand that recent death so tragic, because he died at the beginning of the stretch. If you're a cautious driver and watch your speed, it shouldn't be fearful.

[Nancyquilts]

It really isn't that bad - we went counter-clockwise and were on the ocean side of the drop-off, so next time I think I'd go clockwise. It wasn't any worse than a lot of mountain roads out here in the Sierras. Nancy

[RSWBADGER]

This is from the following thread discussing this road in April.

 

Maui's Kahekili Highway - The Forbidden Road

We traveled this forbidden route to Kapalua on our Pride of Aloha cruise in March.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=539219&highlight=%22west+maui%22+road

Quote:

It wasn't until sometime in the 1990s that this road was completely paved, and open to travel for rental cars (though some companies may still place it off-limits, so visitors should check their rental contracts). Even now, it remains a little-used "back door" into west Maui (for good reason, as shown below).

 

called it the "Forbidden Highway" because about halfway through our trip I referred to the map given to us by the rental agency and it said it was "Forbidden" to drive this stretch of road due to it being a one lane road for quite a stretch.

 

There are incredible views from this highway.

(Click to Enlarge)

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[Julia’s Journey’s]

Stunning pics, thanks for sharing:)

[beachchick]

About the road being completely "paved." That's a kind of generous description in some parts. As well, some of the paved sections are one-lane, so you do need to keep an eye out for oncoming traffic because you may need to follow one-lane pullover etiquette. It's certainly not the most difficult road we've ever taken by any means, but I'd never recommend it for someone who isn't completely comfortable with that kind of driving. We felt it was well worth the time. Really stunning views and scenery.

 

beachchick