I'll begin this report by stating that I visited the Hawaiian Island of Maui as a tourist, so my observations and photographs will most definitely be skewed by this singular and limited viewpoint. I wish I had more time on the island. There is simply too much to see and experience in one week.
With a few reservations in mind, I can say that I found Maui to be a most interesting and enjoyable travel experience, but not entirely satisfying.
As with most travels I make, my motives are normally centered around relaxation, culture and photography. Maui was a very relaxing trip and the photographs are there for the taking in abundance. The true attraction of Maui is the Island itself.
The most photographically limiting obstacle I faced on the Island was the weather. It was raining for the first three days I was there. Not constant rain, but fairly constant cloud cover and photographically speaking, heavy clouds don't make for dramatic light. The weather on Maui is variable by location. We found the South Shore to have the most consistent combination of sun and light puffy clouds, with the North Shore more prone to rain. The volcano peaks were almost always obscured by clouds and there are points in the central highlands that can receive over 300 inches of rain per year.
Culturally speaking, Maui leaves much to be desired when comparing to the other trips to tropical areas of the world I've made. American pure and simple, Maui offers a cultural experience that can be found in virtually any high end American tourist destination. It reminded me of traveling to Vail, Colorado. Hawaii has always played with the vision of Polynesian culture, but in all honesty, the Polynesian culture has been relegated to the side show of travel brochures and doesn't really exist.
A beautiful island with a distinct division between residents and tourists and a never ending projection of money and wealth, Maui is expensive and not by just a little bit. Hotels charge extra fees for almost everything except toilet paper. Restaurants offer a fairly good variety of menus at about twice the cost of what you'll pay on the mainland for something similar. A typical lunch for four people can easily exceed $125 US. Even fast food is double what you'd normally expect to pay on the mainland. If you are considering moving there as a full or part time resident, buying a simple 2 bedroom condo can run well over 1 million dollars US.
Enough of the delving off into the culture and expense. Once you are there, you'll be immediately struck by the pure beauty of the place and with a few trips to different parts of the island, you'll soon discover what makes this one of the most attractive travel destinations in the world. To enjoy Maui at its finest you'll need to get in tune with the Island and the raw beauty of nature as it exists on this tiny rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
As for camera equipment. I traveled simple and as light as possible. The goal was to get everything into one carry on bag plus a tripod in my checked baggage. My camera body was a Canon EOS 50D. I brought 3 lenses, a 16-35L, 24-105L, 70-200L, a 580EX flash, and a 1.4x teleconverter. For the most part, this was a good kit, but I discovered the 70-200L with a teleconverter was a bit insufficient for good telephoto results, especially with long shots of whales and surfers. If I were doing it again, I'd bring a 100-400L or other similar focal length telephoto zoom. Though there were whales to see this late in the year (mid-April), most were at a distance greater than 200 yards. That extra reach would have really come in handy, even at the cost of the added weight.
Traveling around the island is simple enough, but you'll find that most of the island is not accessible by car. Traffic can be heavy as the main roads all seem to get you to the center of the island and there are no alternate routes. We rented a GMC 4wd SUV for our visit. The roads are in good condition and well maintained but narrow. The most common vehicles seemed to be Ford Mustangs and Jeep Wranglers. The Mustangs seemed to be the tourist rental of choice and most were moving about with the tops down and the occupants hair blowing in the warm breeze.
Below I've selected a few photographs from my April 2010 trip. I'm trying to keep it brief and interesting. I've too many photos to display here, but you'll get the idea of what the island is like from these.
Enjoy.
