Anniversary Maui Paradise

It’s already been a year since Mikey and I started dating! What better way to celebrate our anniversary than spend 4 days in Paradise, yes, in Maui!

Even though our flight was at the crack of dawn (well, 7am, but it felt early to me!) I was super giddy at the airport. I had to stop myself from getting coffee because I didn’t want to annoy the people around me. I couldn’t understand why others at the gate weren’t excited either. I mean, c’mon, we’re all going to Hawaii people! Get up and cheer!

As we approached touchdown, our first reaction was “oh my gosh there’s so much GREEN!” We’re so used to smog and city life that this really DID feel like Paradise, even up in the air! And WOW was it humid! Just walking through the airport got me sticky and sweaty (okay, that sounds gross). Regardless, I had one mission in mind: to get a lei by a local! Back in LA, I heard rumors that people hand out leis to tourists coming into the city. I’m sad to say that “that’s not true!” I wanted one so badly that I decided to BUY my own PLASTIC lei at a supermarket. Epic fail…

Maui Trip

Hawaii

We took the rest of the first day easy: stroll around Lahaina (just about the only little town that had some sort of night life), had a few too many fruity drinks with a little umbrella in it (!!!!), took pictures with 5 parrots on ourselves (totally his idea *wink*), picked out a pearl out of an oyster and had it made into a necklace (thanks to my dear for the anniversary present *grin*) and dipped our feet in the ocean.

Lahaina Parrots

Banyan Tree

DAY 2: ROAD TO HANA! Had to convince Mikey to do this with me, and so glad that we did! This was a looooong (about 10 hours roundtrip) and windy road that took us to the other side of the island! We stocked up with just about every type of road-trip food in our car, filled up our eco-friendly car with a full tank of gas (we did the whole road trip in that one fill up!), downloaded this awesome app called Gypsy Guide that served as our tour guide in the car, and hit the road! Mikey’s reaction: “this feels like I’m in Jurassic Park!” No kidding, it really did! Every few miles or so was a photo-opp with a GORGEOUS view, and even had a few hiking spots!

Road to Hana

Maui

Maui

Road to Hana

Maui

We hiked down to a waterfall and went swimming in the water. I’ve never been under a REAL waterfall before (I was afraid that something would crawl up my leg, so we didn’t go in too deep).

Road to Hana

We found a secluded beach that had black sand and a little cave with an incredible view at the end. And, wow, the WATER was so warm in Hawaii! I usually don’t like to be in the water (ahem… because I can’t swim…) but it’s different here in Maui.

Maui

Road to Hana

Road to Hana

Road to Hana

Every turn was a photo-opp. We must’ve stopped and pulled over at least 20 times because I couldn’t resist taking pictures. Granted, every time we got out, we found something interesting to do; whether it was a hike, food or just something to see.

Hawaii-215

Maui

Road to Hana

Road to Hana

During our drive, we found this little shack that served ICE CREAM (!!!!) and they served it in real coconut shells. Mmmm so yummy!

Road to Hana

Road to Hana

So, after about 5 or so hours, we made it to the little town of Hana, which really wasn’t anything climatic. We were both like “oh, that’s it?” and decided to turn around fairly quickly to make it back to civilization before a beautiful sundown. I was excited that we were able to take some stunning images of the sunset. It was really the journey that made it all worthwhile.

Our hotel

Road to Hana

DAY 3: SNORKELING AND LUAU! Snorkeling was on Mikey’s must-do list, and I was honestly scared in the beginning. I’m not the best swimmer, and living creatures under the sea sort of freak me out, but I think it took me just about 3 minutes to get used to the whole experience (I’m easily adaptable). We booked a snorkeling trip that took us to the inhabited island of Molokai where we SWAM WITH TURTLES and even saw a mini shark *yikes*. Of course, I HAD to rent an underwater camera to capture EVERYTHING!

Maui snorkeling

Maui snorkeling

Maui snorkeling

Maui snorkeling

Maui snorkeling

At one point, Mikey and I were in the water, talking, when he interrupted me and said “there’s a turtle right behind you.” That was THE quote of the day! I turned around, and literally, saw a huge turtle just sticking its head out from the water as if he was telling me to get out of his way. Being the tourist that I am, I decided to chase after it to take pictures, but he gave me a “turtle middle finger” and quickly swam away (……)

Hawaii-507

Maui snorkeling

That evening, we found out where all the sexy locals of Maui hung out at night. It was at the Old Lahaina Luau! Open bar, great food, sexy hula men and women… we felt right at home!

Old Lahaina Luau

I loved that this particular Luau had activities prior to the show, like hula lessons, demonstrations of Hawaiian instruments, and little local shops where we bought a wooden turtle. The Luau itself was interesting; they had a whole party around uncovering the pig that’s been cooking in an underground oven and the show itself explained Maui’s rich history through hula performances and various dancing.

Old Lahaina Luau

Old Lahaina Luau

Old Lahaina Luau

Sitting right up front, Mikey and I had a great view of the hula dancers 😉

Old Lahaina Luau

Old Lahaina Luau Old Lahaina Luau

Old Lahaina Luau

DAY 4: BEACH HOPPING & SUNSET COCKTAIL CRUISE The most relaxing day of all, checking out the incredible beaches that Maui offers! I think we hopped to 4 different beaches all within a 5mile radius. Our winning moment was when we decided to rent snorkeling gear to go explore the water on our own. We explored the sides of coves and large rocks and saw BEAUTIFUL fish swim right underneath us. This really was a remarkable experience. I never knew just how close these fish are to us, and how stunning they look under water when the sun rays hit them from underneath the water. It made me look at water life differently; really a life changing experience.

We bid our last day goodbye with a sunset cruise where we feasted to surprisingly incredible food and an open bar (very important to us). We loved that the boat only carried about 14 or so people (more food for us!) so it almost felt like a private cruise. The water was calm, temperature was just about right (thanks to Mikey’s idea of bringing a sweater), the sunset was gorgeous, and they had a Macallan 15. We were happy tourists.

Alii Nui Sunset Cruise Alii Nui Sunset Cruise

Alii Nui Sunset Cruise

Maui

Alii Nui Sunset Cruise

4 days in Maui seemed just about right; we did everything that we had wanted to do during our getaway, including breakfast the next day where we made our own pancakes 🙂

Slappy Cakes

Mentally, it felt relieving to escape hectic LA and we came back feeling happier about… living life! And so starts our year 2 of our relationship 🙂 Can’t wait for our next anniversary trip, haha!

xoxo,
Janice

WELCOME

I call myself a ‘people’ photographer, specializing in capturing the personalities of people through family, newborn and event photography. I’m originally German-Japanese and was raised embracing both cultures. I was raised in Japan and in many parts of Europe, until I finally settled in Los Angeles to call it my permanent home. My love for photography started at an early age. A fun hobby eventually turned in to a passion when I found joy in taking candid photos of my friends. Naturally, my love for photography turned in to a lifestyle and I was asked to photograph people’s milestones and celebrations. And so, my photography business was born in 2010.