Maui’s Island Adventures

While many people think of Maui for its relaxing resorts and swaying palm trees, the island also hosts a surprising variety of easy-to-access adventure travel options. “Hawaii has year-round perfect weather and a diversity of experiences,” said Leanne Pletcher, director of public relations for the Maui Visitors Bureau. Adrenaline junkies can test their mettle on Haleakala with a downhill bike ride dropping more than 6,500 feet of elevation on hairpin switchback turns across 25 miles of roads.

Clients who prefer to go by foot can try Hike Maui, which guides visitors through lush rainforests to spectacular waterfalls, or Rappel Maui, which features rappelling by rope on cliffs beside the falls. Kualoa Ranch, which served as the shooting location for the “Jurassic Park” films, is now a site for guided tours by ATV, Jeep, or bicycle, complemented by a canopy zipline carrying guests as fast as a velociraptor. Out in the Pacific, the adventures continue with snorkeling, stand-up paddleboarding, sailing, and fishing trips. But nothing says Hawaii like surfing. Beginners can take lessons on the gentle beaches of Kaanapali and Lahaina. Maui's diverse landscapes are the result of a unique combination of geology, topography, and climate. Each volcanic cone in the chain of the Hawaiian Islands is built of dark, iron-rich/quartz-poor rocks, which poured out of thousands of vents as highly fluid lava over a period of millions of years. Several of the volcanoes were close enough to each other that lava flows on their flanks overlapped one another, merging into a single island. Maui is such a "volcanic doublet," formed from two shield volcanoes that overlapped one another to form an isthmus between them.

Location: Hawaii, Pacific Ocean