I stayed at an AirBnB in Wailuku for the rest 2 nights. Convenient location: close to the airport and major shopping area. When I arrived ~7:30pm (after buying a papaya and more OJ), my host is hosting a poker night with his friends in the garage. It drizzled outside. I chatted with them while cleaning up my tent. His house-mate drives for Uber. His girlfriend (whom I met the next day) works for Four Seasons. One of the players from Kihei has never been to Hana, nor the crater - I found it odd again. They are all transplants, all very jovial and friendly. This is the view I have at breakfast, all to myself. The living room overlooks the Kahului Bay, where the two housemates surf everyday. What a life!
11/30 Monday. Iao Valley 7:30am. 
Very scenic, the drive and the hike. Iao Needle is a pointy hill - if viewed from east. It's a state monument. So, big parking lot, big bathroom (closed at the time). $5 entrance fee. (You can park by the road in few pullouts, but $5 is a small price to keep your car under watchful eyes.) It's a short walk, all paved, to a plaque. A little nature loop by the creek with planted plants and identification tags. If you go over the railing, you can follow a boot trail going over the ridge for much better view, both sides, two creeks, and the ocean. More green mountains. Ioa Needle is no longer a needle, looking wider as you go further. Lots of strawberry guava (I only found 3 yellow ones), both on branches and ground. Sweet smell. I picked quite a few. I turned back when the trail begins to go down. When I returned to the parking lot, buses started to arrive - that's about 9:30am.
Papawai Point lookout, at the southern tip of west Maui - a large pullout of the highway. Walked a few minutes down the bluff, found a nice campsite. There are more little trails to wonder around. However, it's getting too hot for me. Long break to disinfect my stinking boots under the blazing sun. A couple of vans pulled in around 10am, selling souvenirs. Most people who stopped here don't step away from the parking lot. Saw a couple of times whale jumping and spouting. Should come here in January for more whales.
Old Courthouse is a logical starting point for visiting Lahaina. Ground floor is a visitor center and souvenir shop. A good map of the neighboring towns. 2nd floor is a museum and bathrooms (1 stall only), from which window, a good view of the big banyan tree in the yard. 
Walked about Lahaina for 2 hours. Too hot. Visited churches, prison, shops, a "birthing" stone at the harbor. Pioneer Inn (now Best Western) has a wooden plaque of house rules of 1901. A few interesting ones: women and gamble disallowed in the rooms, no drinking on front porch, must leave at 11am except for Sunday when you can sleep all day. The prison has a few printouts of the offense tally in mid 19th century. Drunkenness is alway number one, followed by adultery. In 1857 giving birth to bastard had logged 5 convictions. Interesting to see that lewd conversation and animal cruelty were considered a crime.
After buying a cold beer at the Safeway on the road north to Kaanapali, I parked at the free "beach access" part of the garage in Sheraton, waiting for the daily sunset jump ceremony on Black Rock. It's after 3pm, and many bathers were leaving. There're only about a dozen parking spots. So you might wait. The beach and the rock isn't much to look at. Under that black rock, easy snorkel. Not many fish, because I stayed close to shore, as I'm a wimp in 6water. However, saw a gigantic turtle. I even touched his dusty shell! 
At sunset, a staff of Sheraton carried a torch, lit those fire posts along Black Rock. He tossed his torch down the water, bowed all 4 directions, in different postures. In the meantime, loud speakers broadcasting with a deep voice about the ritual. Eating areas along the beach were already lit. Most people on the beach have gone back to their rooms or to these white line covered dining tables. Finally, the guy jumped into the water. I took off then, drove a bit further north to check out DT Fleming Beach Park. A bit too dark now. Washrooms, life guard.
Back to my AirBnB, laid out strawberry guava for others to try. Quieter tonight. My host showed me photos of his steel work, mostly door. Not bad at all. The housemate's girlfriend came tonight, a very sweet girl from Arkansas, chatted with me in a musical droll.
12/1 Tuesday. Late start. Drove Piilani Hwy (#31) to its very end. After passing Kihei, it's all manicured lawn, resorts and condos, for quite awhile at least. That's the spreading town of Wailea (hotels, timeshares), then Makena (homes). Then Ahihi Kinau Natural Reserve. Cars parked by the road, quite a few people snorkel. Seems like a good spot. 
Further south is lava land. The pavement is in the lava land. Good view of the lava flow and the green mountain beyond. My destination this morning is La Perouse Bay. A good snorkeling place. You can see fish even standing on the rocks. Need to come here earlier. At 10am, the wind is already pushing the water too much. Not a lot of people. Not much shade, 3 honey buckets.
Had a picnic at IMakena Beach Park, fed the birds. Multiple restrooms, lifeguard watch stations, outdoor shower, big lawn, big trees, many picnic tables in shade. You walk down to get to the sandy beach. Seems like a popular place.
On the way back, stopped at Humpback Marine Sanctuary visitor center at 726 S. Kihei Rd (M-F 10-3). Chatted with 2 volunteers there for awhile. One was an electronics engineer, a lady of 80 year old, PhD in navy science. Both are transplants. 2 TVs playing 2 video clips. An old royal fishing pond outside.
Drove to Surfing Goat Diary to try their cheese. Not bad, nor exceptional. Bought two boxes of chocolate. Frozen to keep fresh. Not sure what's the hype.
Kahekili Highway (#340). Not really a highway. This is a stretch that may be prohibited by your rental car company. For about 15 miles, it's one lane, but 2 way traffic. Not a lot of traffic. So just go slow and be very careful. The scenery is amazing. 
I turned around at Nakalele Blowhole, right at sunset. Beautiful. Plenty rocks to roam. Driving back in dark is easier on the one lane road: as you can see the headlight of incoming cars, and no more scenery for distraction.
This concludes my 6 day trip in Maui. Should have stayed a day or two longer. My favorite is Kaleakala Crater and Kahekili Highway. Food is very expensive. The Maui produced pineapple is cheaper in Portland than on Maui. Bananas are from Ecuador. Why!
Kuma Escape is a small company on the 3rd floor of an electronic shop building. Small office rooms. We had 2 teams, neither escaped. Each team is divided into 2 halves, each in a separate room. So one team may find clues for the other team. Need to find a way to communicate. It leads to a key to your room. Once two halves combined, we have more clues to solve. You have 1 hour and employees are counting the time. Quite fun. A good team building event.
We then gathered at a bar waiting for our dinner reservation at 8:30 at Nick's Next Door. I went to my AirBnb, changed to a skirt, left my backpack, and walked to the restaurant. We were seated in the yard, with heating torch, in a big tent. Had to wait for a table of dinners to leave. Food is innovative here. I enjoyed all the dishes. Here're a few photos. The first 3 are shared appetizers. Lobster roll with apple slices, duck confit leg, short rib. 
For first course, we had choices of tomato bisque and caesar salad with anchove. For main dish, I had seared sea bass on a bed of beans cooked with pork (which caused some issue with some pescetarians). The other option is ribeye with bone marrow. I tasted a slice of the ribeye, it was cooked to an excellent light pink. Had 2 flute of champagne, didn't bother with wine. Tequila was flowing for a few. They had to call Uber to go home. Desert is shared, which is a good idea. We were all too full. I had to learn to make short speeches for the next time.
