Hawaii - April 11 - 19 - advice wanted

[couzteau]

Hi,
who can give me advice on where to go in Hawaii in April - we'll have about 10 days and wonder what to do with them. Is that a good time to go to Hawaii?

Our choice is usually to do it as cheap as possible - meaning we don't need luxury, anything simple and clean will do.

Ideally I would like to have a bungalow near a kite beach. I could also imagine renting an RV and stay in campgrounds.

The big questions: Which island to fly to? How to get around?

Thanks for suggestions.

Jacques

[elli]

Hi,
I was in Maui last year.
I don’t remember places to live around kite beach. You will have to drive there.
To make things worse, there is a crack down on apartment rentals by owners, so unless you are in the know you will have to go to the standard hotels / apartment complexes, which usually means even further from kite beach.

This was last year. Maybe this year they solved it.

We ended up in the south around Kihei which is about 20 minutes from kite beach. If the wind blows you will do it in 15 minutes
My thinking is that once you have to drive, 5 minutes or 20 is the same, so you might as well get the nicest place for the money.

If you can find a place in Paia you are a lot closer, but the crack down basically stopped that. Give a call to your old windsurfing buddies (mine could not help me )

We flew to Maui through some connection (I think LA). Its easy to get a shuttle from the airport to anywhere you want, but after that you need to have a car.

[couzteau]

Thanks Elli - very helpful.
I have started to look at Tulum, Mexico as well, I was wondering wether I would get a better deal for the money down there? comments welcome.

Thanks j.

[elli]

Maui is about Bay Area prices. If you want a better deal South Padre is cheaper but I am not sure about April.

May should be good there. I was totally skunked two years ago in May, week and a half of almost nothing. Watched my girlfriend standing on a 200 litter windsurf board with 20m sail going 0.1 miles per hour for a few days. There is nothing to do there. Watch out from spring break dates when you plan, you don’t want to be on SPI at this time.

Wherever you go, think about what happens if there is no wind, happened to me too many times.

[michael]

In Maui you have to rent a car, cook yourself from groceries that are 3x times more expensive than here, and live in a cheap crappy room. I can assure you that for less money you will find a 5-star all-inclusive in Mexico's Riviera Maya.

Tulum is perfect in April. I was there in the beginning of May for a week last year and kited every single day.

[couzteau]

Thanks Michael, I'll probably save my Hawaii trip for when I have more money.