Sometimes it’s the journey that is interesting, more so than the destination. This can be said about the Road to Hana. Hana itself is a small town on Eastern Maui without much for a tourist to see or do. The road to get there is a different story. The route is a twisty stretch of a two (and sometimes one) lane highway with breathtaking ocean views on one side and dense jungle on the other. There are numerous stops along the way with waterfalls, tide pools, secret beaches, and hiking trails. 
Do not drop phone… Do not drop phone… PLEASE do not drop phone. Haha, definitely 21st century problems here. When I used to visit Hawaii as a kid, I never had to worry about potentially destroying expensive electronics while playing in the stream.
Red Sand Beach. The aerial drone photo doesn’t really do this beach justice. The beach hidden, nestled between sea cliffs and thick jungle. There’s a trail to get down to the beach itself but it’s not well marked and is actually quite treacherous. 
Earlier we saw the red sand beach, now meet its darker cousin. Remember that amazing quote from Star Wars Episode II where Anakin Skywalker said, “I don’t like sand, its course, and rough, and irritating, and it gets everywhere.” I bet the future Darth Vader would’ve changed his mind had he visited the black sand shores of Wai’anapanapa Beach.
So lush, coming from Southern California where everything is brown, this shoreline was very refreshing to see.
After reaching the town of Hana, most tourists turn back and go back to town the way they came. I prefer not to retrace my steps however and decided to keep on driving. In doing so, I circumnavigated the entire island of Maui. The Southeastern Shore is rugged and nearly entirely uninhabited. Here we can catch a rare glimpse of the back side of the Haleakala Volcano.