When my wheelchair-bound fiancé and I began researching Hawaii for our honeymoon in 2006, we just couldn’t bear to decide on an island or two, so we decided to break the mold of tradition and extend our honeymoon to three long weeks. We knew it would not only break the mold but our bankbook as well, but heck, we were getting married. You only do that once, right?
Our research was cut down immensely because we had one aspect of the trip decided for us already: my husband Craig is an employee of the Sheraton Hotels family and we’d save a bundle staying at Sheraton Resorts if we could find them, which we did on three of the islands! We had already decided that where we couldn’t find a room at a Sheraton, we’d stay in bed and breakfasts, because we heard the Hawaiians love breakfast as much as Alaskans do.
Accessible B&Bs
There aren’t many B&Bs that are fully accessible in Hawaii, but we only had to find one on Maui, and we found one online located in the cute little village they call Makawao. The Pilialoha has a small, one-story, accessible studio cottage off their main building, and the bathroom inside had been completely remodeled to ADA standards. The entire floor of the bathroom is sloped into a drain, and the rest of the room was the shower! There was a huge tub as well, and a roll-under sink. Not like your typical ADA bathroom, this one made us giggle at the sight of its uniqueness. The owners were absolutely lovely, even providing us with a compact disc for the Road to Hana drive, and breakfast was served in our unit.
Road Adventures
Another bonus of Pilialoha was the location. Makawao is in the center of Maui, so it cut driving times in half in either direction we went. One day we spent driving the famed twists and turns (600 curves and 54 one-lane bridges) of the Road to Hana, and drove “the adventurous way” home. The road continues onward through Hana on a dirt road; it’s a must-do if you’re in a rental vehicle with some good tires on it.
The rocky ocean view on this rarely seen return from Hana was peaceful, empty, shorter, and void of the endless, somewhat nauseating turns that the typical Road to Hana would have been if done twice. There weren’t many hikes we could do on this drive that didn’t have stairways, so finding an adventurous way home was key for us.
Accessible Botanical Garden
One stop worth finding parking for along the way into Hana was the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. A half-mile roll or so brings you through some amazing vegetation, viewing flowers we’d never heard of and trees with porcupine-like bark. If you make this stop, be sure to bring a camera.
Access by Helicopter
Drives are our staple on scenic vacations, but the helicopter rides on this trip made up for the lack of wheelchair access to the hidden waterfalls we couldn’t hike to. The Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Tours offers motorized wheelchair lifts upon request, so fear not about transferring up into these million-dollar glass machines!
We left from the main Kahalui airport, a short drive from Makawao, and soared above the Road to Hana, peering into the canyons and waterways we couldn’t see from the road. The pilot also buzzed us over to the Haleakala Crater for a view of what we hadn’t seen the night before on our drive up there.
The viewing areas at Haleakala are accessible, however (it’s a National Park), so don’t view this one from the sky only. We caught an amazing sunset and watched a full moon rise over the vast crater in lieu of the sunrise so many people had insisted we do, and we weren’t disappointed.
Sea Kayaking and Snorkeling
Our favorite adventure on Maui was with Maui Sea Kayaking and expert kayaker Ron Bass, who boasts over a dozen years of adaptive experience. We had actually been told we couldn’t kayak on Hawaii, so finding Ron was a goldmine.
Ron’s been on Maui almost as long as he’s been kayaking, and his connections pay off. His boats were parked on a private lot with an accessible beach, and we spent over four hours one day just south of Lahaina on a tandem ocean kayak viewing green sea turtles, surfing the waves, and even snorkeling a little. We closed this day with a luau in Lahaina, also an entirely accessible experience!
On the way back to Kahalui for our inter-island flight, we stopped at the highly recommended Iao Valley State Park to tour this historic battle site of King Kamehameha I in 1790. The walkways and view spots are all accessible except for the last stair climb to the top. Some of the walkways are steep and the bridge is narrow, but still quite doable for someone in a wheelchair.
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Part 2: Oahu
