There are two main areas to stay on Maui, Kaanapali-Lahaina and Wailea-Makena. I made my decision on where to stay purely based on proximity to the best snorkeling. Wailea-Makena is known for its sea turtle sightings and great coral reefs right off the beach, so I knew this was the spot for me.

|Outfit Details: Express White Maxi Dress, Soludos Espadrille Wedge Sandals, Zara Rattan Bag, Kendra Scott Necklace, Nadri Criss Cross Ring, David Yurman Ring

In fact, we actually took a Snorkel/SNUBA tour to the Mokulele Crater and Turtle Town and guess what? "Turtle Town" is really just the snorkeling area right in front of our hotel!! We joked with the captain about dropping us off here instead of back at port.

Ironically, it was overcast during our early morning tour and the turtles were nowhere to be found. When we returned to our hotel, the sun had finally come out and so had the turtles! I immediately rented snorkel gear and waded into the water hoping to finally catch a glimpse of one. Instead, I saw four! They were huge and completely took my breath away. I'll try to take a screen grab from my GoPro footage to share on social media.

Best beaches in Maui | Never Settle Travel

We finished the day watching an incredible sunset before walking to dinner at one of the other resorts. I loved wearing this white maxi dress! It works as a cover-up, but thankfully its not too see through so it can be worn for dinner as well. I'm also obsessed with this mini rattan bag from Zara. It's perfect for going to dinner as it is the perfect size for just the essentials like my phone, wallet and go-to lip color.

The thing about Maui is that the resort areas are super resort-y. The beaches are totally beautiful (and public), but almost all of them sit in front of a giant brand name resort, so it makes sense to me now how the Road to Hana became so popular. It's a much more lush part of the island. You can read my guide to the Road to Hana here and see all of the photos from our trip in this post.