Looking for advice on Maui trip

I will be staying on the north shore of Maui the second week of April and am looking for any advice on things to do. I am renting a ski and  a vehicle with a rack to carry it. M2M is full so I will not be doing the big race unfortunately. I do plan to use the maliko downwind shuttle as much as possible. 

Does anybody have any suggestions  for other things to do on or off the water? Other great runs? Must see things on land? I would like to get to the summit of the island at least once, and would like to do some mountain biking and trail running as well. It will be my first time in HI. 

Thanks in advance!

Zach, I recommend reaching out to the Maui Paddling Hui folks for the local paddling knowledge, I'm sure they will all be busy organizing for the M2M when you're there but could still give you the lowdown on where to go.  They run a race this coming weekend on the north shore from Keanae to Kahului harbor that looks like an amazing course, was going to do it but the wind forecast looks fluky so I backed out. (will probably regret the decision when it winds up pumping....) 

I've spoken with Kenny Howell who has taken several Maui trips and may be willing to give you some info, can find his contact stuff on the Epic site.  

Haleakala crater and summit is mind blowing.  Could do some running/hiking in and around the crater (if your lungs allow) during the day then head up to the summit for sunset.  

There's great snorkeling and diving all over the place, better conditions on the south and west sides in the lee of the trades.

And if you ever make it to Oahu call me up (808) two nine four - one five nine four and we'll go bomb a Makapuu run-
Patrick 

Thanks for the tips Patrick. Yes the wind forecast looks pretty flat unfortunately. Not that flatwater in tropical paradise sounds bad right now. Lakes are still frozen here and the only paddling is on the ice cold flooding Mississippi, dodging chuncks of ice, trash, and branches. 

Out of curiousity if a guy in oahu wants to do a race on maui is there a way to transport your ski between the islands or do you have to rent/borrow just like us tourists?

Zach,  Interisland boat transport= the 2 options are 
1.  Find an escort driver who is heading over anyway, and hire them to take your boat.  Swim out to the boat on race morning, and off you go.  Many of the guys have this pretty dialed in with non-sketchy racks and such.
2. You can transport an entire trailer of boats as cargo on a Young Bros. shipping barge, or if you only have 1 to several boats, can put them on a flat shipping rack which is a 40 foot platform with tie down loops on the sides, so you make your own racks or pads with rolls of cardboard or old fire hose or whatnot and tie your boat down.  You have to line up someone on the other end obviously to pick up your stuff.

In some of the past years the molokai race organizers have hired a big ass clunker of a transport ship and built racks on it, and everyone loads onto that, then do a human chain to swim the boats to the beach at Kaluakoi.  Lively to say the least when a swell is running!

Even if the forecast is flat for your trip, there will be tons of movement in the ocean.  We went out on a triangle course into the Kaiwi channel from Hawaii Kai the other day, and had rideable bumps in 2 of the 3 directions...

Just a little follow up. The first day of my trip was flat and I did in fact hike through the haleakala crater. One of the most fascinating and unique hikes I have ever done. Thanks for the tip! The rest of the trip the wind was awesome and I pretty much did a Maliko run every day. But the highlight of the trip was the M2M race. I some how got in off the wait list. I was in a v8, which I would not consider my ideal race boat, but that didn't bother me at all. It made me focus on surfing rather than paddling hard. The channel crossing was cool. A lot of plunging left and surfing right. There were about 45 minutes in the middle where I could see no other boats, and I could not really see Molokai because of clouds. That was kind of cool - just me and the ocean and some really big waves. I had my garmin set on the arrow function for navigation and I think my line worked out about perfect. The channel crossing was awesome in the literal sense of the word. but the best paddling by far was running along the south shore of Molokai. That is the best bit of water I have ever paddled. It was clean and big and after side surfing across the channel it felt so easy. The last 10 miles I averaged 9.4 mph. Usually I am proud if I can do a single downwind mile that fast. When I finished the race, I felt so fresh and relaxed that I truly wished there was another 10 miles of downwind. It was a really strange thing. At 26 miles this was the longest downwind I have ever done. despite that I had my fastest overall average speed ever for a downwind. I also equaled my fastest downwind mile ever - but did it for 5 miles in a row. And I did it in a v8 (I usually paddle v12) after not paddling for 5 months (lakes frozen) and yet I was not sore or tired at all. I cannot fully explain it. It was an amazing beautiful experience and without question the single best day of paddling in my life.  

Right On!
So cool that the conditions lined up for your trip.  Your race experience sounds unreal, what a treat to mull that over on the plane home.  

That section from Kamalo valley to Kaunakakai really is magical.  I'm not a religious guy, but if one was to believe in intelligent design, you could make a good argument that piece of coast was put there to blow paddlers' minds!
I bet word got out quick after the first guy or gal ripped down the island linking the bumps on a sailing canoe...

It’s great to know a sport has the potential to bring pure bliss.  Good for you.  I wanna go.
I know you paddle a v12 v1 and have great balance and are very experienced. Was the v8 the only boat available, or did you choose it due to your unfamiliarity with the area and potential for huge conditions?

I planned this trip on very short notice and a v8 was the only ski left. If I had the entire epic catalog to choose from I probably would have asked for the new v10 or maybe the v10 sport for the reasons you mentioned. I made a deliberate decision to view the v8 as a blessing in disguise. It both forced and allowed me to focus on surfing properly. I am fit and have good balance but because of where I live I only paddle downwind about a dozen times a year. I think the more stable boat allows me to look slightly further ahead on the water and identify the move I have to make a fraction of a second sooner. 

I can't even wrap my mind about how awesome that must have been. I'm happy if I get a couple miles of downwind paddling on each trip. Thursday evening I was able to paddle downwind for about 4 miles. Can't imagine 26 in legit ocean conditions. It's on my bucket list.