This review was received about a week ago and was written by John H from Baton Rouge.
I chose Douglas Hoffman because of his work and his reputation. Sure, there are a lot of cheaper tours to drop you off at every waterfall to Hana, but this tour is at a different level. Douglas is a master photographer. The photo tour bus drivers are not. It’s that simple. My wife and I booked a 10 hour tour that turned into a 13 hour tour at our request. We started, with flashlight in hand, where we saw huge sea turtles on the beach from just fee away. We took photos at sunrise on a beach at Ho’okipa. Traveled the road to Hana, stopping at waterfalls, bamboo forests, the town of Keanea for banana bread and some fantastic photos and finally a beach near Hana for lunch. Douglas is a storehouse of photographic knowledge mixed with humor and a few life lessons. He strives to discover what you want out of the experience. I am retired and know a good bit about photography. Douglas started where my knowledge ended and built on that. He can just as well take a beginner and start there. One of the many highlights was a walk down a beautiful small trail, through a stream (yes my wife got her tennis shoes wet!) to a beautiful huge waterfall. We’ve been to Maui many times and never knew about this one. (and it’s not in any Maui book we’ve seen) We then traveled the “other” side of the south side past Hana, past the seven pools and across the lava fields. There are two beautiful churches on that side. Then to the upcountry and back down and around to Wailea for sunset photos at a great hidden beach. Yes we spent a lot of money, but it’s really a bucket list thing. You gotta do it once. (I’m looking forward to a second time.)
in the wilderness of Kihei