Maui is one of the most beautiful places on earth. It has everything from gorgeous white sand beaches to tropical jungle, to alpine terrain and lava encrusted wasteland, and from January to April the warm oceans are alive with humpback whales. Maui is known as 'The Valley Island' because of its two large extinct volcanoes divided by a tropical central valley. It's the second-largest of the Hawaiian islands with a land area of 729 square miles.