As wildfires raged through Maui earlier this month, tourists on the island were unsure what would unfold amid the devastation they were witnessing.

Newly married couple James and Cara Ferrara were honeymooning in Hawaii during the first two weeks of August. The last leg of their trip was on Maui, where the fast-moving wildfires ravaged the island.

“It definitely was very, it was surreal,” James Ferrara said.

Arriving in Maui on Aug. 6, they checked into their resort in Kaanapali. The town next to them, Lahaina, would soon be destroyed by fire.

When the couple visited that town, they felt heavy winds, but didn’t know the devastation to come. They woke up Tuesday with no power, and were told by a worker about trees and debris falling around the island, so they decided to stay put at the hotel.

“Once the sun went down is when it got quite scary. The flames, you could visibly see the flames coming closer to the hotel,” Cara Ferrara said.

They waited three hours to get food that night to find out the hotel had run out. They attempted to sleep but didn’t get much.

“Everyone was like going, I guess you can say kind of in survival mode because not knowing what to expect,” James Ferrara said.

They said the scariest part was losing cell service. This meant they were not receiving alerts of potential evacuation plans and updates. They were also not able to get in contact with their families in New York and Connecticut until Wednesday morning when a call to James Ferrara’s dad, located in the Hudson Valley, went through.

Courtesy of James and Cara Ferrara

“We didn't even realize at this point it's been all on the news, because the first thing he said, he was very grateful and very, like, happy just to hear from us,” James Ferrara said.

On Wednesday, a road to the airport reopened, and Cara Ferrara's mom was able to book them new flights to begin their journey home.

“We were also very fortunate because we had a rental car. There was a lot of people at the resort that did not,” James Ferrara said.

They immediately drove to the other side of the island, not risking to miss their flight if the road closed again. At this point, they saw the extent of the damage and realized they were only about two miles from the thick of the fire. They made it out and unexpectedly spent the last day of their honeymoon in Waikiki.

“I never thought I would say this, but I was like, ‘I can't wait to, like, leave Hawaii and be home,’ ” Cara Ferrara said.

“At least we had a home we were going back to, and that's just the main thing that we just kept on thinking about,” James Ferrara said.

Both said they would like to travel back to Hawaii someday, but not anytime soon, as they want to allow the residents to get back on their feet.