as i write this early monday morning nobody is stirring in the house. outside is diferrent. roosters, birds, an occassional cow mow. it hits me we didnt do a lot of traditional tourity things. yes we went to the beach but what else. we kind of did it our own way and not the costco package way.
cheryl found us a great a great funky b&b full if charm and vibe. we were able to lounge in the house and gardens vs just a room. we lived more as a local instead of tourists including eating at home not at restaurants. we went to see real island history and got a real authentic maui experience. it was interesting. we are so glad we didnt choose a resort and just sit there in its comfort zone. we got out to a lot if the island yet managed to hide out in local haiku. it certainly was a different experience and felt more like an expliration. no road to hana (car sickness issues), no pineapple tour, no high priced resort luau, no zip line, no hike to the volcano at 4am to see the sunrise. we're plenty fine without doing those. we had an amazing experience anyway; our way. not missing them having experienced a more rural green floral experience in haiku. but its about time to say goobye for now. one last fruit breakfast at the b&b and then of to vaccum and gas the car before begrudgingly turning it in and taking the free shuttle ride of shame to the airport. shame the we are leaving.....
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sobin an effort to find an easier beach to enjoy we returned to kihei. the makena beach was just too much that day. so we drove out of wailea (a gaudy manicured orange county town to us) and went to a more waikikiesque town of kihei again. a break at ululani's shaved ice and a spam musubi (sushi) perked us up. after a snack we drove down the main kihei drag past a bunch of resorts, condos, and timeshares to a locals beach. we had been there the day before watching the sunset. kamaole beach park III. kamaole beach park III literally has the III in the name. there are three seperate beaches named kamaole. we liked the first but the parking was full. the second we didnt like as much. the III was just right. It helped that we had already been there the day before and it funningly reminded me of Thurston Howell the III from giligan's island. this is a family beach and park. there is a large green space for locals to set up and grille all day. there were bathrooms, lifeguard station, and shower station. just down a few steps is the beach and on one end seemed like a boogie boarding class learning. we chose the quieter far south end and it ended up being a great choice. there were rock out croppings to explore and a semi circular line of rocks on the other that turned this beach into a somewhat protected harbor. low waves on a beach you could walk quite a ways out on meant you could get out in front of the waves breaking for an easier time in the water and not worry about being hit by boogie boarders. the rock wall also helped limit undercurrents especially sideways ones we experienced at makena beach. overall a nice place to chill, a nice place to start snorkeling, and if you just want to float or bob above waves safely a great option.
a short ride back to haiku to shower and we decided to drive 5 miles upcountry to makawo. not much there but a few boutiques, restaurants, cows/goats, and locals. being upcountry a little bit different terrain was seen and feeling a world away from the beach. But what views. By then it was getting dark so we grabbed a bite from a food truck, grabbed some fresh fruit, and a beer to head back to the haiku plantation inn to decompress and write on the blog. ok, today was realxing at the beach day. that was the goal. we went to the numero uno big beach (literally). makena big beach state park. a nice wide beach that is supposedly the kingly beach beach to visit on maui. I was concerned the crowds would be huge. i had read tons of people go there. the parking lot was quite full with a long walk ahead. but i gave it a go and drove to the front turnaround and it was like we received a special cozmic perk. a patking spot opened a mere 12 spaces away from the entrance. we hit the beach with a borrowed beach umbrella and towels from the haiku plantation inn and were ready for an amazing day. then things went a little sideways. this beach that was supposed to be the best or one of the best started to get angry. we were in the surf fighting big waves and undercurrents from both the left and right. it was tiresome abd worrisome. i'd have to say we just picked the wrong day.
i was having trouble and cheryl was thrown all around so we threw in the towel and left for a more relaxed ecperience beach. As we were leaving i looked back and literally two dozen others decided to leave as well. i don't know if the lifeguard said something or conditions literally changed when we showed up. but it was a mass exodus... when is say iao it reminds me off johnny carsons sideckick ed mcmahan ay ooo. the iao valley is a lovely nook between the dominant presence of huge mountains. it's a green utopia because on the other side is quite desolate as the rain storms lose power over the mountains. there is a lovely park honoring the immigrants who helped shape the island. korean, chinese, japanese, filipino, portugese. many more pics in the maui pictures section
from iao we cut through the plantation valley of maui and hit a tourist trap complete with 3 tour busses and a fourth arrived as we were leaving. i call it a tourist trap but it actually was very nice bordering on an amazing place. a huge place to buy hawaiian shirts, jewelry, and maui smelling stuff. maui tropical plantation is it's name and eventhough it's all capitalism it was designed amazingly. the touches, the finishes, the gardens and all the thought put into it was amazing. A great marketing extravagaza and amazing event space for weddings etc. we almost bought some stuff but we needed to keep going to maximize beach time. so i'm sitting in a very quiet haiku plantation inn drinking a coors light while cheryl sips some tea. it's been another full day of fun with a great amount of time at the beach and were winding down.
relaxing and looking back getting ready to post plenty more pictures and wrap up the days events on the blog it hits hard that this is our last day here doing stuff. sacramento to maui will be reversed tomorrow and there will be a full day of traveling to get back to real life things. we had so much fun. It' a big world and we had an awesome slice of the islands. we have to start worrying about real things instead of what beach to go to and if the waves are too big. i have to ponder about no more island breakfasts of pineapple, passion fruit, and papaya. i've grown very fond of them and our new maui rituals. Soon they will be memories kept alive and relived on this website and blog. sure u can get pineapple from the grocery store, macadmia nuts from world market but they are hollow without the actual experiences we have lived here in maui the last few days. we will miss the small winding roads with the lush green on the side. the chickens ruling both sides of the streets (but not the alpha male rooster in the yard here way to damn early in the am). we'll miss the ocean as we are returning to land locked sacramento, and even miss this rustic slice of island life of the plantation inn in haiku that we have stayed at. A real retro estate with a long maui history. we hope you can share in these experiences someday. The sights, the sounds, the smells. it's very foreign yet it's still the u.s.. we hope you make it here yourself one day and understand how the maui vibe and feel grows into you and eveything else fades away. we're especially going to miss ululani's shave ice; a special cup of heaven you can only find on maui. thanks for checking the blog out. just a quick post of another fun filled day from maui.
sacramento to maui has been a lovely vacation. we hope this website inspires you to make your trip to maui soon. i'll post more a bit later so after whale watching from a lookout point a good half dozen whales doing there thing we decided to head to sandier wider beaches of resort town kihei. man was it packed. packed with young families with kids running around.
a lot of kihei beaches are also parks so families hang all day grilling and boogie boarding. there are tons of condos/timeshares and resorts of all sizes in kihei. before hitting the beach we headed for some snow...what?????? shaved ice that was heavenly. wet fluffy flavored snow. this yellow snow was mango and passion fruit. ululani's was the snow bomb on a hot day. so maui time is sloooow time. so we slowly did a lot today. went to lahaina (pics in pictures page) to see some sights, buy some stuff at abc store, see the old sugar cane train, and even stopped in for some maui grown coffee after having a few samples and getting jittery we hit a few beaches did some whale watching and had some pie at leoda's. o yeah, proof that cheryl floated in the ocean. quite some time was spent lounging at the beach with copius sun screen and a beach umbrella to hopefully not turn into some lobsters like a few other vacationers around us.
as we were on the west side of the island today it was much mellower and the beaches sandier with smaller swells than the s.e. side of maui where surf town paia and haiku are at. the day before on the s.e. side the waves mere massive and eating up the beaches. in fact park rangers shut one down. |
AuthorThe Randalls. Neil who is married to Cheryl have been planning a Maui vacation for months. We are sharing a few things to do in Maui on this Maui Travel Blog Archives
January 2018
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