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Gordon & Zoud's Excellent Journey to Maui, Hawaii - Page 3
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We were awakened by the daily cacophony of sounds which begin around 5:30 in the morning. The groundskeepers first, then the Chukkars, Myna birds. and the Mourning Doves took over. Once again we were up and about by 7am. We were ready for another adventure. Gordon wanted to swim in a little bay that he had seen earlier. I thought that he meant the one south of Makena. We headed south in the general direction of our usual breakfast place. This morning Gordon decided that he wanted to eat at a "local" restaurant and not one that caters to tourists and "haoles" (Hawaiian for foreigners). Gordon calls them "gringos." This became one of our many running jokes during our stay on the island. We eased off the well-beaten path and, about a block up and in behind a small shopping center, he spotted a place called the "4 Sisters." Not only is this a "local" restaurant, it is local Filipino owned and operated as well. He ordered "Bangilo," which consisted of a half-fried milk fish with two fried eggs and garlic rice. It was accompanied with chopped onions, tomatoes and fish sauce on the side. Gordon finished every bite!
From there we moseyed over to Hilo Hattie's to pick up more souvenirs. After shopping it was a glorious ride down through Kihei, Wailea, and Makena to end up at my favorite little lagoon, called "Fishbowl" by the locals. My wife and daughter love this spot for snorkeling. There are hundreds of fish that love to come up and kiss you on the nose. Depending upon Mother Nature, sometimes the lagoon has a sandier bottom and sometimes less. This was one of the lesser times. It was at this moment that Gordon described more fully the spot that he had in mind which was actually far to the north of us. We decided that would become our destination for tomorrow. We also decided that since we were so far south, we would stop in at one of my favorite beaches at the old Maui Prince Hotel. We strode through the lobby as if we owned the place, greeting all the staff with "Aloha," and headed straight for the beach. The water was wonderful and we were able to sit out in the shade for awhile without getting sunburned. We watched while a catamaran, the Kai Kani II, returned from a snorkeling cruise to Molikini. To discharge the passengers, the boat came right up on the beach and one had to wade through the shore break when disembarking. Everyone looked to be having a grand time.
After our swim, we stopped at the local Star supermarket in Kihei to pick up some items for our dinner. I finally found my favorite Maui potato chips (Kitchen Cooked), and although they were priced at $7 per bag, bought enough to bring some home to the family. Passing through Lahaina we stopped at the Fu Lin restaurant to pick up some steamed rice for Gordon to use to make his version of Chinese Fried Rice. We arrived back early enough to do some laundry, jump in the pool, and then get ready for dinner. We enjoyed a delicious meal and another quiet evening at home.
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We got up early again. Gordon went for a long walk on the beach. It was a glorious morning with just a few clouds in the sky and a beautiful sunrise illuminating the Pacific blue water to the west.
This morning we were going to explore Honolua Bay, which I have renamed "Gordon's Bay" since he was so taken with it. It is spectacular and the first view of it from the highway is via an overlook that encompasses the entire bay. You could gaze down hundreds of feet into the blue and green water and watch the snorkelers exploring the reef. But, first, there was breakfast to be found. I pulled off into the Napili Mall only to find that the sole breakfast restaurant was inexplicably closed. We continued north along the old road until we reached the Napili Kai Resort and Gordon exclaimed that they have a restaurant! I pulled in and we discovered a great restaurant called the Sea House. The price for breakfast was very reasonable, the best we had found so far, and the portions were huge! Gordon ordered the Stir Fry Rice with two fried eggs on top. While waiting for the food to come we found out that our waiter, Jose, was originally from Mexico. He's been on Maui for 18 years. We had fun joking back and forth with him in Spanish. Our dining companions looked very confused at our repartee. When Gordon's breakfast was served, he asked for some hot sauce for his rice. Jose said that he had Tabasco and maybe some "Chinese" hot sauce. Of course, Gordon opted for the Chinese. When Jose brought it out, we discovered that it actually was a Vietnamese sauce that is made in Rosemead, California. I let Jose know that he needed to correct himself for next time. We had a good laugh over this. I enjoyed a glass of P.O.G. This is a mixture of fruit juices consisting of passion fruit, orange juice, and guava juice. All of the juices were fresh and this was the best P.O.G. I had on the island.
After breakfast we continued north passing through Kapalua, which is the newest resort on the island. It is incredibly beautiful, but very expensive. There are 36 condominiums on 36 acres of property which includes the requisite golf course. The condo prices start at $4 million!
We found Gordon's Bay and hiked down off the main highway to the shore. There were some local artisans there displaying their wares, and also a few snorkelers, swimmers, and sunbathers. We discovered to our dismay that the only access to the water was across rocks and coral. River shoes or flippers are definitely required. Of course, we had neither. I took some photos and we hiked back out, determined to find a sandy beach. Heading south we stopped at D. T. Fleming State Beach, which is adjacent Kapalua. This beach turned out to be fantastic. Like all the beaches we had visited so far it was uncrowded and all sand. The water felt so good that it was therapeutic. We spent a couple of hours here enjoying the sun, sand, and warm water.
Rousing ourselves, we headed back south along the old road, just taking our time and looking at all the hotels, houses, and condos along our way. Suddenly, I spotted a brand-new condo complex nearing completion. Spying the sales office, I pulled in to check out a unit or two. We were very interested in what various sized units were going for in the area. The prices for these brand-new units ranged from $307,000 to $499,000, depending upon size and layout. (We were to find out later that actually this complex was over-priced according to a local realtor.) We walked through a few model units and looked at the beautiful swimming pool, collected the brochure, and continued on our way. We noted a number of "For Sale" signs in this area, which is referred to as the Kahana District, about two miles north of where our condo was located. There are plenty of shops, a farmers market, a supermarket, restaurants, and a beach park, all within walking distance.
Heading back down to Lahaina, we finished our souvenir shopping at the Lahaina Cannery Mall, where we found a number of great shops and bargains as well. As we walked around I spotted a real estate office and we went in and talked with Jennifer. Gordon was interested in getting a price on a studio unit. Jennifer pulled up a number of selections located in the Kahana district where we had just been. The cheapest studio unit listed at $99,000 with larger units with multiple bedrooms / bathrooms ranging up to $745,000. The $99,000 condo was owned by the bank and we thought that we would run back up to Kahana and check it out. That way, we would have a baseline establishing the lowest priced units. What we found was not the best, but it wasn't exactly bad either. It was in a nice location off the main road and only a short block away from Honokawai Beach Park. We found that there were a number of good values to be found on Maui since they were suffering from the same economic conditions there as we are experiencing here in Southern California. Thus, there is a lot of inventory and prices have fallen. Gordon and I walked around the neighborhood a bit, checking out the beach and the farmers market, both of which were excellent.
Done, for the moment, with real estate, we headed back to our condo for showers, rest, change of clothes and newspaper reading. Then it was back to the Napili Kai Resort and the Sea House for dinner. We liked their breakfast so much that, we wanted to try them out for dinner. Although the breakfast prices were more than reasonable, the dinner prices were more in line with other resorts. That is to say, entrees were in the low to upper $30s price range.
We decided, after perusing the pupu menu, that we would just have drinks and work our way through the pupu menu seeing how far we could get. I had a tequila cocktail; Gordon tried one of the local brews called Maui Blond Lager. He found it lacking in taste, preferring instead his Chinese beer. We started off with poke nachos and sweet and sour summer rolls. Poke, as mentioned before, is Hawaiian food consisting of cubed, raw ahi tuna mixed with chopped Maui onions, papaya, and spices and served this time on fried Wonton. Utterly delicious! The summer rolls were sumptuous served with three sauces: ginger, wasabi, and spicy. We ate them all. Our waitress brought us "Vietnamese" hot sauce when we mentioned that we like our food hot and spicy. We wanted more food, so ordered fried shrimp dipped in a crushed macadamia nut batter and ahi sashimi. Now, the shrimp were just okay, but the sashimi was out of this world. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that I had just caught this fish myself no more than an hour ago. This was the Ahi that you were always hoping to have in your mouth when you ordered Sashimi. I couldn't believe how good it was. They served it with pickled ginger, wasabi, shoyu, and a seaweed salad. What a feast! We returned to the condo to enjoy vanilla bean ice cream for our desert and another quiet evening at home.
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We arose and drove off to find another breakfast spot in Lahaina. We looked at a few, but ended up back at our favorite spot. After a light breakfast we headed over to the other side of the island and headed north of Wailuku. We were going to visit my friend's beautiful house built high on a ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean with a view of Haleakala to the east. This area of Maui is known as Waihee. I wanted Gordon to see it so he would have some idea what $3 million could buy you on Maui if you are in the market. Actually, my friends have just recently taken it off the market, preferring instead to offer it as a vacation retreat to the well-heeled traveler who wants to really get away from it all.
The road in this section of the island is well paved but goes down to one narrow lane in numerous spots. It can be an arduous task just getting up to the house until you get used to it. Naturally, as was my custom, I was yakking away, describing sights and events that had occurred along this stretch, and missed the somewhat hidden driveway, passing it by about five or six miles. I turned around to retrace my steps and got the brilliant idea to call my friend, John in Florida and find out exactly where the driveway was in relation to the mile markers along the road. That really is the only way you can find this place.
That information in hand, we found the house without further difficulty. When we arrived, the vacationing tenants had just left a couple of days earlier. Since the place was all locked up we could only peek in through the windows and take in the view from the deck. We were able to access the backyard and gaze in wonder at the wonderful swimming pool John had designed and built himself. He is a custom swimming pool builder and is a master of his craft. The pool features a lava tube water slide and numerous water features which give the impression that you are swimming in a natural pool surrounded by waterfalls. My friends rent this place out for only $2,500 a week - truly an island paradise getaway. I called John back to let him know that everything was ship-shape and as beautiful as ever.
Returning to Kahului, we passed by the busy harbor area where the cruise ships tie up when visiting this side of the island. There were no cruise ships this day, but we had seen several others during the course of our visit. Cruise ships take advantage of the port facilities on this side and utilize the anchorage off of Lahaina on the other side. The port was bustling with activity moving containers on and off barges and loading the in-coming containers onto trucks.
We pulled into the old Maui Mall which had been completely refurbished with a whole foods supermarket soon to open. This will certainly change the "laid back" atmosphere of the mall, since a lot of folks are eagerly waiting to have a market like this on the island. I was looking for a fabric shop that used to be in this mall, but soon discovered that it had moved across the street. We went over and I got some material to make a fancy Chinese style dress for my daughter and some material for a couple of Hawaiian shirts for myself.
Done with our shopping and exploring in this area, we drove back to Lahaina to Hilo Hattie's. Gordon wanted to get some Hawaiian shirts for his male restaurant staff members. It didn't take too long to find just what he wanted, except that now he had to find something for his female staff members. We had made plans to attend a hula show at the Lahaina Cannery Mall that evening, so we decided that we would wait and see what we could find for them later. We returned home where Gordon whipped up some healthy smoothies made with fresh pineapple, papaya, banana, and a little milk. No sugar! They were delicious and refreshing!
After refreshments, we hiked over to the Maui Sheraton at Black Rock to enjoy their beach. One of the really best things about the State of Hawaii is that they have a law that the beaches belong to the people. Unlike Florida, for example, or parts of California, hotels, resorts and condominium associations cannot bar the people from the beach. All of the beaches must be accessible to all of the people. Yes, a hotel can bar you from their grounds and swimming pool if they want to, but they cannot bar you from their beach. We had a great time swimming and watching the kids dive into the ocean off of the Black Rock formation. Not having enough of water activity, we returned to our own pool for a little exercise.
Around 6pm we went down to the Lahaina Cannery Mall to take in a hula show featuring local talent and kiekies (children). It was great fun with parents and grandparents, tourists and locals all there to cheer on the dancers. This was a free show without any of the usual hokeyness one all too often finds in the hotel shows. That is to say, the performers did not call out to audience members to come and join them on stage to learn the hula. After the show, we perused a shop that specialized in handmade jewelry, especially ear rings. We were able to find just the right gifts for Gordon's female staff members.
We were now famished and went up the street to the excellent Fu Lin Restaurant for a Chinese dinner. Gordon ordered eggplant with meat sauce, beef tendon (a noodle dish), cashew chicken and steamed rice. As usual, we had more than enough food. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner and we returned home by 10pm.
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Adhering to our now normal routine we were up early and off to breakfast. Gordon had a taste for another huge breakfast of stir fry rice, so we drove up to the Napili Kai Resort once again. Once seated however, he opted for lighter fare. It should go without saying that it's another beautiful day with temperatures hovering around 82 degrees. The little bay at the Napili Kai is so inviting that we decided to spend the morning there on the beach, taking in the sun and swimming in the warm, calm water. The weather has finally shifted back to normal after several days of high humidity and no trade winds. According to the tv Weatherman, the normal high pressure system that sits just north of the Hawaiian Islands shifted and dissipated, leaving Hawaii in the doldrums. But, today the winds are back and, like the Santa Ana winds in Southern California, they blow drier decreasing the humidity. Life is good!
We returned to the condo around noon to begin the arduous task of packing up all of our belongings and souvenirs. At this moment tragedy struck! Actually, it had happened earlier when I went to grab my camera out of the car and found that it wasn't there. Oh well, I thought, I probably left it in the condo. But now that I'm packing up it is nowhere to be found. Rats!
Gordon went up to the pool for his afternoon swim. When he arrived, a woman sunbathing there exclaimed, "You're the man in the camera!" The upshot of this random encounter was that, yes, I had my camera back! Somehow, I had left it poolside yesterday and some visiting Canadians from Montreal found it and called the office to report it. When I called the office, they told me that no one had reported finding a camera. I never did find out the explanation for that mystery. Anyway, the Canadians had reviewed some of my photos and recognized Gordon when he went for a swim. All's well that ends well, that's for sure! We took them a bottle of French wine to show our appreciation. The interesting thing was that they were leaving tomorrow as we were. The timing just worked out perfectly. Since it was Gordon that they recognized, it was only fair that I reward him by treating him to dinner that evening in Lahaina. We went back to Kimo's Restaurant where we enjoyed another fine dinner of pupus and draft beer. We ordered sashimi and shrimp cocktails. Then we had mu shu kalua pork and smoked marlin. The sashimi and marlin were the best. All the drama and good food wrapped up this day.
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By now our mornings had become routine. Gordon woke up at 6:30am and went for his long walk. I got up a little after 7am. When he returned, we drove back up to the Napili Kai Resort. Since this was to be his last breakfast on Maui, Gordon decided to have the stir-fry rice once again. We have grown very fond of the Sea House restaurant, especially for breakfast. The view from the dining room across the small bay was picture card perfect. As is usual for Maui, the weather this morning was perfect. The temperature was 83 degrees and hardly a cloud is to be seen in the sky. The trade winds, which returned yesterday, have yet to be seen, but their promise is in the air. After breakfast we decided to spend some time on the beach right there at the resort, just as we had done the previous day. The resort provides deck chairs that you can carry over to the beach. We sat there watching families and folks enjoying the beach and the water. Our observations were interrupted from time to time with our own sojourns into the warm, clear water to swim and enjoy the waves constantly washing ashore. After a couple of hours or so we headed back to the condo to finalize the last minute details prior to our departure.
We gathered up our towels and what-have-you and put in a couple of loads of wash. As the machines cycled through their routines, we waited patiently beside the pool, relaxing and swimming. When finally the loads of wash were in the dryers, we snacked on our remaining pupus and reminisced about our stay on the island. Our flights were departing at wildly differing times. I was the first to leave; departing in the mid-afternoon. Gordon's flight didn't leave until later in the evening. We agreed that it made the most sense for me to return the rental car when I left for the airport. Gordon made arrangements through the office to be picked up at 9pm by a shuttle service and taken directly to the Kahului airport.
What a fantastic trip!
