Two perfect days in Maui
There’s a ton to do on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Here’s a great way to see a good sample in 48 hours. We’ve started this on Wednesday so you can take advantage of a great Hawaiian music show. WEDNESDAY 5 p.m. SUNSET DRINK Sidle up to the patio bar at the Napili Kai Beach Resort, where you’re a half-step from the golden crescent of Napili Beach and maybe three metres from the water. Get a 5:30 or 6 p.m. dinner reservation at the openair Sea House restaurant, which grills fresh mahi mahi several ways, so you can you get out the door in time for the resort’s weekly slack-key guitar show. Full dinners at the Sea House in the $30 range; typical for Maui. Napilikai.com. 1-800-367-5030 6:45 p.m. TAP YOUR TOES Make your way through the manicured grounds of the resort and get in line for the show. Guitarist and multiple Grammy Award winner George Kahumoku Jr. will explain how Hawaiians learned to slacken the keys on a guitar.
He’ll also play some incredible tunes as a warm-up to whatever island act might be on tap that night. Slack key is played with both a bass and rhythm or lead guitar line, making it sound like a full band on stage. The highly entertaining, enthusiastic and talented Da Ukelele Boyz are a regular fixture and you’ll be tapping your flip-flops in no time. Slackkeyshow.com 10 p.m. MOONLIGHT DRINK Before retiring at the Napili Kai Resort, settle in for a drink out on the rocky point at next-door Merriman’s. It’s a posh dinner spot that also has a great outdoor seating area under the stars. 808-669-6400. Merrimanshawaii.com 9 a.m. BREAK THAT FAST The Sea House at Napili Kai has a huge range of Hawaiian options for breakfast: omelettes with Portuguese sausage, pineapple and Swiss cheese, or a Thai omelet with crab, Maui onions, mixed cheese and sweet Thai chili. Or dig into chocolate and macadamia nut pancakes. seahousemaui.com. Also worth a look is CJ’s Deli and Diner in nearby Ka’anapali for humongous portions and friendly service at reasonable prices. The Big Kahuna pancake special comes with whipped cream, pineapple, bananas and walnuts. cjsmaui.com 10 a.m. HIT THE BEACH Napili Beach offers up a placid north section with a nice reef for snorkelling, or you can venture to the southern end and take on some nice body-surfing waves, especially in winter. There’s also an increasing number of paddle-boarders. Ka’anapali Beach, perhaps 10 minutes from Napili, offers an enormous, long strand of golden sand with plenty of people-watching options and a long, ocean-front walking path. There’s a great little whaling museum at Whalers Village shopping centre. Noon FISH TACO TIME Ask for a table close to the water as you dine outside at Hula Grill. Or try the second-floor balcony next door at Leilani’s on the Beach, with fabulous views of the sand and out towards Lanai and Molokai. The fish tacos at Leilani’s are whole filets that are blackened and grilled and wrapped in a soft shell. Sensational. Hulagrillkaanapali.com Leilanis.com. 3 p.m. HISTORY LESSON After a post-lunch swim, head down to the thriving, fun town of Lahaina for a stroll along historic Front St. Wooden storefronts lend an old-time air to the place, and you can buy everything from turtleshaped pendants to surf gear, plus cruise the galleries.
The Banyan tree dates to 1873 and has perhaps a dozen trunks that spread out over an entire block. There are regular markets with folks hawking candles, soap and art or clothing in the sun-dappled shade, and you’ll find kids climbing up into cozy nooks of the trunks or swinging on hanging vines.
Check out Baldwin House, home to missionaries who tried to tame the wild nature of Lahaina when it was the whaling centre for the Pacific Ocean. Or walk a block up to the Wing Ho Temple at 858 Front, where there are illustrations of Asian life in Hawaii and a small building out back that shows old Thomas Edison movies of life in Hawaii in the late 1800s. 6 p.m. LUAU TIME The Westin at Ka’anapali has a fabulous luau with good, fresh fish with salads (and Hawaiian poi if you like) brought right to your table, rather than a buffet. With the sun setting behind the stage, a series of entertainers do a variety of dances from Pacific island nations, changing from evening gown (I’m not quite sure why) to more traditional grass skirts. The music and dancing are great, and the men will come out with glistening bare chests and toss fiery logs dozens of metres in the air. westinkaanapali.com
FRIDAY
7 a.m. FUEL UP IN PAIA Start with coffee and a massive coconut-pineapple muffin at Anthony’s in Paia, five minutes south of the Kahului airport on the east side of the island. They make great, local blends and sell fabulous mugs and glasses and kitchen-y stuff in back. An awesome place to watch the locals roll in. And in Paia, that means morning surfers, cowboys from nearby upcountry and the type of folks the Five Man Electrical Band might call “long-haired freaky people.” 7:30 a.m. HEAD TO HANA The drive all the way to Hana is lovely, and the drive around the south side of Maui is a treat. But you can see a lot of what this (often) wet and (always) wonderfully beautiful side of the island is all about by going about half way. The speed limit is mostly about 20 or 30 mph on this narrow, winding, but not even remotely scary road, and you can pull out at the numerous sections where folks stop to admire gushing waterfalls or scenic overlooks with towering African tulip trees dotted with flaming orange blossoms. Go at least as far as the Keanae peninsula, reached via a two-minute drive off the highway. You’ll find a small stand selling banana bread, fresh pineapple and other goodies, and you can admire the surging white-blue-green surf that crashes with thunderous regularity onto the black lava rock. Turn back towards Paia and stop at Hookipa Beach Park to watch surfers and windsurfers ply the major waves on this part of the island. 11 a.m. UPCOUNTRY Head to the fun, upcountry town of Makawao, a few minutes up the slopes of towering Mt. Haleakala. There are great galleries and western shops, including Aloha Cowboy. In the mood for a sweet? Check out the malasadas — Portuguese-style doughnuts — with oozing, sweet guava jam or other fillings, at legendary T Komoda store. 1p.m. SOAK UP THE VIEW They make a great burger with sautéed Maui onions at the Kula Lodge, a sprawling facility with fabulous views (not the day I was there, sadly, due to what locals call “volcano fog”) down the mountain and out towards Wailuku and the West Maui mountains. The gardens are lovely: a cascading set of paths surrounded by hibiscus, palm trees, and deep red and green heliconia. Kula grows everything from the famous onions to rich strawberries and beets (fabulous when roasted). 2 p.m. HOUSE OF THE SUN Head up the slopes to Haleakala, the House of the Sun. It’s a 38-mile drive from Paia on the coast to the 10,000-foot summit; said to be the fastest climb by road in the world. There are plenty of guardrails, so only the most chicken drivers need to think twice. You’ll pass groves of eucalyptus and watch the temperature drop as you drive up past barren rock and scree. There are several glorious overlooks of the Haleakala crater, a moonscape of swirling browns and rust reds and deep oranges, punctuated by cinder cones. Hundreds, if not thousands, of folks come up for morning sunrises — said to be an incredible experience — or sunsets. 5 p.m. LOCAL SEAFOOD Just south of Paia, take in dinner at Mama’s Fish House, where they’ll tell you what fisherman caught your mahi mahi and where in the ocean it came from. The restaurant opens onto a lovely lawn dotted with palm trees and an outrigger canoe steps from the beach.
Torches light up the night and the dining room is filled with such visitors as Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Buffett. You knew his name would come up sometime in this story, didn’t you?