Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Maui - An umbrella of tropical relaxation

As I sat on Maui’s Ka’anapali Beach the sand felt soft and velvety. The beach air was filled with the chatter and flutter of exotic birds, and one with yellow-rimmed eyes and a yellow beak was particularly beautiful. The absence of the cry of gulls reminded me that I was far away from home because seagulls aren’t found in Hawaii.

The Ka’anapali Beach Hotel (KBH), was my home while on Maui, however, I was initially considering the Sheraton because it is situated on the best snorkeling beach. But, I opted for KBH because it is more reasonably priced, and located on the same beach.

The KBH was voted the “Most Hawaiian Hotel” by the Waiaha Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the Hawaiian culture. The hotel also ranks on the Condé Nast Gold List. But this hotel, which is run by Hawaiians, not only makes one feel like “ohana” (family) but serves Hawaiian food, offers Hawaiian culture classes and hosts a craft fair with work by local artisans.

Katalina Samisoni is a native Hawaiian whose family has been in the handicraft business for generations. Her husband, Taufa, carves tikis and other statues from koa wood and Katalina creates ornamental fans and purses from tapa cloth. The tapa cloth is formed from the bark of the mulberry tree and then painted with a dye made from the bark of a mangrove. The fresh mangrove dye is brown and boiling the bark creates a black dye. It is refreshing to see someone like Katalina working to preserve the native Hawaiian art culture.

The Ka’anapali Beach Hotel isn’t the Ritz, but it doesn’t try to be. It is a low-key hotel with no room service but amazing tropical gardens with an abundance of foliage including banana, palm and plumeria. Exotic birds chatter and whistle amongst the leaves. White plumeria blossoms, red hibiscus and other tropical flowers abound. They drift from branches, dot the lawns and scent the air with fragrant perfume.

The expansive rooms are exotically appointed with Hawaiian décor; and the hotel has a cozy family feel that is not usually found at a large resort. My room on the fifth floor had a double dose of water view: the sea and the pool. In the evenings I would sit on my lanai and listen to the waves dueling with Hawaiian music from the Tiki Terrace restaurant. Spectacular sunsets tinged the clouds with pink while tiki torches waved their yellow flames.

The Tiki Terrace cuisine was superb, especially the “Seared Ahi Tuna” topped with shreds of dried seaweed and finished with a wasabi/avocado sauce. Fresh ginger and orange Tobiko caviar was a colorful and sassy complement. The tuna had an outdoor flavor like it had been grilled on a beach fire with flames licking the sides. During dinner I watched the hula show while an occasional plumeria blossom drifted lazily to the ground near my table.

Anywhere one eats in the hotel the food is marvelous. Seafood is fresh, fresh, fresh and some fish on the menus, like the delicate-flavored “Ono,” was previously unknown to me.

Each morning a complimentary breakfast buffet with crab cakes, fresh pineapple, and other Hawaiian-inspired dishes are served at the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel’s Mixed Plate Restaurant. The term “mixed plate” was derived from meals at the sugar plantations where workers of various ethic groups would share food with one another, thus “mixing” the food on their plates.

One day I rented a cabaña lounge and settled in to watch the waves. I sipped my virgin Mai T`ai which was complete with a fresh slice of pineapple and an orchid perched on the rim of the glass. The crowning glory, however, was the customary pink umbrella. To tell you the truth, I ordered it mostly for the little pink umbrella. To me, it was a symbol of total tropical relaxation. I listened to the waves, which sounded mellower, and more muffled, than our waves at Oceanside Beach.

A charming Ka’anapali Beach Hotel tradition is the lei-giving ceremony. A native Hawaiian plays the ukulele and each guest is presented a lustrous kuku’i nut lei. The kuku’i nut grows on the candlenut tree and is prolific around the islands. A hundred years ago, the nut was burned as a candle due to the high oil content – hence the name candlenut.

On Ka’anapali Beach I found several kuku’i nuts clattering in the surf. In its highly polished state the kuku’i nut has a rich sheen and can be found in brown, black, white or black-and-white striped. Upon a return stay at the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel each guest will be given a new lei with one nut of a different color to symbolize the return visit.

A rental car is a desirable way to tour the island, and the drive to Haleakala Crater, at 10,023 feet, is an adventure not to be missed. The ride up the mountain is eerie as you actually drive through the clouds on the way to the peak, but the view from the top is worth every mile.

Hana is a destination that takes all day. Leave early in the morning and stop along the way to smell the plumeria blossoms and view the beaches. The practically single lane highway and the definitely single lane bridges make for a circuitous but picturesque trip. Water, water everywhere falls along the road to Hana. It trickles and gushes and seeps from rocks. Lush ferns cling to the hillsides amid the intense growth of vegetation that belies the abundance of water. Along the way I discovered an incredible black sand beach that was devoid of footprints!

The tranquil and beautiful Seven Pools at the end of the Hana Highway are formed by waterfalls and worth a stop.

Seven Pools is just about the end of the “civilized” road and beyond there it gets a little rough. I tried it for a while, but my tinny and tiny rental car was tossing me around a bit, so I decided to turn around before the car was rattled too much.

On the Hana Highway a village called Paia, which still boasts sugar cane fields, has an excellent restaurant called the Paia Fish Market. Do you want to know what a specific fish looks like? They have a poster on the wall that shows various types of fish so you can see what your fish looked like before it became lunch.

The grandeur and majesty of the ’Iao Valley State Park was almost haunting. The deep valleys were enhanced by steep mountainsides alive with vegetation. The mysterious ’Iao Needle, an erosion-created pinnacle layered with grass and moss, rises to 2,250 feet. With the rush of water echoing throughout the canyon and the deep mossy scent pervading, it was like “Neverland” minus the dancing fairies.

Sadly, the sand in my hourglass eventually ran out and I had to return to the mainland; but further trips to this magical isle will be no problem since Hawaiian Airlines offers nonstop flights from San Diego to Kahalui, Maui.

Once on board, passengers feel like they are halfway there. The television screens show videos of surfers atop monumental waves, clips of hula dancers and Hawaiians blowing on conch shells. It’s a short blast of Island culture and just enough to make you want to return to Maui, an umbrella of tropical relaxation.

 

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