Ka'anapali Beach, Part III - FOR REAL!!! (Plus Kihei/Wailea too!!!)

OH BOY - just couldn’t pass on a special flight deal of $350-ish on return flights…

It’s a short trip per se, only 6 days.  Spent 2.5 days over @ Lahaina/Ka’anapali/Kapalua, and the rest over at Wailea/Kihei.

It wasn’t really the best of trip since, unfortunately for us, the West side was (and still is as of this writing, I believe) extremely windy.  Thus, we were only able to snorkel a bit over at Kapalua Bay Beach on day 2 and at Ka’anapali Beach on day 3 (and we met Brianna/Amanda over there!).  There was just 1 small sea turtle that only Agnes saw, but plenty of Humuhumunukunukuapua’a swimming around.  Another highlight of this trip was that Keko’a was FINALLY able to visit Lahaina Public LIbrary this time (closed last 2 times we’re there).  He was super excited and we actually spent 45 min there, reading books.  He said that we will have to move to Maui now, so that he can get a library card to borrow books there, since some of them aren’t available in San Mateo County.  Boy, it would have been much cheaper to just buy the book, but his is definitely the best, AND ONLY, solution!  Ma’e Ma’e was also very happy about dancing with the staff of KBH (she called them hula girls), while we were waiting for the Wailea bounded bus.

Speaking of Maui bus, I was able to take a couple of snapshots of a lizard waiting for the bus as well!  The other thing was that, we met so many Sandpiper buddies there - Brianna/Amanda as already mentioned and Emma C from Ma’e Ma’e class.

We were only able to snorkel on day 4 in Wailea.  It was just too windy for the rest of the trip to snorkel just we swam in the swimming pool of the resort we stayed at, and played in the sand right outside of it.  Speaking of Wailea, we were staying at Wailea Ekahi Village.  Took Maui Bus all the way from Ka’anapali Beach Hotel, which involved 3 transfers (Wharf’s Cinema Lahaina, Ma’alaea Harbor, & Kihei’s Piilani Shopping Center), and about an hour total.  Not too shabby, as private ride would have cost around $70 (compare to just $8 bus ride!) and only saved about 20 min in time.  Here’s the bad though: Ekahi Village was very nice, but there’s no bus stop there (contrary to what Maui Bus schedule stated).  Only did we find out later that there’s a bus stop actually closed by (the one on the bus schedule), but we have to take 1 more stop after the main stop at Shop @ Wailea (meaning, the bus is actually on its way back to Queen Ka’ahumanu Center).  We didn’t know, so we walked some 20+ minutes from S@W to the resort.  Once we knew, the walk was only 5 min (to/from the stop).  Still, we missed it on the 1st night there, after having getting take-out supper, so a 30 min supposed to be trip became a 1:30 min trip :(

We spent about an hour over @ S@W.  It really is overrated.  Yes, several high end stores just like Whaler’s Village, and several Hawaii’s local favorites, plus ABC and Whaler’s General Stores, but that’s really about it!  IOW, it’s the Whaler’s Village of the south (Maui), or Whaler’s Village being the north (of Maui) of S@W.  1 big surprise there though - T-shirts were 7 for $20 at Whaler’s General Store, whereas all other WGS were selling 6 for the same price!  I, of course, got 7 (and had to refund the 6 I bought in Kihei’s WGS).

Speaking of dinner, we have visited various restaurants for lunch and dinner in Kihei - Cafe O’Lei, Da Kitchen, Foodland (oh so yummy and cheap pok’e bowl!), and Three’s Bar and Grill.  We also tried happy hour over @ Longhi’s in S@W, and it was pretty good too.  They also got to enjoy shave ice, TWICE.  In fact, that’s what Ma’e Ma’e wrote during writer’s workshop in school today.

During our mini trip/eat in Kihei, we went to Kalama Center (where Three’s B&G is).  Keko’a was amazed by the chickens and cocks that were running wide freely there.  Then we crossed the street and walked along Kalama park (kids played in the play area for 10 minutes, and got bored).

Ekahi Village was very nice; it has its own swimming pools - 4 of them - and one could walk directly to the beach from the main pool.  We visited 3 beaches over there: Keawakapu Beach, Mokapu Beach and Ulua Beach.  We only played in the sand for the 1st one, but snorkel in the last 2.  There’s one thing common on all 3 - water’s super shallow, so perfect for kids.  Ma’e Ma’e was able to walk some 20 feet from shoreline and still able to stand!  Not as much fish as Ka’anapali or Kapalua Bay, since there was only one coral reef shared between the last 2 beaches, where most fish was.  Also while we were there, Keko’a met another Sandpiper buddy!  One thing for certain though, Wailea (or south Maui), has the best sunset view, EVER!  (North Maui’s view is blocked by Lana’i.)

Sea Stars and crab in Keawakapu Beach and Mokapu Beach 

We also visited (briefly) Queen Ka’ahumanu Center during our trip to the airport (to SFO).  This is a major shopping mall/hub in Maui, but it's showing its age.  Quite a number of stores were closed - and not sure if it's the economy, but the same thing too in Shops @ Wailea and Whaler's Village!  However, we discovered this Fun Entertainment Center (image Chuck-E-Cheese alike), so the kids went there after eating their banana (right next to where we sat in the image).  Keko'a and I visited GameStop there too (nest to FEC), but there's hardly any good clearance deal in that store.

Now some other down side of this visit - too short, that’s definitely the primary problem.  No worry, we’ll get a place.  Whale watching - heard from local shuttle driver from OGG to KBH that there’s not as many this year…so I paid attention to it.  Definitely a lot fewer this time compare to last year at almost the same dates.  I counted at most 4 sightings, and hardly any blow cone mist.  Last time I could see one almost every other minutes.  

Keko'a :*( on plane to SFO.

Now, what's the next surprise???  

;)