Because we have a great beach, Kam 3, across the street from our condo, I do not always mention this other beautiful beach just down the road from us--Keawakapu Beach. It has a beautiful long stretch of sand, making it a great place to visit when Kam 3 is overcrowded. It is good for boogie boarding, morning swims, and long beach walks (my personal favorite). There are two main parking lots to access the beach.

The first one is a gravel parking lot located next to the hotel Mana Kai Maui.

There are some great spots for pictures--especially sunsets--on Keawakapu Beach. This particular photo was taken on the rocky outcroppings on the north side of the beach. There is also a restaurant right on the beach, Five Palms, which makes for a beautiful sunset dinner (a little pricey for what you get food-wise, but the surroundings are worth it)!

​And proof of sea turtles welcoming mainlanders back to Maui.

2. The next step is to create an account at the Hawaii Safe Travels website.  ​https://travel.hawaii.gov/#/
You will type in your travel dates and flight information, to start with. You will also need to upload a current picture of yourself (with plenty of Aloha).

 Covid-19 Test and Negative Result
Not more than 72 hours before your flight departure, you need to get tested for Covid-19. Many of the airlines flying to Hawaii have made this a fairly painless process, by partnering with one or more of the Hawaii-approved testing companies. Check with your airline to see what it has to offer.

Flying Alaska Airlines? Awesome!
We live on the west coast, so we always fly Alaska Airlines, and Alaska has made the testing procedure super easy. In Portland, Oregon, where we live, Alaska has partnered with Carbon Health (Hawaii-approved), and Carbon Health has a pop-up testing station just outside the Alaska ticket counter. You sign up for a testing time during the 72-hour window and we had our results back within 2 hours! If you are taking Alaska Airlines, be sure to go to Alaska's website and click on the Pre-Travel Testing menu.
​
Once you have the negative test result documentation, save it in pdf form and upload it onto your Hawaii Safe Travels account. Also, print a copy of the pdf test result for your flight.

Every travel book, travel agency, concierge, and frequent Maui visitor will tell you that you need to travel the Road to Hana at least once while on Maui.  And yes, you really get a taste of the Hawaii you dreamed of after watching "South Pacific" too many times.  And yes, I have taken the Road to Hana twice, so far be it from me to suggest that you don't need to go!  But, if the thought of carsickness brought on by 4-6 hours of driving curves is too much for you, may I suggest a hike instead?

​     It is not a large lot.

It's located at the opposite end of Kihei Rd from the condo, so it's a perfect stop when you are headed toward pretty much anywhere else on the island.  Malasadas are best eaten hot and fresh.  They are little balls of doughy heaven!

I cannot think of a better walk in the morning than a walk along a beautiful Hawaiian beach.  The only thing that could be better is a walk along many beautiful Hawaiian beaches!  Welcome Wailea Beach Walk!!!

Our walk does not start in Wailea, but on beautiful Kam III beach.  The entrance is at the south end of the beach.

The lone palm tree marks the spot.

Well, actually it is the little blue hiker guy sign that marks the spot . . .

There are some beautiful sunset photo-taking spots at the beginning of the trail!  Our trail takes us first to Kihei Surfside Resort.

I love the little blue hiker signs that dot the edge of the grass here.  The trail follows the edge of the resort to beautiful and award-winning Keawakapu Beach.  Actually, if all you do is walk Keawakapu Beach, you will go home satisfied!  Below is entering the beach from Mana Kai Maui Resort.

And this is at the other end of the beach...

Next on our walk is Mokapu, which fronts Andaz Resort in Wailea.

At the far end of Mokapu Beach is the official start of the paved Wailea Beach Walk.

I took this photo of Ulua Beach from the paved walkway.  Ulua Beach fronts Wailea Elua Village (condos, not a resort)

Wailea Beach Walk between Wailea Elua Village and Wailea Mariott.  About 2 miles into the walk, we come to the Grand Wailea's little church and it looks like they are getting ready for a wedding.

After the Grand Wailea, the path takes us to the Four Seasons.

This next picture is one of my favorite spots on the trail.  The ocean view at Wailea Point.

And here we are at the end, Fairmont Kea Lani.  The walk is a little more than 3 miles one way.  Fabulous!!!

We picked up tickets at the booth in the Lahaina harbor (telephone a day ahead to reserve your tickets) and boarded the lovely Maui-Lanai Passenger Ferry.

Aloha, West Maui Mountains!  We spied several whale fins and whale spouts along the way as well, but, alas, no spinner dolphins.

As we pulled into Lanai, there was a lot of snorkeling activity to the left of us in Manele Harbor.   Look closely and you can see a sea of pool noodles...

Right next door is Lanai's pride and joy--Hulupoe Bay.

Notice how this beautiful beach is empty?  Spring Break in Lanai is pretty much for the Four Seasons crowd only (you can see the green rooftops of the Four Seasons buildings in the top right corner of the picture).  I could have spent all day just here on this beach and some people do take the ferry just to do that very thing.  Besides the beach itself, there were picnic tables in shaded grassy areas and well-kept restrooms.  Apparently, we are to thank island owner, Larry Ellison, for the beach's excellent facilities.

​However, we did not come just for the beach!

We came to check out the island, and for this, we needed a jeep and a local who could "talk story."  We spent the day with our new best friend from Lanai, Mikee, who rents jeeps and whose circle of acquaintance on Lanai is a veritable Who's Who of Lanai politics and business.  My husband did the driving, and Mikee had non-stop stories for us.

Our first stop was Lanai's top tourist attraction, the Cat Sanctuary.  

620 cats

You can pet happy kitties to your heart's content (which is exactly what our son did).

The town's central park is named after Lanai's most famous business concern--Dole Pineapple.  This rock marker is apparently all that is left of pineapples on the island.

Back on the road, we hit the Garden of the Gods (which Mikee lovingly referred to as Lanai's rock garden).

The ocean and sky make a picturesque contrast to the island's red dirt.  In the far background of the picture below is the island of Molokai, which is twice as big as Lanai (but even less inhabited).

Then we hit shipwreck beach, where a wrecked ship really is beached, but its origin story varies, depending on who you talk to.

Shipwreck Beach is full of tide pools, so I picked out the handsomest sea creature for this blog...

Our trip ended back at Hulupoe Bay, where my two men checked out the entire stretch of beach, and I stared out at the Pacific Ocean, tired, covered in red dirt, and fully satisfied with my day in Lanai.
The day trip is not inexpensive.  A round trip ticket on the ferry is $60.  We were lucky to rent a Jeep for a little over $100 for the day (and also managed to snag Mikee as our tour guide for the day--he didn't charge for his time, but donations to the kids' group that he works with were greatly appreciated).  Contact Mikee at jeeplanai@gmail.com or 808-565-7373.

There's nothing like a Christmas tree among the palm trees, right?! The Shops at Wailea had some understated, strategically placed, Christmas decor that I wanted to use in this blog post.  Hence the above pic, and the pic below.

The lone reindeer in the tropics!

We just returned from Maui and had some pretty good chuckles at snorkeling novices (I still count myself among them, so no shame here).  
Snorkeling is one of those things that, depending on your first experience, you can love or hate.  I take that back, you can also be like me, and if the water is just the right temperature and the right level of calm, and you are curious about what the other snorkelers are seeing, you enjoy it for 20-30 minutes.  

But back to first experience with snorkeling:
1. Buy, don't rent.  Did you know Costco tends to sell decent snorkel gear in the spring--even at stores that are nowhere near water?  We pack our snorkel gear with us when we come to the island and replace the gear back at home as necessary.  The advantage of this is that we always have decent gear on island that hasn't cost us a small fortune.
2.  Go with an experienced snorkeler your first time.  There's a lot of cumbersome equipment in snorkel gear!  It's good to have someone who can help you get that equipment all figured out.  More importantly, you need someone to show you how to get in and out of the water in a manner that works for humans.  Although it works for ducks, walking forward into the waves with flipper feet is not very effective for humans...

3.  Pick a beginner spot to snorkel.  Think calm waters, morning. and rock.  Ask at the dive shops for their list of good beginner spots.  These are two of my favorite spots:

Honolua Bay (birds eye view on left and shore side on right) north of Kapalua.  This is my favorite spot when the water is calm.  SO MANY FISH!!  Go early, though, because the word is out on this spot and it gets really crowded (even boat tours show up there now)!

Ulua Bay on the right side.  This is also a place you need to get to early, but it is a great place for a first snorkel experience.  The right side of the beach has a great reef area with calm water in the morning and plenty of fish and turtles (although they tend to hang out at the bottom of the reef).  It's a popular spot for beginning scuba divers, too.

One word on Molokini:  This is always listed as a beginner spot.  Molokini was my second snorkel experience and it was intimidating for me to be out in the middle of the ocean (yes, you are inside the crater).  Plus, I didn't see that many fish, in comparison to other places I have snorkeled.  I vote closer to shore for beginning snorkel experiences.

In a previous blog, I mentioned a few of my favorite dining spots.  There were some glaring omissions, which I need to add:

MISO PHAT is almost always our first dinner on Maui.  The TNT Roll is a must.  It is a small dining spot so go early unless you want to wait outside for a bit.  It's another one of those places that has become pretty popular--and deservedly so--because it is not outrageously expensive and has great sushi.

SANSEI SEAFOOD RESTAURANT & SUSHI is another great sushi place at a relatively inexpensive price.  You can make reservations here, which means you can avoid the long line that starts a little before 5 pm.

NALUS SOUTH SHORE GRILL is a fairly new Kihei spot that has good food at a good price.  On Saturday and Wednesday nights, Nalus has dinner shows, which we haven't attended yet, but the Wednesday show is on my list of things to do.

In the short time that we have offered our condo as a vacation rental, I have learned that many people do not come to the island for non-stop activities, but for a quiet place, far away from daily stresses and sometimes far away from a particularly painful experience.  Hawaiians talk about the Mana of their islands and I am convinced that there is a particularly powerful spirit here that can help one rehabilitate, rejuvenate, and find renewed power to go back to the hard things that life throws at us.

It was from a personal family tragedy, actually, that we decided to find our own place on Maui.  It has become my own personal refuge--somewhat hard to reach at times--that gives me a place to relax, look out over the immensity and power of the water that surrounds me, make time for the spiritual, cry a few tears of sadness, and fill my cup, as it were, with extra peace and inner strength to meet the coming challenges.

For those of you who are in desperate need of peace, I recommend this beautiful place.  And, if not here, find your place of refuge and retreat, make the time to visit that place, and respect its importance in replenishing your cup with peace and inner strength.

A quick walk to the right and across the street is Kamaole III Park, aka Kam III Beach.  It is no coincidence that we bought a condo right across from Kam III.  Let's check it out:

THE BEACH!  

The lifeguard station. 
When our kids were young, this made me feel a lot less anxious about ​letting the kids jump in the surf.
We were just there recently and watched the lifeguard protect not only humans, but a green turtle that was getting a little too much love from some beach goers.  

​The Park.
Kam III has a huge grassy area that is often the site of birthday parties with inflated playgrounds, barbecues, impromptu field games, and sunset watching.  

The Playground.
Okay, not much of a playground, but hey, it is a swing set and kids like it when they've had enough of the sand.

You knew this was coming, right? Sunset at Kam III Beach.  We love this beach!!