And its finally the day. Our first Anniversary!! Yes yes we were excited. Our plan for the day was sinking into the Maui beaches and experiencing true Polynesian culture at the Old Lahaina Luau. So here goes…
The day starts with breakfast right? So we set off to try Cane & Taro at the Whalers Village. But before that we tried our luck at the Gazebo restaurant. Gazebo is this little place that’s quite popular in the area. But due to rain, and me forgetting the umbrella, plans changed! Cane & Taro is voted the best in many Maui tourist books for breakfast. It’s a neat place. With a wonderful ocean view and fresh air, it makes your breakfast very appetizing.
Ka’anapali Beach is right next to whalers Village. It’s a long beach with many resorts adjacent to it. Guests from all the hotels enjoy this beach. And it rightfully does deserve this popularity. It’s a fine beach with sporty blue water and fun golden sand. It’s a place for kids and adults alike. Black rock the famous rock for diving is at this beach right adjacent to the Sheraton. You can also snorkel at this beach. Just rent your snorkel gear for just $1.50/hr at the stall ashore! At night, this beach is amazing for star gazing. Boat bobbing in the water and the stars shining above make a perfect romantic spot in the evening.
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| Black Rock at Ka'anapali Beach |
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| Keawakapu Beach at Wailea |
Our next stop was at the Keawakapu Beach. This is a beach in Wailea town full of resorts. A calm and serene place, not much activity except on the beaches. Wailea houses one of the best beaches for snorkeling. Being away from the usual crowd in Lahaina, the beach is not very populated. Next to Keawakapu is the Ulua most famous for clear water snorkeling in the area. Water at perfect temperature as usual, sand as golden as ever, this beach is great for making sand castles to snorkeling deep into the water.
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| Big Beach At Makena State Park |
Much further south is Makena state Park with the Big and Little beaches. These beaches have their own charm. Big Beach has big waves, clear water, exceptionally fine sand and the right proportion of people to make your beach experience relaxing and refreshing. Little beach is hidden on the other side of a few rocks, but its very well known to all of us. Its supposed to be a semi-nude beach, less than half the width of big beach but it has the same magic with the same water, sand, and privacy. There is a hot dog stand at the entrance where you could quench your thirst or have a quick snack of fries or a dog before or after your dip. One problem I see at this beach is that they had no showers. So we had to leave with our salty hair. They did have toilets though.
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| Big Beach |
After a long soak and play, we headed back to Lahaina for dinner at the Old Lahaina Luau. Luau is a traditional Hawaiian feast along with entertainment. Old Lahaina Luau is hosted on Front St. adjacent to the ocean. The setting sun makes a great background for the event. They start at 5:15pm and end at 8pm.
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| View from Luau |
You are greeted as soon as you enter with Mai Tai, even as you wait to be seated. You are also given a memo of all the events and the menu. Every one of the hosts and waiters are dressed in traditional costume. You are then seated by your host at your designated seat and adorned with Lei, their traditional garland of flowers. As you wait for the event to begin you may stroll around the area, take pictures by professional photographers, shop for ocean jewelery, get some flowers made for your hair, or get some amazing animals or flowers made out of palm leaves. You can also go for some hula lessons!! The time is right with the sun just setting, and the Polynesian music playing along gets you into the mood to hula and enjoy a splendid evening.
The first on the agenda is the unearthing of the pig. The pig is cooked in an oven made out of sand pit and stone. It is buried underneath sand, wrapped in banana leaves, and the heat is produced by stones. The pig cooks for nearly an hour in this oven and the process of removing the pig is also an event here at the luau. This pig would be a part of our dinner later in the evening as the Kalua pig.
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| Pig baked in a sand pit |
Once we got back to our seats, we are ready to treat ourselves with unlimited tropical drinks! All included in the fee. Everything in here is included along with the fee. The food, performance, drinks, everything. So feast your senses, all of them!!! Mai Tai was the best we ever tasted. All the drinks were in fact superb!! The drinks menu consisted of 14 varieties of unique alcoholic tropical drinks, Beer and wine, plus non-alcoholic ones for your driver! Mai Tai, Pina Colada, Lava Flow, Margarita, and many many more.
Now the Hula performance begins. The performance is mainly for introducing us to the history of Polynesia, and their traditional dance and its transition through the years.
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| The Hula Dancers |
The show makes you sway with the beat. It’s a marvelous sight. They don’t say it’s the best for nothing!!Each table is assigned a waiter so the guests need not get up and miss the show to get their drinks. Our waited was Bula. A fun guy, entertaining, funny, and prompt. The audience is slowly led to the buffet row at a time. I forgot to tell you about the audience by the way! There are four rows of tables, each table has 8 people, and totally I would expect around 400 people perfectly seated to enjoy the show.
As we wait for our turn we have fresh fruit and great banana bread. So the feast now has 3 salads, 2 kinds of fish, steak, chicken, pork and rice. 16 items in total. All traditional flavours including the Kalua Pig, Poi, Ahi Poke and He’e Poke, Island crab Salad, Maui Style Mahimahi, etc, etc. Must mention the butter served with the bread. Its butter with honey and macadamia nuts! It was so so yummy. Never tasted anything like it before! You are allowed any number of servings but the platter is full and the variety so filling, you probably wont have a second.
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| Dinner at Old Lahaina Luau |
The desserts are amazing too! Haupia(Hawaiian coconut pudding), chocolate brownies, macadamia nut tarts, and some dark chocolate with whipped cream. All of them are wonderful and compliment the evening of feast and performance perfectly.
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| Desserts at Old Lahaina Luau |
One moment we will always cherish is the time we as one of the couples celebrating our anniversary on that day got our special dance. It was our first dance ever! We loved it! Something we will always always cherish.
At the end of this wonderful evening, I would also like to mention a few things I would like improved at this event. The feast is concentrated on the performance and that is understood considering the amazing performance. But, we could have had some more tissues, or a napkin or something to soak the dripping water from our chilled drinks. And I could see the place was too dark for the elderly guests. They could probably have some candles on the table I thought. The other thing I was wondering is the weather. Even though I agree Lahaina does not get too much rain rain, they say they have the performance rain or shine. Wonder how it would be if it was drizzling onto my mahimahi. And lastly, one suggestion to the persons sitting on the table closer to the stage. Please make sure you are not in the way of your friends on the same table. It could spoil their experience as it did for me at one point.
When the performance is done, as we leave, we are given a post card and a response card. Make sure you have some cash to tip your waiter as you leave, and say Aloha!!
After a day full of fun and feast, we ended the day with a walk under the stars along the ka’anapali beach. What a pretty sight! You have to see for yourself! By the way have you ever watched the stars and stared at them till you float into the universe? Well… that’s going to become a whole new chapter if I start off with that! So babyee see you tomorrow with day 3! Aloha!!
love reading your blog myths!
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