Winter is fine to a point, and that breaking point is reached sooner and sooner every year. It’s at that time we search for warm water, sunshine, trade wind breezes, tropical drinks and sunsets. That is exactly what we did and headed too Maui for a couple weeks of rest and relaxation. In these times traveling to Hawaii is a bit tedious with Covid screening tests, uploading travel docs to state websites and masks but…well worth it!
Our hut on the beach was The Whaler on Kaanapali Beach with lanai views of the beach and Black Rock. The soft sound of waves lapping on the beach morning and night made it very easy to relax and get into the Aloha Spirit.
The days were same yet different; swim, beach, hike, swim, beach, whale watch, swim, beach, tropical drinks & pupus and swim, beach, sunsets. It was whale watching season and we saw them breaching, spyhopping and tail slapping everyday. Simply amazing-truly a highlight!
To swim in clear, warm open water every day was pure lani (aka~heaven)~30,000 yards or 17 miles at five different beaches was ono . Tempting as it may be to share all my individual swims and favorite sunsets I will do my best (which is hard) to narrow to a handful.
Home base was Kaanapali Beach. It is a long, long beach separated by Black Rock. The water is calm, clear, a great color of blue and importantly warm. It was my playground I had short swims, longs swims, straight swims and weird shapes and patterns. Below are a handful of my most memorable swims along this stretch of sand.
There were two other memorable swims to call out. First, Napili Bay a quiet medium sized cove up near Kapalua. For some reason I just really like it there.
We took a day trip and did a short easy hike in Iao Valley State Park in Wailuku. It is a sacred spot where King Kamehameha defeated the King of Maui and his army in 1790.
It was then off to Wailea a part of Maui we don’t frequent much and found Po’olenalena Beach. It was touch cloudy, which was ok as we had a nice view of Molokini and could see the whales jumping. My swim was an easy back and forth however I was pleasantly surprised when I washed up on the northern shore for a break to discover that it was a clothing optional beach. Longer break than anticipated ; ).
Yes~there was a lot of water and swimming time however we did a lot more too. There were hikes to test out Shannon’s new knee.
There were daily sunset drinks and pupus.
Yes-this was in the time of Covid so there were masks.
And of course rainbows to sing Iz’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow to dream about the future…
Aloha hui hou
Goggle Reflections 