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The Hawaiian Islands
By day or by fading light, the Hawaiian Islands are a postcard paradise.
The Hawaiian Islands
are a land of palm trees and spectacular sunsets, of lush landscapes
and beautiful beaches, of volcanos and vibrant beauty.
But they are also about the people and the Aloha Spirit that makes
its way across the land like a gentle sea breeze.
Unlike Oahu with its city of Honolulu
and busy Waikiki Beach, the Hawaiian Islands are
relatively remote, There are a few locals serving the tourists, which
here are comprised mainly of couples, honeymooners, wedding parties
and families. In addition to Oahu, there are five other islands that
make up the Hawaiian chain. Hawaii – The Big Island
– is the largest of them all and has some spectacular (although
remote) beaches and great volcanic activity. (Alert: Don't take any
volcanic rocks. They are sacred to the islands and Hawaiians believe
they bring bad luck to those who steal them. This may indeed be true;
there are scores of tales about strange things happening to people who
take rocks, prompting them to mail them back to the islands in order
to clean themselves of the curse). Lanai is full of romantic
escapes and adventurous four-wheeling.
Kauai, or the "Garden Isle," is home to the wettest
place on Earth. The result is cascading waterfalls, the type seen on
TV shots and in movies, making it ideal for helicopter rides. Molokai
probably has the least number of visitors and the youngest population,
as several hikers and adventurous nature lovers come here on holiday
and never have the inclination to leave.
This guide focuses on activities, attractions and, in the case of
Maui, bars and nightlife.
Maui
Sunset at Kaanapali
and beautiful Honokeana Cove.
Maui is an island of activities.
For active individuals, Maui's diverse landscape offers excellent scuba
diving, snorkelling, surfing, windsurfing, fishing, hiking and
golf. It also offers wandering, so get a car and explore. The tiny
town of Paia, for example, looks like a 60s hippie surfing community
untouched by technology or time. Just a couple of blocks in either direction
at an intersection on the way to the Haleakala Crater, it's businesses
include a few modest restaurants, a couple of surf shops and a reggae
store. One interesting diversion is to read the postings for used cars
in the coffee shop: "Honda Accord. Runs. Needs Engine." Or
"Low Milage. 125,000."
Yet at the same time Maui is so soothingly comfortable that there's
no harm in doing, well, nothing.
All around the island there are parks and secluded coves tucked along
the beaches, a mere tunoff from main roads. Just off shore is swimming,
snorkeling or, in some spots, surfing. It's a setting made for romance,
which makes it little wonder there are an average of 100 weddings a
week on Maui.
D.T. Fleming Beach Park is considered one of the best beaches
in the America and neighboring Honokeana Cove at Napili has the
kind of scenic privacty one expects here. Take a swm, bring the mask
and fins and spend a good few hours letting the sun dry the water spots.
The Road to Hana – Yes or No
One of the waterfalls
on the way to Hana.
There's your prize – the Seven Pools at the end of the Hana road.
The most popular - and controversial, in as much something of this
nature could be considered such a thing – tourist activiy on Maui
is the road to Hana. Many a Maui visitor is struck with the "shall
we or shant we" decision of driving the road to Hana, a small village
on the remote eastern end of the island.
The hesitation is not in going to Hana itself – nobody would,
as it offers a diversion no more interesting than a baseball field in
the middle of nowhere and a General Store that appears to have been
built around 1950 and not touched since – but getting there. It's
the Hana Highway, more popularly called the "road to Hana,"
a dramatic two-lane, narrow highway with more sharp curves than PubClub
model columnist Lynne
Kush.
 It's
not a really hard drive, as it is all paved. It just takes a long time
to get to the end, about 3 1/2 hours from Kaanapili. Along the way,
it provides pull-over points to see waterfalls and dramatic dropoffs
into huge valleys below the road. At the end, about 30 minutes actually
past Hana, is the destination, the Seven Pools. A series of pools
formed by a flowing waterfall two miles above the ocean, these are natural
water pools for swimming Then it's back the way you came (the other
way around the island is not fully paved and is not recommended for
anyone hoping to slip this one by the rental car company).
Now, we love a good swim as much as anybody, but the Road to Hana is
basically a 7-hour trip for a short dip, Parking is $10. For those with
several days on the island, or repeat visitors who have yet to make
the journey, it's a satisfying day. For those on Maui for a quick vacation,
leave this activity for the another time.
Those who do go are usually advised to leave early in the morning.
But in the longer days of late spring to early fall, the unorthodox
tourism methods of PubClub feel it's best to avoid the traffic by departing
later and having a late breakfast or early lunch along the way (at,
say, Paia). Then stop to watch the windsurfers at Honkipa Beach.
Higher than Hana, the scenes along the north coast are more spectacular.
A more scenic (and shorter) drive to consider is around the northern
tip of the island. It's just beyond the aforementioned Honokeana Cove,
the soft-sand lagoon framed by a pair of restaurants, the Sea House
and the tiny Gazebo, which is about the only place on the island
that serves breakfast past 11 in the morning.
The road is more serpentine than Hana and requires an alert driver
moving cautiously as if approaching a mine field. It's narrow, is often
just a single lane and has several blind curves. This is what it must
be like if one were to drive on a pretzel. It's almost all along the
coast and goes past dramatic cliffs, secluded beaches, a couple of villages,
the odd rooster, horses and cows and occasional roadside stands offering
beverages and banana bread for sale. This route has the added advantage
over Hana by dropping drivers into the town of Wiaehu, which is back
to civilization and a mere half-hour to a Happy Hour drink on a lanai
in Lahaina or Kaanapali.
Maui Nightlife
Nightlife in Maui? Sure, above at the Hard Rock; below the Hula Grill.
The most obvious nightlife realization that one is in Maui and not
Honolulu can be found with the booze cruises. In Maui (specifically
Lahaina and Kaanapali) the cruises are not $25 but $45-$65 and are more
catered to cruising than boozing.
The second is at the bar on the lanai at the pleasant Hula Grill
in Kaanapaili (on the beach at Whaler's Village). At first glance, it
appears to have the same type of lively and casual bar atmosphere as
Duke's
in Waikiki (in fact, it's part of the Duke's family),
particularly at sunset. There's daily Happy Hour specials and a happy
crowd drinking them down as an end to the perfect island day. But this
is not Duke's and singles soon discover that most people at the bar
are couples or families who are waiting for a dinner table, not other
singles looking to mingle. An hour after sunset, the place is back to
it's lack of frenzy and by 11 it's closing down. It's biggest shortcoming
is a lack of service: It only has about two attentive bartenders and
they never seem to be working at the busiest time, so getting a drink
can be an exercise in patience. Still, the food and location are motivation
enough to go and stay past the sun's slide into the Pacific.
Next door is Leilanie's, which is quite similar but has a smaller
bar area, so finding a seat at the bar can be a challenge. The staff
attitude is better here but Hula Grill gets the crowds.
Picky points to point out, yes, but that's what we do here at PubClub.
They are, in fact, the best places to soak in the sunset on Maui.
About 10 minutes away – $1 shuttles run from morning until about
9:30 p.m. – is Lahaina, Maui's focal commercial area. Most of the
bars are in Lahaina and what nightlife can be found on Maui is in this
old fishing village.
The place to begin is Kimo's. It's on Front Street in the heart
of "downtown." Go after dinner for its famous Tropical Itch,
a potent concoction that comes with a wooden backscratcher sticking
out of the glass. Have more than two and the backscratcher also makes
for a handy walking cane. It's rarely busy, but the locals easily mix
with tourists at the bar. The food is quite good for those who want
to mix the Itch with dinner.
From there, where to go depends on the night of the week. Here's the
Maui meltdown:
• Weekends – Sunsets on Kaanapali, followed by Spats,
an Italian restaurant at the Kaanapali Hyatt that is converted into
a dance spot. Young locals prefer Paradise Bluz in Lahaina ($15
cover and a collar is required, though they will loan t-shirt stricken
patrons an Aloha shirt). Spats is sometimes open until 3 but you must
have a stamp to get in past about 1:30.
• Mondays – Hard Rock Cafe. There's a live reggae band
and a lively crowd.
• Tuesdays – Moose McGillycuddy's. With a $5 cover
comes dollar drinks. There's a line by 11 but note this is hardly a
sophisticated crowd.
• Wednesdays – Stay in after sunset and save up the energy
for Honolulu.
• Thursdays – We like this one, it's a sushi restaurant
called Sansei in Kapalua (15 minutes north of Kaanapali; take
a cab). In addition to the 15% off sushi from 10-closing – the
mango crab is most highly recommended – it has people attempting
to sing karaoke. It's steps from the Ritz, so wedding parties are there,
as well as locals.
When is Maui like Key
West? When you walk down the street, past the
endless t-shirt and souvenir stores and think "it's to hot out
here; time for a cold beverage." But instead of heading to Sloppy
Joe's, in Lahaina the place is Cheeseburger in Paradise. Not
owned by that famous singer/songwriter, Cheeseburger is a restaurant/bar
with Key West-style ceiling fans, a million-dollar view of the bay and
the best bartenders in Maui. We like it best upstairs. And how are the
cheeseburgers? Very tasty and patrons are indeed in paradise.
But are they the best burgers on the island? Not quite. That distinction
goes to a small dive bar in Kannapali, Johnny's Burger Joint.
At the corner of the Hwy. 30 and the Kaanapali turnoff (2395 Honoapiilani
Highway), Johnny's cheeseburger is like a large In 'N Out, big and juicy
with a bun that does not get in the way of the burger.
Speaking of local dives, there are a few of them scattered about the
island. It's where the locals go, though we must point out that locals
here means either young kids in a click (sometimes called mokes) or
"veteran" bar hounds. At 515 Front Street, a secondary shopping
complex south of the main area of Lahaina, there's a sort-of-sports
bar called Bamboo as well as Heckock's, which has a great
location with windows open to the sea. Coolers Restaurant and Bar
at Dickenson Square is a pleasant place with a large marlin on the
wall whose open windows look out to Dickenson Street. And for those
looking for a real dive, there's the Sly Mongoose in an industrial
area between Lahaina and Kaanapali.
There is one other spot that unfortunately got a little too wild for
it's own good. The Pioneer Inn is a rustic, inexpensive hotel
for scuba divers on a budget with a once-raucous bar attached. It would
go loud and deep into the night. Alas, it now closes at 9. Still, with
those open walls and Hemmingway-inspired ceiling fans it's an afternoon
stop for one or two drinks in memory of the good 'ol times. It's by
the famous Banyan Tree and the Lahaina harbor and across from The Wharf,
a small shopping plaza with a movie theater and outdoor patio bar, The
Blue Lagoon.
The Big Island
The youngest of Hawaii's main islands is undergoing constant transformation
since the most recent volcanic explosion began in 1983. Hawaii Volcanos
National Park, down winding Craters Road, provides views of layers
of lava flow.
The best beaches – some say in the world – are on the sun-bathed
Kona Coast. Beaches are identified by mile markers, signaling where
to turn off the highway to reach them. Luxury resorts are dotted along
the Kona Coast. On the other side of the island is Old Hilo, with
its historic buildings, waterfront galleries, shops and museums.
Despite the fact it's obviously in Hawaii, it does snow on the
Big Island. It's off Chain of Craters Road which leads to a quarry and
prehistoric lakes. Extreme thrill-seekers come here to go snowboarding.
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