Just returned from a trip to Maui. Me, my wife, my son and his friend all went. We had a great time. It has been about 5 years and we were reminded how much we love the island. I will have several segments on the trip. Spoiler alert - Hana is a new foodie destination.
Day 1 We took a non-stop flight from Newark to Honolulu and then a short flight to Maui.We rented our car and went off to Kaanapali and to our hotel, the Hyatt Residence Club.http://kaanapalibeach.hyatt.com/en/hotel/our-hotel.html Kaanapali is a planned resort that has a number of hotels and condos. There is a Hyatt Regency Hotel, Marriott Vacation Club, A Westin Hotel and a Sheraton Hotel. It can get crowded but you can walk places and the views are insane. The sunsets framed by Lanai and Molokai are sunsational.
The Hyatt is a brand new time share condo that is next to the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Kaanapali Beach. We had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath oceanfront suite with state of the art kitchen and a huge terrace overlooking the ocean. We paid an intro rate of $199 per night for 5 nights and we had to participate in a sales presentation.
The resort played music from 8am to 8pm everyday. It started to drive us crazy. We just wanted to enjoy the view and natural sounds. while the Concierge agreed with us, no one seemed to control the music.
We had one silly occurrence. The grand opening for the building was on a day that we were there and it was listed on our weekly activity sheet and was held in the lobby. We went down at the appointed time and there was food and lots of people. I went and grabbed a shrimp and a women came over to me told me that I was not invited to the event. I had no idea what she meant but she insisted that we were not invited. It was embarrassing! I complained at the front desk and they called the asst front desk manager who also explained to me that we were not invited. I explained that we were staying there and it was on our weekly activity sheet. She still said no, politely. We left to go near the pools and a women who also worked at the hotel saw me and said good night. We had chatted previously and I explained the party situation. She was very upset and went to tell her manager. Several minutes later he came over to me and apologized but told me that they would try to do things better in the future but we were not welcome at the lobby party.
I left for a short car ride and my wife called me an told me that someone had called our room and explained that it was all a mistake and that we were invited to the party. Oh well. So much for Hyatt Maui hospitality. It was all so silly. I was really interested in finding out more about the building and could care less about their tasteless shrimp. We did not take up the late invite. I tweeted the Hyatt Concierge and have received no response.
We ate dinner at Leilanis http://www.leilanis.com/at the Whalers Village in Kaanipali. It is a nice walk along the beach path that goes along Kaanapali Beach and connects all of the resorts. The path is paved and easy to navigate but one is never more than 20 yards from the water as the beach is not that wide.
We had fish tacos, nachos and a veggie burger with some Maui onion rings. Everything was quite good and we were right on the beach. A great way to start the trip. We had draft beer to wash everything down, For dessert we had their famous Hula pie. A huge wedge of ice cream with Macadamia nuts, chocolate syrup, whipped cream and oreo crust.
Day 2 Me and the boys went off to explore. We went to Leoda's http://www.leodas.com/ for breakfast. Leoda's is somewhat new and serves locally sourced food. The food was good and reasonable. The boys had the frittata of the day and I had an apple muffin. We then went off to the IAO Valley to see the IAO Needle and to experience rainforest. It was raining so we had the real experience.
We bought local fish, Ono, Opah, and Mahi mahi. We bought local tomatoes, mushrooms, salad and bananas. Costco has a gas station that sells gas for $2.50 a gallon when other gas stations are selling at $3.50 a gallon. Costco also sells gift cards to local attractions and restaurants at reduced prices. We bought gift cards for a catamaran sail for $75 for a $100 card.
I also bought wine. The Maui store had the best wine selection of any Costco I have seen. I bought an Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, a Sancerre, a French rose, a Spanish rioja and Champagne. We drank well in Maui. Costco makes Hawaii affordable.
For dinner I made the ono and opah (pan sauteed) and we had a Miraval Rose from Provence that I had bought at Costco for about $20. The fish was great and wine was crisp and light.
Theater Alert
We saw Hamilton last night. It is at the Public Theater http://www.publictheater.org/en/Public-Theater-Season/Hamilton/in NYC and is a rap, hip hop and incredible musical about the life of Alexander Hamilton. Lin-Manual Miranda wrote in it and stars in it and it is brilliant. Brian D'Arcy James plays King George III and is hysterical. It is a must see however the buzz about the show is so loud that the show is sold out thru the end of its run in May. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/theater/lin-manuel-miranda-and-others-from-hamilton-talk-history.html http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/onward-and-upward-with-the-arts There are plans to move it to Broadway but they are waiting to see the reviews of the play. The official opening is February 17.
Anguilla
The NYT's has a 36 Hours Anguilla piece this weekend.http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/02/04/travel/36-hours-anguilla-interactive-map.html?_r=0 As I have been writing for a while, Anguilla is a great place for a beach vacation.
Valentine's Day Wines
For Valentine's Day romantic wines try the following:
Juve y Camps Pinot Noir Cava $12. It is a deep red and it does not taste like the color would imply. It is dry, balanced, light with good fruit. We drank it last night and I highly recommend it.
Or one could try a Cru Beaujolais from St Amour. Many different wineries. Around $20 and look for 2011 or 2012.
Or try a Chateau Calon Segur from Bordeaux. It may not be inexpensive but it has a heart on the label. Look for an off- year such as 2007 or 2011 for a reasonable price. The wine has decent amount of Cabernet Sauvignon in it.
Enjoy
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