Before we traveled to Maui April 26-May 4 this year, I read Sara Kehaulani Goo’s Book Kuleana. It is a compelling read about the author’s ancestral native Hawaiians, their land, and the struggles to maintain Kuleana or responsibility/stewardship of land and family. With her words in mind, our visit to Maui this time was with the intention of being mindful of Hawaiian cultural heritage, and deeply appreciating the beauty of its people, land and sea.
As we sat in the ferry line awaiting an early boat to Mukilteo, parked next to us was our neighbor Diane and her daughter Thea. The women were booked on our Hawaiian Airlines flight along with a friend of Thea’s. They stayed minutes from our condo at Maui Kama’ole, where my mom lived from 1996 until her passing in 2012. Kama’ole literally means barren or childless, and in this case, Kama’ole may refer to the dry landscape of South Maui.
However, due to the Kona low deluge earlier in the year, the landscape was lush and green like we’ve never seen in the 44 years we’ve been visiting Maui. A 10-foot mudslide barreled down the slopes of Upcountry Maui’s slopes and closed two sections of Kihei Road. We talked to a family one night in the condo’s hot tub. We learned the family’s Kihei home had been hit by a wall of mud. Sheetrock and flood damage were being repaired while the family stayed at Maui Kama’ole.
As we boarded our flight, sitting in row 40 right in front of us was Baron Coenen, the dad of Francesca Coenen-Winer. Together daughter and father, along with an excellent staff, run our favorite South Whidbey eatery, the Taproom @Baview Corner. He was heading to Maui to stay with friends in Haiku. We enjoyed chatting with him while waiting to exit the plane. A good man is Baron.
We landed and phoned Kihei Rent-a-Car, a locally-owned business which primarily rents aged and gently worn Nissan Sentras. We’ve been doing business with them for years. The folks are friendly and the car rental prices reasonable. We drove three of their cars during our 8-day stay. The first had trouble with a clogged fuel line, and on our last day in Maui, a sensor showed a tire problem–we’d picked up a bolt firmly embedded in the tread. Fortunately we weren’t far from the rental place in Kihei when we were notified. Bill drove over and picked up a replacement car, which we used for the next few hours before returning the rental and being driven to the airport for our 9:50 redeye flight aboard Alaska Airlines. Redeye we will not do again. The plane’s seats were cramped and uncomfortable.
We arrived in Maui by early afternoon and thought we’d like to eat at the Monkeypod Kitchen, advertised with seductive food photos in the in-flight magazine Hano Hou! However, when Bill called, he learned there was a 3-hour wait for reservations. A great alternative to this über popular craft beer/local food eatery, is Hideaway by Aloha Prime, across the street from the Monkeypod. Hideaway started as a food truck in 2023. Chef Allen Rimorin, born and raised in Maui, believes in the power of using local ingredients to nourish his customers. His wife Shelby moved to Maui more than 14 years ago. Their popular food truck won honorable mention in the 2024/2025 ‘Aipono Awards for Food Trucks. By 2025, Allen and Shelby relocated to the present location.
I love the tastes, textures, look and smells of food. I swooned over my seared ahi with arugula, cabbage, macadamia nuts, carrot, red cabbage and mango vinaigrette. Bill has a similar palate for sensory delights and ordered hoisin chicken with fresh greens, cucumber, tomato, zucchini and a fresh sauce to tie it all together. Our wonderful server Sasha made us feel like welcome family and taught Bill a heart shaped-shaka:
After the great dinner we went for a walk at the Mauna Kai Beach Hotel. We noticed others gathered on the grounds for picnic and scenic sunset.
The following morning we snorkeled at Maluaka Beach in the Makena region of south Maui. For years it’s been our go to place for tropical fish, turtles and incredible coral architecture. We visited this beach each morning for six days straight. One morning was with my niece Kali, a natural mermaid who practices free diving. It was a wonder to see her in her blue swim shirt and black and white swim shorts diving beneath a coral arch. We took no photos here as we left our valuables at home. We learned from her that there are ‘cleaning stations’ where blue and yellow wrasse fish clean turtles, eels and fish. We saw a turtle, marked in white with MA 061 painted on her shell, receiving such a service. The same turtle swam up to me and looked me in the eye. What a great exchange of energy we shared.
That evening the family was together–Malcolm, the dad of my nieces Kali and Amara, The sisters–so fun to see them interacting! Heidi, Dallas, Bill and me around the table and in the living room having heartfelt conversation. I so love being with this family. I was sad not to see Amara and Malcom more on the trip. Next year. New adventure.
Kali shared some of her art when we visited her at her apartment she shares with Dallas. The couple took an ethnobotany class at the University of Hawaii Maui College, which deeply influenced their appreciation of and wish to steward’s Maui’s spiritual connection to her people, land, plants, animals and marine life.
Feral cats are an epidemic in Maui. We spied a big orange fluffy dude who seemed to be the Lord of the Maui Kama’ole storm drains. When we approached, he dove into the storm drain.
We found a lot of peace sitting on our lanai, and walking around admiring the local plants, lizards, geckos, doves, Mynas, finches, cardinals and wild chickens. Maui Kama’ole owners pride themselves in the friendly staff and landscape crew.
We saw my sister Heidi every day. For a while she’d been relocated to work in Paia, taking an unpredictable bus from Kihei to Kahului, and then to Paia. One morning the bus had not arrived, and we drove her to work so she’d be there nearly on time. She was re-assigned to work locally near home during the week we were there. We picked her up after work, bringing the lilikoi frosted pound cake she loves from Mana Foods in Paia. They have the best healthy food that is well priced.
From Paia we drove to Upcountry Maui on the slopes of Haleakalā.
We enjoyed time with my niece Kali and her boyfriend Dallas, who DJs for a local station, 91.5 Mana’o Radio, Saturdays from 8 PM to midnight. He likes alternative rock and raises his audience’s awareness to this genre. Since he was young he’s been a musician and singer. We visited them on Wailuku First Friday, a street party in Maui County’s capital city, the most local and least touristy of places we visited. Kali introduced us to a food truck with Thai food, and we each ordered a delicious pumpkin curry with rice.
On another day we drove along the jungly Hana Highway to visit a ruggedly beautiful beach accessed by a dicey dirt road that had Bill’s nerves a jangling, wondering if our Nissan’s undercarriage would survive the ruts and water-filled potholes. He also was concerned about possible rain, which would turn the dirt road into a quagmire. We survived with his driving. Afterwards, we visited a way station, once home to a feral cat colony. This time around we saw not a single cat.
On Sunday, our last day, Kali and Dallas invited us to swim with a group of mostly others our age, Snork & Fork snorkeling group, which has met for the past 40-some years to snorkel and potluck. Really friendly group. Our swim was in some rolling surf that increased turbidity in the water. Bill and I turned back to land before swimming to the turtle cleaning station that Kali and her friend Isabella visited.
By Sunday night Heidi and I had caught colds. We had dinner at our place. Dallas took this photo of us.
Monday with plenty of time before our redeye flight and having to check out by 11:30 AM, we drove to a surfing beach near Lahaina.
Clouds rolled in the afternoon accompanied by cooling trade winds. Kali suggested we visit the Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge, where her friends Alana and Simeon work. We met Alana and she told us about the incredible birds that visit the refuge. It is home to the migrating Kino Lele–meaning power to fly–Pacific golden plover, who migrates from Maui to Alaska and back each year. They can fly 3,000 miles in as little as 70 hours, flying at 35 mph!
For dinner we drove to the Kihei Oasis/South Maui Gardens, where we ate local food from the Bacon & Blossom Food Truck. We walked around admiring the various deity statues, which are for sale.
For our final Aloha to Maui, we sat beneath banana palms to watch the sunset at Kamaole III beach before returning our car and being driven to the airport.
