Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 28/5/07

The Makai Inn was right on the sea and so you could hear the waves all night. Rather pleasant.

Dawn at the rear of Makai Inn


Miky was up really early. In fact she was up before sunrise and she was really please about what she saw. The early morning at the beach was worth getting out of bed for. Whilst Yu-Jin had breakfast we did some shopping at Safeway and I booked a luau.

D. T. Fleming Beach


When we finally got going we headed towards the north coast, through Ka'anapali and up to Honolua Bay. From the scenic lookout above, after viewing a sandy beach (D. T. Fleming Beach) from a golf course previously, we spotted Honolua Bay and thought that it would be a good spot to snorkel. There were already a couple of commercial catamarans in the bay with day-trippers. I double-parked in the parking bay so that Miky and Yu-Jin could get changed. Then I found a parking spot and got directions from a local on how to reach the beach.

Overlooking Honolua Bay with catamaran

Honolua Bay - no sand on this side of the beach

Honolua Bay - no sand on the other side either

Interesting bird at Honolua Bay


Yu-Jin wasn't happy about the fact that there was no sand and that we were going snorkelling again. The beach was quite busy and some people even brought SCUBA gear. At one stage Yu-Jin was about 40-50m out and halfway to the boats. I swam out to get him which wasn't a bad idea as his goggles filled up with a bit of water and then he got a mouthful on the way back to shore.

There were lots of sea urchins, parrotfish, wrasse, colourful coral, a 4 ft long thin fish with a strange beak and one large school of silver fish - much like a scene out of Finding Nemo. It was very enjoyable. Even Yu-Jin had a good time. Had our lunch when finished. Miky insisted on having a shower so we drove back to D.T. Fleming Beach, voted best beach in America 2006 (I don't know why, personally), and used the showers.

Drove into Napili region and bought ice creams and looked at a craft fair. Few nice local photos on display and for sale. But you expect that being in Hawaii and surrounded by beauty.

Headed south to Lahaina to watch some surfers and ended up at Launiupoko Wayside Park. Not very many waves but quite a few surfers. Spent an hour there and then it was time to pick up the tickets for the luau, no parking to be found in the vicinity (of course), then quickly home to shower and get changed.

Launiupoko Wayside Park surfers


The luau was hosted at Royal Lahaina Resort which was about six miles down the road. We arrived just before 5pm but had to form part of a long queue. My tickets said we had to check-in by 5pm to obtain our front row seating. I'd paid an extra three dollars for those seats. Paid US$62.99 for the seats and Yu-Jin was free. Saved about US$20/head for the tickets.

Luau queue

Lots of people at the luau


After waiting for about 40 minutes in the line we entered and had our photo taken as a family. We were about to be seated near the sun but three seats were available right in front of the stage. Brilliant. We had to change to the other side of the table when three VIPs came but that was ok.

I thought that the review was going to be a bit cheesy with a big lady on stage singing Hawaiian songs. She was funny, entertaining and could really shake her tush. Anyone who wished to hula was invited on stage. Only two guys did so.

Hula dancers and our hostess


Then the pig was unearthed from the imu and displayed on stage.

Hawaiian oven - imu

Luau pig


Little bit more singing and then we were taken to the buffet centre. Some people, out of the 500 or so in attendance, filled two plates with an enormous amount of food. Later, much of the food was wasted. It is difficult to accept how wasteful the, mainly American, attendees were.

The kahalua pork and turkey were nice, poi was ok, coleslaw, macaroni, hot dogs, chicken nuggets (lots of traditional Hawaiian food here, notice), Hawaiian sweet potato which was purple and cakes were included. You could go for seconds, which I did, but I don't think that too many others did.

The dancing by the men and women was very good and Dwight, good friend of one of the VIPs at our table, was great. Fire dancing was good too. A very good night out which finished at 8:15pm. Nothing on my plate was wasted.

Four ladies dancing - they changed costumes a lot

Hawaiian sunset on Maui

Funny man Dwight in the review

Hubba-hubba or hula-hula?

Fire breathing and fire dancing

Fire dancing extraordinaire


Went back to the Inn so that Miky could change and we dropped her off in town so that she could check out the galleries. I put Yu-Jin to bed and went to pay for the accommodation. Ended up talking to Susie, the proprietor, about travel for the next hour. Went to pick Miky up and do a bit of shopping myself, just prior as I was a bit early.

As it was Memorial Day the shops closed a bit earlier than usual. Closed at 10pm instead of 11. Caught up with her in one of the shops. Bought some knick-knacks before we went out for a drink.