Lahaina

Travel Blog: Maui-Part Three-Food For Thought

Previously On

PART ONE

PART TWO

Now, back to our regularly scheduled content!


SECTION TWO: MAUI CONTINUED

DAY FIVE

In case you were unaware, Maui is home to a very popular local restaurant, Mama’s Fish House, which is located on the north shore in Paia. I have very fond memories of going to Mama’s as a twelve year old lad & was understandably invested in going back this trip. However, COVID regulations being what they are in the state of Hawai’i at that moment, Mama’s wasn’t taking any walk-ins & their reservation list was booked out until August. I had called a few days prior to Sunday to see if there were any random cancellations but had, until that point, no luck. I was advised by the receptionist to try & call or “walk-in’ right as the restaurant opened at 11 for their lunch seating.

Sunday rolls around, Evan & I pack up the car with all the things we figured we’d need throughout our day & we headed up Paia. We arrived at the gate of Mama’s around 10:40 & pulled into a spot. Within a few minutes a line of cars had already began to form behind us. I made the call a few minutes before 11 to see if by any miraculous chance something had opened up & BAM!!! SUPERPOWER STRIKES AGAIN!!!! They had a table available at 11:20. Feeling rather hungover from the previous evening & needing to burn some time, we went back down the street to Choice Health Bar where I grabbed a Tropical Beets pressed juice & a Noni shot, a local ‘cure all” that I will definitely agree with them, is an acquired taste.

Juiced up & nearing the time of our newly minted reservation we headed back to Mama’s, immediately found a parking spot up front (superpower), & were shown down to the lower host stand. After around five minutes staring at the collection of autographed photos they have by the restaurants entrance we were shown to our table.

The vibe of the fish house was exactly as I remember it; deep Koa accents with open breezeways set nestled in the side of a hill, bay front, just off a grove of palm trees. We sat, order a little bit of the hair of the dog, & enjoyed the warm sea breeze sweeping through the venue.

At the recommendation of the waitress we ordered the Macadamia Nut Crab Cakes & the Toko (Hawaiian Octopus) for an appetizer. The crab cakes were up there as some of the best I’ve ever had, as was the octopus! For our main course we split the Mama’s Curry & their daily special of Mahi Mahi. We’d had three separate people in the restaurant rave about the curry & boy, were they right! The fish was so fresh & so perfectly prepared, it practically melted in your mouth. Dessert was espresso & a Polynesian Black Pearl, Mama’s signature dessert. The black pearl is a Passionfruit Mousse topped with Chocolate Ganache with a Cookie Shell & Passionfruit Drizzle! I’d had it before & I had never forgotten just how incredible it is!

We wrapped up at Mama’s around 12:30/1 & were absolutely stuffed, the problem with that being that we had another dinner reservation at Merriman’s at 4:30. While doing my initial restaurant research for Maui I’d stumbled upon Merriman’s & had managed to snag their very last reservation for the foreseeable future. Say it with me folks, superpower. So hoping to burn through a few calories, aid the digestion process, & having just made it through the 24 hours elevation limit following my dives, we went up to ‘Iao Valley to hike!

We were under the impression ‘Iao was a longer hike than it was but it was stunning nevertheless. The drive up to ‘Iao was very reminiscent of the Road to Hana in the sense that you go from one ecological biome to another in almost the blink of an eye. You go from Hawaiian hill country to lush rainforest. It was raining up in ‘Iao but we didn’t mind. In all honesty we were pretty hot & sweating from sitting down at Mama’s. We basically did the hike in 15 minutes then spent the next 45-ish just wandering around the park, going down to the river, contemplating swimming, trailblazing, etc.

Having a little extra time between our hike our & early dinner we decided to go back & change as we’d gotten a little muddier than we’d initially anticipated. We cleaned off & got back in nicer clothes before we climbed back into the car & went up Lahaina way.

Dinner at Merriman’s was set right on the edge of a cliff overlooking the north shore to the backdrop of a wedding happening just below us. It was served grand prix style so we got to pick from a few options in each category; appetizer, entree, dessert (naturally). Evan & I once again split everything we ordered getting Ahi Poke & once again, Octopus. Evan favored Merriman’s octopus, I think I favored the Mama’s one, both were exceptional though. Our entrees were Shrimp & Scallops as well as a Macadamia Nut encrusted Mahi Mahi. Dessert was Passionfruit Pot De Creme & a Flourless Chocolate Cake. I wish we’d gone into dinner a little more hungry but I don’t think either of us regret getting to do both restaurants even if they were bumped a little close time wise to one another.

We went back to Kihei & ended up once again sat at the bar at Nalu’s before calling it an early evening. I had a dive that departed from Lahaina at 6:45 AM the next day & we were going to need to leave our condo around 5:45/6 to get there.

END DAY FIVE


DAY SIX

As I stated above, Monday started with an early morning. We left the VRBO at between 5:45/6 AM & went back up the coast to Lahaina. My check-in at Lahaina Divers was at 6:45 at their shop. I checked-in, grabbed a wetsuit, collected the rest of my gear & walked through old town Lahaina from the shop to the harbor. Aboard the ship I was shown to my BCD & tanks for the dive before we did one last check & headed off to Lanai. Evan went on his way to explore Lahaina, landing somewhere with a chocolate croissant on a beach.

The dive Monday was to the Cathedrals of Lanai, a series of lava tubes off the southern coast of the island of Lanai. Our first dive spot was Cathedral One, a lava tube with a large stone in the middle they refer to as “the alter.” I was paired with a dude from Colorado but the total population of our dive group was 8-10 people. I think I decided at this early point in my dive experience that it might just be worth it to pay the extra bit of cash to have a private dive guide or at least to get a smaller dive group. The amount of times I got kicked in the face, run into, etc was alarmingly high. That’s not to say I didn’t have fun, I had a blast, truly. It was just a lesson learned at 40 feet below the surface.

At the first cathedral we swam upon a series of rare crabs, several sharks lounging in a cave, & a massive porcupine puffer, not to mention the breathtaking, pun intended, cathedral itself. We exhausted our tanks, returned to the boat, & went off to our second dive location.

Our second tank of the trip was reserved for Sergeant Major, a dive they can only do when the current conditions are right. The site is named as such due to the large quantities of Sergeant Majors, a striped yellow & grey damselfish, that school there. The main draw to Sergeant Major’s lava fingers however is the presence of the Javanese Eel. A Javanese Eel, otherwise known as the Giant Moray, is just that. Giant. They can reach up to three meters in length & weigh up to sixty-six pounds. Did we find the eel? We sure did. Was it magnificent? It definitely was!

At Sergeant Major I felt the pressure of the close quarters especially when it came to getting the whole group to see the fauna of interest. In one such occasion I did my best to get out of the way of a less than observant fellow diver & ended up with a three inch gash across my thigh from a run in with a stony coral.

I don’t mean to sound down trodden on the dive, it was a blast & truly an amazing experience. I honestly can’t wait to dive the cathedrals again & my dive guide was awesome! I’ll just definitely be doing so in a smaller group.

After our dive was finished we all boarded the boat & headed back to Lahaina. Evan met me at the dive shop where I picked up a t-shirt & a sticker then we headed down the coast towards Leoda’s to get a post dive pie or two.

At Leoda’s we got one of their Famous Banana Cream Pies & a Pineapple Macadamia Nut Pie. As much as a banana cream pie fan as I am, I think the pineapple one was my favorite! In addition to the pies we went to the small local convenience shop next door & grabbed a few pieces of Spam Musabi.

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Once we’d returned to Kihei I went down for a nap after feeling sapped from the morning. Pretty sure we returned to Nalu’s yet again that night. We’d made friends with the bartender/manager, Sue, & were going there to hang out with her & exchange stories.


END DAY SIX


DAY SEVEN

Our last day in Maui.

Our flight out wasn’t until around midnight & I’d asked our lovely VRBO host for an extension on our checkout time since we had nowhere to go until then. She graciously gave us the entirety of the day!

We slept in a tad as we knew the day & night ahead of us was going to be a long one, especially with that red eye flight out. After waking up a bit later than usual we set out to grab one last snorkel before we had to say goodbye to Hawai’i. We ventured down to Wailea to Makena Landing & got to snorkeling amongst the divers. Was I fairly jealous of the fact they could stay down while I had to come up for air constantly, yes, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless even seeing two separate turtles & almost running into one!

After our morning swim we headed back to start cleaning the apartment we’d called home for the past week. Since our host had extended our time for free we decided to make it as easy as possible on her & cleaned majority of the place ourself, including laundry. Once we were satisfied, we packed our stuff into the car & headed off to get one last shave ice from Ululani’s.

I got the same flavor as before, the guava, mango, passionfruit mix with macadamia nut ice cream but instead of a second POG I got a Thai Tea with Sweetened Condensed Milk on it! Shaved ice in hand we went down the road to return Evan’s snorkel gear & bid the Maui Dive team one last fond farewell.

We’d been invited by Sue to come sit at Nalu’s with our bags until it was time to catch the shuttle from the rental service to the airport. So that’s exactly what we did! I wasn’t mad about that decision at all, especially since I wanted to grab one last bowl of poke before we left. Sat at the bar of Nalu’s we met a couple from Fort Collins who were on the last leg of their trip too. We sat exchanging drinks & stories until I received an urgent call from the shuttle service saying they needed us to get on the earlier shuttle to the airport. I honestly didn’t know it was an option but the driver disclosed that we could also just drop the car at the parking lot across from the terminal & they would come pick it up in the morning. We opted for that option & sat at the bar for another hour or so.

After many a hug & sad goodbye we drove to the airport dropping the car exactly where the rental company had asked. The airport looked like a ghost town, especially compared to the week before. We breezed through the livestock/produce check, check-in, & security & made it to our gate with an hour to spare.


END DAY SEVEN


END SECTION TWO: MAUI




SECTION THREE: KANSAS TO NASHVILLE



We’d received a comp upgrade on our seats & were each put in the exit row. I guess no one else thought to try & do the same because the exit row, on both sides, was completely empty. So, we took advantage of that! I took the left side of the plane, Evan the right, & we had our very own economy class lay flat beds!

Getting surprisingly more rest than expected & landing in Phoenix, we got to our gate & took an additional nap followed by another nap on the flight from Phoenix to Kansas City. We picked up dinner on the way back to my parents & met my sister & her family there for dinner.

The next morning, before heading back to Nashville we met my sister & niece at Snooze AM Eatery for breakfast before swinging back by my parents, picking up the dogs, & heading back home to Nashville.

END SECTION THREE


END BLOG


EPILOGUE

I hope you enjoyed my stories, I hope I was able to capture even the slightest bit of majesty & magic that Maui has to offer & transport you there for even the briefest moment in time. Maui is an other worldly place full of immense beauty, personality, love, & culture. It is a place all its own & if you let it, it’ll readily make you feel welcomed & right at home. Much like any place I travel I have found that the people are truly what makes them special. This world is a colorful tapestry of life experience, trials & tribulations, & all of us are searching for the same things, identity & home.

Maui was already a special place in my heart but now it has cemented itself there. I’ve found myself over the last few weeks having a very hard time leaving it behind not to mention how much its sabotaged my sleep schedule. I urge anyone to find a way to Hawai’i but if you go, do so with respect. These islands are someone else’s lands, someone else’s home, someone else’s traditions & they are worth celebrating. Treat the land with respect, treat the people with respect, & do your best to leave it as you found it for those who come after. Yes, Hawai’i is beaches & ocean but it is so, so, so much more than that. It is a thriving culture & community that deserved to be preserved & passed down from generation to generation. Mahalo Maui for an unforgettable week. I’m grateful for the lessons you taught me, the friends I made, & the amazing opportunities you laid in my path. I can’t wait to see you again & I truly hope it is sooner rather than later.

-C

Travel Blog: Maui-Part Two-Divers, Dinings, & Drives

SECTION TWO: MAUI CONTINUED

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Welcome back!

If you're a returning guest to this blog series on my Maui escapades, thank you for reading! If you’re not caught up to this point give this a read first! We will be including themes, characters, locations, etc from the previous blog post so go read it here!

Hmmm, where’d we leave off, where’d we leave off? OH! Right! Back from the Road to Hana, sleep at a decent hour, end of day two, end of part one!


DAY THREE

Something I didn’t expect to play out the way it did while in the mid-pacific was my sleep schedule. I was waking up at 5:45/6 AM & I was ready for bed before 9/10 PM, contrary to the mainland where I am a night owl through & through. Seeing how I had been blessed(?) with new sleep schedule I woke around 6:15 on Friday to a text from my soon to be scuba instructor, Kerstin, stating she’d had a cancellation & she was curious if we could move our open water dives up to 8-ish instead of our original set time of Noon. I let her know that we had to drop off our temporary rental car but I’d happily meet her at Maui Dive Shop as soon as we were done with that, which was literally right down the street.

Evan & I stopped to grab a liquid, caffeinated breakfast of coffee before we went to return the rental. As I said above the rental service was literally down the road from the dive shop, we’re talking 1,500-ish feet, so we dropped off the car & walked from there to Maui Dive. I was actually under the impression that we’d be diving off the beach across from the dive shop, Evan planned to spend the day sunbathing there while Kerstin & I were submerged. I was wrong. (It happens from time to time). The issue with this was that our dive site was in Wailea at Ulua Beach (4.3 miles south) & we were required to have our own transportation there. Our second rental car, the one we didn’t think we’d have but my superpower came through for, also wasn’t going to be available to pick up until 9 but apparently that was perfect for Kerstin’s schedule! We then perused the shop, buying up souvenirs & changing into swim gear in their restroom before walking the 900 feet back over to the new rental agency.

The car they had ready for us was a beat up 2011 Nissan Sentra & I mean beat up. I only mention the state of the car because they did. The woman who showed us to the car & did the “walk around” with us she flat out said to us “don’t worry about dinging it up a little, this car is on the verge of retirement from us. Just as long as you don’t drive it back in with the bumper dragging in the road we’ll be fine!” The car did two things really well & those two things were exactly what I wanted it to do. It drove & it had functioning air conditioning. From there we made our way down to Wailea towards my 9:30 AM rendezvous with the ocean.

The funny thing is that upon our arrival at Ulua I immediately found a parking spot only about two hundred feet from the beach. I pulled out my phone when the car was stationary to find a text from Kerstin saying that parking at Ulua is always a nightmare & that I may have to park up farther away & walk a bit. Didn’t happen.

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We were getting out of the car, collecting our belongings for the mid-morning, & were immediately met by Kerstin, fresh off her walk from the upper parking down to the beach. She & I plopped down our gear in the park uphill from the water, parked under the shade of a tree in the soft Bermuda grass & began reviewing all the aspects of SCUBA as well as our dive plan. Evan took the remainder of our stuff & went down to begin his beach lay. After going over the dive details, exchanging stories, & assembling our equipment we walked down to the beach.

I knew I’d be immediately hooked on SCUBA, I could feel it in my gut, but I never would have guessed the extent & speed at which those emotions would come rushing in, but destiny is often serendipitous & the paths we walk in life often ripple & rhyme throughout our years. Through the state of wonder & overwhelming peace I found living a brief moment beneath the surf I couldn’t escape the feeling of familiarity. I had been here before, I just knew it. I had seen this place but was it in a dream or in another lifetime or what? It wasn’t until our departure from the water that the realization clicked for me.

We’re going to take a cute little detour here & rewind the clock back to 12 year old me, so 17 years ago…wow…Anywho. My first time in Maui was with my family at that age, the company my father worked with at the time was having a conference there & we all got to go! Our flight for that trip got into Maui really late from what I can recall & we ended getting to bed around midnight. I remember being awoken by my dad around 6 in the morning & being rather upset about that. He told me to put on a swimsuit & grab my goggles & I sleepily followed him down to the beach. We went swimming & I was once again immediately overcome with deep peace. That beach was Ulua. The first swim I ever did in Maui, the swim that helped solidify my love for the ocean was at Ulua Beach. Like I said. Ripples.

After a morning filled with diving we disassembled the gear, put it back in the dive truck & Kerstin & I went our separate ways for the day. I was so hungry at that point I could have eaten my arm so Evan & I decided to go try a highly recommended bento box food truck called Kitoko. The best way I can describe Kitoko is if bento boxes were done in a Michelin Star fashion. We once again followed the recommendations of the chef & order an Ahi Reuben & their daily special of Surf & Turf which consisted of the Pastrami Ahi, Seared Venison, & Marlin Sausages. All of it was incredible & was presented in the most beautiful way. Their fresh made seaweed focaccia bread is truly to die for.

After the savory delights of Kitoko my sweet tooth kicked in & I knew it was time to finally dive into Hawaiian Shave Ice so we headed over to Ululani’s. Ululani’s is a popular Maui/Hawaiian chain, having six location on Maui alone & despite the line, it lives up to the hype! I order two smalls, feeling a tad indecisive as well as wanted to get something I knew I’d like & try something new. I got P.O.G. (Passionfruit, Orange, Guava) & a second of “Sunset Beach” (Mango, Passionfruit, Guava) with Macadamia Nut Ice Cream underneath at the recommendation of the cashier. She was right, of course, & the Sunset Beach was easily my favorite of the two, which is saying a lot since the P.O.G. slapped too!

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From the Ululani’s in North Kihei we continued on around the island to Lahaina. We wanted to find a snorkel spot, since apparently we hadn’t spent enough time in the water that day, & ended up at Honolua Bay.

To get to Honolua Bay you have to park your car along the side of the road & hike down a 100 meter trail that leads through the jungle to the ocean. The path is stunning & is in fact a burial ground for the Hawaiian people. There are signs all over stating to not veer off the path or do anything to disrupt the many unmarked graves that fill the grove. The trail also meanders along a stream that empties into the bay itself.

The beach of the bay is very rocky; large & small boulders all the way into the water, you kind of have to ease your way in. When you get in you’ll need to either swim out a ways or dive down a little to escape the ethereal effect the mixing of the fresh & saltwater have on the surface of the water. The snorkeling here is outstanding though, protected on both sides by cliffs, the water doesn’t have too strong of a current & is fairly clear.

Once the sun started setting we got out, got dressed, trekked back up to the car & headed back to Lahaina for dinner, stopping to take a few photos of the chickens feeding on the papaya that had fallen in the grove.

We’d been told by multiple people to try & eat at Star Noodle in Lahaina, unfortunately, like most of the restaurants on Maui during our stay, they were requiring reservations & were booked up for the next two weeks. So, naturally, we got a table on the water, right at sunset! (Superpower!)

At Star we once again, noticing a trend here?, let the wait staff order for us. Our waitress picked out Tempura Shrimp, Garlic Noodles, Pork Steam Buns, & their Chicken Wings. All of those items were great but I especially loved the shrimp & the wings! We also didn’t skimp on dessert ordering their daily selection of ice cream; matcha pistachio, strawberry lychee, & thai coffee. The strawberry & the matcha were the best!

Towards the end of our dinner the Luau next door began, the dancers of whom used the side of the restaurant as their “backstage area” before they would go on. It sounded like a blast but just hearing the music from it was enough. With warmed hearts & full bellies we returned to Kihei for an early bedtime, we had ourselves a very early morning the next day!

END DAY THREE


DAY FOUR

We woke up on Saturday at 5:15 AM. Groggily we collected our SCUBA/Snorkel gear & headed down to the entrance of the complex we were staying in. We were picked up at 5:45 in a guide van by Celeste, one of the other guides for the day ahead. We picked up two other parties of divers before heading to Maalaea Harbor.

We were greeted by Kerstin as we got off the van, who instructed us to pick up our wetsuits & board the boat that waited just off the slip for us. I stored my dry gear, set up my regulator & BCD (buoyancy control device) & off we went to Molokini Crater for a morning of diving!

There were three other groups of divers aboard the boat with us diving but Kerstin & I were the last into the water seeing how I was still only two dives in to my certification. Evan stayed behind near the boat & snorkeled with some of the other guests!

I’d never done a boat dive before, (naturally), but there was something about it that was exhilarating! You’re above the water & suddenly there’s a whole other world that opens up below you that you hadn’t seen before & it’s yours to explore. Kerstin & I set off on our dive around the crater finding wave after wave of schooling fish. I even made friends with a friendly little male blue throat triggerfish who came right up the me & hung around til I offered him scritches & he returned to the reef below.

Our next dive site was Turtle Town, back off the west coast of Maui. Evan once again snorkeled while Kerstin & I were once again the last divers off the boat. As the name suggested we saw turtles but there were also a few large passthroughs, an octopus or two, as well as a a very large number of frogfish. I had footage of all of these things, or so I thought…my GoPro didn't turn on…

When we emerged from the water I was congratulated by the entirety of the boat on becoming the newest member of the club & we headed back up the coast to the harbor.

We didn’t get back to our condo until about 1:30 or 2 PM at which point both Evan & I were beat. We took a nap before going out around 3:30 or 4 to run a few errands.

We snagged coffee, a few more groceries, & stopped at Yee’s Orchard & Fruit Stand before the hunger set in & we decide to head over to Nalu’s, a place recommended by Kerstin for dinner.

I ordered the best dang Poke I’d ever had & Evan ordered a Bulgogi Burger. By the time we’d gotten here & gotten through the line to order it was already around 6:30 or 7 PM so the sunlight was rapidly fading. We decided to move from our table, set right in front of the stage where a local artist had began to play & up to the bar where we were introduced to Ruthie, a local woman who’d lived on the island for sixty years & was meeting a friend of hers there for dinner. We sat & chatted, shared rounds of drinks, talked about pets & life & before we knew it it was closing time & I was slightly intoxicated, flirting with a bar back.

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Our place was right down the street from Nalu’s so we walked back home unprepared for the hangover to follow the next day.

END DAY FOUR


There’s still much more of this adventure to be told, I hope you’ll come back again next week when we’ll talk more SCUBA, more hikes, more luck, & much more food!

Until Next Week,

C