Lemke's Longitude & Latitude

Maui, Hawaii

December 2023

$232 to Maui over Christmas??? No way, well it’s out of Vancouver, team says let’s go! Not the first trip to kick off with cheap flights and certainly not the last.

The day after the kids finished school we drop puppers off and head to Vancouver. Edalines for ice cream ahead of the border and we sail across. We are at the Blue Horizon Hotel, our favorite for the night before our flight. Great location and jumping off point for walking Robson Street with all the bundled up locals.

News to us after many stays is they have a pool. There was Poutine, Montreal meat sandwich and Doner’s for dinner, but unfortunately, we missed Nat’s for pizza this time. Since it was the holidays, we headed to Stanley Park for Christmas lights. Fire Departments from the greater Vancouver area set up their displays to raise money for burn victims. The lights are really well done with all the favorite holiday characters and things flow together as a reasonably well thought out hodge podge of merriment.

We were packed into a two queens hotel room and managed to sleep fairly well. Breakfast was eggs benny which for us has always been substandard in Vancouver. This time was no exception. Cindy could make a mint with her version in this town. Out of our room we headed to Granville Island. The drive over was packed with high end exotic cars for Hudson and we parked a bit out which provided a nice walk to the market. We noshed and shopped our way through and picked up enough for a snack on the plane. We prebooked our long term parking at the airport. It was easy, affordable, no stress and a light rail takes you to the airport.

WestJet was a new carrier for us and we were wondering if we were getting on the Canadian version of Spirit given the price. It was actually very nice and up to snuff with the best of the US airlines we fly. We rented our car from Makoa Rental Car, a local company, which was a great experience and one we will do again. They were great on the phone, there was no counter and no line. We just walked to the vehicle, extracted the key from a lock box and drove off. The only caveat, it’s a later model car with some more miles and a few more dings than you would get at Avis. We stayed at Kanai A Nalu…again which is in Maalaea. It’s typically on the lower cost side, in the middle of everywhere we like to go and right on the ocean with snorkeling and surfing out front. That said Maui at Christmas is painfully expensive lodging wise.

We started talking with some Husky alumni's and explained we were going to go get Christmas lights since we were missing them at home. They were kind enough to loan us some which quickly went up in the condo and around the rail of our patio. Loved that the condo's put lights up on a number of trees on the grounds and around the pool!

We grabbed breakfast at a very local place eating our food out of to go containers in the car watching some surfers. Very windy and the place we parked had surf spray dousing us between bites. Hudson is now a huge fan of loco moco, declaring it a “bulk”. On our way to the big Costco run we grabbed some malasadas from a place everyone loves right across the street from Costco. We agree!

The trip blurs together so here is a quick points recap.

Struck out on windsurfer at Hookipa after trying multiple times. We need to figure out a better way to dial in optimal wind and wave conditions.

Sign up for what is called the “snorkel report”. They send out emails every morning explaining the best beach to snorkel at given conditions for the day.

Poke from the local’s grocery store is the best.

Hudson tried spearfishing and came close to getting a prized species. The instructors thought he was really good in the water and already a very competent free diver.

Ono BBQ was fun and unique, although just a one-time deal. You pull up and they bring it to your car. The nicest people even though everything was done through text.

Kaanapali had some epic shore break to womp.

Sad to see the devastation of Lahina after the fires. We hope they rebuild in a way that takes care of the locals, captures the old spirit and spits in the eyes of the big money developers.

We managed Prime rib for Christmas at Kimo’s sister restaurant Leilanis and ate an enormous slice of Hula Pie!

Cindy reconnected with a friend from California that now lives in Maui. Nice folks and fun to hear about island life and what’s involved in leaving the mainland.

Chang’s Beach remains a favorite. Father and daughter had a great snorkel with lots of fish, a vibrant reef and some turtle friends. The family had a nice time floating in the tubes and tumbling in the waves.

The north side beach was a surprise hit with groups of turtles on shore getting some sun. Best time was after 4:00.

Honolua store remains a hit, a well priced lunch

Monkeypods Mai Tai is so overrated. Although we ran into the CEO of Google there so it might just be us. We were kind of schleppy coming right from the beach.

Cindy refuses to drive the one lane road around the west side of the island ever again! Despite that it was beautiful. The kids loved it.

Bringing an inflatable paddle board was a big win for catching waves in front of the condo. Not all that big in the winter but super fun and a great way burn an afternoon.

The whales were in and we were able to see them off in the distance most days. On a whim Andy paddled out to them on the board and sat front row for awhile to watch the show. Mom and baby flapping and splashing about. A great way to spend Christmas. One of the guys at the condo was freaking out and very worried for his safety, going through all the ways this was going to end badly.

Ulalanis for shave ice is so so good. Big lines, brain freezes and sugar at max levels!

We did the crater and caught a perfect day. It was warm all the way to the top, the view was epic with visibility out over the neighboring islands and there wasn’t too much traffic. We stayed for the sunset. Not sure if it was the time of year, but the sun set just behind the observatory. Kind of ruined the view so not sure that we would do it again, but fun to do once.