Trip Report - 5/31-6/7

Hopefully this will be short yet informative, although this board is full of great suggestions if you search for them.

Flight - United from Vegas to SF, then to Maui. On time. No problems. Rental car from Alamo. Arrived 11:00am, no line, had to change cars as first one was a Sebring with 22K miles and a flat front tire. No problem, easy switch to newer Mustang convertible which was perfect. Important note - Bring a hat or apply sunscreen immediately as I got a forehead burn on our trip to the Sheraton (40 min drive). Oops.

5/31 - Room at Sheraton not ready, so we went to the pool. Had lunch out at the pool. A bit spendy $13 for a ham sandwich, but it was good. Water is nice, main pool area was packed no free chairs, but we found a couple at the smaller kiddy side pool. Room was upgraded to a Jr. Suite Ocean Front, which had a wonderful view and easy access to the grounds. After a quick nap, we went to Lahaina to do some shopping and looking. Most stores all offer the same fare, some specialty shops. Walked into Kimo%26#39;s restaurant at 6:45pm for dinner, told a 50 minute wait, so we ate at the bar. This was a lot of fun. Great place, great food. Highly recommended. $88.

6/1 - Rented a cabana on Kaanapali Beach for our anniversary. The weather was hot and light winds all day. Cabana well worth the money for the shade. Snorkeled at Black Rock, lots of fish, but lots of people too! Just a great day relaxing and watching the beautiful scenery. Went to David Paul%26#39;s for our anniversary dinner. Very nice place, delicious food, I had the salmon which was extremely good. Nice place to eat, very classy, but no views to speak of. $125. After dinner we moved south to our condo in S. Kihei.

6/2 - Woke up to a beautiful sunrise. Our condo was right on the ocean facing NW, so beautiful views of Lanai and West Maui hills. We stayed at the Kihei Surfside - wonderful location with pool on ocean, large lawn area with putting green, shuffleboard. Saw 3 weddings while we were there. Mana Kai next door has better views of Keawakapu Beach, but misses the sunsets. Snorkeling outside was very good. It got windy every afternoon though so go in the morning.

6/3 - Up early to make the trek to play the Plantation Course at Kapalua. Wonderful golfing experience here. My playing companions all paid the full price of $300, being in the golf business I got a bit of a discount (can%26#39;t tell ya). This was the day of the accident with the little boy, so I got stuck in the traffic on the way back. Our condolenses to the family, the accident scene was pretty horrific. Laid around the condo rest of the day. Ate dinner at Roy%26#39;s Bar and Grill in S. Kihei with another couple we met at the condo. Food was fantastic as always. I had the short ribs, yummy! $98.

6/4 to 6/7. Just a lot of relaxing and snorkeling at the condo. We didn%26#39;t want to tour the island this trip, just kick back and relax. We did do a lot of shopping in S. Kihei and Shops at Wailea. Must recommend the Kihei Gateway Plaza Outlet store you see from the highway. Got 2 Tommy Bahama shirts for $40 each. Can%26#39;t beat that deal!

We had dinner at Isana%26#39;s Korean Restaurant one night - NOT recommended. I had my favorite Kalbi short ribs and they were not good. Waitress was mean. We ended up table cooking our entire meal. $75.

We do recommend Joe%26#39;s Bar and Grill at the Wailea Grand Tennis Courts. I didn%26#39;t see any recommendations of this place on this site, but a guy at our condo pool recommended it so we tried it. This was easily my favorite meal of the whole trip. Pumpkin seed encrusted MahiMahi was delicious, as was the crab dip appetiser and butternut squash soup. I ate way too much here. Great sunset views too. Wonderful meal, you should try it! $120.

I did end up rambling on and on. So sorry for that. We did have a great time, and look forward to another trip as there is so much to do and explore on this island.

Mahalo for reading.

Trip Report - 5/31-6/7

having stayed at the mana kai maui a couple times i can second the opinion that the surfside is a very economical oceanfront choice.joes bar and grill was on our short list of places to try,we heard repeatedly that the food is great but that the tables are so crammed together your hear the other diners conversations more than the wife,hmmmmmmmmmmmm(no comment....)

we ended up at capische(nice!) instead of joe%26#39;s.

ninthisland enjoyed your report,all these reports to read i wanna go back! and its only been 5 weeks.

Trip Report - 5/31-6/7

So...you write for ';GOLF';? (Just a guess. A friend recently retired from writing -- has a stack of golf togs as high as the Sears tower.)

Thanks for the newsy report. We haven%26#39;t tried Joe%26#39;s. Saw the sign above some steps above a flight of stairs going down from the Wailea Center. Couldn%26#39;t see exactly how you got there by car though.

Glad to read a nice report of the Surfside. Any croquet wars break out while you were there?

You know what, I enjoyed this. Especially where you ate and how much you spent at each place. Gives a nice picture there.

We saw a couple of croquet wars. After watching them, I have no idea how to play the game. I don%26#39;t write for golf, I just read a lot :)

I didn%26#39;t hear any other table conversations at Joes. There was a large group with kids a couple of tables behind us, and I didn%26#39;t even notice them. Maybe the lack of walls deadens the sound. If the food is great though, I wouldn%26#39;t care if the place had plastic red and white checkerboard tableclothes. David Paul%26#39;s tables were pretty close together as well. And Kimo%26#39;s was pretty noisy in a jovial way, but that made the atmosphere.

donboy, we%26#39;ve eaten many times at Joe%26#39;s and never had a problem with neighboring conversations. I suppose if there were a large, loud party...

Too bad you had to drive back to the West to play golf , after you had been in the area. We have always wanted to eat at Joe%26#39;s because we really like the Haillemaille General Store, run by his wife. Mahalo for your report.

Enjoyed reading your report- thanks!

Thanks for sharing! I%26#39;ll take your recommendation about the Kihei Gateway Plaza Outlet . Saving some money never hurt anybody.

Sounds like a great trip! And happy belated anniversary.

Sounds like a wonderful trip, except for the first day sunburn.... hope that it didn%26#39;t end up looking like you had a bad case of dandruff!!! ;-)

Thanks for writing the report, we enjoyed it.

Congrats on your anniversary.... will you be returning to Maui for your next one???

ojon