Our second full day on Maui is coming to a close and though we had very similar activities to yesterday, the day felt very different.

Yesterday we visited two beaches near Kihei. It was very casual and we were just getting acclimated to the ocean waves. Today we travelled north and west and visited two more beaches, but this time, it was more upscale and had a completely different feel.

The first beach was Kaanapali beach which we gained access to through the Sheraton Maui resort. Our AirBnb host, Matthew, was the one who told us that even though the resorts own the property/land they occupy, the beaches can’t be owned by them and are always open for public access. What this means is that you have to walk through the resort to get to the beach. It kind of feels a little like trespassing, and you really have no idea who is a guest of the hotel and who’s just some random schmo walking in off the street.

Of course we did have to figure out where to park and they certainly don’t make that easy (or cheap). It was 2 bucks for every 20 minutes… yowza! I think of all the beaches we had been to thus far, this one was my fav. It would be a close call with Kihei Park III. We spent a couple of hours at this beach and then opted to leave in order to find a different place, where we could do some snorkeling.

We drove further north and I intended to go to Kapalua Beach on Kapalua Bay because it was in the top 5 list for snorkeling on Maui, but because I was trusting in the nav on my phone, I ended up at Napali Bay instead. We rented the snorkel masks and fins and made our way, which was again not an obvious path, to the beach. After much hassle with the eq we were finally in the water and trolling around and looking at a lot of sand. Z concluded that we were supposed to go way out to get to the cool stuff, but neither one of us was willing to do that.

C, who seemed to take most naturally to the snorkel, was happy as a clam (haha) staying right up in the waves crashing on the beach. He had no interest in seeing anything cool and just wanted to continue to feel tossed about on the shore. Unbeknownst to them, the whole snorkel thing was a really big deal for me.

I’ve had two “near death” experiences with drowning. I put that in quotes because I have no idea now near death I was. The first instance I was too young to remember and my dad can only shudder when the story comes up. The second instance was at the National White Water Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was not under long enough to become unconscious, but the entire experience was so traumatic for me, it does not really matter. It left me terrified to have my head under the water and and I have moderate fear when it comes to any water sports where 1)My feet can’t touch the bottom 2)I might not be in complete control of my surroundings. So when it comes to the ocean, you can just say I’m exponentially fearful of things that could happen.

Despite that, though, I was able to don that mask and almost regulate my breathing as I floated on top the water. I had to get over a lot of what felt like hyperventilating at first but I eventually was able to gain some composure and navigate around close to shore. However, as I stated, we were at the wrong beach and there was nothing to look at but sand. After just a little bit, we all got bored of the mask and fins and breathing apparatus and gave it up to just swim.

We swam at that second beach for about an hour and a half I think. I was not paying attention to the time at all today so I really have no idea how long we did each thing or even how long the drive was to get there. We did have to be back to Kihei in time to gather our things from the AirBnb and migrate to Ken’s place. His house will be home base for the rest of the duration of our stay here on Maui.

That’s actually where we are at now. I’m worn out from driving and the sun and the fact that there was not time for a nap today like there was yesterday. That makes a big difference. I would offer up opinions on which beach out of the four we visited was the best from both C and Z but they have both gone to sleep already. I’m sure I’ll be there too, as soon as my head hits the pillow. I need to get a good sleep because tomorrow is hiking on Haleakala seeing the sunset from the summit.

No Laila, Pule Hoola
~Miss SugarCookie