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gingerhaole · 5 years ago

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Hey-o! Long time follower here. I know you live on O'ahu and I'm going to visit my cousin there for a week. Since you've lived there for a while, in your opinion what's something that I absolutely must do/see/eat while I'm there? I love nature and exploring outside, but I'm open to everything. I want to make the most of my time. Thanks!

Oh, that’s so exciting!! A week is a good time to visit, I think you can get a lot done in a week. Well let me think... If you love the outdoors, there is a LOT to do here! I haven’t done every hike, but I have some favorites. (And AllTrails.com is a GREAT resource, and incredibly thorough.)

Get ready, folks, this is gonna be IN DEPTH! Here’s a guide of Stuff To Do that I made for visiting family;

Near Ewa Beach (where we live):

Ko Olina lagoons: Our favorite beach is here. There are four manmade lagoons that look out over the west, so sunset is especially beautiful. All the major resorts outside of downtown are here, so there’s a very nice little plaza with some restaurants, ice cream, etc. But the beach is the best. You can see some tropical fish, and the waves are always mild.

Ewa Beach rail tour: The historic Railroad Society does a 90-minute tour on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and what remains of the cross-island track. It starts in Ewa and goes all the way down the Waianae coast, which is stunningly beautiful. The track passes through Ko Olina, and on Sundays they stop at the plaza so you can get some ice cream.

On the North Shore:

Dole Plantation: The original pineapple plantation is now a kind of museum. There’s a big main house with gift shop and a cafe (where you can get the famous Dole Whip ice cream, not to be missed). There’s also the world’s largest corn maze, a small botanical garden, and a train ride through the fields and garden.

Hale'iwa Town: The whole town is pretty charming; rainbow storefronts, great local restaurants, art galleries, lots of shrimp trucks, and a very pretty beach where you can regularly find giant sea turtles sleeping on the sand. Hale’iwa is the only “major” town along the road that runs the northern shore. You can stop almost anywhere and see amazing beaches. But mind the surf traffic!

Waimea Bay: The Beach Boys sang about this place! It’s arguably the most spectacular beach on Oahu, surrounded by lush mountains on three sides. We’ve seen turtles, seals, dolphins, even a whale in the distance. There’s a famous jumping rock, and you can find rough surf or lapping waves, depending on which end you go. And it’s convenient because it’s right across the road from…

Waimea Valley Audubon: A nicely paved 1.5 mile walk through a beautiful botanical garden, full of fruit trees, orchids, indigenous plants and flowers, and a nene preserve — that’s the endangered Hawaiian duck. The payoff is a waterfall and a natural freshwater pool that you can swim in! They even have changing rooms and a shave ice shack.

In Manoa:

Lyon Arboretum and Manoa Falls: This is up in the mountains, in the tropical rainforest. One trail leads you to Manoa Falls, but it’s a pretty rough hike. It can be muddy and slippery, and there’s a little bit of climbing over roots and boulders. The other trail is Lyon Arboretum, which I love, and there’s a second waterfall at the top of the trail, but I can’t recall how long the walk is. Mostly it’s a very even path, but some of the trails get steepish, so good walking shoes would be required. But it’s also great the just explore the lower gardens.

Pu’u Ualaka’a Lookout: The highest road accessible by the general public is here, on Round Top Drive. The lookout is a small park, but a million-dollar view, all the way from Diamond Head to Waianae, with Pearl Harbor smack in the middle.

In Kaneohe/Windward shore:

Pali Lookout: A park at the top of the Pali Valley, which is a breathtaking expanse, even bigger than the Pu’u Lookout view. This place is full of history. It’s the site of the the Battle of Nu'uanu, where Kamehameha’s warriors forced 400 of Oahu’s defenders off the cliff and to their deaths. It’s a beautiful, eerie, powerful place to be, full of ghosts.

Valley of the Temples: One of my favorite places is the Byodo-in Temple, a replica of a Buddhist temple in Japan. It’s situated at the foot of the Ko’olau Mountains, and features the largest Buddha statue in Hawaii. It’s a beautiful place, very peaceful, with lots of koi and swans and a lovely garden.

Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden: One of the most beautiful places on the island, if you’re asking me. 400 acres of gardens, a lovely duck-filled lake, and the most breathtaking 360-degree mountain view. NOT to be missed.

Kualoa Beach: Driving to the temple usually takes us on the LONG drive around the windward coast. There are a few very small towns, and the beaches are beautiful. Kualoa is a huge beach park, almost always deserted. The water is calm and shallow, and right off shore is the tiny Chinaman’s Hat island. In back of the park is a mountain range that you may recognize from Jurassic Park! Driving this way takes between two and three hours, and eventually connects to the North Shore. It’s a great way to see this part of the island, and you can stop anywhere along the way for swimming or a bite to eat. Great shrimp trucks, too!

In Honolulu:

Bishop Museum: Our natural and indigenous history museum. It’s pretty incredible, with etymology and ornithology collections, a portrait gallery, a planetarium, three floors of Pacific island history, and a volcano-centric science building!

‘Iolani Palace: The palace of the former Hawaiian monarchy, which offers guided tours. I was really moved when I visited. It’s amazing to see the throne room or the royal jewels, but even more amazing to see the small room where Queen Liliuokalani was held under house arrest, and sewed a commemorative quilt that’s on display.

In Waikiki:

Ala Moana mall: It’s apparently the world’s largest open-air mall. I’m not like a fan of malls, but this place is beautiful to see and wander around. And the FOOD! There’s a whole lower section called Shirokiya Japan Village Walk, which is like a grid of little restaurants and bakeries where you can find any Asian food you’re craving (and the world’s best chocolate cream puffs, too). On Fridays at 8:15 pm, the harbor just across the street sets off a little fireworks show.

Waikiki Beach: A pretty unbeatable place to people watch, have a swim, or lay out in the sun (with a mai tai or a beer, maybe). You can see the historic pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel, the statue of famous surfer Duke Kahanamoku, or sneak into the lobby of the Halekulani and use their fancy Japanese toilets!

King’s Village: A couple blocks of shops and restaurants that looks straight out of Disneyland. I love to just look at everything. On Thursdays and Sundays at 6:30 pm, they perform a tribute to the King’s Guard — on Thursdays it’s fire knife dancing and Polynesian drumming, and on Sundays it’s hula dancing and ukulele. Pretty cool!

Honolulu Zoo: It’s a small zoo, but it’s still pretty awesome! Features a brand new gigantic elephant paddock, a new reptile section, and a very nice keiki petting zoo. Sometimes they give all the animals special snacks -- the elephants get giant popcorn balls!

Honolulu Aquarium: Again, it’s not a huge aquarium, but it’s beautifully laid out, and full of native fishes and monk seals. The zoo and aquarium are both right at the end of Waikiki Beach, so it’s easy enough to do one of these and see more of Waikiki in a day.

Diamond Head: The famous (and famously exhausting) trail to the top of the Diamond Head crater takes about an hour and involves the Hundred Stairs and squeezing yourself through a bunker, but at the top you get a 360 degree view, and it is pretty hard to argue the rewards.

In Hawaii Kai:

Hanauma Bay: This a smallish bay in a state park that’s filled with a coral reef, and chock full of tropical fish — sea turtles, eels, puffers, giant parrotfish, everything. You can even see the state fish, the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a! It’s really like swimming in an aquarium, and if you’ve never been snorkeling, this is a great place to learn because it’s fairly shallow and the waves are usually really mild. It’s closed on Tuesdays (that’s when they paint the fish).

Halona Blowhole: Just up the road from Hanauma Bay is a cliff that goes down to tide pools and the Blowhole. Like Old Reliable, only you get a geyser every time the waves come up through the rock.

Makapu’u Lighthouse trail: This one is a paved 3.2 mile walk, but it gets steep and it’s in direct sun. However, the view at the top is pretty spectacular, and I’ve never gone up and not seen whales below. You can, though, just walk to the first benchmark, which is maybe a quarter mile, and get a pretty fantastic view. This is just about on the opposite side of the island from our house, so we usually stay a while in Hawaii Kai and have dinner at our favorite Greek restaurant, and finish it up with some famous Bubbie’s ice cream and a sunset at the Koko Head Marina.

Bear in mind, this is NOT the most comprehensive list of activities, it’s just what I personally like. I hope it helps!

#gingerhaole answers #hawaii #oahu #sweet-peach-tea

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antikate · 5 years ago

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I don’t know I’m bored and anxious, and so here’s another ask thing.

Birthday: September.

Zodiac: Virgo something in Virgo rising with a Virgo in the house of Virgo, from memory? Basically I’m a neurotic mess who drinks too much coffee.

Last song I listened to: Hozier’s cover of Toxic, of course.

Hobbies: I knit, sew, occasionally make bad arts, I’m trying to learn the ukulele, I enjoy photography, and I hike. Oh and I write too. I’m pretty average at all these things, but I amuse myself.

Last movie I watched: Moana, with the smols. I adore this movie so it wasn’t a hardship.

Dream job: pretty much what I do now - look after my kids, write, make things - but I’d like to be paid for it. Or storm chaser/photographer. That would be good too.

Meaning behind my URL: Anti is short for Antipodean, as in a person from Australia. And Kate is my name. I wish I was more imaginative about these things but alas, I am not. I am not really Anti anything except stupidity and greed and meanness, and I had the handle long before Antis became a thing in fandom spaces. Get off my lawn etc.

Top four ships: the Millennium Falcon, Serenity, the Enterprise and the Icarus II.

Reading: I just started The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I am rereading Lynda Barry’s What It Is too.

What food am I craving: I could go a nice Arnott’s shortbread cream biscuit.

Anyway thanks @racketghost for the inducement to share pointless details. If you want to, do this! If you don’t, don’t! (I always enjoy reading everyone’s answers so you know, consider me your rapt audience of one.)

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jaaaaaaayxx · 2 years ago

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2. Where am I?

As of right now, I am finishing up the style guide of how I want my instagram page. I have the account set up so I am working to put the guide into use. (The account name is connected_hi, however it might changed depending on how I feel about the overall project)

The way my setup will be is a first post explaining cultural artifacts, basically a synopsis of the paper. The next post will be about the Hawaii Plantation Village since I am focusing on the items brought into Hawaii during that time. Afterwards, I will have posts about the items and how its profound in local culture. Some posts will have interviews and others will have static pictures.

Some items that I want touch upon are:

Aloha shirts (Im thinking contacting the Hilo Hattie store in Ala-moana or the store is SALT at our kakaako)

Ukulele

Malasadas

Plate lunch

Jewelry (Specifically the gold bangles - yenno what I'm talking about)

Manapua Truck

Swap meet

Valley of the Temples

Zippys

Tattoos? (Would it be considered a cultural artifact?)

I want to include the items I wrote in the paper but also bring up those that are very "local" and back track its roots. There will also be stories included on the posts which will house footage I didn't use from the interviews.

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For the mural, I have the overall shape of what I want but its the design that I am struggling to think of. I don't want to use photos (though it is a last resort) because thats what the instagram is all about so I am thinking of drawing it out. The piece will include puzzle pieces and each piece represents the different ethnic groups from the plantation era. These pieces will connect to each other. So I am scratching that idea of small pictures make a whole thing cause I feel like the overall idea I want to portray is that our local culture is made up of these connected ethnicities.

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NEXT STEPS:

Definitely reaching out to places. I want to post at least post something with an interview at least once a week.

I really gotta focus though, I won't deny it. I am slacking behind in my schedule so I have to start picking up the pace.

#late

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mitchellkuga · 10 years ago

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My Native Tongue

Published by Southwest The Magazine

I was raised on Hawaiian Pidgin English, a melting pot of a language that reflects the islands’ history, but it took me years to fully appreciate its importance, not just to local culture but my own identity.

I don’t know if there’s a sound that captures what it means to be from Hawaii quite like Hawaiian Pidgin English. Sure, there’s the voice of the beloved Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole, singing coolly over his ukulele about the white sandy beaches and the “colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky.” Or the rhythmic cadences of the ipu, a percussive gourd that soundtracked the hula lessons I attended at the local Y as a child. Or the soothing trance of waves tickling the shore of Ala Moana Beach Park at dusk while my siblings and I waited for Fourth of July fireworks. But nothing reflects Hawaii’s confluence of cultures, its medley of immigrants, quite like my father’s voice barking, “Eh! Das all hamajang!”

He was referring to my tile work, which, to be fair, was all hamajang: messed up, crooked, disorderly. What did he expect? I was a broke Syracuse University student, back home in Honolulu for the summer and working with my dad to fund an expensive semester abroad in London. I didn’t know how to tile a pool, a skill my father had perfected decades ago, during summers helping his own father run the family pool company. Down in the scorching pit of a concrete hole, I saw a different side of my father, whose mode of communicating tended to err on the side of silence. Here, leading a team of laborers from as far as Micronesia and as near as Waipahu, he gave directives, criticisms, and the occasional compliment in the staccato inflection of Hawaiian Pidgin.

“Cherry,” he’d drawl, the few times I managed to do something right. He’d stretch both ends of the word to sound closer to “chair-ray” and employ it when something looked impeccable. I’d savor that verbal pat on the back for hours. Other words were less descriptive. “Try pass the da kine,” he’d say, gesturing toward a pile of tools. Through the powers of clairvoyance—“da kine” is said to derive from “the kind,” a common Pidgin catchall for “whatchamacallit”—I mostly understood what he was asking for. When I returned with the wrong thing, he’d clarify, “No, the da kine da kine!”

Growing up in Honolulu, I didn’t learn Pidgin so much as absorb it; the language was as inherent to the texture of my upbringing as rubbah slippahs (flip-flops) and Spam. It originated on the sugarcane plantations that proliferated throughout Hawaii during the turn of the 20th century, leading to a burgeoning economy that brought immigrants from China, Japan, Portugal, Korea, and the Philippines despite less than ideal conditions. To communicate, plantation workers fused pieces of their native tongues with Hawaiian and English, creating a dialect to match an unprecedented convergence of cultures yearning to connect.

Though its origins are proudly blue collar, Pidgin in Hawaii is ubiquitous. Brash, sharp, and comically evocative, I heard it most frequently in the taunts hurled on my elementary schoolyard (“You so lolo,” meant someone was stupid), peppering the cadence of my aunty’s garage parties (“Brah, you stay all buss,” meant someone was drunk), and marinating the tongues at barbecues on the beach (“Ho! Get choke grindz” meant there was food, and lots of it). It’s the dialect favored by local comedians, who brandish its self-aware, anti-establishment humor as both identity and weapon: for locals only. It’s how we “talk story,” catching up over plate lunches in between the clinking of Heine-kens. It’s Standard American English dressed in an aloha shirt, trading its monocle for a pair of sunglasses. Construction workers, police officers, and bus drivers all speak it. So did my dentist. It’s not so much a reflection of local culture as the culture itself, as it is one of the fundamental things that makes Hawaii Hawaii.

To the foreign ear, it might sound like botched English, a gross simplification that ignores words like “are” and “is” (“You stay hungry?”), flips sentence structure on its head (“So cute da baby”), and employs colorful slang. “Broke da mouth,” for instance, is used when food is so “‘ono,” or delicious, that your mouth breaks, and “talk stink” means to engage in the odious art of bad-mouthing. But the Pidgin that locals speak today isn’t slang, broken English, or even technically Pidgin—defined by Merriam-Webster as “a simplified speech used for communication between people with different languages”—which might be the most Pidgin thing about Pidgin. Instead, generations of locals (some who speak exclusively in Pidgin) elevated what was once considered hamajang plantation talk into its very own form, replete with its own set of rules. Linguists define it as a creole, a separate language that was recognized as such by the Census Bureau in 2015.

Ididn’t grow up embracing Pidgin. After Pidgin-ing out on job sites, my father would code-switch back to “proper” English at home. Growing up, this fluidity felt central to the language, the almost subconscious ability to distinguish when it was appropriate to wield its power and when to stash it in your back pocket. Not understanding this difference had its consequences. My mother, who grew up on Kauai and moved to the “big city” of Honolulu to attend a private boarding school, recalls her high school history teacher ordering her to stand in a corner and stare at a wall. Her offense? Saying “da kine.”

This stigmatization traces back to those sugarcane plantations: Pidgin as broken English for the uneducated immigrant. The Hawaii State Board of Education has repeatedly attempted to ban Pidgin from the public school system, with former Gov. Ben Cayetano once declaring Pidgin “a tremendous handicap” for those “trying to get a job in the real world.” Growing up, I wore my Pidgin lightly, fearing that indulging in its subversion was a one-way ticket to nowhere, a way of limiting myself to the bottom of that concrete pit.

In the ’90s, a wave of writers and activists fought to combat this perception, sparking something of a Pidgin Renaissance. Through poetry, novels, and essays, writers like Lois-Ann Yamanaka, Lee Cataluna, and Darrell H.Y. Lum positioned the once dismissed dialect as literature. Emerging out of that shift stomped Pidgin theater, Pidgin dictionaries, and a Pidgin Bible, dubbed “Da Jesus Book.” “Talking li’ dat” (“like that”) even managed to penetrate the most resistant institution: academia. At Syracuse University, to my shock, I studied Yamanaka’s seminal novel Blu’s Hanging, which mines the Pidgin of its protagonist to spotlight the underbelly of working class Hawaii. In 2002, the University of Hawaii at Manoa established The Charlene Junko Sato Center for Pidgin, Creole, and Dialect Studies, dedicated to conducting research on “stigmatized dialects.”

A leading voice in the movement is Lee Tonouchi, who’s often referred to as “Da Pidgin Guerilla.” In the late ’90s, as a student at the University of Hawaii, Tonouchi had an epiphany while reading a poem by Eric Chock, who co-founded Bamboo Ridge Press, the leading publisher of Pidgin-centric writing. Titled “Tutu on the Curb”—“tutu” being Hawaiian for grandparent—Chock’s poem is expressive and comical: “She squint and wiggle her nose / at the heat / And the thick stink fumes / The bus driver just futted all over her.”

“I remembah being blown away by da Pidgin,” Tonouchi, who writes and speaks exclusively in Pidgin, says by email. “I wuz all like, ‘Ho! Get guys writing in Pidgin. And we studying ’em in college. Das means you gotta be smart for study Pidgin!’”

Tonouchi started flirting with his native language scholastically, first in his creative writing class, which got him thinking: If I can do my creative stuff in Pidgin, how come I no can do my critical stuff in Pidgin too? Over time, he started writing his 30-page research papers and his entire master’s thesis in Pidgin, “until eventually I just wrote everyting in Pidgin.” Part of the decision was practical. As a kid growing up on Oahu, he felt perplexed by the books he read. People no talk li’ dat, he thought. “Writing how people sounded seemed more real to me,” he says.

Since graduating, Tonouchi has dedicated his life to establishing Pidgin as its own intellectually rigorous and poetically descriptive language. He’s published multiple books of Pidgin poetry and essays, written a play in Pidgin, and co-founded Hybolics, a literary Pidgin magazine that’s short for hyperbolic, used when someone is behaving like a snooty intellectual: “Why you acting all hybolic for?” Perhaps most groundbreaking was an English class called “Pidgin Literature” that he taught at Hawaii Pacific University in 2005. It was regarded as the first of its kind: a college course fully dedicated to fiction and poetry in Pidgin. Yes, brah. He even lectured in Pidgin.

Over the years, Tonouchi has noticed a decline in Pidgin, particularly among the young. “When I visit classrooms as one guest talker, I see that we kinda losing da connection. Simple kine Pidgin vocabularies da kids dunno,” he says. “I tink Pidgin might be coming one endangered language.”

There was a period in my life, after I moved away for college, when I scrubbed Pidgin from my lips, my tongue colonized. “You talk so haole,” my mom would say half-jokingly, employing the Hawaiian word for “Caucasian.” I knew my tongue should loosen, should adapt to the inflection of my aunties and uncles, to the comforts of poke and Mom’s home-cooked shoyu chicken. I was home for the holidays, surrounded by friends and family, but instead my tongue stiffened, intent on proving that I had transcended the confines of the tiny island I called home. I was acting all hybolic.

It took me years to realize that shunning Pidgin meant shunning where I was from, the food I ate, the beaches I roamed, the people I loved. Today, it’s hard for me to fathom a Hawaii without Pidgin. Particularly in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, how else would locals, with a single sentence, signal their localness to one another?

On a recent visit home, I went to the beach. Oahu’s North Shore is a disorienting mix of sunburnt tourists and the very local; having lived in New York for more than seven years by that point, I imagined I looked like a cross between the two. As I sat in front of the crashing waves, a tanned surfer with sun-bleached hair approached me apprehensively to ask for a bottle opener. “Try wait,” I said, rummaging through my beach bag.

It was barely perceptible, but his face flashed with the comfort of recognition: He was talking to a kama‘aina, a local. After I handed over the bottle opener on my key ring, he had one more question. “You like one beer?”

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timesharesonly · 6 years ago

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On the Big Island

Book A Private Dinner on the Beach Four Seasons Hualalai / 72-100 Ka’upulehu Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 / (808) 325-8000

If a private dinner on the beach isn’t enough for a romantic night, you can also have your dinner accompanied by a local ukulele player and hula dancer. Starting at $1,000 for a four-course menu, the Four Seasons Hualalai offers the ultimate intimate dining experience. Complete with two glasses of Ruinart Rose Champagne, specially designed floral arrangements and a formal dining setup makes for an unforgettable evening. Even more opulent options include a dinner featuring a four-course customized dinner served with Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame Champagne. This menu is created just for you with the aid of a private chef consultation. For the whole menu of dinner enhancements you can add on to your spectacular night, check out the full information booklet. Enjoy A Cup of Real Kona Coffee Brewed by A Coffee Expert Daylight Mind Coffee Company / 75-5770 Ali’i Drive Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 / (808) 339-7824

Run by coffee scientist and connoisseur Shawn Steiman, Daylight Coffee brews real Hawaiian-grown coffee from the islands. In addition to Maui and Oahu, some international varieties also come from Peru and Colombia. But there’s more to Daylight Coffee than incredible coffee perfected by science. The menu includes a full variety of brunch and lunch favorites, as well as cocktails. For a filling (but delicious) breakfast item, opt for the “Sam,” a hearty portion of meat-filled omelet topped with cheese, hollandaise and gravy, served with a side of rice and pancakes. Standout cocktails include the warmth-inducing Cascara Breeze, which blends vodka with cascara syrup and lemon, and the tropical margarita which comes in passionfruit or guava flavors. Luxury Timeshares on the Big Island

The largest island of Hawaii can't be complete without the best of the best luxury Hawaiian timeshare resorts. The Bay Club at Waikoloa Beach Resort offers a breath-taking experience for Hilton Grand Vacation Club owners. A Hawaiian haven, Bay Club sits between two champion golf courses on the Waiulua Bay. Two swimming pools, tennis courts and poolside cafe are available for all guests to indulge in. Read the full article

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freespiritshawaii · 8 years ago

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#Repost @honolulumuseum ・・・ This Friday, #ARTafterDARK: AlohArt is about spotlighting local talent! Here's what you need to know: This month, the first 300 guests will get a pair of swagalicious #ArtistsofHawaii2017 sunglasses! • ‘Ukulele star @taimanegardner performs with taiko drummers and light dancers. • @808melody spins modern island jams in the Luce Pavilion. • Daniel Anthony of @ManaAi demonstrates the Hawaiian tradition of pa‘i‘ai pounding. Guests are encouraged to sample the finished product. • Art scavenger hunt: Take a quiz in the HoMA mobile app to find works of art in galleries. The first two winners to solve the puzzle will receive a Grand Prize tote bag, which includes two tickets to Spring Beauty Trend Week Cocktail Hour on Friday, May 5, 2017 from 6-9 pm at Nordstrom Ala Moana. The first 10 winners get an AlohArt tote bag—while supplies last! • @eathonolulu serves the food, while @freespiritshawaii serves the drinks including the evening's specialty cocktail "skinny colada" Special thanks to the evening's sponsor @nordstromhawaii! http://ift.tt/2mXjGZP

#IFTTT #Instagram

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vacationsoup · 7 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://vacationsoup.com/best-maui-adventures-youve-never-heard-about/

7 Of The Best Maui Adventures You've Probably Never Heard About

7 Of The Best Maui Adventures You’ve Never Heard About

All the guide books tell us about the most popular Maui activities such as the Road to Hana, Snorkel Tours, Whale Watching and Biking Down A Volcano but have you heard that you can be a Mermaid For A Day? How about Rappelling down a Waterfall or Jungle Wall?

Today we explore 7 Of The Best Maui Adventures You’ve Never Heard About.

1. Rappel A Waterfall!

Get your helmet on and be brave! Take a tour with Rappel Maui and see what it’s like to “walk down walls of water and rock on Maui, one of the most remote places on Earth, it’s an activity that engages all the senses.”

From their website;

About Rappel Maui Imagine the beauty, the wonder, the magic of Hawaii’s tropical rainforest and waterfalls. Now you can experience it all in the most intimate, thrilling way: Cruising down jungle canyon cliffs and natural waterfalls by way of rappelling. What is rappelling? It’s a practice used in the outdoor adventure sport of canyoneering to explore vertical terrain using fixed or anchored ropes and other equipment.

More info here: https://www.rappelmaui.com

2. Make your own souvenir at Moana Glass Blowing. Imagine making and taking home your own hand blown glass starfish, bowl, ornament or fish! This is truly a great (5 Yelp Stars) and unique activity!

More info here: https://www.blowglasshawaii.com/

3. Paddle with a local canoe club.

Kihei Canoe Club offers a visitor paddling program which includes an introduction to Hawaiian Culture, instruction in outrigger canoe paddling, and discussion of the local sea life. Paddling sessions usually begin with E Ala E, a traditional chant to welcome the rising sun. This is followed by paddling instruction. Canoes launch about 8:00am and return approximately 9:00am. Depending on conditions, we may paddle to an outer reef to see large sea turtles, venture out to observe whales or head north toward Kealia Pond and Sugar Beach. After returning we end the program with a Mahalo chant to give thanks to the land, the sea and to Hawaiian deities such as na kupuna (ancestors) and na aumakua (family gods.)

The visitor program is offered on Tuesday and Thursday year round, conditions permitting. Adults and children over the age of 9 are welcome to paddle with experienced club members in single or double hull outrigger canoes. We do not take reservations, so plan to be at the club early. Sign-in begins at 7:00am. This is a very popular activity and is strictly first-come, first-served. No previous experience required.

A tax deductible donation of $40 per adult is suggested and is used to support the various education and paddling programs the club offers.

More info here: http://www.kiheicanoeclub.com

4. Be a Mermaid for a day.

Mermaid tails are all the rage and for good reason- they are a fun and exciting way to explore the ocean! With Hawaii Mermaid Adventures, learn to swim like a mermaid while creating great memories on your Maui vacation.

Your swim instructors are certified lifeguards with years of experience. They will keep everyone safe while capturing great web-quality photos too. No extra charge!

We had a blast mermaidung with @travelchannel! . #Repost @travelchannel with @get_repost ・・・ Become the mermaid you always knew you were when you visit @hawaiimermaidadventures! 🧜‍♀️💦🧜‍♂️ #TravelChannel #ExploreYourWorld #MermaidLife #Maui

A post shared by Hawaii Mermaid (@hawaiimermaidadventures) on May 8, 2018 at 2:10pm PDT

More info here: https://hawaiimermaidadventures.com

5. Track the stars on a Volcano Summit. “Guided Sunset & Stargazing Tours at Haleakala Summit. Join Maui Stargazing for a stunning sunset at Haleakala Summit followed by a science-based, 60 to 90-minute guided telescope tour of the cosmos. Observe the most deep-sky objects through the largest portable telescope on Haleakala. Stay warm in our winter jacket and snowboard pants in sizes from toddler to 4-XL. This Haleakala National Park astronomy tour spans five hours.”

“Start with a breathtaking sunset at the summit of Haleakala, Maui’s 10,000′ dormant volcano. Before darkness settles, we move to a family-friendly observing site for a fascinating laser-guided tour of the constellations and unparalleled views in the field setting. You’re treated to telescope views of the visible planets and deep-sky objects of the Milky Way, including nebulae, star clusters, and the galaxies beyond through a 12-inch aperture Dobsonian telescope! Maui Stargazing supplies all the necessary warm clothing to keep you comfortable throughout the stargazing session.”

More info here: https://www.mauistargazing.com

6. Learn to play the Ukulele with Locals! Ever wanted to learn to play the Ukulele? It’s one of the top items in our Maui Bucket List. So why not take a free class with 808UkuJams?

We’ve covered this adventure in another blog post here, on Thursday evenings the Keolahou Hawaiian Congregational Church hosts 808Uke Jam, a wonderful class of ukulele enthusiast of all different levels hosted and taught by Jared Delos Santos. It begins promptly at 7pm and ends at 9pm. This is open to those who love the ukulele and want to learn (or even if you just want to check it out). Ukulele’s are available to rent – arrive early (give yourself at least 20 minutes to get a Ukulele, song book and music stand.)

Check out Google for some basic chords before arriving – it helps if you familiarize yourself a little.

More info here: http://808ukejams.com/

7. Learn about exotic fruits on a local Farm Tour. Maui has numerous farms and many give tours. Here’s a list of Maui’s farms that showcase exotic and tropical fruits, nuts and vegetables that you might not ever find on the US Mainland.

O’o Farm’s Coffee tour – website link

Our Seed to Cup tour beings in the misting forest of Waipoli in Upcountry Maui where you will find O’o Farm. You’ll be greeted with french press coffee to start your day up on top of our farm. You will also discover with us as we take an inside look at the transformation from the fruit of a scraggly bush into the World’s second most sought after commodity. Participants connect with both agriculture history of coffee and the “seed to cup” process by strolling through our orchard and experiencing sight, sounds and smells a real roasting operation.

Hana Gold’s Cacao Farm Tour – website link

Made in Hana, Maui – from branch to bar. Ideally situated on the Hana Coast of Maui, Hana Gold is one of Hawaii’s first cacao plantations. The unique climate and fertile volcanic soil of Hawaii gives Hana Gold Cacao a rich and complex flavor that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Call ahead and take our plantation tour! $25 per adult, kids 14 and under are free when accompanied by a paying adult. Tour Time Is 2pm.

Ono Organic Exotic Tropical Fruit, Coffee and Chocolate Tasting Adventure – website link

Enjoy a fruit-filled “Garden of Eden.” Our Exotic Tropical Fruit Tasting Adventure includes samples of ten to twelve in-season fruits, our “ONO-licious” home grown coffee and home grown and roasted chocolate beans. Tours take place every Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Same day reservations may be available if reserved prior to 12:30 p.m. HST.

Maui’s Only Dragonfruit Farm – website link

We blogged about this Lahaina farm recently.

Guided Farm Tours – “Our family friendly guided walking farm tour takes about one hour. You begin with a fruit tasting in the bamboo gazebo where you will taste exotic fresh picked fruit as seasonally available. Our main dragon fruit season is July to November. Our main pineapple season is June to July. Dragon fruit, pineapple, banana, papaya, sugar cane, passion fruit and more all grow at the Maui Dragon Fruit Farm.

After the tasting, our knowledgeable guides will take you on a stroll. You will get a closer look at the plants producing this excellent fruit. See first hand how dragon fruit, pineapple, sugar cane and papaya are grown here in Hawaii and learn about the organic practices that help the fruit taste so delicious! Discover some of the plants the Hawaiian people brought with them when they first came to these islands. All this while enjoying breath-taking views of the Pacific Ocean and the West Maui Mountains.”

Punakea Palms Working Coconut farm tours -website link

Check out our blog post about Punakea Palms to read more. Coconut Farm Tasting Tour – With Aloha we welcome you to tour our farm. Experience the sights and tastes of a working coconut farm. Learn the usefulness of the coconut tree and discover how to extract its bounty. Participate in all the stages of coconut cultivation and consumption, all while basking in the natural beauty of our farm. Take home fresh, hand-made coconut products from a truly authentic experience. Pre-Booked Reservations Required

Have a great, yet hardly known Maui activity or adventure? Let us know in the comments below so we can share with our readers! Mahalo!

Looking for more Maui vacation ideas? Lots of things to see and do,

come on over and visit our Local Maui Guide or Maui Events Calendar!

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#Hawaii #HolidayInMaui #Kihei #Maui #MauiActivities #MauiAdventures #VacationInMaui #VacationSoup #whattodo #WhattoDoMaui #whattosee

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