Overview
Think quiet, secluded, and less crowded. Think about having a fairly decsent sized area of golden sand to lay out your beach towel and worship the sun. Your thinking of D.T. Fleming Beach Park, one of the northern most beaches in West Maui, passed Lahaina, Ka'anapali, Kahana, Napili, and Kapalua.

Being this far away from all the hot spots a little south, you get the chance to rest and relax very peacefully, as if you were on the island of Kauai. The drive to the D.T. Fleming Beach is definitely not as scenic and as close to the ocean as Hwy. 30 is south of Lahaina, but once you find your turn off the highway, you're just two minutes from the water.

The beach offers most of the standard facilities, with restrooms, showers to rinse off, and lifeguards on duty during posted hours. There aren't many organized activity stands like some of the busier beaches, but that's kind of the point of coming here; to escape all of that. Just sit back, watch the waves, enjoy the sun and take a dip in the ocean whenever you need to cool off.

Notes
First impressions aren't always everything, at least for beaches. To begin, we drove right passed the left hand turn into the beach park from the highway, but that's what U-turns are for (I've made my fair share). Once you turn off the highway, it's a direct road to the beach, so that's easier. It doesn't look like there's a heck of a lot of parking, but there weren't that many cars, so again it was easy.

We made the trip out there on a rather sunny day, as evident by the short amount of time it took for the soles of your bare feet to begin to sizzle on the hot sand. Good thing there's an ocean near by to cool them off. The giant ironwood trees nearby do a very good job of providing shade, however, they also litter the first part of sand closest to the trees with quite a bit of branches and debris. Fun for finding sticks to write you name in the sand, but you just need to watch where you step.

Roudning off the first impressions, it was a windy day, which made setting up our stuff and keeping it from blowing away a little bit of a challange.

I know it sounds mostly negative by now, but once you get settled, it's a really nice beach in our opinion. It's sort of a welcomed change from large resorts and condos hovering over the sand, and you get more of a personal feel of paradise without parasailers and sailboats 200 yards away. Whether you're like me who likes to stroll up and down the shoreline, taking pictures of all the great views and surroundings; or my wife you just wants as big of a piece of sand she can find and as few clouds as possible, you're bound to enjoy it.

If you're one of those that say they need a vacation from their vacation, or are traveling with your family and want to spend a day with the kids that won't cost a thing (except for gas money) and have that family postcard photo opportunity, pencil in a day at D.T. Fleming Beach Park and thank yourself for it afterwards.

Google Map - D.T. Fleming Beach Park

Here's the stretch of sand at the northern most part of Kapalua known as the D.T. Fleming Beach Park. It's rather secluded compared to the other hot spots just south on Hwy 30.