Beach Hopping in South Maui

Boy, today was quite a long day, so forgive me for not going in way too much detail right now. Bear in mind, though, that I will be adding each of these to our Beaches section in the coming weeks.

The day started off about 11am heading down to South Maui for the first time this trip. First on our list today was Kama'ole Beach Park I.



Kama'ole is actually made up of 3 different beach parks in Kihei, and we started off with the first one. Of the three beaches we visited today, the sun and clouds cooperated the most. It was a pretty nice beach, and there was plenty of room for us to spread out. The facilities were pretty nice, too, as there was showers, restrooms and a lifeguard. Parking was a little tight, though, luckily we pulled in just as someone was leaving.

After spending almost two hours here, we went on a little "adventure" (as we like to call it) and tracked down a little beach called Malu'aka Beach near Makena.



It was the smallest we stopped at on Tuesday, but it was still nice. I was able to walk around for a while, and just like Kapalua, there was a little walking trail at one end of the beach where I could go through a few rocks and take photos like the one above. The guidebook said there were are normally a lot of turtles in the area, and there seemed to be a small family with their snorkel gear trying to track them down.

Aside from the beach itself, Cindy and mom spotted a whale out in the distance with the help of a few folks nearby. They said they whale was active for a little bit and then breached, coming out of the water and making an audible splash when it hit the water. Unfortunately, I missed it and didn't even to think to bring the binoculars to get a better look.

The last stop on our beach tour of South Maui this year was Makena State Park, also known as Big Beach.



This is a very known beach in South Maui as was evident by the two parking lots full of cars and the largest crowd that we saw all day. Also, as the name implies, this was the biggest beach we stopped at all day. Big Beach is almost 2/3 mile long, and walking all the way to the end and back taking photos took quite a bit out of me. At this point, the sky was mostly overcast, so the heat didn't get to me as much and Cindy was a little disappointed from a tanning perspective. It was still quite a sight, though, and with so much room and big waves, it's no wonder that it's a popular spot for people doing everything from boogie boarding, playing frisbee and hitting around the volleyball. Aside from the drive all the way from Ka'anapali, it was a great spot.

Three beaches in one day, so much for R&R. :)