Sunday Photo: Swimming Honu

Swimming Honu
Taken by Kris Nelson on April 22, 2008
Location: Sheraton Maui Resort, Ka'anapali

As I mentioned yesterday, we're headed back to the Sheraton for the fourth year in a row, come February. Although there was the thought of using my aunt's timeshare or even looking for somewhere else to stay, we would have missed out on our almost daily greetings from the honu (sea turtles) near Black Rock.

You see, we save up and splurge on the ocean front rooms at the Sheraton Maui Resort, and not only do you get views like this one from your own private lanai, you get to see the sea turtles that swim near Black Rock in Ka'anapali.  There will also be the occasional snorkeller swimming nearby as well (and the ones that decide to where their white T-shirt in the water, we call those albino sea turtles) since the area is often regarded as one of the better snorkeling areas in West Maui.  And while we aren't water sport people ourselves, we have the next best thing from the vantage point on our lanai.

Almost everytime we're out on our balcony, whether it's first thing in the morning, coming back from breakfast, or stopping back to our room after time at the pool, we'd take a moment to see one of these fun creatures poke his head out of the water.  In some cases, we've seen two and even three turtles all nearby in the same place, and they'll even stay near the surface for a good minute or two before diving down back out of sight.

Now, since we're not sea people like I mentioned, I had to use my 300mm telephoto lens to get this close up.  Even then, this photo is cropped to get a better view.  The only time we've gotten super close is at the Maui Ocean Center and their Turtle Lagoon exhibit.  As you can see, they look a little less friendly up close.

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If you'd like to see more photos, you can check out our Sunday Photos category here at the blog, featuring a new photo every week. Our website also features daily photos on the Today's Photos page, and if you're Flickr fans like us, you can check out our Ka'anapali Dreamin' collection.

What to own or use any of our photos? Check out our new photo store, Maui Wall Candy, for purchase info and ideas on what you can do with them. Both print and digital formats are available.


Also, subscribe to our blog to get the latest updates throughout the week.

Almost Added Another Trip

What a day! We came very, very close to adding another trip to Maui for this December thanks to a great find by Sheila over at Go Visit Hawaii. She posted details of a tremendous deal on ocean view rooms at our very favorite Sheraton Maui Resort, starting at just $199/night through December 25th. That's an incredible savings for such a fabulous resort right on Ka'anapali Beach.

I took it a step further and priced out airfare for United Airlines for the week of 11/30 to 12/6, and that came out to $450/person round-trip. And that's non-stop from Chicago! Boy, you would have thought we won lottery I was so excited.

But alas, as much as we're itching to get back into the warm, tropical paradise that is Maui and re-visit our favorite resort on the island, we have to pass on this one. Accommodating work schedules on such short notice and a few other factors just proved that this one wasn't in the cards for us. Bummer.

We are still very excited, though, to be planning our 4th trip to Maui this upcoming February, which is shaping up to be one of our best trips so far. As things get finalized in the coming weeks, I'll be posting more details on all the new activities and the old favorites that are in the works. Be sure to stay tuned.


And also, a big MAHALO to Sheila over at Go Visit Hawaii for finding and sharing such an amazing deal. She puts a lot of time and effort into her work and it shows. If you haven't seen her site yet or currently don't subscribe to her RSS feed, you really are missing out.

Sunday Photo: Molokai from Maui

Molokai from Maui
Taken by Kris Nelson on June 4, 2006
Location: Sheraton Maui Resort in Ka'anapali
Buy This Photo

As mentioned in the comments from the previous Sunday Photo, this photo was also taken from our time at the Sheraton, and to my amazement, I haven't featured it yet in our Sunday Photo series. Of all the photos from our trips to Maui, this has to be one of my favorites. You can read more about the details at my photography site.

This shot was also one from of my first days with a DSLR camera, and I just remember being so overwhelmed with all the options. I am living proof, however, that a little luck and a beautiful canvas can still lead to magical things. Now, two years and a few thousand photos later, this is still the desktop wallpaper on my primary computer at home and I even have a 20" x 30" version of this hanging on the wall in my home office.

Even though I see this photo everyday, this scenic view at the Sheraton is still one of the first spots we go to every year. It really has that "welcome back" feel for us. I hope you enjoy it.

Mahalo.

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If you'd like to see more photos, you can check out our Sunday Photos category here at the blog, featuring a new photo every week. Our website also features daily photos on the Today's Photos page, and if you're Flickr fans like us, you can check out our Ka'anapali Dreamin' collection.

What to own or use any of our photos? Check out our new photo store, Maui Wall Candy, for purchase info and ideas on what you can do with them. Both print and digital formats are available.


Also, subscribe to our blog to get the latest updates throughout the week.

New Spa Coming Soon to the Sheraton Maui Resort

Spotted this little piece of news over the weekend while looking at rates for the Sheraton Maui Resort for our upcoming trip in February.

Spa at Black Rock Opening Soon

The spa at the Sheraton had been closed for a few years during this renovation, so Cindy has been going over to the Westin Maui Spa instead. Now, come February, she'll either have to make a choice to try out the new Black Rock Spa or do both.

There weren't many details available yet about the new spa opening at the Sheraton, except for the fact that it's going to be the entire first floor of the Hale Nalu building at the resort. We're there every year, so we know that's a big building, but you can see for yourself on their property map.

On a side note if you're looking at the map, we always stay in the Hale Moana building all the way on the left. It's usually a safe distance from all the keiki in the Hale Ohana building. :)

Hale Moana building at the Sheraton Maui Resort

Sunday Photo: Fire Knife Dancer

Fire Knife Dancer
Originally uploaded by webnelly

This one was shot at the Ka'anapali Sunset Luau at the Sheraton Maui Resort last week. Just about every luau on the islands have some sort of fire dancer near the end of the show to add a little danger and excitement to the evening. As if the lovely hula maidens and strong Hawaiian warriors aren't exciting enough.

Wednesday Night's Luau

The luau last night here at the Sheraton was our last planned activity for this trip, and it was just as entertaining as it was last year. The MC was different this year, as was some of the dances, too. We were expecting to see Cindy's favorite, the "mosquito" dance, but it wasn't part of the show this time. The fire knife dancer had a different part, too, although it seemed a lot sorter of a performance this year.



Still, all told, it was a lovely evening. We had gotten down to check-in a little earlier this year and ended up with a much closer table. The sunset, as always, was absolutely stunning as you would expect, and I believe I got a few good shots that are post worthy (when I get to it). A good time was had by all.



As for today, Thursday, it is our last full day here on Maui. We started out with lunch by going to the Aloha Mixed Plate beachside grill just behind the cannery. They were a little shorthanded staff-wise, but the food was excellent and it was a nice atmosphere. That was, of course, on our way back towards Lahaina and Front Street. We were going to play a little shopping game, but that didn't pan out. The cruise ship was in the harbor so things were a little more crowded than usual. I'm not sure where, but I thought I read somewhere that whenever the cruise ship is in port, some merchants tend to raise their prices a little bit (or a lot), so we didn't stay too long.

Also, the thought of leaving these islands yet again started to hit Cindy a little bit, but a stop at Ha'agan Dazs did the trick.

Right now, we're just sitting out on the lanai, watching the sea turtles avoid the snorkelers and watching the sun come out behind the clouds for really the first time today. We're just taking it easy and thinking about what to do for dinner, either something familiar or brand new. Then we get to do our dry run on packing everything and trying to fit in everything we bought this trip. Always the saddest part of our trips here.

Mahalo for now.

At last, back to Maui

Aloha Kakahiaka,

Its still early here on Monday morning, our first full day on Maui. Aside from being just as long of a flight from Chicago as ever, it went off pretty much without a hitch this year. The airline kept to the direct flight that we booked (unlike last year), there were no plane delays (unlike last year), rental car was okay, well, you get the idea.

We're pretty happy with our room this year. The room number is actually just two numbers off, on the same floor and everything. On this side of the hotel, there are three buildings that are connected. For the first two trips, we were in the middle building, but this year, the new room we're staying in is the one closet to Black Rock. Here's a quick comparison from one of the photos we took on the sunset cruise last year.


If you click on the photo, it will take you to the Flickr page where it's hosted and there you can see mouseover notes of where the two rooms are located. I will make it one of my tasks to have a post or a page somewhere in the Our Trips section that shows the dramatic difference in views from our lanai in each room.

Since everything on travel day went off without a hitch yesterday, we found ourselves checked in an ready to eat about 2 hours earlier than we were used to. We still ate dinner at the Lagoon Bar at the Sheraton even though it was too early for the cliff dive ceremony. We decided to make our first stop over to Whalers to pick up a few bottles of water and Cindy wanted to grab ice scream to Haagan Dazs. When we came back, we decided to leave the cliff dive for another night and enjoyed the sunset from our lanai. It was a little cloudier than you would have liked to have seen, but still magical none-the-less.

We didn't make it out to Safeway last night as we normally do, rather, we just unpacked and hung out in our room. The clouds started to clear up last night just enough to do a little stargazing and photography from the lanai, but I was too tired to lug everything down to the beach. I shot the stars for a little over an hour, and haven't gone through all of the photos yet this morning. I figure this being my first night back, it was mostly practice.

While I was shooting, however, during those longer exposures, I broke out the binoculars for the first time they made a world of difference. That's going to be fun.

Nothing too exciting planned for today. Cindy and mom are getting ready to go down for breakfast while I finish up some homework for my photography class. We'll be heading to Safeway to stock up on food for the week and then out to Lahaina and Cheeseburger in Paradise for dinner (mmmmmmm). I'll try to post some early photos, too.

Sunday Photo: We're Back

We're Back
Originally uploaded by webnelly

Here's a quick peak from our latest view at the Sheraton Maui Resort on our Maui '08 Trip. While we're actually just two room numbers from where we were last September, the room is around a corner in the buildings on this side of the resort and we have a completely different, yet equally spectacular view.

It's been a long travel day and we're just about finished getting settled in. Haven't had a chance to take a lot of photos, but wanted to post at least one that says "We're Back".

Journal blogging begins tomorrow morning with details on our travel day here.

Mahalo.

Sheraton Maui No Ka 'Oi

Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which owns the Sheraton chain among many others, choosing one of over 200 Sheraton locations each year to be named their Hotel of the Year. Well, for 2007, our favorite Sheraton Maui Resort took that well deserved honor.

We've been visiting the Sheraton for 3 years now, after it was suggested to us by Cindy's aunt and uncle (very smart Maui people themselves). Every since we first pulled up to the resort during that first trip, we knew we could never stay anywhere else. I could surely go on and on about all the things we love about staying at the Sheraton, but I'll save that for another post.

Official Press Release (pdf)

New Google Maps Satellite Imagery for Ka'anapali

When I started this website about three months ago, I was very interested (and still am) in adding aerial views of various parts of Maui using Google Maps, but was a little turned off by the quality of the satellite imagery in some of my favorite parts. You see, I use Flickr for all my photos and was using their geotagging feature to put those photos on their maps, which had much nicer looking satellite views.

But rejoice, because today I noticed that Google has updated some of their imagery and it's looking much better than it was before. Here's a shot of Ka'anapali Beach near the Sheraton.


View Larger Map



There are still a few places like Hana that look very poor, but we can only assume that Google is getting to that, too.