Posts Tagged ‘Kaanapali’

Sunday Photo: Luau Fire Dancer

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

Luau Fire Dancer

Taken by Kris Nelson on February 26, 2009
Location: Ka’anapali Sunset Luau, Sheraton Maui Resort

I’m turning up the heat a little bit with this week’s Sunday Photo. This shot was taken at the luau at the Sheraton Maui Resort during the second week of our trip last February. Although the weather forced the rest of the luau indoors, we were still treated to the fiery finale outside in the upstairs courtyard. Regardless of the weather, the luau was still lovely, and just another part of our travel traditions each year.

From a photography standpoint, this is the type of shot I really prepare for; doing researching, looking at samples, and a little bit of trial and error. Much like shooting the whales out on the water, there isn’t much you can do to practice for this type of shot (unless you know someone you plays with fire for a living). For all the anticipation and effort, I’m pretty happy with the end result.

A Small Bonus
As I put this post together, I’m listening to the latest release from the newest Maui-born artist in my Hawaiian music collection, Anuhea. It was @jalove that tipped me off to this CD with a post on Twitter. After firing up iTunes and listening to a few of the samples there, Anuhea just sold herself another copy of this self-titled record. :)

It’s not the type of Hawaiian music that fits into the same categories as HAPA or IZ, iTunes files it under R&B/Soul for what that’s worth. It does, however, have a subtle island feel to it that you might only pick up on if you’re a fan of Hawaii (hence reading this blog) and take a peek at her bio at Amazon.com. Some compare her music to that of Colbie Caillat, but I like to think each artist has his/her own sound and urge you to take a listen for yourself. You can also track what others on Twitter are saying about Anuhea here.

Head over to iTunes or Amazon (click the cover image above) to listen to samples, and if you like what you hear, be sure to grab a copy. Not into digital music yet? Shoot over to MELE.COM to order a CD and also check out some other Hawaiian artists while you’re there.

Mahalo,
- Kris

Cover Image from Amazon.com

 


If you like this photo, you can see more in our Sunday Photos series here at the blog. Our website also features daily photos on the Today’s Photos page, and you can also get a new photo from Maui everyday on your Google home page. Check out our Maui Photo Day Calendar for more details.

Aloha Friday – May 1st, 2009

Friday, May 1st, 2009

0501 - May 1st

Aloha Friday and Happy May Day!
A young whale calf practices breaching off the West coast of Maui.

Our Aloha Friday photo each week is from our Maui Photo Day Calendar. Visit http://www.mauiphotocal.com for more details on how to add a new Maui photo on your iGoogle page or your blog everyday.

Follow Friday on Twitter
For my Twitter recommendations this week, how about a few great travel and destination resources offering some great deals and advise.

  • @SheratonMaui
    Name: Sheraton Maui Resort
    Location: Ka’anapali, Maui
    Web: http://www.sheraton-maui.com
    Twitter Bio: Where the legend of Ka‘anapali began…brought to you by Jocelyn
  • @starwoodhawaii
    Name: starwoodhawaiiPR
    Location: Hawaii
    Web: http://www.starwoodhawaii.com
    Twitter Bio: Starwood Hotels Resorts in Hawaii…Sheraton, Westin, Luxury Collection and St. Regis – Iconic resorts, beachfront enclaves and breathtaking locales
  • @TheWestinMaui
    Name: The Westin Maui
    Location: Ka’anapali, Maui
    Web: http://westinmaui.com
    Twitter Bio: The Westin Maui Resort & Spa is situated along a spectacular stretch of the famed Ka’anapali Beach
  • @kaanapaliresort
    Name: Melissa
    Location: Ka’anapali, Maui
    Web: http://www.kaanapaligolfresort.com
    Twitter Bio: Marketing Manager for Ka’anapali Golf Resort on the island of Maui
  • @KahanaSunset
    Name: Kahana Sunset
    Location: Kahana, Maui
    Web: http://www.kahanasunset.com
    Twitter Bio: Maui vacation condo rentals on secluded white sand beach.

If you have Maui or Hawaii tweeps that I haven’t featured yet here on our Aloha Friday posts, feel free to leave a note, or better yet, catch me on Twitter (@webnelly) if you haven’t already.

Have a great weekend everyone

Great Views from the Sheraton Maui Resort

Monday, April 6th, 2009

It’s no secret that we’re fans of the Sheraton Maui Resort, seeing as we’ve stayed there each of the last four years on our trips to Maui. We enjoy the friendly service, the location, and best of all, the views. If you’ve browsed around our site and our photo gallery for any great length of time, you have no doubt seen some of the amazing views we seen while we’re there. Time for a little show and tell to let you in on where to get these same views if you’re staying at the Sheraton.

The Old Lobby
The first place I’d like to share with you is where you can get a view of nearly half of Ka’anapali Beach, just like this one.

Ka'anapali Beach

In fact, the view is so nice from up here, the Sheraton chose to put one of it’s live webcams at this very spot. Decades ago, back in the earlier days of the Sheraton, this area used to be the lobby of the hotel. We were told the Sheraton was once called the “upside-down hotel” because the lobby was all the way up on the top floor.

So here’s how to get there. When you’re down by the pool area (there are two of them) keep walking along the pathway towards the cliff by Black Rock. You should now see the recently renovated Black Rock Spa, at ground level, and you want to head to the left of that. You’ll be greeted by a Starwood representative at a big concierge desk and there are two elevators across from that. Take that up to the 8th floor and once you step out of the elevator, you’re right there.

Be sure to take a moment looking over the view to your left. You can see the beach, the pools, Black Rock, and even some of the mountains to the west. From there, you can also continue walking on the 8th floor where you’ll see a big open area (the old lobby). The giant open air windows that line this old lobby are just as spectacular, and have a few benches if you’d like to take in the view a little longer.

Black Rock

Pretty impressive so far, but we’re just getting started.

Scenic Lookout
Once you’re done looking out from the old lobby, the next stop is to find a little lesser know spot where I snapped this photo a few years back.

Moloka'i from Maui

Keep walking through the 8th floor opposite from the elevators you arrived in. You’ll see more open air windows, another building in front of you (building six) out through that lookout, and yet another elevator that awaits you. If you’d rather get a little workout, take the stairs next to the elevator like we do.

The numbers are gonna play a little trick on you. You’re starting on the 8th floor, and you first go down to the 7th floor (which is the Fitness Center). After the 7th floor, you arrive at the 3rd floor. I know, it took us for a surprise at first, too. From this point, it starts looking like an entirely separate hotel, no view of the beach, fewer keiki running around, and even a reserved parking lot.

At the base of the elevator/stairs you came down from, there’s a long walkway that has a slight decline. Take that walkway until you set another elevator and a set of stairs on your left. Take the stairs down to what is the ground floor (also listed as the 2nd floor). You’ll have another walkway on your right this time that will lead you towards the parking lot. When you get to the end of the walk, you’ll see cars on your left and a sign that says “Scenic View” on your right. Unless you want to see the same Mustang convertible in 4 different colors, turn right. :)

Follow that short path (shown below) and you’ll find it turns into a circle walkway around a large tree and a sign with the story of Pu’u Keka’a (Black Rock).

Path to Scenic Lookout

Sign at Pu'u Keka'a

And you’re there. One funny story about this view (the one of Molokai above), is that the tree on the right in the photo is no longer there. Maybe it took a day trip to another island.

An Ocean View
By now you’re probably satisfied with grabbing a few choice photos for the folks back home, but we’re not quite done yet. Take the stroll back down the path you came up here on. When you get to the walkway near the parking lot, hang a left and go back down that hallway towards the elevators. Continue on passed the elevators this time and make another left towards some of the rooms that have the best ocean views on this side of the island.

As you continue down this corridor, you’ll come across one open path on your right hand side that leads out to a lawn area. You can choose to take that one or keep walking all the way to the end of the corridor to find a similar exit. These both take you to the same lawn area. Once you’re on the lawn, it’s just you, a few well placed palm trees, the reef behind Black Rock, and a wide open view of the ocean.

View Behind Black Rock

View of Lanai

View of Kahana from Sheraton Maui Resort

Kahekili Beach
Well, I hope you still have room on that memory card of yours (or roll of film if that’s still your thing). One last stop while we’re on this side of the resort is a nice view of Kahekili Beach.

Kahekili Beach

Retrace your steps back towards the elevator and that makeshift Ford Mustang dealership in the parking lot (sorry, I couldn’t resist). This time, walk into the parking lot th
rough the first set of cars on either side and following the driveway to the left when it starts to curve. Obviously watch out for hotel golf carts and cars. Follow the driveway and you’ll soon see Kahekili Beach through the trees.

There’s a few good spots to sneak through the foliage and grab a shot or two of the beach and the private cabana at the Maui Eldorado. If you’re brave and able, there’s a very small ledge area on the rocks, next to the sign that warns “No Diving”. We’ve seen a few people taking photos from that area (okay, I was one of them), and I’m only mentioning it because you probably would have seen it anyway. :)

Not Too Bad, Eh?
Depending on how long you stopped to enjoy these great views, you’ve probably killed close to a half hour by now, and might even be a little lost on how to get back. Or maybe you want to keep heading down that driveway towards Kahekili Beach for more photos. If not, you have two options on how to get back to the main resort area.

First, you can retrace your steps back through the parking lot. Once you get back to the building, hop in the elevator (or stairs) to the 3rd floor. It’s a right towards the walkway (on an incline this time) that will lead to the next elevator/stairs combo. That one goes only one way, up. Take that to the 8th floor and you’re back in the old lobby. Follow that to yet another elevator (by the first lookout point mentioned here) and that one will take you all the way back to the first floor and the lawn and pool area.

The second option is to just continue down the driveway out of the parking lot, passed the entry gates. Continue down the hill and you’ll see another parking lot and the tennis courts on the right. Follow the signs through there and you’ll make your way back to the lawn area right next to the Black Rock Spa. This is the preferred method if you’re tired of riding in elevators by now.

The Best Views
While these views are pretty amazing, the absolute best views, in our opinion, are from the deluxe ocean front rooms in the Hale O Ka Moana building, also known as building six. Imagine waking up every morning and walking out to a lanai with a view like this one.

Our Lanai at the Sheraton

Certainly something you could used to, right? I’ll save notes on those for another post.

Mahalo.

“Wind”esday on Maui

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

Trip Journal entry for Wednesday, February 25th.

Being from the Windy City, you’d figure we’d be used to all this wind.

A Good Night’s Sleep
After two long, but wonderful days along the Road to Hana, we slept pretty well Tuesday night. We couldn’t believe we were halfway through the second week of our trip already. Bummer. Because of our planning habits, these last few days were setup to be pretty laid back and open to anything we wanted to do, or do nothing at all. Only the evenings were planned for tonight, tomorrow and Friday, so anything goes during the day.

Today’s plan was to do a little more beach hopping, seeing that the only real time on the beach we’ve spent so far was on Sunday. It’d be a shame if we spent two weeks on Maui and didn’t come home to winter in Chicago without a tan.  Borderline sacrilegious, possibly. Anyway, Cindy had originally scheduled a second massage at the Westin because of the nice act of Aloha on their part from last Friday, but she cancelled in lieu of time in the sun.

It was slow morning getting ready, so we were already getting the day off right. The plan was to head up towards Kapalua and find ourselves a few spots on Napili Beach and Oneloa Beach in that area. We had visited Kapalua Beach a few years ago, so we were already somewhat familiar with those whereabouts. What we discovered as we headed out for the day, however, was that the wind had other plans.

First Off, Napili
The wind was blowing something fierce on Wednesday, with reported sustained winds in excess of 30 MPH and gusts even stronger. That helped bring in more showers as we headed further north towards Napili and Kapalua. We didn’t let that discourage us, though. At least not at first.

We made a stop at the Napili Village complex in search of lunch. We came across Maui Tacos, which we surprising had never tried before. Boy, we were really missing out. After gazing at the menu for a few minutes, we placed our order and were enjoying some great food in no time. I had been joking in the past that our mainland favorite, Chipotle, needed to open up an operation out here on Maui. But after trying Maui Tacos, I don’t think that’s really necessary anymore.

This was also my first full day without having my cell phone with me. Technically, I was without it Monday and Tuesday because there was no reception in Hana, but now it was official.  I had commandeered Cindy’s cell phone to send updates to my Twitter account via SMS, but it didn’t feel the same without following my tweeps, also. Cindy soon grew tired of me constantly asking for her phone, so my live vacation stream dried up rather quickly.

To The Beach
After lunch was devoured, it was off to our next stop, Napili Beach. The wind was starting to pick up a little more as we made it to the beach, but still not terrible. The clouds, on the other hand, were hiding more of the sun and the warmth than Cindy would have liked.  I did manage to spend some time waking the beach and snapping some photos. Since the conditions weren’t ideal for the sun worshipers, I had a beach fairly empty of occupants to work with.

Napili Beach

It was a really nice beach, minus the weather. If memory serves, it was slightly larger than Kapalua Beach, and from what I’ve read, normally not as crowded either. There aren’t any towering resort buildings like you see along Ka’anapali Beach or Wailea Beach, which gave it a nice, somewhat isolated feel.

After Napili, Oneloa Beach was next. We continued on north along Hwy 30 passed much of Kapalua and found the parking lot for the beach completely empty. Were we in the right place? This is actually one of the larger beaches on this side of the island, where was everyone? It turns out we weren’t the only ones turned off by the high winds and passing showers, and the beach was completely empty. We didn’t even bother putting the towel down it was that windy. Beach hopping over.

Over the Rainbow
We decided to head down towards Lahaina and walk around Front Street instead. We still had a good part of the afternoon ahead of us before we had to be back for our luau at the Sheraton later that evening. We were thinking of going on another whale watch Friday morning, so we wanted to head into town and visit PWF to set that up.

As we drove further south towards Lahaina, it felt like night and day. Almost like the something out of the Wizard of Oz, with the gray and glooming conditions up near Kapalua starting to give way to bright sunshine and the vibrant colors closer to Lahaina. You know, the type of weather you’d expect to see on Maui. The wind seemed to follow us, however, but that warm sunshine sure was a welcomed improvement.

After scheduling our whale watch, we spent about an hour or so walking along Front Street. We weren’t really looking for anything in particular, and were just sort of taking it easy doing nothing. After a completely packed first 10 days of our trip, doing nothing certainly felt nice.

A Different Luau This Year
Our first luau at the Sheraton Maui Resort was two years ago. It was just that one evening that sold us on making that particular show one of our traditions every trip. It was right on the grounds of our resort, and while was relatively small compared to the larger luaus on the island, they still put on a great show. You have a spacious lawn area, a view of the Black Rock Cliff Dive ceremony and an always spectacular sunset off the shores of West Maui. Like I said, perfect.

Well, this year it was a slightly different show. Remember that wind that spoiled our beach hopping plans earlier in the day?  Well, it was strong enough to force the luau indoors into the main ballroom at the Sheraton. It turned out to still be a lovely evening, and I realize the weather is outside anybody’s control, but it just didn’t feel the same without the cliff dive and the sunset. I guess that’s just part of our tradition that we’ve come to look forward to, and a little spoiled by.

Just prior to the luau, we took our annual Aloha Photo wearing our alohawear. It’s a little something we do every year, where we find a new matching set of alohawear to add to our collection, and take a photo together before our luau. Our tastes in alohawear have changed slighly over the years, and I was really liking the set we found this time around.

The Show Must Go On
Aside from missing the sunset and the cliff dive ceremony, the luau was still a great show. The other lacking omission, so we thought, was the fire knife dancer that is typically the finale of the night. As you’d imagine, that’s not something the local fire marshall would be too thrilled about seeing performed indoors. :)

Fear not, though, as the show must go on. At the end of the main performance in the ballroom, we all emptied out into the courtyard outside and crowded around as a small group. It was a different take as in years passed, being able to stand closer to watch the show rather than sitting in our seats. It allowed everyone there have a better view of the little fire exhibition, wh
ich was cool.

And of course, I just had to take advantage of being closer than usual, and snapped this photo as part of the performance.

Luau Fire Dancer

It was a great finish to the luau and the evening. Normally, we end the evening with a stroll along the beach after the luau, but that wasn’t in the stars tonight, or any night during our trip this year. One of the few downsides of coming to Maui in the winter months I guess, but I think the whales and some of the other advantages more than make up for it.

Sunday Photo: Maui Rainbow

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

Maui Rainbow
Taken by Kris Nelson on February 25th, 2009
Location: Sheraton Maui Resort in Ka’anapali, Maui

It was another great trip to Maui this year, and wouldn’t you know it, we’re back here in Chicago now and it’s SNOWING! 
I have my work cut out for me in the next week or so. There were so many great experiences we’ve had this trip that I still need to share here at the blog. There are literally a ton (almost 3,000) photos to go through, but this week’s Sunday Photo was very easy to pick. It was just one of the many rainbows we saw almost every morning from our lanai at the Sheraton Maui Resort. 
Some seemed rather far away, as if they were connecting the islands of Lanai and Molokai in the distance. Others, like this one, seemed to be close enough to touch. When I saw the boat pictured here sail almost directly through it, I knew it would make a great shot.  What do you think?


If you like this photo, you can see more in our Sunday Photos series here at the blog. 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.