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OUR BEAUTIFUL CONDO IN HAWAII

In early November, the Camachos flew to Maui for a business meeting/vacation. Earl and Gail went along as “nannies” for the two girls, so that the parental units could have some getaway time to themselves. What a country!!

Alana was her usual self on the airplane—charming all and sundry, and fussing hardly at all.
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Sophia moved around a bit, but spent a good deal of the time with her Daddy, listening to stories and watching movies.
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Hawaiian Airlines provided us with a nice display, showing our route and how fast we were going, etc.
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It was a long trip, but we survived and then bopped over to wait in line at the Avis counter to get our VW van…..
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and head for our condo through the rain (HEY! Isn’t this Hawaii - the land of sunshine?)
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As we navigated the western coast road toward LAHAINA and KAANAPALI, where our condo, the KAANAPALI ALII was located, I was fascinated to see the old road just up the hill - apparently, it used to be a real slog to get around the point to where the magnificent beaches are…..I’m not aware of the history of the earlier road, but clearly it wasn’t what we’d call “modern” construction.
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The challenges for the new road were several, including unstable cliffs, for which a low-tech solution has been used…..
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Once “around the corner” the drive was really beautiful, with the uplands to our right
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fascinating trees lining some parts of the road
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and the sea to our left…..
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These photos were taken at different times, as you have noticed, I’m sure…..but the entrance to the Kaanapali area (including various hotels and condo developments) is through a lovely golf course
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The Alii is pretty close to the entrance, across another arm of the golf course
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There are four towers (surrounding a garden/pool/barbecue/TV area) in the development, and we were in Tower 4, which is connected to #3 by the elevator shafts. We pulled up to the “back entrance”
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to unload our baggage, and this being Hawaii, there was a papaya tree!! But, none were ripe, so there wasn’t any real temptation…..
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We got upstairs in time to watch the sun go down….which we watched from the balcony off the living room.
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The courtyard at night was really beautiful
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In the daytime, it was also lovely
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and watching the activity going on below was a source of constant fascination.
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We did notice that NO ONE in our courtyard resembled folks we saw in all the advertisements for Maui…..wonder where THEY hang out…....
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There was a great place for watching sports, and the chairs were regularly well-populated by fans with diverse rooting interests….
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It wasn’t only people-watching that interested us….here’s one of Nenek’s friends from her childhood.
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I regret to report that in Hawaii, the MYNAH BIRD is a serious pest, akin to the EUROPEAN STARLING in the continental United States (although I can’t believe the Mynah achieves the absolute numbers of the Starling).

The balcony was a multi-purpose space, as Leslie used it as his office at times…..what a lovely spot!
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We didn’t ALWAYS watch the courtyard from above….sometimes we headed down there to become part of the spectacle….
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Sophia was learning to use a mask, snorkel and fins on this trip…and was VERY serious about it.
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She made tremendous progress, too…..soon swimming and breathing successfully, although she’s not ready to be on her own yet (at four! I didn’t even take lessons until five years old.)
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And sometimes you just have to sit quietly and have a bit of a confab with your Grandmama…..
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Back upstairs in the condo, it was bath time…..and since there were no real bathtubs, the kitchen sink had to suffice. Fortunately, it seems that they sized the sink with the lack of bathtubs in mind - it was SPACIOUS!!
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Both girls enjoyed the bath, but Alana was considerably more exuberant about the whole experience!
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If Sophia learned to swim with her mask and fins, Alana’s big advances involved crawling - she quickly learned to “creep” on hands and knees, rather than depend on the Marine’s method of hitching on belly and elbows (to stay below the bullets!) - and also to STAND UP!! It’s difficult to keep her down on the floor, these days, and it all started here, in Maui
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Back outside, we often took the Beach-walk that runs north and south in front of all the developments….
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At the northern end of the beach is Black Rock, with a hotel on top that cascades down the south side of the rock…..this is the spot where we had the best snorkeling - we saw four or five GREEN SEA TURTLES, and it was thrilling to have this endangered species swim right up to us as if we were part of the furniture…..out around the point, we saw a SPOTTED EAGLE RAY, along with the usual array of (semi-) tropical fish like the MOORISH IDOL, which is the one that most makes me feel like I’m swimming in an aquarium….. Lots of others here, too…...especially out at the point. Coral wasn’t really all that good, however - it’s really a bit chilly for spectacular coral - water temperature was reported at 75 degrees.
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Heading back south, the island of LANA’I, that used to be the “pineapple island”, and now is mostly a preserve…..
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About half way to the Alii is the Whaler’s Village, a “shopping center” with restaurants, stores, and a fabulous Whaling Museum.
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Even more important when one is out walking, this is where the public restrooms are found! It’s quite an attractive place, with shopping on three levels
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and a wonderful solution to the problems of cost and predation when one keeps fish in the fountains and pools…..ceramic KOI
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Anytime we were on the Beach Walk, we might see folks out PARA-SAILING behind powerful motorboats…..
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Walking south, we passed a number of hotels and condo developments - this is the one with the most elaborate water feature
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there was one with a swim-in grotto….where you can get a drink when it’s hot and your throat gets a bit dry…..
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One place even had SWANS (both black and white) and FLAMINGOS
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Finally, at the south end of the Walk, we could look across the Bay to Lahaina
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Approaching the Alii from the south, this is the “Jungle-y” view….
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and here’s a clearer picture of the south side of the “U-shaped” arrangement of the four buildings. You can see Building 3 straight ahead, and on the far right (beyond the thinner part that is the elevator area) is Building 4
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and here we see northern buildings, # 1 and #2, across the center of the “U”, where the courtyard awaits us…...
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This was the nicest place we’ve ever stayed….the only place close was the E&O HOTEL in GEORGETOWN, PENANG, MALAYSIA. Still, although it’s 5-star, it’s still only a hotel….and we were only there for 24 hours!

Enough comparisons….we had a wonderful time, as you can tell from this picture, taken on the morning we headed home…..
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