Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [294]
The Nakalele Blowhole roars when the surf is up but it’s a sleeper when the seas are calm. To check on its mood park at the boulder-lined pull-off 0.4 miles beyond the 39-mile marker. It’s a 15-minute walk down to the blowhole. You can get a glimpse of the action, if there is any, just a few hundred yards beyond the parking lot.
At the 38-mile marker, a mile-long trail leads out to a light station at the end of windswept Nakalele Point, where you’ll find a coastline of arches and other interesting formations worn out of the rocks by the pounding surf. During winter you can sometimes spot humpbacks breaching offshore.
Punalau Beach
Back on the highway, Moloka′i comes into view as you make your way along Maui’s northernmost point en route to Kapalua (Click here). Ironwood-lined Punalau Beach, 0.3 miles after the 35-mile marker, makes a worthy stop if you’re up for a solitary stroll. Swimming is a no-go though, as a rocky shelf creates unfavorable conditions for water activities.
CENTRAL MAUI
Your first look at Maui will likely be here, on the windswept flatlands that separate Maui’s two mountain masses. Paradoxically, central Maui lays claim to both the island’s largest urban sprawl and its greenest agricultural land. Fields of waving sugarcane stretch clear across the central plains from Kahului to Ma′alaea. But central Maui’s claim to fame for travelers is found in the water. Anything with a sail rips in this wind-whipped region. Kanaha Beach has morphed into one of the hottest windsurfing and kiteboarding destinations on the planet, bursting each day into a colorful mile-long sea of sails. Central Maui also holds other watery wonders: a dazzling tropical aquarium, two waterbird sanctuaries and rainforested ′Iao Valley.
KAHULUI
pop 20,150
All roads lead to Kahului. It’s home to the island’s gateway airport and cruise-ship ports. Just about everything that enters Maui comes through this workaday town thick with warehouses, big-box stores and shopping centers. Hardly a vacation scene, you say. True, but if you dig a little deeper you’ll find more to your liking. You have to go island-style to have fun here: talk story with the locals at the Saturday swap meet, take in a concert on the lawn of the cultural center or join the wave-riding action at Kanaha Beach. There’s a lot more to Kahului than first meets the eye.
History
Fronted by the island’s deepwater harbor, Kahului has long been the commercial heart of Maui. In the 1880s it became headquarters to Hawaii’s first railroad, built to haul sugar from the refineries to the port. In 1900 an outbreak of bubonic plague hit Kahului and the settlement that had grown up around the harbor was purposely burned to the ground.
Present-day Kahului is a planned community developed in the early 1950s by the Alexander & Baldwin sugar company. It was called ‘Dream City’ by cane workers, who had long dreamed of moving away from dusty mill camps in places like Pa′ia and Pu′unene into a home of their own.
Orientation
The airport is on the east side of town, connected to central Kahului by Keolani Pl, which leads to both the Haleakala Hwy (Hwy 37) and the Hana Hwy (Hwy 36). Ka′ahumanu Ave (Hwy 32) is Kahului’s main artery, connecting Kahului to neighboring Wailuku. Dairy Rd, to the south, links to both Lahaina (take Hwy 380) and Kihei (take Hwy 311).
Information
Bank of Hawaii ( 871-8250; 27 S Pu′unene Ave)
Borders Books & Music Café ( 877-6160; Maui Marketplace, 270 Dairy Rd; 9am-10pm Sun-Thu, 9am-11pm Fri & Sat) Good selection of maps, Hawaiiana books and international newspapers.
Kahului Public Library ( 873-3097; 90 School St; noon-8pm Tue, 9am-5pm Wed-Sat)
FedEx Kinko’s ( 871-2000; Dairy Center, 395 Dairy Rd; per min 20¢; 7am-10pm Mon-Fri, 9am-9pm Sat, 9am-6pm Sun) Internet with no minimums.
Longs Drugs ( 877-0041; Maui Mall, 70 E Ka′ahumanu Ave; 7am-midnight) The town’s largest pharmacy.
Maui