The Maui Goodness

Plans for a new Maui prison has been under dispute for some time with lawmakers.  This new complex would replace the Maui Community Correctional Facility that currently houses 351 inmates.  This facility is old and holds 142 more inmates than it was originally built for.

Problems arose in the plans over disagreements at to the size, design and price of the prison.  The current price was set at $235 million with a completion date of 2012.  Governor Lingle put a stop to the plans when Senator Shan Tsutsui made some comments in a Maui News article.

Within government, there’s always going to be difficulties and disagreement with plans involving such a large budget.  Hopefully, an agreement can be made sometime in the future.

Perhaps induced by the recent anniversary of the original Woodstock, our favorite Aloha sticker company has come out with a whole line of great Hippie Stickers!

Stuck on Maui has been producing the most authentic Aloha and Tiki Stickers for years, and it’s great to see them branching out.  Maui is home to many hippies, and we love to see a Maui business building new quality products.

If you live on Maui or in Hawaii, please support our island economy.  If you live on the mainland, don’t buy your stickers anywhere else!  It’s hard these days to buy anything that’s not made, packaged and sold from China.   Support our friends on Maui and spread the Aloha!

Maui Zipline Tours

Founded in 2002, Skyline Eco-Adventures now offers two locations for ziplining on Maui, Hawaii. The Haleakala Skyline Tour is phenomenal with views of the South and North Coast as well as the West Maui Mountains and the Central Valley. You’ll zip across 5 lines while learning about the ecology of upcountry Maui. Each zipline becomes increasingly more exciting with longer distances, bigger heights, and much more speed. Before each crossing, you’re given some insight into the endangered bird that the Maui zipline is named after. A portion of your ticket goes to preservation of these birds as well as other Maui conservation efforts.

Safety is the primary concern of your 2 zipline tour guides of whom personally hook each person up themselves. For those worried about equipment and cables, the lines you cross are strong enough to hold a full-sized car. All of the equipment has been tested for safety.

The last crossing is by far the most fun. Each time you zip across a gulch, or over waterfalls, you’ll find that you want more. You finally get it with the last run when you’re hurled at incredible speeds over a long forest gulch. Besides the adrenaline rush of the Maui ziplines, taking a walk through Eucalyptus forests with incredible views makes this a journey worth making.

The Kaanapali Skyline Adventure takes twice as long with 8 ziplines. You’ll experience views of West Maui, Lanai, Molokai, Lahaina, and some gorgeous waterfalls. A step up from the Haleakala Tour, ziplining in Kaanapali is a half-day trip you’ll never forget.

Make sure to wear good shoes and something warm. Long pants and a jacket are very nice to have when upcountry, especially while zipping at high speeds.

This Maui Zipline Video was taken at the Syline Eco Adventure Kaanapali Course. The terrain is different than the zipline discussed above, but just as fun. You’ll see below!

We regularly complain about how we don’t get a lot of talent to Maui, relatively.  But after seeing the John Legend concert at the Castle Theatre on Thursday, we’d like to take all that back.

Yes, it’s true: we don’t get a lot of big acts on Maui.  It’s rare, but we do here and there.  What makes up for this is that the shows are usually in small venues, and less expensive than mainland shows.

An example: The Castle Theatre at the MACC is a small venue with some great acts.  The outside venue at the MACC is also amazing.  It’s a bigger venue but still much smaller than a normal outdoor mainland venue.  Another example would be the recent show by Willie Nelson and Band of Horses that was held in Paia for Free!  They played at Charley’s which only holds just over 100 people.  A great venue if you can get in!

Maui also gets some great Reggae.  Even though bands like Aerosmith may cancel due to it being too small and too little money (if that was the case) we do get some big names in Reggae like Steel Pulse, Israel Vibrations and more…

John Legend put on a great show for us.  Maui may not have the choice of music that we’d like, but when someone good like John Legend does show up, we’re lucky to get him in a small venue.