The Maui Goodness

Natalie Brown Photography recently shared a photo shoot with us that is truly unique.  She was hired to secretly photograph an engagement on the beach.  As she told us the story, you could tell how it affected her just by the enthusiasm in her voice.  She went on to explain how she’s enjoyed shooting photos of hundreds of weddings and family portraits on the beach, but when someone comes up with a fun idea like this, Natalie experiences a whole new appreciation for her job.  She explained that she had a friend pretend to model for her up at a distance so that if she was caught by the bride, she wouldn’t suspect anything.

The bride had no idea that it was coming, and you can tell from her reaction.  We thought we’d share this with you because it’s nice to see photos with genuine emotion captured.  We also want to spur some creative thought and romance in our future visitors to Maui.

If you’re interested in doing a surprise engagement photo shoot in Maui, give Natalie a call or visit her site for Maui Engagement Photos.  She’s got it wired.

Though Governor Linda Lingle never expressly mentioned “Furlough Fridays” in her speech on Friday, she did address the issue of education.  Lingle made it clear that she understands that our system of education is broken and suggested that we concentrate more on the time children are IN classrooms rather than OUT of classrooms.

(QUICK NOTE: Furlough Fridays are days where education is taken away from children in order cut staffing expenses to help the State budget deficit.)

Though we agree that Hawaii education has MAJOR problems, Lingle’s statement, “We need to get more worked up about what happens when they are in school rather than when … they are not in school,” is like saying, “When you have cancer, don’t worry about the fact that your doctor will be around even less to cure you, worry about the cancer!” How exactly does one fix a problem when those closest to it are given less time to fix it?

With a culture that obviously struggles to develop its children to be competitive in our world, wouldn’t you think that keeping teachers employed full-time should remain a priority?  Yes, our deficit is a big problem, but cutting education is the shortest sighted solution one can propose.  In her speech on Friday, Lingle reiterated her proposals to fix our economic woes.  She discussed:

• Programs putting unemployed welfare recipients to work. This sounds great, but in our personal experience, a sizable portion of people on welfare in Hawaii aren’t interested in working.  The idea of compensating employers for hiring welfare recipients is also a good idea in theory, but if an employer NEEDS an employee wouldn’t they have to hire them anyway?  This also seems short-sighted considering that when the program stops, many will go back on welfare because their employer won’t be able to afford keeping them on.

• Tax Credits for construction and Renovation. Island growth is really not a long-term solution either.  We have enormously high occupancy rates and big problems with distribution of scarce resources like water, as well as devastating environmental issues to try and fix before we encourage more construction.

So what is the solution to our economic problems in Hawaii? We feel high-tech industrial growth, long term educational growth, and preparation of  economic down turns will do us better than any other solutions.  Lingle did mention a proposal to set aside 5% of funds when tax revenues are growing.  This is a good idea, but government track records in this area have shown that money set aside often becomes reallocated with time.

The implementation of Furlough Fridays is indicative of Hawaii’s prioritizing education below most other things.  Lingle insinuates that the problem lies IN the classroom and that the problem is quality.  We disagree.  The blame falls everywhere between the parents all the way to the top administrators in the school system, as well as on the heads of legislators.  If administration would let teachers spend more time teaching than testing, if parents took more of an interest in their children’s education and genuinely wanted their kids to be brighter than they are, if government could find better ways to cut from the budget and possibly take federal aid we might see a brighter future in Hawaii.

Are teachers to blame? Surely some teachers in Hawaii shouldn’t be teaching, but for the most part teachers are NOT the reason for our lagging behind most of the country (and the world) in educating our children properly.  The problem is that education is not a priority in Hawaii when it should be #1.  Our spiraling cycle of education continues to build on an already poorly educated culture.  Much of this is due to our citizens already being poorly educated and not seeing the value in it.

Not only would an emphasis in education be helpful to us economically in the long term, but socially we believe the islands would become healthier.  In that, we mean with more understanding of other cultures, higher levels of confidence and income, and a broader more developed economic share of the world’s production and innovation could alleviate some of the ignorance and racial tension that is so prevalent in Hawaii today.

This editorial is just one view point from one of our writers.  Quotation and information was found through the Maui News.  Mahalo for your reporting!

Maui has a new web camera, which is pretty exciting for all of us addicted to Maui.  It’s attached to the Makena Golf Resort and is owned and operated by Kai Kanani Sailing Charters.

You can see it live here: Makena Web Camera

The camera switches views from multiple locations on an automatic basis.  The camera is located in a prime location, high up on the Makena Beach & Golf Resort, which gives it a great number of potential views.  These are the views that it is set on right now:

• Mooring of the Kai Kanani II
• Molokini Crater (Close Up)
• Molokini Crater from the Beach
• Beach Check in area for the Kai Kanani
• Lanai Island
• South Maui area (includes Puu Olai and Kahoolawe)
• The Beach in front of the Makena Resort
• Surf Conditions for Beach Loading (2 views of this)
• Maalaea Harbor and West Maui Mountains

Below is an animation showing sceenshots from each view.  We know you must think we’re a little crazy about this, but we don’t have that many webcams on the island, and it’s nice to have one that has so many views.  it’s like having 10 cameras in 1.

Unless you don’t plan on leaving your resort in Maui, or any island in Hawaii, renting a car is crucial.  Having traveled inter-island again and again, we’ve grown accustomed to renting cars from all kinds of companies.  After much research, Discount Hawaii Car Rentals comes up over and over as having great rates and a large selection.  They will rent you a car from most of the major rental car companies.

Check them out at Discount Car Rentals in Hawaii or call them for the best rate.

Maui Zipline

We’ve been on every Maui zipline tour, and we strongly feel that Piiholo Zipline offers the best tours.  Below we outline exactly why we feel this way:

• Safety - We like that you don’t have to use your hands.  Some zipline courses use trolleys that necessitate you using your hands to slow down, and/or keep yourself from spinning around.  Piiholo trolleys keep you zipping facing forward the entire time without fail.
• Length of Ride - Their 5th zipline in the course is the longest side-by-side zipline in Hawaii.  That means you’re moving fast and high for the longest time.  It’s really nice to have the time to look around and appreciate the scenery and realize exactly what you’re doing.
• Side-By-Side - Piiholo offers lines side-by-side, so you can zip at the same time as your friends.  It’s fun to try racing others while flying through the air. It also speeds up the tour and minimizes wait time.
• Suspension Bridge - To enter the zipline course you cross a 317 -foot long suspension bridge.  This is a great way to start your adventure.
• Tango Tower - What is a Tango Tower?  It’s a 6 sided climbing tower with all kinds of challenges from rock wall to rope climbing.  This is a wonderful place to work on Team Building exercises. (contact to reserve.)
• HorseBack Riding – Piiholo is a locally owned ranch with other tours including Horseback.  This means you can do more than just zipline and rope climb in the same day without wasting the time to drive out again.

Piiholo Ranch Zipline is located in Makawao, Maui, Hawaii.  You can book their activities at the best price by calling (808) 572-1717 or online at Zipline Maui.

Thank you Greg Hoxsie for your excellent Maui commercial Photography. Your photos help enormously in telling the story!

The island of Lanai is likely moving into a new phase of housing development.  The county has proposed a project for over 400 new homes in a $23 million affordable housing development to be completed over the next 17 years.

The housing development would be built over 73 acres behind Lanai High School and the Elementary.  Along with the housing, area would be set aside for more empty lots as well as 2 parks and a full community center.

The county will be looking to process the project on a fast track set up to allow exemptions from community plan amendments and change-of-zoning processes.  Being affordable housing will allow it to move faster through the system for approval.

But with anything in Maui County, even if everything goes perfectly, we won’t see construction of new homes anytime in the near future.  Everything takes 100 times as long to process and complete in the state of Hawaii.  That’s probably why most of Hawaii is still beautiful.

You may also be interested in rading about the Lanai Wind Farm.  If you want to learn more about new projects in Maui, Check out Maui Real Estate Development.

If you haven’t already seen it, you will.  Stand Up Paddle boarding and surfing is the latest retro craze.  For years, we we’re reluctant to give it a try because we feel tied to our own roots of surfing.  But, finally we gave it a shot and rented some boards from Boss Frog’s Dive & Surf in Kihei, Maui, Hawaii in Dolphin Plaza (ask for Benjammin.)

And WOW!  It’s a lot of fun!  Now we’re all hooked.  It’s like going snorkeling without getting wet (if it’s calm and you don’t fall.)  From looking down over your board, you can see the reef clearly as well as any sealife.  Turtles are everywhere!

Not only is it fun for the views of Maui and sealife, we enjoy it because it’s great exercise and a lot of fun.  Sometimes we’ll put some snorkel gear on our board (attached to the leash) and go out to spots that are difficult to access.

When it comes to surfing, it can make a really bad day good.  I don’t recommend taking them out in big waves, but riding tiny waves is really fun.  I feel you have more of an advantage in surfing larger waves with a short board or regular longboard.  Some would disagree, but we suggest only riding the SUP boards in really small waves or just for distance exploration.

Here’s a video from the boards the last time we went out.  We rode from the Makena Golf Resort to Little Beach and back.  We got up a little late, so it had a bit of bump.  It was still a lot of fun, but we suggest going out before the wind hits around 10-11 in the morning while it’s still glassy.  If there is wind, make sure to go up wind to start.  Save going down wind for when you’re tired and coming back. Also, always be safe and don’t ride over shallow reef or areas you don’t know. Be careful!

We rented our boards at Boss Frog’s Dive & Surf.  You can call and rent boards on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii by calling (808) 661-3333.

We’ve recently discovered one of the best deals in Maui.  For those looking to save some money when doing a private boat charter, check into Maui Fun Charters.  They only allow 6 guests on at a time which makes for an intimate and inexpensive fishing trip.  But if you’re reserving the private charter, you don’t need to fish!  They’re happy to take you whale watching (in season), dolphin watching, snorkeling, or even on a sunset cruise.

Maui Fun Charters specialize in Maui Bottom Fishing as well as Maui sport fishing.  Give them a call at (808) 572-2345. We suggest calling because they have their phone on them on the boat even when out fishing.  Emails, on the other hand, are not recommended.  These guys live and die fishing.  They don’t spend too much time in front of the computer.