MAUI BEACH THAT APPEALS TO ALL?

[MOMofONE]

My family, and two others, want to Beach Hop before our afternoon snorkel trip. There will be about 15 of us, ranging in age from 3 to 55, hopefully leaving Kahului around 9 AM.

Since we have to check in at Maalaea by 1 PM, would we be better off headed to West or South beaches?

Allowing for drive time,(3 or 4 rentals caravaning),I guess we'll have about 2-2.5 hours on the beach?

We were considering Napili Bay area & Black Rock if we head west, or Wailea & Po'olenalena if we head south.

Do you think that by the time we find parking and a piece of sandy real estate, we'll need to choose just one beach destination?

Any suggestions appreciated!

Tina

[Desertbelle]

We loved a beach called KamIII...I can't for the life of me remember what Kam was short for. It was a lovely beach with great snorkeling, sand, grass, shade....lots of nice food places close by.

 

Margie

 

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[spleen93]

I would guess that south Maui beaches may be a better choice if you need to be in Maalaea at 1 pm. "Kam III" beach that Margie refers to is Kamaole III and it's an actual beach park ... there's I and II as well but I think the beaches get nicer the more south you go. Don't recall what the snorkeling was like there but probably not too bad. Probably a pretty good choice. Suspect that you won't have time to move to 2 beaches. Remember that traffic in Kihei can be killer at times ... allot extra time to get to Maalaea on time.

 

If I remember correctly, Wailea's public access is kind of a pain in the you-know-where. But it's a darn nice beach ... again, don't remember what kind of snorkeling is to be found around there ...

 

Spleen

 

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[MOMofONE]

Thanks Margie - had heard of the 3 Kam beaches but VERY happy to have a personal recommendation for # III - this will be our choice then for a south beach.

 

spleen - didn't you once mention driving north from Kahalui was a terror? We originally hoped to avoid some traffic by going this route to Black Rock but I think there is a rental car restriction in Waiehu area.

I see the west beaches are further than south, but is traffic from Black Rock thru Lahaina to Maalaea worse, or better, than Kam III thru Kihei to Maalaea. I notice the latter has option of S. Kihei Rd or the Pilani Hwy., whereas we have no option but to go thru Lahaina from the other direction.

Black Rock was our #1 choice but it won't be worth it if we have to hustle and hassle to make our snorkel cruise in time.

Mahalo!

Tina

[Desertbelle]

Here is the link to our Hawaii cruise photos.....there are some KamIII shots there as well as snorkeling pictures from there. I think the snorkeling was very good there....water was a little chilly but not too bad.

 

Hawaiian Cruise Photos

 

Margie

 

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[debiitodd]

Margie ~ thanks for the link to all your wonderful pictures. I can't wait for our long awaited cruise to Hawaii - and still 7 months to go...

 

Take care,

Debi

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[spleen93]

Tina - I agree that the road from Lahaina to Maalaea can be very problematic at times - if time is critical, then I'd say that Kihei beaches are probably going to be a better choice for you than going to the west side.

 

Spleen

 

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[MOMofONE]

Margi - thanks for link to photos - very nice!

Kam looks great - you certainly looked happy to be there!

Was the turtle pic taken there? Lots of nice fishies and the sea urchin, cool!

How was parking there?

Spleen has once again become my "voice of reason" regarding how much I can REALISTICALLY do in one port day, so looks like we'll be checking out Kam III. (of course I'll be going solo in the reasoning dept when I get there so pray for me!)

I'll post back in July to let you know how it was on our trip.

Mahalo,

Tina

[Desertbelle]

I was very happy to be there!! Hawaii was everything I thought it would be. I can't wait to go back.

 

Yes, that turtle was at Kam III. I was swimming to shore when I noticed a dark shadow coming towards me, when I looked up I was in a collision course with that turtle, he was only about 5 feet away. I had to move out of his way, he wasn't going to...I could have touched him easily when he passed me by!! I was only about 50 feet from shore. When I got to the shore there were a few people laughing at me because they thought I was going to run into the turtle!!

 

The parking was excellent....tree covered for the most part.

 

I think of all the beaches we visited, that was my favorite. The snorkeling trip with the Pacific Whale Foundation was wonderful too!

 

Margie

 

Celebrating Our Parents 60th Anniversary - Legend of the Seas to Mexico 9/5/04!!

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