In 2005 and 2006, Haiku’s Albee Layer—or Alfred L. Layer IV if you want to get technical—was featured in the surf flicks Kids Who Rip and Kids Who Rip, Volume 3. He’s not a kid anymore (he turned 18 last June) but he still rips. In fact, he just keeps ripping harder, riding his way to the front of a crowded field of Maui up-and-comers. To quote surferhot100.com, which keeps tabs on the world’s best young surfers: “In this day and age, where you have to be rounded to be successful, Albee’s mix of futuristic grabs and airs coupled with his ability to drop into anything will keep his name relevant years to come.”
Baby Beach in Paia offers a twofold service as the Best Locals’ Beach. First, its natural lagoon provides a safe environment for the whole family, be it the little one’s first swimming lesson or just marveling at the wonders hidden in the tide pools. For the older kids, it’s walking distance to Baldwin Beach and Paia Bay, which are great for swimming or bodyboarding. However, Baby Beach’s true potential is revealed on windy days, where it acts as a natural exfoliation spa. It’s true, after being sandblasted by the beach on a windy day, your skin will be soft as a baby’s! True origin of the nickname? You decide.
This is arguably the quintessential Hana hike, the one every visitor should do and every kama’aina should do again. It’s got all the essential elements—mud, bridges, waterfalls—and, of course, the bamboo: towering, majestic, creaking, closing in around you almost to the point of claustrophobia. East Maui offers so many treasures it’s hard to say one stands head-and-shoulders above the rest—it really depends on what you’re looking for—but this trek is indisputably a shining jewel in Hana’s, and the entire island’s, ornate crown.
When I was in high school, jumping off Black Rock was the thing to do. Of course, this entailed sprinting through a gated community, running from groundskeepers and scrambling over tourists. Now that I’m older and wiser (not to mention slower), I’ve come to realize the beauty in taking things easy, and just enjoying the wonderment of nature. And again, Black Rock comes to my rescue. Readers, you have chosen Black Rock as the premier spot for snorkeling, and with its picturesque underwater views, it’s no wonder. And for those rare times I’m feeling young and violent, elbowing my way through throngs of tourists trying to snatch pictures of turtles and fish does the trick.
This is the second straight year Chaz has won this category, and while he won’t stay young enough to qualify for much longer, it’s safe to assume he’ll keep piling up awards and accolades. The son of Kazuma Surfboards owner and surfing coach Matt Kinoshita, Chaz has blossomed under his father’s tutelage. In May, he won the Boy’s Open division of the Neil Pride HASA competition at Hookipa and, per Punker Pat’s Surf Blog over at rvca.com, got “his feet wet” at Jaws this winter. The only thing bigger than those waves may be what’s in store for this preternaturally gifted grom.
EDIT PICK: Best Local Sports Swag, Winner Foam Shaka Finger Address: 275 Kaahumanu Ave. Suite 210, Kahului, HI 96732 Phone: 808-877-8880 Website: http://nakoaikaikamaui.com/ I was already basically sold on Maui’s new pro baseball team before I walked through the gate of Maehara Stadium for my first game; I’m a big baseball fan, so I’m an easy mark. But the deal was officially sealed when I made my way over to the merchandise booth and saw it: a big, yellow foam finger bearing the team’s logo. But instead of the usual, cliched (and often wrong) “We’re Number One,” this one featured the thumb-and-pinkie-out gesture that defines Hawaii. Good marketing move on their part, good purchase on my part. Go Na Koa!
An adult critiquing a playground is kind of like a cat delivering the surf report. It simply wasn’t made for us. So I’ll turn to my three-year-old son, who, when asked what playground he wants to visit, invariably chooses “the wooden one.” What he means—and what he’d say if he were a stiff-kneed grownup incapable of enjoying the pleasures of a twisty slide—is the 4th Marine Division Memorial Playground at Giggle Hill. (Really, “the wooden playground” is much less cumbersome, and more descriptive.) By any name, it’s a great spot, cooled by Haiku breezes, surrounded by open green fields and covered picnic tables ideal for birthdays and other kiddie occasions, and, most essentially, boasting a ton of quality play equipment, tailored for everyone from timid toddlers to rambunctious elementary schoolers. Adults are the ones who voted this the winner, but it’s the kids who’ve truly spoken.
EDIT PICK: Best Place to See Chickens at the Beach, Winner Honolua Bay
How charming you find Maui’s feral chickens (and roosters) depends entirely on where you encounter them. Crossing the road? Charming. Clucking (and crowing) outside your window at 4am? Less charming. Maybe the funniest (and thus among the more charming) places to encounter them is at the beach, and, for whatever reason, they’re usually out in force at Honolua Bay. It’s nice; when you’re not bobbing in the water marveling at the colorful sea life, you can laugh as a hen picks her way between the rocks to peck at some tourist family’s picnic. The very definition of a “what the cluck?” moment.
Nothing says summer quite like a BBQ at the beach and a few sacrificial watermelons. Luckily, Kam III already has the picnic tables and BBQ pits built in, so all you have to do is bring the food, family, fun and fire up the coals, then enjoy the fresh air, beach and all the joys of island living. Even if you’re not the best outdoor chef, one of the best things about Kam III is that it’s near all those great restaurants in Kihei (some which made it into BOM), for when you’re tired of eating burnt BBQ and dealing with your brooding pre-teens complaining how all this sunshine is bad for their Twilight tans.
BEST PUBLIC POOL, Winner Kihei Aquatic Center Address: 303 E. Lipoa St., Kihei, HI 96753 Phone: 808-874-8137 Website: http://tinyurl.com/63wewg The budget crunch has led to reduced hours at all County pools, including Kihei Aquatic (now closed Wednesdays). But at least it’s still open—providing a very alluring, very free option for those days when surf and sand just feel a tad too daunting. There are ample lanes for lap swimmers, a nice keiki area with a wading pool and big, splashy fountain and clean, easily accessible changing facilities. In short, all the stuff you want in a pool. Plus, in the sweltering heat of a Kihei summer, you can never have too many options to dip in and cool off.
EDIT PICK: Best Samurai School, Winner Komei Juku Maui Address: PO Box 1084, Makawao, HI 96768 Contact: Guy Junker Phone: (808)573-1965 Fax: (808)572-6047 Website: http://www.komeijuku.com/ Samurai swordsmanship is not for those who tend toward fleeting fancy. Beyond simply weapons handling and tactic, it is the complete study of the samurai Way. To the lifelong commitment of this Way, senseis Bob Montgomery and Guy Junker have devoted themselves; and in so practicing, impart their knowledge upon a core group of dedicated pupils. Housed thanks to the Okinawan Kenjin Kai, perched near the stream’s mouth in Waiehu, classes are held every Tuesday and Friday from 6-9pm. Under a steep, beamed pitch and between lit glass museum walls, practitioners studying Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaitu (a style from the end of the Edo period), wear wide, pleated hakama pants, cinched with obi belts over dogi tops, and follow formalities as prescribed by the school and under Tokyo-based Grand Master Sekiguchi Sensei. An ‘ohana like no other, the camaraderie of the group is without compare. They’ve been so kind as to welcome me, too; and with unconditional support, have steeled me through battling cancer and every other of life’s turns. Though the Way remains, for me, yet to be mastered, I know it can be found at this school—with teachers, brethren and friends.
BEST HIGH SCHOOL SPIRIT, Winner Lahainaluna High School Address: 980 Lahainaluna Road, Lahaina, HI 96761 Phone: (808) 662-4000 Fax: (808) 662-3997 Website: http://lahainalunahs.org/ I didn’t graduate from Lahainaluna High School, and I’ve got to admit that I feel like a traitor praising their high school spirit. But it’s hard to deny that their fanatic alumni, well-coordinated band, dedicated student-athletes and intellectual academics take pride in their alma mater. It’s the oldest post-secondary school west of the Rockies, as they like to trumpet, as well as the first school founded in Hawaii. And really, that’s something to be proud of. If that’s not enough, Lahainaluna also boasts of some famous graduates like David Malo, Samuel Kamakau, Keali’i Reichel and MauiTime’s own, Jen (Spector) Russo. Go Lunas!
Named the Maui Interscholastic League’s 2010 Division I Player of the Year, 5’4” point guard Maiki Viela—known for her “dime-dropping exploits,” according to ESPN Insider—helped lead Lahainaluna to the MIL’s first-ever Hawaiian Airlines Division I Girls Basketball State Championship this February. Opposite defending champs, Konawaena High of Hawaii Island, the Lady Lunas were down 11 points in the fourth quarter when a floater from Viela ignited a harried, championship-winning run for the second-seeded team. After the win, coach Todd Rickard told The Maui News Viela is “a true point guard who can get through traps and relentless pressure.” She was picked for the 2009 Team Aloha Girls Basketball Team, but opted to join “Team Taurasi”—affiliated with two-time U.S. Olympian and WNBA All-Star, Diana Taurasi—the most elite travel team of the California Storm Basketball Club. In March, she was named 2009-’10 Gatorade Hawaii Girls Basketball Player of the Year, which awards “not only outstanding excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character.”
BEST YOGA TEACHER, Winner Mary Grace Address: 115 East Lipoa St. #202, Kihei, HI 96753 Contact: Mary Grace Phone: (808) 875-9642 Website: http://www.mauihotyoga.com/yoga/ Though its aims are tranquility, flexibility and inner calm, yoga is deceptively complex. Because of this, it’s important to have a good teacher, one who can help you get you into—and out of—those pretzel-esque poses with, if not effortless grace, at least no injuries or embarrassment. Mary Grace has been practicing yoga since childhood and has studied and taught the ancient art all over the world. Now, along with co-owner/teacher James Onnikian, she operates Maui Yoga and Kickboxing in Kihei, which specializes in Bikram, or hot yoga, giving you a little sweat with your namaste.
BEST YOGA STUDIO, Winner Paia Yoga Address: 161 Hana Highway, Paia, HI 96779 Phone: 808 283-3612 Website: http://www.paiayoga.com/ I’m probably not the best person to judge the merits of yoga; my familiarity begins and ends with sun salutations. Thankfully, lots of MauiTime readers, and especially a sizable segment of the population in Paia, know that and a lot more. So it’s not surprising that Paia Yoga tops this category. Located on Hana Highway, smack dab in the middle of town, they have teachers schooled in Iyengar, Ashtanga, Flow and Yang/ Kundalini, offer classes for moms, kids and even teach something called ecstatic dance. If you’re interested, head to Paia and look for the mailbox with the OM.
Alumnus and site supervisor of Lahainaluna, Todd Rickard has been the head coach of the school’s girls’ varsity basketball team for the last seven years. In that time, he’s coached six straight Maui Interscholastic League Players of the Year—including 2010 honoree (and Best Scholastic Athlete) Maiki Viela—plus three others under his tutelage in yeas prior. Rickard is the 2010 MIL Division I Coach of the Year, as chosen by his peers, and brought home to the Valley Isle the MIL’s first-ever DI Girls Basketball State Championship this February.
EDIT PICK: Best Place to See Dragonballz, Winner Sun Yat Sen Park
Sadly, this Edit Pick is in memoriam. Dragon junk can still be seen in Iao Valley, but its Keokea counterpart has been castrated. This Upcountry park is home to a standing statue of its namesake—Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen—but is hallmarked by two large, faux stone lions (and two little ones flanking the park’s entrance, too). Rather promiscuously poised over a large sphere, the mauka-most lion inspired a little Project Mayhem in some anonymous sculptor, and the statue long-boasted a cleverly crafted pair of clay “fruits” of the loom. Conspicuous yet camouflaged, it required close inspection to see that these family jewels (and then some) were a pottery prankster’s addition. But when last I traversed to Sun Yat-Sen Park, I was dismayed to find these dragonballz had been scraped clean off. Neutered, the poor fellow looks nearly as desiccated as the drought-choked park, where the fig tree has no fruit and where should be peaches are but pits.
Alumnus and site supervisor of Lahainaluna, Todd Rickard has been the head coach of the school’s girls’ varsity basketball team for the last seven years. In that time, he’s coached six straight Maui Interscholastic League Players of the Year—including 2010 honoree (and Best Scholastic Athlete) Maiki Viela—plus three others under his tutelage in yeas prior. Rickard is the 2010 MIL Division I Coach of the Year, as chosen by his peers, and brought home to the Valley Isle the MIL’s first-ever DI Girls Basketball State Championship this February.
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BEST ACTIVITY COMPANY, Winner Trilogy Excursions Address: 180 Lahainaluna Road, Lahaina, HI 96761 Phone: 888-225-MAUI Website: http://www.sailtrilogy.com/ Trilogy Excursions takes one of the most striking features of living on an island (that is, being surrounded by water), and turns it into a wonderland of adventure. Whether it’s sailing, snorkeling or Scuba diving, Trilogy has got you covered. Wanna see some water-dwelling mammals? Trilogy offers dolphin and whale watching cruises. If you want see the denizens of the deep up close and personal, they can take you on either a snorkel tour of some of the best spots on Maui, or on a Scuba dive. Or maybe you’re tired of hustle and bustle and want to take it easy? Relax on one of their sunset cruises,take in the splendor and snack on ono appetizers. Whatever your mood, Trilogy has an adventure for you.
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Entertainment and lifestyle news for Maui, Hawaii and the surrounding Islands. Maui Time Weekly is Mauis only independent and locally owned newspaper.
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