After a
six-year absence, I was finally heading back to Maui's appropriately named Big
Beach (Oneloa Beach), on the island's arid and sun-soaked southwestern shore,
one of my favorite stretches of shoreline in Hawaii – or anywhere in the world,
for that matter. On scenic Highway 31, I whizzed by kayakers gliding past the
7-mile stretch of rental condos and drove through the plush and rambling resort
area of tony Wailea. I pulled the car over near an empty lava field, and got
out to feel my sandals scrape across shards of broken, black lava rock. The
Hawaiians have more than one word for lava, and what I was treading on was a'a,
the prickly kind that looks like it froze in mid-eruption. Luckily, the lava
rock had been mulched down into a weathered coastal walkway (nowadays called
the King's Highway) that corkscrews 15 miles past the foundations and walls of
long abandoned Polynesian villages and fishing camp ruins. The ocean beside me was
bright, but I could make out a raft of snorkelers carefully dipping their
bodies into the water. The slopes of the faraway Haleakala volcano loomed to
the left, and the lava field – calm and sedentary after Haleakala's last eruption
in 1790 – spilled down from the volcano's side, and sat there frozen like a piece
of captured history.
I first
fell in love with
Big
Beach when I lived on the
neighboring Big Island of Hawaii in the 1990s. During my time as a kama'aina
(island resident), I published a guidebook (Rainbow Handbook Hawaii, 1998) and
visited nearly every conceivable beach, or tidy spit of pink, yellow, white,
black, red – and even green – sand in the state. I couldn't wait to feel
Big
Beach's
spongy, golden sand again. By the time I arrived, it felt as if no time at all
had passed since I lived here. At times, it even felt like I was stepping back
into a
Hawaii
that never knew jet travel, or tourism – or even automobiles.
Close, but
not accessible to Maui's aromatic eucalyptus forests and Maui's only vineyard,
the Tedeschi Winery, Big Beach had somehow remained completely untouched by
developers, not an easy feat in the 50th state. The sprawling, 3,300-foot-long
crescent of sand is still lined by wild brush instead of hotels, while the lava
flows of Haleakala unfurl in the distance. No matter how many people populate
the beach, or what day you show up, it always feels roomy – sometimes empty.
Here, locals and visitors swim side by side while humpback whales breach in the
shallow waters offshore and schools of tropical fish swirl in halos around a
submerged crater that doubles as their home.
I unpacked
my beach bag and went for a swim in the warm Pacific water as the sun slowly
descended toward the horizon. There was a faint thumping in the background,
coming from the direction of Little Beach – a small sister beach to the north,
where clothing is optional. I dried myself off and climbed the small bluff that
separates the two beaches, and gazed down onto a large gathering of people
banging drums. I had forgotten that on Sundays at sunset, a weekly circle of
drummers congregates, sending the surrounding crowd into an inescapable
relaxation. Locals, visitors, transplanted mainlanders, and even children join
in on the fun, proving that in Maui, a
simple sunset is often all that's needed to invoke a party.
It's this
promise of escape from the everyday that makes
Maui
a sort of pilgrimage spot for the weary traveler. You can journey to its
beaches and feel your body in nature, cleanse yourself under secluded
waterfalls, then clear your mind on top of mountains surrounded by ocean. You
can even bang drums on beaches at sunset.
Maui
helps you refresh yourself. Few places left in the world have that overwhelming
tranquil atmosphere that swallows you whole.
While many
tourists discovered
Hawaii in the 1950s,
Maui itself remained largely undeveloped until the 1980s
when the elegant resort areas of Wailea and Ka'anapali were erected on the
southwestern and northwestern shores, respectively. While locals have been
known to grumble about the island becoming too crowded, outsiders, and former
islanders like myself see it as remarkably pristine and even sometimes empty,
regardless of the new mini-malls and condos that continue to alter the
landscape. But whether you're a first-time visitor or a regular, it's hard not
to notice the fields of sugarcane gesturing in the salty breeze, and the remote
roads – devoid of cars, exhaust, and people – leading deep into
Maui's
mysterious and untrammeled interior. It's also hard not to notice the residents
who still wear smiles on their faces, as if to say, "Here, there is time enough
for everything in life to figure itself out."
Maui,
in its purest, unadulterated form, can still be found, perhaps explaining why
locals frequently refer to the mana of the 'aina, the mysterious spiritual
force of the land. You can find it too; you just have to know where to go.
• The sunrise from the top of Haleakala
• Comparing the color of sand on Maui's many beaches
• A piece of macadamia pie at the end of every meal
• Surfing, or at least watching experts ride the waves
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