I recently visited the island of Maui, which is absolutely magical, and one of my favorite places that I have had the opportunity to visit! The list of vacation destinations isn't very long, but it does include five of the Hawaiian Islands, of which Maui stands above the rest. Each island has its own unique feel, and while the city of Lahaina in Maui tends to be a more tourist driven area of the island, as a whole, Maui isn't overly crowded (Oahu is very crowded). I have stayed in both Kihei and Lahaina while on Maui, Kihei was more centrally located allowing me shorter drive times as I explored the island (Airport, Road to Hana, Haleakala, Big Beach, to name a few destinations). The view I had while staying in the condo just outside of Lahaina was breathtaking, and the scene from my balcony appears over and over in my camera roll! However, Lahaina is about 40 minutes outside of Kihei, and begins to add to car time when going to the other spots on the island.

That being said, Big Beach which is located roughly one hour outside of Lahaina, on the south side of the island, is one of the most remarkable spots of Maui! The beach isn't called Big Beach for nothing, because the soft sand stretches on and on, which allowed me to find my own patch of sand despite many other visitors enjoying the beach as well! On the most recent trip to Big Beach (May 2017) there were giant crashing waves, which caused the lifeguards to warn any inexperienced swimmers to stay out of the water, so despite a few quick dips in the water, for the most part the waves kept me captivated from the beach while I listened to my audio book and soaked up the rays!. I watched many brave vacationers not heed the warning, and get rolled by rather sudden large waves.

This was not the experience I had on my first trip to Big Beach, which was in December a few years back, when the water was rather calm and allowed us to float around and swim with ease in the beautiful clear blue water. No matter when you visit, the black rock located on the north side of the Island provides an overlook for the beach, and produces a stunning picture! It is a slight climb up a worn pathway up the rock, but worth the climb to snap a quick picture that you will look at as you daydream of going back. Disclaimer, if nude beaches aren't your thing, don't spend too much time exploring on top of the rock, as Little Beach is located out of sight and just a little bit of a walk from the top of the rock.

Overall, Big Beach is one of my absolute favorite places in the world, and if you have the opportunity to experience it for yourself I highly recommend it. It is located in Makena State Park, and is also referred to as Makena Beach, which just so happens to be the name of this small boutique, so you could say that we kind of like it there!

August 03, 2017 — Greg Taylor

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