We head off for a leisurely morning stroll along the Kapalua Coastal Trail which winds its way along the shore north of here.
We pass a building hanging off the cliff face, which, if Google Maps is to be believed, is the Kapalua Cliff House. Apparently its a wedding venue, and it seems its been here since the 1940s. The reviews dont however seem to mention anything about weddings, most just noting that its a good place to jump off the cliff from. I suppose you could include this in the ceremony, but I think the bride might want to have a few lifeguards on hand if shes wearing any of the wedding dresses Im used to seeing. One review says that the ladder and rope down into the ocean have been removed by a neighbour, whos also hired a security guard to keep people out. I hope that doesnt include the happy couples. Anyway, this doesnt seem to be working too well; there are lots of people here launching themselves off the rocks. And what neighbour? The only buildings anywhere near it are
part of a fancy looking resort, and even theyre not very close to it. I wonder if anyones vetting these reviews.
The hotels along here all look like they probably cater for the very rich and famous. We thought the price we were paying for our little apartment was eye watering enough, but a quick look at Booking.com suggests its small to this lot. They start from (I think thats code for the price for their worst room) north of 1,500 Aussie dollars per night, and work their way up from there to a from 10,000 Aussie dollars per night - I think that might have been the room with the large chandelier that we saw from the path, although Im fairly sure that wouldnt have been their worst room, so add a few grand to the 10,000 to lay your head down in that one for a few hours. These places arent even on the beach; its quite a hike from here if you want to feel the sand between your toes. Maybe the rich and famous consider lying on the beach to be beneath them, in which case Im more than happy that we
The landscape gets a lot more rugged and windswept as we head northwards. The Trail takes us through a rocky headland, much of which is apparently roped off to protect the islands largest known colony of endangered wedge tailed shearwaters. The cliffs are black and steep, and the rocks are sharp, and its not too hard to imagine this being a relatively recent lava flow, which it probably is. Next cab along is Oneloa Bay Beach, which isnt nearly as protected from the gale as Napili and Kapalua, and the surf heres rolling in hard. Perhaps unsurprisingly there dont seem to be too many people down on the sand braving the elements.
We head off up the road for dinner, and are immediately left wondering whether Maui is afflicted by the same shortage of locals willing to be wait staff as we are back home. The young lad who leads us to our table couldnt be more than twelve, and the lass who takes our food order might be thirteen at a stretch I suppose; the other waiters all seem to be from South America. Anyway the foods excellent if
not perhaps a bit unusual, well for us at least. My main is a local specialty called Moco Loco which is a beef burger topped with fried eggs and gravy sitting on a bed of rice, with a side serve of macaroni. Very tasty.
