Day 7 of Our Tour of Maui, Hawaii - Ulua Beach and Mokapu Beach - Maui Hawaii Landscape Photography, Maui Hawaii Portrait Photography

On Day 7 we travel southward and land on the first of the three "hotel beaches" that crouch together along one of the most valuable sections of land on Maui.  These three beaches that we are going to visit next are fronted by very expensive hotel properties; however, as I explained earlier, they must all provide beach access to the locals and tourists who wish to enjoy the beach.  So you are welcome to come along with us today.  They are much more crowded than the first three beaches that I showed you, mainly because they are not really as long and receive most of their traffic from the tourists that stay in the hotels that front the properties.  This first beach today is Ulua Beach.  It is a lovely beach with excellent parking available.  So if you are not staying at the Marriott which is directly above the beach, you can drive over and park and enjoy this beach for a day.  It has a beautiful grassy area that is excellent for picnics, watching the scenery, enjoying the sunset, doing some yoga in the morning, or whatever else you might think up.  But don't get to risque.  This is not "Little Beach," if you know what I mean.  There will be children present.  There are nice, clean bathrooms and shower facilities to wash the sand off.  This park is always pristine and enjoyable.  You can start out on a walk down the boardwalk, if you like.  At a future date, I'll take you on a scenic walk of that boardwalk, and you can come along with me for a morning and/or evening stroll to watch the water and see the sunset from some of the most beautiful cliffs on Maui.  But that is for another day in the future.  Today come along and enjoy beautiful Ulua Beach with my family for a few hours.

The length of Ulua Beach with the Marriott sitting at the top, standing guard.

You can make friends from all over the world on this beach, especially if they know how to boogie board and get involved in the action.

As we move to beaches further south, we lose the West Maui Mountains as our background and gain Koho'olawe and Molokini as our backdrop.

I watched my boogie boarders trying hard to adjust to the strangeness of the waves at Ulua.  They would try to get ahead of the crest of the wave and miss it most times.  One young local girl understood it perfectly.  She'd be sitting pretty on the top of the wave when it crested, push off with her hands like the long boarders do and then, not standing up as she would on a long board but riding in on her belly, she'd ride that boogie board into the beach and then get up and start over.  Her little sister and brother were with her that afternoon, trying hard to imitate her and learn how to ride the harder waves at Ulua.  My four, not accustomed to the action at Ulua struggled and never quite got it.  I look forward to watching them learn as they grow.  They are going to be proficient surfers one day, I just know it, some of them on the long board.  I love to watch surfers.  Their beautiful, strong bodies dominating those waves.  No small feat, I'm telling you, because those waves are very powerful things.  And I who can't swim can still admire everything about it from the beach.  Yes, that's where you'll find me - enjoying every bit of it from the beach.  I can't swim, you say!  Another story, another day. 

Meanwhile...back to the action.  Uh oh guys, it's cresting and you're in front of it.  You'll never catch it now.  It's going to hammer you.

Okay, ride the foam in.  That will work.  Smile at each other triumphantly and no one will be the wiser.  They'll think you rode in all the way from the top.  Smile boys, give it a good show.  That's it!

Here they go again, out to see if they can do better this time.



I turned for a moment, and this little guy caught my attention.

I get 'em Auntie!  You see that!  You get that on tape?  Yes, little man.  I did, I got that on tape!  One day you are going to be as good or even better than your big sister.



How about a boogie board sandwich?  Maybe not such a good idea.

"Yeah!  That's nice dude, but you better look out behind us because we're about to get hammered!!" And that's how she'd talk to, my little smarty pants.  Everytime she opens her mouth, I'm shocked that stuff so complicated comes out of someone so small.

We hope you have enjoyed hanging out with us at Ulua Beach!!!