Day 8 of Our Tour of Maui, Hawaii - Wailea Beach - Maui Hawaii Landscape Photography, Maui Hawaii Portrait Photography

On Day 8 of our Summer Adventure,  we travel to the next beach down the coastline.  It is the second of the three "hotel beaches."  This beach is the longest of those three beaches.  It is the beach for activity, as you will see from the pictures.   It will be filled up with beach chairs and those who wish to do nothing at all but sit, soak up the sun and read a good book.  You'll see a group of yoga enthusiasts taking in some exercise early on this beautiful morning.  Now that is my idea of a great morning at Wailea Beach.  Maybe soon, I will try to make time for something like that.  Right now my time is about my children and what they want to do.  You will see the locals clinging to the various rock formations with their lines cast in the water as they fish away the morning.  Move to the water and the water is completely full of kayakers, paddle boarders, boogie boarders and a few people jumping on a giant trampoline.  Underneath hidden from view, are the divers and their fish.

So what does all that activity mean for those of you visiting Maui, and especially those of you staying at the two hotels, the Grand Wailea Resort and Spa and the Four Seasons Resort Maui, that crouch on the land above this beach, talk to your concierge desk and book some activities for you and your family in advance of your morning beach excursion.  You can do any of the things that I mentioned above, and the concierge desk will be happy to help you organize and choose which activities you think will be the most fun.   If you are traveling in from somewhere else on the island to spend the day on this beach my suggestion is get there EARLY!  This beach parking is not so good, and it can often fill up to capacity.  It is my least favorite beach to park at, and I cringe like crazy if I have to find parking at this beach midday.

We had perfect light that morning; and when you have perfect light, you can make the best protraits of a person, the skin glows, the eyes sparkle and the background behind the person takes on a luminescence that is spectacular.  You just know when you got it right.  You just know it, and it is captured on film forever.  No one can take it back from you.  You can have that picture of your child to look back on for all your life and their life and they are frozen in the beauty of that moment.  It is a great feeling, and it is why I have such a passion for photography.

Venturing out with little baby steps.

A walking path that stretches from Ulua Beach to Polo Beach is great for taking a morning stroll or watching the sunset in the evening. The following two pictures showcase some of that path.

Living in Hawaii has taught my family what is truly important.  My kids and I really know each other as people.  They know me and I know them.  It is true, as that cute little movie said, "ohana means family," and the Hawaiian people know this better than any other group of people that I have met.  I love them dearly.  Yesterday a woman that I love and respect for her graciousness and hospitality called me Auntie.  I call her Auntie.  She could have given me no higher praise.  I love them for the ideals that they have taught me, and I didn't come by them easily.  It took many, many years for me to learn the lessons of this place.  That they accept me as theirs that they have adopted me because they want to, that is high praise indeed.

Uh oh!  Trouble brewing in Paradise.  Not everything is perfect around here all the time.

What are they doing?





Waiting for that...