Day 12 of Our Tour of Maui, Hawaii - Maluaka Beach or Makena Point - Maui Hawaii Landscape Photography, Maui Hawaii Portrait Photography

For Day 12 of our Tour of Maui we go to Maluaka Beach.  It is best known as the beach in front of the Makena Beach and Golf Resort, long known as the Maui Prince Hotel.  It is along the strip of land called Turtle Town, as the tour groups who run boat tours love to bring people into this beach to view the turtles, hang out at the beach and snorkel.  This is one of the best places on Maui to do some snorkeling; and Makena in general is a good place to snorkel.

This beach is the first beach I chose for my first family photo shoot, when I decided I wanted to go into photography seriously, years back.  One of my most treasured photos of my children was taken at this beach.  It has changed a bit over the years.  New construction and changes to the entrance to this beach have made it look a bit different as time goes on, but this beach is still a very favorite beach of mine for family photography.  Many of you who keep up with my photography will recognize the driftwood in the background of some of these photos.  Over the years, it has slowly worked its way down from the rock formations to the sandy beach.

We'll start with one of my favorite photographs taken a few years ago of my second and third child.  I treasure this photo.  Connect up with me by phone or email, before your trip to Maui, and I'll make sure we capture some photos that you can treasure just as much.

You see the rail fence behind them and a tree line used to be there also.  It has been removed over the years, making it much easier to get great pictures from these tree stumps that line the entrance to the beach on the South Side.

The rest of these pictures were taken on a day that the kids and I went to the beach to enjoy some snorkeling with their new snorkeling gear.

There were many different treasures to be found while looking at the ocean floor, and of course everyone wanted their treasures photographed.



My youngest daughter, Danae, was hilarious.  "One of Ariel's bras, she said!"  Ariel is her favorite disney princess.  Danae wants to have red hair.  Maybe with some die, we could accomplish it when she's older.  I tell my girls I don't want them to mess with their gorgeous brunette locks.  We protect their hair from the sun and salt of beach days, so that the ends won't fry from being out at the beach all day.  We have a post all prepared about that - how to look your best at the beach and protect your skin and hair from too much damage.  We'll post that at a later date, so you can be in on our secrets.

She's getting ready, my girl is, to go out and surf some waves.  Soon, pretty soon...

The name of the ship we saw that day, in case you and your family would like to book an excursion with them is the Kai Kanani II.

Here is their website:

http://www.kaikanani.com/



This is the Makena Beach and Golf Resort that sits above Maluaka Beach.

The rock formations on this beach make interesting "smaller beaches" that provide picturesque places to spend the day.

Because I can't just showcase two of my children, here are some pictures I took of the two youngest of my kids.  I'm passionate about documenting the lives of children, especially my own.  I'd love to take some pictures of your kids that you can treasure.  Contact me by email or phone and we will set up a time for you to sit for a photo session with me during your stay here on Maui.

This park sits above the beach and to the side of the hotel property, on the south end of the beach. It is one of the most beautiful places on the island to have a picnic. My good friend Rebecca hosted a small birthday party for me in this park for my birthday this year. It was so much fun to sit and eat a wonderful meal and watch the sun set over the ocean. I highly recommend it as a great activity for couples. If you want to light some fire back into your marriage, arrange a picnic for your spouse in this little park at sunset hours.  And this park serves as a popular setting for weddings here on the island.  In fact there are three very popular places to have weddings adjacent to Maluaka Beach.  This park is the first location.

And this second location is the  Keawala'i Church.  It sits at the North entrance to the beach.  You can find it by traveling to the beach from Makena Road, vs. Makena Alanui Road.  It is a very popular location for weddings on Maui, and you can see why.  This lovely, old fashioned church and its grounds bring back a feeling of Old Hawaii.  It is a lovely place to spend your wedding day.  The third location for weddings at Maluaka Beach is a manicured garden at the center of the Makena Beach and Golf Resort.  If you are planning to be married at any of these three locations, and you like my style of formal and photojournalistic photography, please contact me.  I'll make sure that you have a wonderful wedding album of beautiful pictures to remember your special day by.

Day 11 of Our Tour of Maui, Hawaii - Palauea Beach or White Rock Beach - Maui Hawaii Landscape Photography, Maui Hawaii Portrait Photography

We have so much more of Maui to cover, so we will continue our tour all throughout the fall.  Come join us for a Maui Autumn with the He Family.  We have fewer tourists here between September - November than other times of the year.  It can often rain a lot during that time.  It can often not also.  Last Fall was one of the most beautiful Autumn's that I've seen in Maui.  So stick around and join us as we tour other areas of our beautiful island.  Now that we've covered Wailea, we are going to move further South to Makena.  Makena is wilder than Wailea.  It is Maui without all the organized, well manicured landscaping.  I am always drawn back to Makena.   Makena is a place that you have to explore.  I am not naturally adventurous, but Makena makes me want to overcome any fear or hesitation that I might have.  It is a place that must be explored; and everyone knows that if I have at least one camera at my disposal but preferably more than one, you will not believe the things I will attempt to do to get the shot.   So over the years, I've begun to piece together the puzzle that is Makena.  It takes a lot of time for it to become familiar to you.  There are many incredible beaches and hidden places along the shoreline.  They are all really easy to get to, once you realize they are there.  The secret will be realizing they are there.  We will explore each of these beaches in our Tour of Maui, Hawaii, but me may jump around a bit.  I will do my best to explain to you how and where each of these beaches is located along that long strip of wild land that makes up the area of Makena.


This first beach is incredible and my kids' favorite.  Ask them, after this summer, which beach they prefer.  They will all scream that they want to go to White Rock.  It's long, and not as crowded, so my kids found a nice section of the beach all to themselves.  The funny thing about White Rock is the private property/no trespassing signs posted all among the trees.  But remember the story I told you in the beginning of our tour.  No one can buy themselves a beach on Maui, so there will always be a beach access available.  You just have to find it.  It winds through the many wild Kiawe trees that front this beach.  So many beautiful homes are going up in this area.  I hope it does not change the access to this beach too much.  It might though.  Perhaps one day, they will have made it so hard to get to White Rock that it will make it prohibitive.  I hope this never happens, but one can never know in this greedy little world we live in.


For now we can still enjoy  Palauea Beach (or White Rock) to our hearts' content.  Here's how you get there.  Remember Polo Beach?  Do you remember how to get there?  Okay, instead of turning into the parking lot for Polo Beach, continue on down to the end of the lane, turn left at the very end, drive just a slight bit down that road until you see a slew of cars parked all along what looks like the middle of no where.  You've found White Rock.  Park your car where you can find a place.  Locate the beach access through the trees, walk just a bit through those trees and out onto one of the most incredible beaches.

A small view of the kiawe forest that fronts this beach.

Boogie boarding lessons from one older brother to a little brother!

Oh no!  My Baby's first surfing injury!

Waiting for the next wave!