AOVPhoto: the old lahaina luau

so our trip is half over now, and we leave for the mainland on sunday, but the adventures and activities are still continuing. on monday, and after two days of having to be up and out early in the morning, we all decided to relax and rest up here at the condo. after a morning at the beach, a few of us headed down to wailea which is just about 5 minutes south of our condo. they have all sorts of shops there in an outdoor, classy, mall so it was more shopping for all. (dont worry, i was just along for the ride and the company) monday night we bbg'd out on the grass, and had a birthday cake for my b-day. all in all it was a supper relaxing and great day!

tuesday morning the tree climbers were here. they guys strap metal spikes to their shoes and scale the palm trees here along the beach so they can trim them up. i think it looks like to much fun, i was very tempted to ask them if i could try.

tree climbers trimming the palms...

on tuesday, we decided to shake things up a bit and spend the day at a different beach than our usual, so we traveled south the the "big beach". according to the guide book we have, this beach was famous among the hippies back in the day, and is considered one of the best beaches here on maui so we had to check it out. the sweet thing about this beach was the shore break...the waves here at this beach were the largest i have seen on the island...some were up to 7 feet tall im sure. it was a great time boggy boarding, and body surfing though i had some pretty nasty wipe outs! big beach is over a 1/2 mile long, thus the name, however i wasnt able to get a photo of the whole beach. click here for the whole beach photo.

big beach...

after big beach, we came back to the condos, showered and got ready for the luau that night. the old lahaina luau is the best rated luau on the island and wouldnt you know it, we sat in the front row on my birthday...i thought for sure that i would be dancing on stage - not voluntarily mid you - by the end of the night, but all they did was wish me a happy birthday hawaiian style. the food was awesome, the disserts were amazing and the show was very well done. they story-boarded it, giving the history of the island incorporating all the traditional hawaiian dances. they only bummer was there was no fire dancers. (apparently the show was all traditional dance, and fire dancing is not considered traditional...im thinking "who cares, give us fire dancers")

the old lahaina luau...