Perfect Days -- Central Maui & North Shore

CoastLine, Beaches & Watersports

Kanaha Beach: A golden strip of sand with showers, restrooms, picnic tables, grills, shade trees and plenty of parking, this beach is popular with locals, families, beach joggers and walkers, windsurfers and kitesurfers.

Spreckelsville Beach: Hidden from view and lined with vacation rentals, Spreckelsville Beach provides more windsurfing and a beautiful, uncrowded walking or jogging beach next to the Maui Country Club and its golf course. (After MM4 take Nonohe St. makai to Kealakai and turn toward the ocean.)

H.A. Baldwin Park: A nice walk or jog on the beach or a dirt path that parallels the beach fringed by coco palms extending to Baby Beach, this beach attracts body-surfers, boogie boarders and board surfers, locals hanging-out and provides lots of sand, rest rooms, showers, shade trees and shady picnic areas.

Ho’okipa Beach Park: A paradise for expert windsurfers and people who prefer to hang out and watch them while using picnic tables and BBQs in the Park. Above the park is the Lookout and more parking. Board surfers catch the point break below the beach and off the Lookout.

Maliko Bay, Pauwela Point and Wewehi Bay: Short unpaved roads off Hwy. 36 lead to scenic viewpoints, wonderful picnic spots and intermediate and advanced dive areas. Maliko Bay is the place from which jet skis leave on winter days to bring surfers to the 50’-60’ waves known as Jaws.

Huelo: A beautiful settlement on Waipio Bay, with Kaulanapueo Church, marvelous estates, gardens, B&Bs and other vacation rentals, wedding and honeymoon getaways edging the coastline.

Perfect Days With Kids

Watching the world’s best windsurfers and kitesurfers at Kanaha and Ho’okipa Beach Park can provide the kind of bait that lures kids from the beaches of South and West Maui to the North Shore. Visiting the launch spot at Maliko Bay for jet skis that bring big-wave surfers to Jaws also should be compelling even if the actual waves are not 60’ high when you arrive. Seeing rain forests and waterfalls, swimming beneath these falls, and exploring a huge cave near an ancient temple add to the strong attractions of the Road to Hana for kids.

Along the way to the North Shore kids will enjoy the Maui Swap Meet in Kahului on Saturday morning. Everyone in the family can find some small souvenir item that’s appealing. Pick up a picnic lunch in Wailuku to take to Iao Valley State Park where Iao Needle is sure to impress kids. Another adventure trip for kids follows a trail up 3000’-deep Waihe’e Valley that crosses Swinging Bridges. (Caution: only cross the bridges when the water is low. Don’t forget your camera because your kids will want pictures of themselves crossing the bridges.)

As an alternative to a picnic in Iao Valley, on the way back through Kahului stop at Kau Kau Corner in the Maui Marketplace. Aloha Grill serves 22 kinds of yummy burgers, including 8 veggie types, together with the biggest assortment of toppings on the island, delicious hot dogs, corn dogs and awesome fries. Other eateries in Kahului that children will enjoy include Wow-Wee Café (333 Dairy Rd.). and nearby Las Piñatas (395 Dairy Rd.), and Ruby’s (Queen Ka’ahumanu Center).

Kanaha Beach Park is a great place to eat a picnic lunch while watching kite-boarders and windsurfers. From Kanaha to Hookipa is an eight mile stretch of the best windsurfing in the world. Bring bathing suits and snorkel gear because Kanaha’s wave-free Spartan Reef provides some good snorkeling and, depending on their age, kids also can play in the pool near the lifeguard station.

Birdwatchers and their offspring will want to see the Kanaha Pond Wildlife Sanctuary across the street from Kahana Beach Park. Getting into the Sanctuary takes some effort. From a parking area off Haleakala Highway Extension (behind the Costco mall, across Hana Hwy. from Cutter Automotive), a 50-yard trail meanders along the shore to a shelter and lookout from which hopefully you’ll see an endangered black-neck Hawaiian stilt, Hawaiian Koloa ducks, Hawaiian coot, stilt and duck species, and other migrating waterfowl.

Baby Baldwin Beach, west of Baldwin Beach, is an ideal place for kids to swim and play around in a natural pool. Just down the beach from Mama’srestaurant, Mama’s Cove usually provides a safe place for kids to swim. Spend part of the afternoon at the Ho’okipa Lookout watching windsurfers spin and cavort and plenty of surfers catching waves.

Meals that kids really enjoy in the Pa’ia/Haiku area are never far away at the Pa’ia Fish Market, Jacques Bistro, Café Mambo, Cakewalk Pa’ia Bakery and Moana Bakery & Café. Fish tacos are yummy at Milagros Food Co. in Paia. For a meal slightly off-the-beaten-path, in Haiku try Lynne’s Café or VEG-OUT on Kokomo Rd. or Hana Hou Café and Island Tacos next to the former Haiku Cannery, and the Pauwela Café in the former Pauwela Cannery. (See the Maui Directory of Restaurants & Eateries)