Surfing, Chilling and Eating

Learning to Surf

One of the things that all of us were excited to do on this trip is learn a bit of surfing! After a little research, Antetokounmpo booked lessons for us with the Royal Hawain Surf Academy. While we are all eager to do this, it is an early 7:45AM lesson so its another early start for all of us. We get ourselves checked in, wet suited up and hit the waves! Unfortunately, I don’t have many photos of the experience given the “wet” nature of the activity! (And we were too cheap to pay for the professional photos they took of us!)

It’s a great experience learning something new! At first, I was a little apprehensive because I’m not a strong swimmer. But we didn’t venture far from the beach and were in shallow water most of the time. The paddling out to the waves is probably the hardest and most tiring part. But the feeling of accomplishment when you’re able to stand on your board for the first time is well worth it!

While we did a public group lesson, we were lucky enough to be in group with just the four of us. I will note that while the group lesson is cheaper, there is benefit to being in a smaller private lesson. During the lesson, the instructor had all of us congregate around a buoy that is considered a safe area. Then one by one we would paddle out to him so he could help us get on our boards. This results in a fair bit of idle time floating in the water waiting for your turn. Especially when you’re learning something new, practice helps! So the smaller your group, the more reps you have, so if possible aim for less people!

Vigilatte Coffee

After our surfing lessons, the plan is to head back to our AirBnb, shower and head out for brunch/breakfast. But first given our early start, we sought out some caffeine! We find this in the form of Vigilatte Coffee. It’s a small artisanal coffee stand in the middle of Lahaina. I order their oat milk espresso agave and am pretty happy with my choice! Normally, I lean towards a basic dark roast coffee, but after the exertion of energy to surf something “nicer” is welcome!

Kihei Caffe

After showering at our AirBnB and feeling “fresh’ again, we head out for some food. On our list is a place called Kihei Caffe which kind of like an upscale cafeteria with table service. You order at the front, find a table and they bring the food out to you. The menu consists of some pretty decadent breakfast offerings and some local Hawaiian dishes too! We decide to share a few selections, so we order the Loco Moco, Pork fried rice and eggs and the Banana French Toast. Everything is super tasty, but I think my favorite is, surprisingly, the fried rice!

Choice Health Bar

Almost like we didn’t just stuff our faces with food, our next stop is Choice Health Bar. This is another place on our list for good Acai bowls, so I guess you could call this dessert! We each get our own Acai bowls to take back to our AirBnB where we proceed to devour them pretty quickly!

At this point, with the early start, surfing lessons, and possible food coma kicking in all of us are getting a bit sleepy. We decide to all take naps in the early afternoon.

Maui Brewing Company

Eventually we all start stirring ready for the late afternoon adventures! Near our AirBnB is the Maui Brewing Company‘s Lahaina location. We decide to drop in for a bit of happy hour! We sample a few flights of their beers and share some flatbread. If the rest of our trip on Maui is going to consist of naps and happy hours, I could totally get used to this!

Lahaina

After finishing up at Maui Brewing Company, we decide to stop into the town of Lahaina to explore a little. Lahaina is the main towns in the North West of Maui and is a pretty cool place to take a stroll. We spend some time walking down the main street which also runs along the water. We also spend a little time dipping in and out of different stores and also checking out food menus for future reference. It’s also at this time we get to catch a pretty lovely sunset and what visit to Hawaii is complete without getting some pineapple Dole Whip!

Joey’s Kitchen

While none of the restaurants in Lahaina jumped out at us that evening, we did head north to pick up some food from Joey’s Kitchen in Napali. This is a filipino inspired restaurant with some pretty stellar food offerings. For the group we end up with an order of clams, another loco moco, crispy pork belly, garlic chicken and island fish in coconut milk. Sadly the clams were quite sandy, but everything else was pretty delicious!

All in all, this day started out quite energetic and slowed to a pretty relaxed crawl full of food. Probably just want the doctor ordered in a restful vacation in Maui. Tomorrow our plan is to head south to visit Kihei before heading up to the top of Haleakala volcano for sunset!