Hana Ho`okipa

Getting to Hana
Even though the infamous Road to Hana tops the list of most visitors to Maui, I had escaped the treacherous, Dramamine-prone trip for years. A seven-hour car ride requiring me to give up a vacation day to an unpleasant endeavor was never high on my list, especially when days on Maui were limited. Even now, since beautiful scenery awaits steps from my door in Kapalua - I hadn’t bothered to drive the distance and fight tourist traffic in order to see Hana.

Finally, perhaps shamed by one too many local or merely tempted at last by curiosity, I decided it was time to travel to the island’s furthest reaches (and it is as far as you can get from Kapalua) to discover for ourselves what Hana was about. Besides, threats of oncoming Kona weather - torrential rains, gloomy skies, flash floods - piqued our adventurous side and promised a good test run for the SUV.

What’s There To Do Here?
To get to know Hana well, we stayed four days and ten nights. That was no typo. Nights are long in Hana, its most endearing feature especially when Kona rains linger.

In good weather, the Seven Sacred Pools, caves, unique colored sand beaches and hiking are among the many attractions of Hana. In bad weather activities are often flooded off-limits. Fortunately, we were hiding out at the most "luxurious" of Hana’s accommodations, the Hotel Hana-Maui, a company town type organization that sprawls across downtown Hana comprising a good portion of the village with its cottages, restaurants, stores, gallery and stable.

Quick Tips:

Enjoy the Only Game in Town
Although the much-anticipated new spa doesn’t open until Feb. 2004, the old standard thankfully employs the island’s best practitioners making it possible, with a fistful of cash, to pass dreamy hours here. The hotel’s three dining options are engaging and teeming with locals, especially the Paniolo Lounge offering authentic Hawaiian-style entertainment and gorgeous views. The Hana Coast Gallery inspires with designs by local artists and craftsmen while the hotel’s many Ho’okipa (complimentary) activities, lei making, ukulele plucking, resulted in small but memorable small-town distractions.

Outside of these few high-tariff treats, most of Hana's natural glories remain free for the taking, just another of Hana's Ho`okipa benefits. One dry evening the Hana community screened its monthly double feature in the ballpark with a spaghetti dinner benefiting local charities - touted even by competing hotel servers. Another day, weathering the heavy rain, we wandered Wai'anapanapa State Park, Hana’s fabulous black sand beaches and cultural center.

Best Way To Get Around:

Hana from Kapalua
For a certain exhilaration, begin your trip to Hana in Kapalua. If you travel via the alternate route over the magnificently frightening and awesome Kahekili Hwy, you’ll hug the ribs of the West Maui mountains and discover a delicious thrill while gazing gap-jawed into 1,000-foot chasms. You’ll also find astounding vistas at every hairpin turn. Starting your Road to Hana tour from the furthest reaches of the island truly earns bragging rights. Although I found the Road to Hana more nauseating than thrilling, other locals reported a shot of terror with their stomach-ache.

Is it really so bad?
Six hundred switch-backs, snaking along at 10 mph, staying alert for oncoming traffic or locals burning your bumper, crossing 54 single-lane bridges all left me searching frequently for the horizon. The road to Hana is primarily an inland route. Rather than grand vistas, the views are predominantly thick with vines, trees and waterfalls through deep forests over meandering streams running off Haleakala. There are turn-out points for the few broad vistas of ocean, offering welcome relief. The primary redemption to the road is that it is beautiful, especially if you aren’t accustomed to seeing true pristine rainforest wilderness.

The famed Post Ranch Inn, a sister property to Maui’s secluded tropical getaway on Hana‘s fabled eastern shore, sent a special invitation to experience what Hana‘s all about. Since we’d never been to Hana and were anticipating an anniversary celebration, we seized the opportunity

Hana is known most for clinging to its true Hawaiian sensibility--"Heavenly Hana" as it is oft-referenced. Resembling the mythical paradise on earth it’s easy to see how the name evolved. At the hotel Hana Maui the staff is downright angelic.

Since the Hotel Hana-Maui is one of the island's most intriguing luxury accommodations and was voted one of the Top Five resorts in the country for romance and seclusion, it seemed the ideal choice for celebrating our anniversary.

Following the infamous drive to Hana (about which I shall not immediately comment), we were greeted in the hotel’s lobby by a Tu-tu (auntie) draped in flowered leis bursting with inimitable Hawaiian hospitality--she actually kissed and serenaded us so unabashedly that we had to giggle.

We booked a secluded, private, ocean-view suite in a two-room cottage at the Sea Ranch. Situated along the sloping coastline, the buildings, styled from former plantation days, are exceedingly simple. Two ceiling fans and ocean breezes provide the only cool air. Covered lanais invite simple dallying before the stunning ocean views, especially from the discreetly positioned hot tub.

Unfortunately, it rained all weekend; sometimes it was torrential, sometimes a mere downpour. It was warm rain-muggy, sticky, humid rain. I stared at the ceiling fans for a few hours, whirling with all their might, still unable to efficiently circulate the heavy air to the point of providing comfort. They seemed as desperate as we were for relief.

Given that there is little to do in inclement weather in Hana, the low-tech accommodations (no TV, movies, radio, or air-conditioning) can be daunting in such conditions. The arrangement is intended for "soul searching" according to hotel literature, but we would have really enjoyed having a VCR so we could get our inspiration from a comedy. There are no shops, theaters, or other distractions in Hana. Out here it’s you, nature and your imagination.

Fortunately, other amenities helped prolong our resistance to that blasted soul searching. Handmade soaps, custom-fragranced bath salts, a deep-soaking tub, high-powered showers, and fluffy spa towels provided luxury. A spa across the way offered treatments. En-suite snacks, from Caramacs to Kona coffee and herbal teas to sodas, were provided gratis. Twenty-four hour room service, with a dinner menu identical to the main dining room, absolved us from going out into the rain one night and a bottle of wine staved off navel-gazing for a few more hours.

For visitors who want to experience Hawaii before Starbucks and Krispy Kreme dotted its landscape, Hana is essential. For those hoping to linger a while in its rustic ambiance and good-natured charm, a stay at the Hana-Maui Hotel will satisfy all your tropical dreams splashed with a touch of luxury. Just hope the rain lets up.

Entering the lovely, light-filled restaurant your eyes are drawn immediately to the ceiling festooned with wave-shaped banners giving the illusion of the sea overhead. Brilliant illustrations of Hawaiian myths hang artistically on the walls. The open-air ambiance gives the impression of dining al fresco yet provides the comfort and cover necessary in misty Hana where precipitation is a frequent guest.

The Hotel Hana-Maui main dining room is the only upscale dining venue for at least 40 lonely miles which easily secures its title as the best in town. Fortunately, the dining room could actually hold its own even in the face of noteworthy competition from venues across Hawaii.

We listened as the rain pattered a drumbeat a mere step from our table in sync with the music wafting over the stairwell from the Paniolo Lounge where we’d already enjoyed appetizers from the same menu. The waitress identified us as locals and thus took the liberty of "talking story." The low-key atmosphere of the room offers a direct contrast to the haute excellence of the food. The excellent wine list is another surprise in Hana’s far-out seclusion. If this is what it means to dine in remote wilderness, we'll take it!

The specials of the day included a tempting preparation of Ono caught by a fisherman our waitress knows personally. But I couldn’t take my mind off the lobster stir-fry especially after being assured that the Maine lobsters were flown in live from the far-off coast. Considering the excellent taste of the Lobster Tian we’d shared earlier it promised to be an exceptional choice - and it was. Wok crisp Asian vegetables tossed with giant chunks of sweet lobster meat topped with a whole tail in the shell was a truly memorable treat.

My husband decided to exploit the fact that he was vacationing on a cattle ranch and ordered the filet served with polenta cake. A hearty demi-glaze sauce and rare beef as lean as fresh caught ahi turned the otherwise classic fare into a piece de resistance. We skipped the luscious dessert options and instead munched a few more pieces of hand-thrown signature lavosh as we finished off our vintage wine.

The dining room offers an excellent breakfast, lunch and dinner menu seven days a week. It is possible to enjoy the excellent cuisine in the comfort of your suite since most all menu items can be delivered via room service.

On Friday nights a Hula show buffets replaces the typical menu as crowds gather to watch the keiki (children) practice their steps after which every dancing girl in Hana from lovely young wahines to aging grannies gets into the act. This weekly ritual elevates the main dining room beyond the best fine dining venue in town; it then transforms it into the best place to experience true Aloha as it recreates the family gatherings and community spirit of Old Hawaii.

Ocean views, entertainment, culture, fine wine, great food - the Hana-Maui dining room is a one-stop Hawaiian vacation.

If there is a typical ranch restaurant in Hawaii, this is it. The wagon wheel at the front door, neighing from the stables across the way, grazing horses in the pasture just beyond - no doubt about it, it’s a ranch.

Unlike the local ranchhands, the restaurant's day doesn't start until lunchtime when a low-key salad bar/buffet table is lined with the typical salad fixings including local upcountry greens and assorted organic vegetables. On down the service line typical Hawaiian plate lunch favorites such as char sui chicken, mahi mahi in cream sauce, egg rolls and ubiquitous sticky rice round out the lunch buffet for $13.95. Dessert is simple; jello cubes, fruit salad and the creamy coconut dessert served at most luaus.

To suit lighter lunchtime appetites a table service menu includes surprisingly decent spaghetti, expectedly delicious cheeseburgers (this is a ranch, after all), fish sandwiches, salads, turkey and havarti subs and broiled chicken dishes. Dinner is served only on Friday and Saturdays featuring a similar menu along with a bit of local-entertainment and nightlife.

Wednesday night is a big event in Hana - Pizza Night at the Ranch. Although a chef’s special combo is offered at the fixed price, any combination of ingredients can be made to order. The "small" pizza is cowboy-sized at 14" diameter and ranch-hand heavy with ingredients. Our pizza was loaded to literal overflow with luscious toppings including sausage and every vegetable grown in Hawaii - from sweet onions to peppers.

We started out our pizza night with a plate of fried calamari accompanied by an introductory dose of the resorts’ special wasabe tomato sauce, a memorable kick in the pottage. The salad bar can be added for an additional $4.99 as a make-your-own vitamin nosh. Warm, herbal spiced bread is a standard feature throughout the Hana-Maui resort including the Hana Ranch and is offered to every diner.

It's a shame the restaurant is not open for breakfast as it would make a great sunrise viewing platform situated with its terrific easterly ocean views when on clear days the massive peak of Mauna Kea on the Big Island emerges like a Poloroid instant snapshot developing out of the mist. Instead, the restaurant appeases breakfast/sunrise seekers via the popular walk-up window serving early-bird eggs and meats, scrumptious mac-nut French toast and bakery items along with Kona and flavored coffees.

With take-out container in hand you can settle on the nearby picnic tables or wander over to the covered gazebo at the base of postcard perfect views of upcountry Hana. Stroll down the little lane and have a chat with the horses waiting in the corral for their visiting riders of the day.

The Hana Ranch Restaurant offers a lovely way to start a Hana morning, a great place for a low-key lunch and a down-home option for dinner.

Two heavy-set locals perched merrily on bar stools-one strumming a ukulele, the other an electric bass, giggling their way into their second set. A young woman steps before the crowd, smiling as if she’d waited her entire life for this moment. The first chord is struck. The dancer transforms into a shifting breeze, mesmerizing the audience with an unrealistically sensuous sway of hips known as hula.

In Hana, you may find a mild-mannered Haole girl doing the honors on any given night. At other times a pair of wizened Tu-tus (aunties) gives sway. Weekends even call the menehune-sized keiki’s (children) to the stage. Singing and dancing seems to be a prerequisite to residency in Hana.

To witness this mirth, visitors in the know head to the foremost (and one of the only) bar/lounges in town-Paniolo Lounge of the Hotel Hana-Maui. To match the homespun display of talent, you’ll want a tropical drink named after the characters of Hawaiian mythology. Pele will give you passion and Maui strength. I just wanted a Leilani, a heavenly ambrosia, to match my mood. With the broad assortment of tropical fruits born in Hana, this is definitely the place to try a pink-spiked punch elixir, paper umbrella and all.

It’s fine to linger into the second set since the lounge offers a choice pupu menu, a hearty-enough substitute for a meal. Try the delectable Lobster-Avocado Tian for a true taste treat. Chunks of Maine lobster are mixed with assorted diced vegetables and folded into a cream dressing. The mixture is then molded into a cup-sized portion meant be eaten with paper-thin lavosh. It’s "broka da mouf."

Since Paniolo is the Hawaiian word for "cowboy," you can confidently order the glazed barbeque ribs. For pan-Asian tastes, try the steamed dumplings and seared ahi wrapped in wonton skin. Conservative diners will be surprised by the signature Paniolo fries seasoned with seaweed, served with a pleasantly surprising wasabi-flavored ketchup.

You snack, you sip, you applaud. You notice the distant palms now casting shadows in the moonlight. The ocean surf seems to have grown louder. Lights are low. Cool, misty breezes are warmed when the bartender lights the open hearth lava rock fireplace.

The singers strum a final chord, and then break into gales of laughter. Inside joke. They pack up their equipment. Guests linger a while longer. No one is in a hurry in Hana.

Rain or Shine Beaches James Mitchner wrote that Hamoa Beach in Hana is the "most perfect stretch of sand in all of the Pacific." He went on to explain that "the only beach I’ve ever seen that looks like the South Pacific was in the North Pacific." Indeed, Hamoa Beach is a lovely strand. Cloud cover only meant I could sit longer in the sand without risking sun damage. The incessant rain dampened only my paperback, not my spirits. Were it not for the risk of loosing my story’s climax in a pulpy water-soaked mass, I’d have lasted here all day. The Hotel Hana-Maui serves snacks and drinks at the beach, but be sure to order before real hunger strikes as the service is Hana-style slow.

Another great beach to consider visiting in rain or shine is the secret "red sand beach" located steps from our Sea Ranch accommodations. The hotel staff will not give directions since the beach is adjacent to private property. But friends gave us the "local scoop." You can find Red Sand Beach by taking the walking path at the far end of the Sea Ranch cottages at the end of the gravel lane that fronts the community center that passes by an old Japanese graveyard. Follow the trail carefully down to the sea, over the rocks and you will find not only a red beach but clothing-optional nature lovers enjoying this unusual and rare sand. Again, this activity is better enjoyed during fair weather - when the rocks are more stable and anoraks not requierd.

The sea was also relentless during our stay, restricting water sport options. Kayaking, snorkeling and even ocean swims - typical Hana highlights - were strictly verboten due to the rough seas. Luckily for us we had a beautiful heated pool with an infinity vista at the Hotel Hana where we joined other guests to take advantage of the warm waters and hot tub even in the downpour.

Man-made Marvels
On the third day we cried "uncle." We needed a change of scenery. Even the ever-lovely ‘Alau island lying in a mystical halo outside our window with its few lonely palm trees (planted by two brothers in commemoration of their safe return from WWII) risked loosing its luster if we didn’t focus elsewhere - and soon.

After a lunch at the Ranch restaurant, we browsed around the Hasegawa General Store , made famous by countless covers of the song named for the establishment. As the only real variety store this side of Kahului, you can find nearly anything you need here from fishing tackle to Revlon eyeliner, organic greens to Rit dye. Although the shops’ bumper sticker cheekily reads, "Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and Hasegawa," don’t expect to find a Prada bag here. Do expect to find old-world treasures while digging through plenty unusual Hawaiiana treats and rummage-sale worthy paraphernalia. From insect repellant to sunscreen, Hasegawa has you covered with ponchos, rain hats, flashlights and anything else the weather may inspire.

Natural Wonders
Soon we were anxious to explore Hana’s more natural wonders. The Waianapanapa State Park and Caves is one of the area’s most visited and amazing sights. The foul weather only enhanced the rugged vista as gigantic waves hurled themselves alongside lava formations while the renown blowhole exploded upwards of a hundred feet, the wind carrying the spray several hundred more. Bracing against the onshore winds, we hiked the little trail leading to the caves but decided not to go in.

Why not? The legend of the caves was too haunting and tragic for a couple celebrating their anniversary. It was here that King Ka’akea, a fierce warrior and jealous husband, located his runaway bride in her hiding place and killed her in cold blood. Each spring millions of red shrimp transform the waters surrounding the cave into red pools, perpetuating the legend for future generations.

Lazy Day Browsing and a "Mall"
Heading to happier thoughts and drier climes, we raced back to the car, turned up the heat to dry our soggy clothes and drove the shoreline road past the Naborly Farms (owned by singer Jim Nabors.) We browed around the Kaia Ranch Tropical Gardens where rain drops clung briefly to petals before the next cloud burst. We ended up stopping at the Hana Road "mall," a collection of open-air shacks housing a gallery, gift vendors, and a rough hewn barbeque listed as one of Hana’s five main eateries just outside of town.

Whoo, that meat is smoky!
Like the salty, intense smoke flavor of pork unearthed from an imu pit, Up in Smoke’s sandwiches and pulled pork varieties are wicked. Not in the mood for such an overpowering flavor so early in the day, I opted for a simple hotdog. But it, too, was oversized, smoke flavored and smothered with slow-simmered sauerkraut. Indulge at your own risk, for even though the lunch tasted good going down, it turned out to be a questionable option for the tumultuous ride to Hana.

The driving rains stopped us in our tracks down one lonesome road where we attempted to rescue a young couple trapped on the other side of a washout. But they decided not to risk it and assured us they’d be happy in their imposed isolation until the runoff slowed enough to cross the stream. This same sort of road closure kept us from experiencing the Ohe`o Gulch, also known as the Seven Sacred Pools, one of Hana’s premiere attractions.

Hana Culture
One additional rainy day stop was the Hana Cultural Center museum, a collection of recreated hales (pre-contact living structures) similar to those on display in Lahaina’s Hale Kahiko. In addition to the cooking, craft and sleeping hales, the Hana museum also has a little clapboard "jail" an obvious post-contact addition that is still used as the county court. Inside the tiny museum building visitors find many examples of tools and treasures from Hawaii’s early days.

As for Hana’s "culture," it is very similar to any isolated, rugged, rural cowboy town. Residents all seem to know one another and each other’s business and are therefore highly forgiving. Everyone seems capable of entertaining themselves and others with musical instrument, storytelling, dancing or singing. Since there is no movie theater, DVD rentals at the Hana General store are popular, as are the monthly free movies in the ballpark and $6 potluck suppers. Tutu’s at the harbor, has the town’s best fast food - it is the area's only fast food unless you count the walk-up counter at the Hana Ranch.

In a town such as this rain is no more an obstacle than isolation and lack of development. Browse about or park yourself anywhere and watch the locals do their thing - which is a whole lot of fascinating nothing at all. Traipse carefully down a streambed, take a long nap, wander through a cave, embrace the wind.

Hana just isn’t the place where you worry about getting wet. Or anything else, for that matter.