Stock up for a rainy day on Maui!
Hurricane Felicia is bearing downon Maui, so we locals have been preparing all weekend by securing heavy
Rambutan look like Dr. Seuss creations, but once you get past the tough, soft, spines, you find the creamy, delicately flavored inside... a must try.
equipment, taking down tent structures, and preparing roads for flash flooding. We’re weather wimps in Hawaii, true, but it’s a fact that people get swept out to sea in their cars during those quick, powerful floods … so the cautious heed inclement weather.
So what are you to do if you’re here on vacation and can’t go to the beach? After you pick yourself up from your moping fit, here are some ideas:
1. Stock up on pantry items. Go grocery shopping, and limit yourself to items you can’t get back home. Then have a little par-tay in your room or condo.
Head for the fruit aisle to pick up lychee, rambutan, dragonfruit, starfruit … and OK, mango and papaya and kiwi (though I bet you could get them at home).
Make sure you hit the prepared fish section – Foodland’s is especially good, and so is Star Market. Get an array of poke (chopped fish marinated in various sauces) and try things you haven’t had before. We love to make our own easy sushi rolls with a container of fresh spicy ahi poke, sticky rice, nori seaweed, and a little sushi rice vinegar. Decadence! If you want to learn more about poke, read this excellent blog post.
Cocktails are an excellent pick me up for the weather blues. Try our mai tai if you are ambitious and have a good mixer collection in your condo … or try my favorite easy, refresher, the Pink Bliss.
On Maui, rainbows always follow rain! Driving the Road to Hana once the weather clears almost guarantees you'll see a beautiful rainbow and gushing waterfalls.
2. Plan your waterfall trip for right after the weather clears. The best time to see the waterfalls from the Road to Hana is after a heavy rain. Beautiful! But make sure you go after the weather has cleared … you do not want to be stuck on the Road in driving rain.
3. Go see the sharks. The Maui Ocean Center in Ma’alaea is a small-but-complete-aquarium, and since most of it is inside, it’s a great rainy day activity, with or without kids. We go every few months to sit “in” the giant, walk-through tank and stare at the tiger sharks, eagle and manta rays, and countless varieties of Hawaiian fish. I always dare James to stick his hand in the Hammerhead Shark pool, but he hasn’t done it yet.
4. Beat the heat and have the course to yourself. If you came for golf, then hitting the course when it’s raining is the best. Our friend Al tells us that rainy days are when he makes sure he has a good tee time. The course is empty and he stays cool in our warm rains (he usually doesn’t even bring rain gear)!
5. Be lazy. Many who visit Maui are surprised by how lazy they feel once they arrive. It happens to nearly everyone, and it is not only natural, it’s probably one of the reasons you booked to Maui in the first place (I believe everything happens for a reason). A rainy day gives you full permission to sit on your little lanai and read a book and stare at the greenery or the ocean. Take advantage of it!
