Maui hot spot has an ‘anything goes’ aura

People come to Lahaina for sunny weather and a chance to try new things

LAHAINA » They say that what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. That might be true of Lahaina, as well. Unless somebody spills the beans.

One woman stayed in Room 627 of the Lahaina Shores condominium, whose owners encourage renters to leave comments in a guest book. So she wrote she'd found heaven (in January) while staying with her boyfriend, Tim, who she hoped would become her life partner.

March came around with a new entry. The woman was back, without Tim. Seems he was caught cheating on her with a snorkel instructor. A male snorkel instructor. All details written in the guest book.

She might have lost the guy, but it didn't sour her on the Shores, where about $200 a night gets you use of a full kitchen, nice balconies and use of a pool, with restaurants and shops next door, just 10 minutes from central Lahaina.

There are thousands of other stories of romance found and lost in Lahaina, one of Hawaii's classic come-and-get-lost towns. It's been that way since I started visiting the town in the early 1960s.

Back then, Lahaina was all about the Whaling Spree. Lahaina's history as a raucous sailors' town in the 1800s, and before that as the capital of the Hawaiian islands, seemed to be enough to lure tourists. But in the 1960s someone got the idea of the spree.

That meant encouraging Honolulans to come over, drink their heads off, sleep under the town's famous banyan tree or on the top floor of the abandoned and falling-down Lahaina Electric Light building and engage in all manner of sailor-worthy debauchery. The police hardly ever issued a peep, let alone a citation.

I wrote a story about the licentious attitude for the Honolulu Advertiser (where I worked then), and the editor quickly heard from church elders who protested the paper's encouragement of practices they were against.

The Whaling Spree continued well into the '70s, when town fathers and the police decided it had gotten out of hand and wasn't to be Lahaina's claim to fame.

The town wanted a year-round dose of tourists who would spent much more than Honolulu youths on a weekend binge.

So began "The Restoration," the grand plan to keep Lahaina looking old while it became new.

You had to get approval to renovate your Front Street property.

Bakeries and groceries and small bars gave way to restaurants, big taverns and shops selling clothes and trinkets from China and the Philippines. Nobody gave much thought to Hawaiian handicrafts. They still don't.

And now town elders are considering closing down the Front Street Halloween parade as a garish event not consistent with the town's whaling and plantation past. The event gets a reprieve this year, as October's too close for a change of plans.

LAHAINA IS blessed with great weather. Rain is the exception, and the stretch of ocean toward the adjacent island of Lanai tends to be flat most days, making it perfect for sails, cruises, snorkeling, scuba diving and para-sailing.

I can't imagine any other place in Hawaii with a better chance of sunshine and calm water.

But like any other perfect place, it can and does get overused. Lahaina's Front Street can be more packed than Waikiki.

Lahaina has the island's only full-service pier where you can catch state-subsidized shuttle boats to Lanai and Molokai -- originally used to help workers from those undertouristed islands find work in Lahaina -- and where all the fishing and para-sailing cruises depart from more than 20 slips.

The Lahaina Princess is the only boat that departs from Lahaina to the popular Molokini Crater snorkeling spot. All the others leave from Maalaea or Kihei.

Beware that the Lahaina-Molokini run is two hours (16 miles) each way while only half that (eight miles) from Maalaea Harbor. But you'd have to make the 40-minute drive to Maalaea from Lahaina.

If sailing on the Princess, I recommend Dramamine for those prone to seasickness, because of the long cruise on sometimes choppy seas.

The cost of the snorkel-cruise with two stops is about $75, including free drinks and lunch. Seasickness bags are also free.

Lahaina isn't, however, great for swimming. There are beaches south of the pier, but the water is shallow and full of coral. People do their swimming north of town at Kaanapali.

Ah, but there's a rub! Property in Kaanapali is privately owned, formerly by Amfac and now by those who built the hotels and shops, meaning you'll have to pay to park and swim.

I usually park in the Whaler's compound ($3 an hour) but go to Hula or Leilani's oceanfront casual bar-grills after swimming.

They offer three hours of free validated parking with purchase -- a good deal. Both allow bathing suits and serve good food at reasonable prices.

Hula also makes the best mai tai I've had in my 45 years in Hawaii. That's a lot of mai tai experience!

NOW, ABOUT EATING in Lahaina town: I'm conflicted. I'm told the oceanfront grills, Fish Co. and Kimo's, have OK food of the grilled variety.

They are both über-packed around 6 p.m. Same with Cheeseburger in Paradise. But hey, you want oceanfront, right?

The high-end (lots of $30-40 entrees) I'o and Pacific'O (same owners) get high ratings from Fodor's and the open-rating Yahoo! pages. And there seems to be no question in any travel book that David Paul's and Gerard's, just off Front Street, are for foodies not on a budget. I've liked Gerard's because it's classic French and in a house. But 26-year-old Joseph Lopez was recently promoted to chef de cuisine, and we have to wait and see what he does.

My osso buco in a curry sauce (rather than classic wine) was a disappointment, but Joe says that might be on its way out. The duck confit, he says, will be forever. The average per-person tab is $98.

If you are on a budget, I suggest Gabby's, next to Lahaina Shores.

It's not much for ambience, but their pizza rolls are an amazing discovery at $12 , with plenty for two, plus a salad bar. Consider making it to go.

There's a marvelous Safeway in Lahaina if you're going to cook meals in your condo kitchen.

I strongly recommend you visit the Baldwin House in the heart of Lahaina town to see how the first missionaries lived.

Also, sit for a while on the benches under Lahaina's justifiably famous banyan tree. And don't be afraid to be active. Try para-sailing or snorkeling. Don't get stuck in your hotel. Visitors often come to Lahaina to do what they'd never do at home.

ONE LAST THING: I've never considered Wailuku, Maui, worth a stop, and like me, most travelers bypass the county seat while heading to Kahului and the airport en route from Lahaina. Big mistake.

Get off Wailuku's Main Street, onto Market Street. That's where you'll find the antique shops, old buildings, Iao Theatre, the Sig Zane shop that Triple-A recommends as your "one place to buy an aloha shirt in Hawaii," and Marc Aurel's coffee shop and wine bar. Marc's wine list is astounding! The food is good. The cafe's hours are posted as "from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. guaranteed, and sometimes until 2 a.m."

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