We had been to Maui many times before, so this wasn't a trip about seeing somewhere new. We went because we already knew that Maui was a place where we could unwind.
After selling Discovery Montessori, that was exactly what we needed.
On previous trips we had often stayed in condos in Kihei. We love Kihei, but it has more energy—more traffic, restaurants, shops and people coming and going. This time we wanted quiet, so we moved a little farther south and rented a condo at Wailea Ekahi Village for two weeks.
We also deliberately chose a condo rather than one of the resorts in Wailea. We knew from experience that staying at a resort somehow required a little more of us. At a condo, we could make breakfast, throw on beach clothes, walk down to the water, grill our own dinner and spend the day without thinking much about how we looked or where we needed to be.
We were ready for that.
Where We Stayed
Wailea Ekahi Village sits on a beautifully landscaped hillside leading down to Keawakapu Beach, which has become perhaps our favorite beach in the world.
Our condo gave us everything we needed. We had a kitchen, a patio, community grills nearby and a small gym where we could exercise.
Best of all, we could walk down the hill to the beach.
In late August and September, Keawakapu was remarkably uncrowded. The water was warm and usually calm, and there were days when it seemed like very few people were sharing the beach with us.
What We Did
We didn't do very much, which was the plan.
Most days included some combination of walking the beach, floating in the ocean, exercising, eating fresh fish and sitting outside.
Shirley loved simply floating in the warm water. With her new implants, she discovered that she could float without much effort. I wasn't nearly as buoyant, so I started bringing a pool noodle into the ocean. With the noodle supporting me, I could stop treading water and just float beside her.
We also took long, slow walks north along Keawakapu Beach. There wasn't really anywhere we were trying to get to. We'd walk along the water, enjoy the light and the sound of the ocean, and eventually turn around and walk home.
We made many of our own meals. We'd buy fresh fish, grill it on one of the community barbecues near the condo, and eat outside on our patio. From there we could watch the sun set over the Pacific.
We also drove into Kihei for some familiar favorites, including South Maui Fish Company, one of Shirley's favorite places to eat on Maui. It's a simple fish truck with exceptionally fresh fish—exactly the kind of place we love.
What We'll Remember
We'll remember arriving in Maui before our condo was ready.
Rather than waiting around, we picked up our rental car and went to the beach. Shirley changed into her bathing suit beside the car in the parking lot so we could get straight into the water.
That might not sound particularly memorable, but it was to us. Neither of us could imagine Shirley doing that on one of our earlier trips.
The same thing happened in smaller ways throughout the two weeks. Shirley stopped feeling the need to get "made up" before walking down to the beach. She was comfortable putting on beach clothes and heading down the hill exactly as she was.
She remembers this trip as the first time she was truly stress-free.
On previous vacations, the business had always followed us. Someone might call or email with a problem that needed to be solved. Even when we were away, part of her attention was still back at the schools.
This time there were no calls to anticipate and no problems waiting for her to solve.
She could simply enjoy the moment.
We'll also remember the strange episode with her blood pressure. Shirley had been taking blood-pressure medication daily. Soon after arriving, she checked her blood pressure with a wrist cuff and the reading was so low that we didn't believe it. We went out and bought an arm cuff to check it again. At one point her systolic pressure was in the low 90s and she was extremely light-headed. During the trip, she stopped automatically taking the medication every day and began taking it based on her blood-pressure readings.
And we'll remember the birds.
One day Shirley changed the greeting on her old business cell phone. When we listened to the recording afterward, we realized that it had accidentally captured the birds chattering in the background.
She liked hearing them so much that she kept the greeting.
It's still on her phone today.
We'll remember those birds, the warm water, floating together in the ocean, walking Keawakapu without anywhere to go, grilling fresh fish, and watching sunsets from our patio.
Mostly, we'll remember the quiet.
Would We Return?
Absolutely.
We've loved Maui for years, but this trip reinforced just how much we love Wailea and Keawakapu Beach in particular.
We could easily imagine returning to Wailea Ekahi for a few weeks or even a month or two—walking the beach, exercising, floating in the ocean, cooking at the condo, eating fresh fish and returning to the places we already know and love.
For this trip, though, two quiet weeks were exactly what we needed.
We went to Wailea to relax after selling the business.
And that's what we did.
