The east shore of Maui is thick with mega-resorts where you can pay big bucks for an oceanview room. These resorts are huge. Most have multiple restaurants and bars, nice beaches, swimming pools, and other amenities. And people. Lots and lots of people.
I refer to these resorts as "the ant colonies." I try to avoid them. When we're on Maui, we stay at Makena Oceanfront Cottage.
You're 20 feet from some of the best snorkeling on the island -- you'll see turtles and amazing fish every time you go out (the cottage has plenty of snorkeling equipment). Snorkel out just beyond the rock reef in front of the cottage and float quietly to listen to the humpback whales singing. You can take the cottage's kayaks out almost every day for some exercise. After water excursions, you rinse off in the outdoor shower and soak in the hot tub on the lanai.
On this past trip we saw 25-50 whales a day, including many breaches, while sitting on the lanai drinking coffee in the early morning or while sipping beer and wine, watching the sun set in the afternoon. In the mornings and evenings, we'd watch up to half-a-dozen turtles graze on the rocks just below the lanai.
For dinner, we buy organic produce from roadside stands and "catch of the day" fish from places like Eskimo Candy Fish Market, and we pull together meals that rival any that we've had at restaurants on the island.
Please stay away from Makena Oceanfront Cottage -- we want it for ourselves. If you're going to Maui, you're going to need a swimming pool filled with loud-ass kids. You're going to need a bar where they serve $15 tropical cocktails that taste like hummingbird nectar. You're going to need a beach filled with fellow tourists sporting angry red sunburns. You want to be at one one of the ant colonies, located a few miles to the north. read more