So, the current hot topic in the news is that Paris Hilton arrived in Maui attempting to go incognito in a black wig and rather large straw hat. [Um hello, sister, a big straw hat draws attention!]
Though there are loads of reports and photos of Paris Hilton in the Maui airport, there are no reports of where she’s staying. So, I’m just curious, where does a recently incarcerated, rich hotel heiress stay in Maui? My guess is that she is staying in the family owned hotel - the Waldorf-Astoria branded Grand Wailea Resort and Spa. The most luxurious accommodations at the Grand Wailea are the suites. Here’s how the best suite is described:
no expense was spared in designing each of the two exquisite 5,500 square foot Grand Suites. The panoramic ocean views are simply breathtaking - the best in the resort. Richly decorated with wood paneled walls, museum quality art work, a grand piano, lavish furnishings in the living area, master and guest bedrooms, and marble bathrooms. Optional adjoining room is available to create a three bedroom suite.
The suite’s 5,500 square feet is quite a bit bigger than her last accommodations - a 96 square foot jail cell. Is this a lavish enough place for Paris to stay? Or could there be some place even swankier?
The Alakai, Hawaii’s new superferry vessel, will arrive on Oahu for the first time tomorrow. In an e-mail from Hawaii Superferry, they say that the Alakai should be visible from Koko Head around 1:30pm and then slow make her way to her new home at Pier 19. For details on how you can be one of the first to see the Alakai, click here.
The Hawaii Superferry will offer roundtrip service from Oahu to Maui and Oahu to Kauai beginning in August. Follow these links to learn more about fares and schedule.
United Airlines has announced a new nonstop flight from Denver to Kauai. It will operate from February 16th through April 19th. Roundtrip flights from Denver to Lihue will occur on Saturdays only. Tickets are on sale now.
The Renaissance Wailea Beach Resort on Maui is set to close this fall and be replaced by a uber luxurious condo/hotel resort branded by Baccarat. As you probably know, Baccarat is known producing fine French crystal, but it appears that they are now getting in to the resort business. They also have plans for building another Baccarat resort on the islands of Turks and Caicos.
According to this Pacific Business News article, the seven-story Renaissance Wailea Beach Resort will be replaced with a lower-density cluster of 13 buildings ranging from two to four stories high, with a total of 193 units ranging in size from one bedroom to four bedrooms. So, what might the price tag be for an ultra luxurious Baccarat condo? I guess if you have to ask, darling, you can’t afford it, as the developer says, “it’ll be the high end of the market in Wailea.”
The Wailea Baccarat Resort will be in good company as the posh Wailea area is already a breeding ground for high end resorts such as:
No time table was provided for the new resort which will include a Baccarat branded spa (oo la la!) and collection of restaurants (will the drinkware be Baccarat?). So, going from Marriott to Baccarat, I’d say that’s an upgrade!
Last week, I reported about the latest activity of Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano the resulting road and trail closures. Park officials have announced that the 18- mile Chain of Craters Road will reopen tomorrow (June 29th) morning after being closed since June 17th.
Some areas will remain closed and those are:
Kilauea’s east rift is closed, including Napau Trail and Campsite, and Naulu Trail.
The parking lot at Mauna Ulu is closed as firefighters continue to carry out fire suppression activities there that include helicopter operations.
The park’s eastern boundary near Kalapana is closed.
Pu‘u ‘O‘o is closed. The cinder and spatter cone is extremely unstable and its cataclysmic collapse continues.
I’m really excited to see what happens next with Kilauea. Is this the end of an era or is Pele just taking a temporary break? Cindy Orlando, the Park Superintendent, says,
“Eruptive activity is now at a near all time low relative to the last 25 years. Based on communications with scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, we feel confident that roads and coastal trails can be safely reopened,” said Orlando.
“Kilauea is perhaps the world’s most active volcano. We appreciate the momentary calm, but know better than to be lulled into complacency.”
Use this official park web link to stay up to date with the most recent volcano activity and advisories. If you go, be sure to follow advisories and stay on marked trails.
Rarely will you find a remotely located resort that has great restaurants. Turtle Bay Resort is that rare find. On a recent stay at Turtle Bay we tried most of the restaurants and overall we were very pleased. So pleased, in fact, that I need to log some extra miles on the treadmill. :-)
We had actually made a list of some restaurants in Hale’iwa and Honolulu that we wanted to try, but after we got a taste for what Turtle Bay had to offer, we decided not to bother leaving the resort. Most of the restaurants emphasized their use of locally and organically grown ingredients, which was a nice touch. All the restaurants had very nice views and seating arrangements.
I’ll list each restaurant that we tried and provide some details and insight.
Ola
We went to Ola twice during our week long stay. The restaurant and bar is located on the beach and has an open air environment with tree trunk columns and teak wood tables and chairs. The service is efficient and relaxed. We chose a sampler appetizer plate to share. The sampler had crab cakes, ahi poke, and kalua pulled pork nachos with melted goat’s cheese. It was fabulous! For dinner entrees, we tried the miso butterfish with mushrooms and rice, fresh grilled ahi over mashed Hawaiian sweet potatoes. The only dish we ordered that was not very good was the bruchetta salad, which was awkward to eat and really not very good.
Ola appeared to be a favorite with both guests and locals. It serves lunch and dinner. For Dinner for two with drinks, appetizers, entrees, and gratuity expect to pay around $100 or more.
Lei Lei’s Bar and Grill
We also went to Lei Lei’s twice for dinner. Lei Lei’s is located by the golf course and offers indoor and outdoor seating. This restaurant had a nice “neighborhood” feel to it, as if it was your favorite hometown restaurant. We did see several local folks dining there as well.
Lei Lei’s serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We tried the coconut shrimp and the island fish of the day served with garlic mashed potatoes rice and fresh steamed vegetables.. Everything we had was delicious. One menu item that is not to be missed is their macadamia nut pie that is worth the trip alone! The prices at Lei Lei’s was similar to Ola’s, but perhaps just a tad less.
21 Degrees North
As you make your way from the resort lobby towards 21 Degrees North, you will find a pathway lined with lava rock walls and waterfalls. It really sets a pleasant tone for the dinner to come.
21 Degrees North is Turtle Bay’s fine dining restaurant. It is romantic and elegant without being snobby. The service is excellent. We had indicated to our waiter that we wanted a relaxed dinner pace and he perfectly accommodated.
The ocean view restaurant offers indoor and outdoor seating, though outdoor tables are very limited. We love eating outdoors, so we were able to book a table there. It was pleasant, however the noise from the nearby pool bar was sometimes distracting. I believe in the winter months, the restaurant has a direct sunset view, which would make for an added bonus.
This may sound strange, but the water they serve is really something special. The water has slices of pineapple lemon, orange, and lime which add a hint of flavor to the water. It was very nice and I think I may copy that idea sometime when entertaining. They also provided a nice selection of breads with tapanade and butter.
The diverse menu has something to please everyone. Here is their starter and entree menus. They also offer a five course set menu. For starters, I tried the salad with with tomatoes, caramelized Maui onions, macadamia nuts, and goat cheese. It was a light starter. My husband had the lobster bisque which actually had lobster pieces in it which was quite nice. For the main course, I chose Opakapaka with asparagus, clams and rice. My husband had the Kampachi with asparagus, rice, shitake mushrooms. Everything was cooked perfectly. I would have to say that the Opakapaka was some of the best fish I had on the island this time around.
The entree portions were quite generous, so we didn’t have room to share a dessert. We did have coffees that were served in mini-french press pots.
Starters at 21 Degrees North cost around $9 to $15 and entrees cost around $35 and up. Their five course set menu cost $76 without wine and $95 with wine.
21 Degrees North is an excellent restaurant and a particularly great place to have dinner to celebrate an anniversary, honeymoon, or just romance.
Hang Ten Bar & Grill
Hang Ten is the restaurant by the pool and it’s always a lively area. They serve lunch, drinks, and appetizers up until around 9:30 p.m. We tried this restaurant for lunch where we both ordered cheeseburgers and fries. They were big and good, though they were quite pricey at $15 a pop. This place offers standard pool bar and grill food, good food, but nothing that will knock your socks off.
Room Service
We ordered room service for breakfast a couple of times. The food was always pleasantly delivered when it was promised. The continental breakfast cost around $16 and is big enough for two to share. We tried the pancakes and they were fine.
Lobby Coffee Shop
In the lobby there was a coffee shop that also served pastries for breakfast. We only discovered it towards the end of our stay. This is a great place to pick up a relatively inexpensive breakfast to have on your lanai or on the go. In the afternoons they serve tea, wine, and sandwiches. This was really a convenient place to pick up a few nibbles.
Other Restaurants at Turtle Bay Resort
We did not try these restaurants during our stay:
Palm Terrace - Serves buffet style breakfast, lunch, and dinner
During a recent stay to Turtle Bay Resort, I overheard someone saying this, “Turtle Bay is great resort to stay at in Hawaii where you don’t have to leave the resort.” I tend to agree. Once you get to Turtle Bay Resort, you really don’t need to leave it, and there’s a good chance you wouldn’t even want to. Here is the listing of their extensive on site resort facilities:
Two Golf Courses - home of PGA and LPGA tournaments
Turtle Bay Resort is located on the northern most tip of Oahu miles away from another hotel. It is about an hours drive into Honolulu from Turtle Bay Yes, it is remotely located, but that is what makes it so charming.
All Turtle Bay Resort rooms have ocean views. (See the view from my lanai.) The rooms are well sized and most of them have lanias. The fresh, comfortable decor is what I would describe as “island modern”. We stayed in a Deluxe Ocean View Room. (The photo on the left is of our room.) The room had a comfortable king sized bed, more than ample closet space, two lavatory areas, in-room safe, free wifi, and a desk area. The room also had a TV, but we never had a need to turn it on. The lanai was equipped with two chairs and a small table.
The room had a mini-fridge which was very useful. I actually prefer having an empty fridge available rather than a stocked mini-bar. If you were desperate for the typical mini-bar items, there is resort shop will all the snacks and drinks that you would find in a mini-bar.
Our room was cleaned daily and we had nightly turn down service. The turn down service was a nice little touch. It included fresh baked cookies or chocolate covered macadamia nuts. They also provided a newsletter that listed the upcoming day’s sunrise and sunset times as well as the weather forecast. The newsletter also provided a Hawaiian phrase along with sight seeing ideas and activities. Another nice turn down touch is that the staff would turn on relaxing music from the radio alarm clock. The Sharper Image clock had a selection of relaxing spa-like music and sounds programmed into it.
Valet service was available, though it wasn’t thrust upon you, which I liked. There was ample self parking within easy walking distance of the hotel.
We enjoyed our stay, though there were a couple of things that we wish had been different.
The pool area was mobbed by screaming kids. I don’t begrudge kids having fun, but they were screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs and this wasn’t the relaxing environment by the pool that I was hoping for. I think the resort should designate one of their two pools a a kids’ pool and the other as an adults’ pool. If that isn’t possible, it would be helpful if the pool staff would politely ask children not to yell.
The hotel rooms don’t have bathrobes. We thought that this might have been an oversight from housekeeping in preparing our room. We did ask at the front desk for bathrobes and they told us that they are normally only reserved for beach cottages, though they would check to see if they had any extras for us. When we returned to our rooms later in the day, we had two bathrobes there.
Over all we really liked Turtle Bay and do hope to return someday, especially when the keikeis are back in school.
Watch for upcoming posts reviewing the spa and restaurants at Turtle Bay Resort.
Whenever I go into a restaurant and I can tell that local folks are there, I know I’ve found a great place. Travelocity has just released their list of “Local Secrets, Big Finds: Hawaii“. Though it is not a big list, it is worth taking note of as you make your list of restaurants to try in Hawaii.
On Travelocity’s list of local eateries are:
Oahu’s Cafe Haleiwa
Oahu’s Wailoa Shave Ice
Big Islands’ Waimea Music Exchange
Big Island’s Makuu Farmers Market (open Thursday, Saturday, Sunday)
Maui’s Kula Lodge Restaurant - this place is especially great for breakfast after watching sunrise on top of Haleakala. The views here are breathtaking.
Maui’s Da Kitchen - There are two locations - one in Kihei and one in Kahului.
Oh my! I can hardly believe it is true, but it is. The Diamond Spa at the Diamond Hawaii Resort on Maui offers a facial treatment that is supposed to do wonders for the complexion. The ingredient responsible for working these facial miracles is none other than nightingale dung. Apparently nightingale droppings have been used since ancient times by Geishas to repair damaged skin. If you don’t believe me then have a look at the spa menu. Personally, I think I’ll give the facials at this spa a skip and choose one of the massages instead.
Can you believe this ornate temple was built without the use of any nails? It’s true! The Byodo-In Temple was completed in 1968 to commemorate the first Japanese immigrants arrival to Hawaii. It is an exact scaled replica of the 900 year old Fuji Temple in Japan. The temple and grounds are as peaceful as they are picturesque. The Byodo-In Temple is located off Highway 83 (Kahekili) at the Valley of the Temples in the Kaneohe area of Oahu. Admission is $2 per person.
The diverse menu has something to please everyone. Here is their 
During a recent stay to 
All Turtle Bay Resort rooms have ocean views. (See the 
