View on Maui

View on Maui

About a week and a half ago, I visited Maui for the first time and while I'm getting my pictures together, I thought I'd at least describe some of the impressions I had from my visit.

Physically, the island is populated almost exclusively on the coast, which makes for a straightforward highway system, which is always nice for the tourist in a rental car. There are definitely distinct areas of the island, some more residential, while others catering to tourists. But in general, I often felt like was on Isla Nublar of Jurassic Park... yet I found no dinosaurs. When we got to Keopuka Rock we learned that the opening sequence of the movie was indeed shot on this part of the island ... still no dinosaurs.

One of the aspects of the island that really struck me was the way it does business. It's technically part of the U.S., yet the market is small enough that it seems the major relailers and fast food chains are less than enthusiastic about it. I would like to believe the residents of Maui are actively confining these companies to the airport area, but I haven't reasearched the mindsets of the local government :-P

I also noticed how competitive the tourist market is. Take, for example, tours to Molokini. It's a nice snorkeling spot and there are maybe 15 ships that each take about 200 tourists out to the mini island daily; on 2-3 different trips. As a tourist, you can call them directly, purchase tickets from third-party vendors on the street, walk into a ticket wholesaler's store, or call the number of a yet another class of wholesalers found on a flyer in your hotel's lobby. Besides the fact that there are so many people are selling tickets to the same thing, there was a wide range in price. Anywhere from $50 to $90 to 'soldout'. And even more peculiar is that you could call the ship operators directly and find that tomorrow's tour was soldout; and then call a wholesaler 2 minutes later, wait on the line as they called the ship operators, and land yourself cheaper tickets.

I have no idea how all of these people are making money, but it's clearly not dominated by big business and there seems to be quite a few links in the food chain. That's tasty.

Umm ... if you were expecting descriptions of the majesty of sunrise over Haleakala, the lushness of the Garden of Eden, or the phenomenon that is Snuba, you'll have to wait until I get my pictures together.