DK Travel : Maui : Places of interest

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Ho’okipa

Waves come crashing in at heights of up to 15 ft onto Ho’okipa Beach, ensuring its renown as a playground for experienced surfers and windsurfers. But it is also a glorious spot for the less experienced to watch the skills of the dedicated boarders, especially during the international championship competitions held here. The best vantage for a view of the ocean is from high up at the overlook above the beach.
Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center

Founded in 1936 by Ethel Baldwin, wife of Maui’s political and business leader Harry Baldwin, as a “club of skills” to exercise her creative talents, Hui No’eau showcases the work of local artists. The center resides in Kaluanui, the home designed by C. W. Dickey for the Baldwins in 1917. The spacious mansion is a splendid example of Dickey’s style.
Huialoha Church

Standing next to Mokulau Beach on a desolate and beautiful stretch of coast, Huialoha Church was saved from ruin by members of the communities of Hāna, Kīpahulu, and Kaupō. It was built in 1859 in a style reminiscent of New England churches, with white walls and a prim steeple.
Jodo Mission

This three-story pagoda sits at the outer edge of Lahaina town. In its courtyard stands a giant statue of Buddha, the largest outside Japan, placed in commemoration of the 1868 arrival of the first Japanese immigrants to Maui. The serene grounds are open to the public; the buildings are not.
Kahakuloa Village/Kahakuloa Head

For nearly 1,500 years Hawaiian families have inhabited Kahakuloa, growing kalo (see East Maui) on stone terraces and using aqueducts to irrigate the crops from mountain streams. There are no gas stations or restaurants in the village, and the most prominent building is a lovely, small church. East of the village, the monolithic 636-ft Kahakuloa Head rises majestically from the water’s edge.

Kahakuloa Village

Kahakuloa Village Church
Kalaupapa Peninsula

Cut off from the rest of the island by sheer cliffs and surrounded by the ocean on three sides, this isolated peninsula became the place where Hansen’s disease (leprosy) sufferers were quarantined. It’s now a spectacular National Park encompassing more than 10,000 acres of land and water. (see Kalaupapa National Historical Park, Moloka’i)
Kamakou & Mo’omomi Nature Preserves

Kamakou Preserve lies near the summit of Moloka’i’s highest mountain. This lush rain forest is home to more than 250 species of Hawaiian plants – 219 of them found nowhere else in the world – and a unique array of birds, such as the Moloka’i thrush (oloma’o) and the Moloka’i creeper (kākā-wahie) . The seemingly barren dunes of Mo’omomi shelter rare coastal species, Hawaiian archaeological sites, and native shorebirds, like sanderlings and plovers. Both preserves are open to the public, but each is remote and access requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Kanahā Beach Park

Just off the road to the airport, the beach at Kanahā is narrow and the water usually choppy. But it’s a great spot to windsurf and kite sail – or to watch more experienced practitioners. The park has large grassy areas, showers, restrooms, picnic tables, and barbecue pits.

Kanahā Beach
Kanahā Pond State Wildlife Sanctuary

Now a designated wildlife sanctuary, Kanahā was once a royal fishpond (see Moloka’i and Lāna’i). One of its main roles today is as refuge for the rare Hawaiian stilt, or ae’o , as well as about 50 other bird species. The migratory ae’o is a slender wading bird that stands 16 inches tall and has a black back, white belly, and sticklike pink legs. The birds can often be seen feeding along the marshy edges of the pond near the Hāna Highway.
Kaunakakai

The commercial and population center of Moloka’i, Kaunakakai was once a canoe landing for access to fishing grounds, and the beach was exclusively for the recreation of chiefly families. In the 1800s it became a plantation town – first sugar and then pineapple – in the early 1900s. This charming one-street town has changed little in the last 70 years.