Aloha
Mauka Makai Maui is a tour company designed to offer our visitors the absolute best in a culturally significant Hawaiian experience.
From the time of your hotel pickup, you will be engaged in a gracious and comfortable manner which you experience throughout your tour.
Our guides are knowledgeable in every aspect of Hawaiiana and they will envelope you in tales of ancient, pre-contact Hawai`i as well as the current state that has developed since that first contact with Western man.
Knowledge of the dynamic geological forces that shaped, and continue to shape, our unique and beautiful islands is shared with you as you travel in air-conditioned comfort to your planned destinations.
Your tour lasts 5 hours and includes hotel pick-up and drop off. The tour commences with a narrated drive to history-rich `Ïao Valley, Pihana & Haleki`i heiau and the Bailey Museum.
We then travel Upcountry to the rarefied air of Ulupalakua Ranch and the world famous Tedeschi Vineyards.
We then travel down Haleakalä through historic Makawao and Paia towns to an ancient Hawaiian fishpond at the Pacific Ocean's edge just adjacent to the National Marine Humpback Whale Center.
Finally, we travel to that day's optimum snorkeling destination. We provide all the equipment including prescription masks, float belts, floatation boards etc.
Locations are chosen for the most favorable conditions
of that day and are accessible and safe for all guests.
Upon leaving the water, you will be treated to a healthy lunch at beachside. The entire time, your guides will gladly answer any of your questions and detail the flora and fauna or the corals, fish and marine mammals that you have witnessed.
Our guides are island born and experienced in the outdoors with training and certification in first aid and CPR. Tour size is limited to a maximum 10 people to assure the quality of experience that all of our visitors deserve.
All equipment is provided and food and beverages (non alcoholic) are included in the tour price.
Hotel pick up is 8:00am for most hotels with a return drop off between 1:30 and 2:00pm.
Guests should bring sunscreen, towel and sturdy athletic or walking shoes. We tour seven days a week.
Kick back, relax, and call us or e mail us to book your reservation today !
See you soon !!
Your tour guide will greet you at the front of your hotel lobby and you are welcomed aboard with gourmet coffee, passion and orange juice with tasty baked goods.
Your tour will take you various sites of archaeological interest as well as a museum, a present day working ranch and winery and a beachside snorkeling location. Our tour will pass through the historic towns of Makawao and Paia.
To finish the tour, you are taken to a snorkeling reef where, after leaving the water, you are treated to a healthy lunch at beachside.
Join us for an educational and fun experience that you will never forget!
Our first stop is historic `Ïao valley. Kamehameha the 1st won an important battle here in 1790, aided by foreign advisors and modern cannons. He defeated Kalanikupule, the son of Maui Chief Kahekili. This battle was supposedly brutal and bloody, the cannon's carnage damming the `Ïao river with bodies, hence the given name Kepaniwai (the water dam).
The green peak of `Ïao needle (2250 ft tall) and the `Ïao stream is an impressive and often photographed sight. Kepaniwai park has heritage homes and gardens of the Hawaiian, New England, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese and Filipino design. Right adjacent to the park is the Hawai`i Nature Center.
The next stop is the Bailey House Museum, named for Edward Bailey (1814-1903). A missionary who led a long life until his death on Maui. Built in 1834, it is now on The National Register of Historic Places and has been converted to a museum. It serves as the home of the Maui Historical Society and contains numerous pre and post contact artifacts and a gift shop containing Maui grown items.
We then travel a short distance to the Pihana and Haleki`i heiau. These heiau (place of worship), located in Wailuku, are of pre contact period and have great religious and rich historical importance.
Next, our tour takes us up the slopes of Haleakalä (house of the sun), a dormant volcano that last erupted in the late 1700's, to an area known as `Ulupalakua or land division Honua`ula, a flourishing ranch and vineyard high above the south Maui beaches. The name of the area, "Ulupalakua" is most often translated as 'bread fruit ripened on the back'. Here, since 1974, purple carnelian grapes have been warmed by the tropical Hawaiian sun and now the winery produces many types of wines. The road to the winery and ranch climbs and dips among exceptional vistas, rolling hills, and lush pastures of Upcountry Maui, where paniolo -Hawai`i's cowboys - still herd cattle on horseback on 20,000 acres. Rich in post-contact history, it also contains King David Kaläkaua's former vacation cottage, now a museum - the `Ulupalakua Ranch History Room.
Our next stop will be to a spot overlooking the southeast shore of Maui called Kahikinui. This area, just recently being dug and researched extensively, has revealed a giant precontact settlement containing 8 ahupua`a (land divisions) in which the first 2 studied list over 1500 Hawaiian sites. The views from this spot are quite photogenic and your guide will give you an overview of it's history and vistas.
We then travel down to the ocean's edge to an ancient Hawaiian fishpond (loko i`a) alsoon the State and National Register of Historic Sites. Located in the Kalepolepo shoreline area, this fishpond, named Ko`ie`ie, was built over 500 years ago and was historically reserved for use by Hawaiian ali`i.
A once thriving Hawaiian village with freshwater ponds, it became, by the mid-1800s, a whaling station and trading port for the farmed goods of upcountry Haleakalä.
Our final destination will be a favorable, safe and clear reef where we will snorkel amongst the sealife and upon leaving the water, a healthy lunch will be laid out for your enjoyment while your guides continue to share their knowledge of the sights that you have witnessed.
"We" describes a small group of käne and wähine (men & women) that operate a small tour company. This is by design; to help assure low site impact but also allowing for the kind of personal service and local knowledge that is so sorely lacking in what we like to call other "cattle car" tours.
The owners, the guides and all of our support staff, share the same common goals and philosophy. That is to honor the Hawaiian culture and to help impart the almost forgotten knowledge of our küpuna (elders). Not to just the guests that join us, but to hopefully have them pass that knowledge and history to the rest of the world. At the same time, showing our customers a relaxed yet informative and fun experience, always perpetuating the qualities of aloha. To entertain and educate while reflecting our love for our home, Hawai`i.
A cultural renaissance has been occurring since the early 1970's in Hawai`i and with it a revival of many traditional and indigenous arts. Among these are hula, music and chant, herbal medicine, featherwork, lei, language and sea going activities to include canoe voyaging and the sport of surfing.
For almost 1500 years, the unique Polynesian culture of Hawai`i thrived in relative isolation. We hope that you will leave our tour with a better understanding of the diverse, evolved and sophisticated culture that the ancient Hawaiians possessed along with the knowledge of the geologic processes that shaped and continue to shape these beautiful, jewel-like, islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
All of our guests should bring swimsuit, sunscreen, towel and sturdy athletic or walking shoes. A light jacket or sweater is advised for the cooler upcountry air during the winter months. Some optional items would include sunglasses, cameras or binoculars.
Tours are priced as follows:
$85.00 per person
Kids under 10 allowed on private single family charters only. Advance reservations are always recommended
Prices include all transportation, museum admission, food, beverages and snorkeling equipment.
See you soon!
You may e-mail us with reservation requests or questions at reservations@mauka-makai.com
To insure space availability, we would prefer that you book your reservation prior to your arrival. We are currently accepting bookings for June 2002
808 878 8864
Box 1475 Makawao, Maui HI 96768
Mauka Makai Maui LLP. All rights reserved 1996. © Images, text and descriptions contained within this site are protected by all applicable copyright laws.