Move to Maui Watch 2006, Day 2, Part I

Tuesday morning rolls around and I was awake WAY too early. I got up and typed up some stuff for LTM. I read some of Maui Revealed too, and I’m here to say that it really is a good book. One interesting thing I read was that the north Kihei beaches are NO GOOD to swim at. The water is murky (sharks!) and there is lots of algae and seaweed thanks to a drainage pipe a little further south in Kihei. The beach at the $1600 townhouse is included in this area... What’s the point of living steps from the beach if it’s a beach that you don’t want to swim at?!? Once it was late enough, I called on a bunch of rentals and ended up making three appointments scattered throughout the day. I also went to Matson’s website and discovered that my Jeep was available for pick up!

I was getting hungry for breakfast, so I checked the Maui Revealed book (seriously, it’s like my best friend by now) and found Kihei Caffe. Drove down there, you order inside and then find a table outside. Now, maybe it’s just because I’m happy to be in Hawaii, but I thought the breakfast was outstanding! The bacon was super thick and smoky tasting, and the hashbrowns/homefries were so good I couldn’t bring myself to put Tabasco on them. I never got the water I ordered, but they did have a bunch of roosters strutting around the tables... that was pretty cool.

After breakfast I drove by the apartments that I was going to see later in the day. I especially made a point to stop by the nearby beaches and see how nice they were. Kama’ole Beach III looked very nice, it even had a lifeguard station ala Baywatch! At noon I went over to a real estate office to view the condo at Keonekai Villages. Connie had me fill out a rental application and leave a credit card, and then she just gave me the condo keys and told me where to go. I drove out to Keonekai and checked out the condo... and really liked what I saw! The rent for this one was only $1250, and though it wasn’t as nice as the townhouse, it was definitely still nice. Plus it has covered parking (a big plus since we have a convertible) and it’s close to a nice beach. I saw the other two apartments throughout the day, but this was definitely the winner. I’m meeting with them tomorrow to finalize the paperwork, so unless something goes very wrong, our new address will be 160 Keonekai Rd, Kihei, HI.

After I saw the apartment, I drove out to Kahului to pick up the Jeep. I dropped my rental car off at Dollar, and their shuttle actually took me to the Matson pier! After finishing all the paperwork on the Jeep, the first thing I did was take the top down (of course!) Then I had to buy gas, since the tank was almost empty. Gas costs $3.66 per gallon here, so it cost 40 bucks to fill up... neat. So now where to? I know, WalMart!! Yup, I went to WalMart to see if I could find some shorts (I was still in shoes and jeans at this point). WalMart had some good stuff, I picked up three pairs of shorts and some flip-flops. I also grabbed a small bottle of POG (Passion, Orange, Guava) juice, ohhhh it was so delicious.