Day 8 was a little more of an adventurous day, but relaxing all the same. We are a little rugged at this point…Blyth woke up with a 2nd degree sunburn from the other day, and Billy woke up with a pretty bad case of swimmer’s ear, but we decided to push through the rest of the day. After all, you only have one honeymoon!

We kicked off with breakfast at Swan Court before heading over to the Lahaina Mall. We would return to Safeway to gather supplies, followed by a little window shopping and a quick run through Starbucks. Returning to our resort, we quickly packed our cooler and beach bag to head off for the day.

At the advice of our Lahaina Pizza Company waitress, we decided to head to Po’olenalena Beach. With the top down on the Mustang, we enjoyed over an hour of gorgeous shoreline road along the way. After traveling from West Maui to the other side of the island, we finally found the road to the beach (somewhere near Walea).

As we wound through residential roads, we finally found a collection of cars near two undeveloped lots. Per Hawaiian law, a land owner can own the property along the shoreline, but cannot own the sand on the beach. Well, it appears the small trail between the lots was the loophole that the locals have been taking advantage of.

We grabbed our stuff out of the car and made the small trek through the woods to the shore. On first impression, this beach was truly a gem. The sand was the softest we’ve seen on either island, and there was little-to-no lava rock or coral to cut our feet on. Overall, the surf was calm and only rough for brief periods of time (it seemed to only pick up when we were trying to get in, of course). This beach must be largely unknown as there was only a handful of boogey boarders around…and we’d have the beach completely to ourselves whenever the waves were favorable for their ride.

We’d hang out at the beach for a few more hours before making the hour long drive back to West Maui. On the way back, we’d make a few short stops for snacks and swimmer’s ear medicine before unwinding in our room for a couple hours.

For dinner, we decided to head over to Old Lahaina Town and return to Kimo’s. After all, our last receipt had a coupon good for one Hula Pie with two entrees (how can we turn that down!?). We would sit at the bar through sunset as we waited for our table…and the view was absolutely breathtaking. As people posed for pictures against the sunset, we were fortunate enough to meet a mother and daughter willing to take some pictures for us.

When our buzzer finally went off, we headed upstairs to a dockside table for two. As we were seated, we watched the last bit of the sun hide behind the Pacific waters from our candlelit table. Overall, the food and service were phenomenal as well. Billy had the seafood chowder with his Orange Zest and Macademia Nut Crusted Ono and rice. Blyth would have the Caesar salad with a Lobster Stuffed Mahi Mahi and rice. All of the food was to die for.

…then came the famous Hula Pie. A creation of Kimo’s dating back 35 years, this pie is now served up at many of the island’s restaurants…and now we know why. First of all, a single slice is as big as your head. Once you get past the intimidation factor, this thing packs a favorable punch featuring many island flavors. Starting with a crushed Oreo crust, the basis of this pie is largely macadamia nut flavored ice cream. To cut that flavor, they mix in ground coconut before topping it with chocolate frosting, macadamia nuts, hot fudge, and whipped cream. We both dug into the single slice, but could not even finish 2/3 of it. It was simply one of the best deserts we’ve had.

After dinner, we would head to Moose McGillycuddy’s to unwind and watch the locals make a fool of themselves on the dance floor. Although the playlist featured the most amazing song choices, the crowd got a little too rowdy for us. We decided to head back to our hotel for the evening. If Day 9, is anywhere close to Day 8, it’s going to be a blast. Now if only we can get rid of these sunburns and swimmer’s ear…

The view from our spot on Po’olenalena Beach…

Getting situated at our table at Kimo’s…

Kimo’s…

Blyth getting ready to attack the Hula Pie…