Jet lag still in force, I woke up at 4am. Slowly but surely, my body would get used to Hawaiian time, and probably right when I'm about to leave.
Headed to the spa this morning! (well, not the guys) Jennifer was nice enough to make appointments for all 3 of us (her, her friend Natalie, and me) at the
Spa at Black Rock, which is located inside the Sheraton Maui hotel. Many millions of dollars went into a recent renovation of the place, so we decided to check it out. Since Jennifer and Natalie's hotel was just next door, I picked them up so didn't need to inconvenience one of the husbands to drop them off. It was easy to find the Sheraton and valeted the car since the spa validates parking for 3 hours.
The Sheraton's grounds are very beautiful, with lush landscaping, green grass, refreshing pool with the backdrop of the ocean. We head over to the spa, that just opened at 8:30am. I brought my swimsuit in anticipation of having a steam room/sauna or even a hot tub to relax in before the treatment, but no such amenities were offered. :( We were led to a waiting room with several cream colored 60's style loungers, fruit-flavored water, hot tea, and magazines to pass the time. At 9am, three massage therapists came in and took us to our treatment rooms. My room was actually partially outdoors (not sure about the others), as one of the walls stopped short of the ceiling and was open to the outside. I could occasionally hear people walking across the lawn outside, but I figured they'd have to be 8 feet tall to be able to see in so I wasn't too worried. My therapist really worked hard during the 80 minute massage session! My body was smashed, squished, pulled, stretched. (though this was nothing compared to China, to be told in a later blog entry) She definitely earned her tip. Jennifer and Natalie only had 50 minute massages, so they were waiting for me in the lounge. Jennifer also agreed that her massage therapist worked hard. Natalie had a pre-natal massage (5 months pregnant!) so she did not have as fulfilling a massage since they can't press too hard, but it was still relaxing. We left the spa, walked the grounds a bit more before heading back. I dropped them off at Honua Kai and then took a trip to Safeway to stock up on more poke and sea salad...
I return to the condo and no sign of Babe. He comes in a little while later and tells me that he walked all the way from the Westin to the Sheraton and back on the beach path, which included some detours through parking lots and hotels. He even passed by in front of the Black Rock spa! (though by the time he did, we already had left) We have lunch and head over to the beach to snorkel. There were lots of fish but no turtles. Until we got out of the water. I think we saw a turtle come up for air and dive back down. Oh well. We looked for some poolside lounge chairs but there were so many people, even the pay cabanas were occupied. Eventually we locate some chairs by a beautiful koi pond and relaxed.
That evening after dinner, we decide to retrace Babe's morning footsteps. It was nice that a "beach path" was built to make it convenient to walk between hotels. It was obvious where our property stopped as the walkway was no longer as impeccably maintained once the property line was crossed, haha. We passed by other hotels like the
Outrigger Maui Eldorado with a golf course, and the
Royal Lahaina (the cottages look so cozy!), and eventually to the
Sheraton. You have to walk through the property in order to connect to the rest of the beach walk towards the
Hyatt.
We make it to
Whaler's Village and look around. The two restaurants that flank this outdoor mall were full of people inside and people waiting outside. I'm glad I was staying north of the Sheraton as it is much more conducive to relaxation, with less hustle and bustle. People who enjoy hustle and bustle will like staying on this side of Kaanapali. So, the main goal of going to Whaler's was to locate the
Honolulu Cookie Company, which I mentioned on my Waikiki trip blog. We find the place and eat samples to our heart's content, but I did buy a box of cookies. :) We stopped by a self-serve yogurt place for a refreshing snack before continuing on the remainder of the beach walk.
We pass properties like the
Westin Maui and the
Marriott Maui Ocean Club (where I stayed last time I was in Maui), and just when we were about to exit the Marriott grounds, Babe sees a credit card lying on the lawn beside the path. It's an American Airlines credit card belonging to a lady named Sherry. We decide to cut short our walk and head over to the Marriott front desk to drop it off. Hopefully they were able to locate Sherry...it probably fell out of a pocket while heading to the beach, and the closest property was the Marriott. She probably didn't even know it was missing.
With all the walking and the Marriott detour, I wasn't too excited about walking all the way back to the condo, so we returned to the Westin Maui to see the sunset (beautiful!) and then pick up the complimentary shuttle that runs between the three properties (Sheraton Maui, Westin Maui, Westin Kaanapali Ocean Villas). The shuttle picked up at the back of the hotel, and our hotel was the next stop! We decided we'd take the shuttle the following evening back to the Westin Maui, and walk to the Hyatt for their
Drums of the Pacific luau, where we would meet up with Jennifer, Natalie, and their families, plus Ruchira and Niran (my co-workers) and their family. I had already purchased tickets in advance through
Tom Barefoot's Tours for a great price!
No comments:
Post a Comment