Lahaina on the Island of Maui, Hawaii

I loved Lahaina from the minute I arrived.  I had just spent a few days on the island of Kauai and didn’t bond with it at all but Lahaina on Maui was different.

How does one describe the feelings you get about places, we all feel them if we pause a moment to reflect.  Most people go and visit places with their eyes, some engage in sports activities such as surfing and diving but I like to go with my whole being.

Lahaina is a bit shabby in places, not at all like a thriving tourist town at all and yet 2 million people visit it each year.  Once the seat of Hawaiian Kings it was known as Lele and was inhabited by Polynesians who arrived more than a thousand years ago.  The seat of the Mo’i of Maui was relocated to Lahaina from Hana by Maui Loa, the 5^th Mo’I of Maui. 

The buildings on Front Street date back to the 1820’s.  By the mid 1800’s  Lahaina became a bustling port and as many as 400 ships would anchor in the harbour.  Lahaina became the lusty port for American whaling ships, sailors went wild and a jail was built to lock them up when they became too boisterous.  Even today Lahaina retains it’s ambience of being a fun loving place, a place where people feel they can let go, relax and be themselves.  I am happy to report that I managed to behave myself whilst I was there and did not get locked up but I did visit the jail cells under the courthouse which are now used as an art gallery.  It must have been a wild old place in its time and makes no apologies to anyone.  Today it has a population of some 18,000 friendly locals who made me feel very welcome. 

The missionaries arrived in Lahaina in 1823 and the battles between them and the sailors became legendry. The missionaries  thought the drunken and debauched behaviour of the sailors was a  threat to Lahaina and you can imagine what the sailors thought of the missionaries.  A fort was built of coral blocks to protect Lahaina but it was  torn down in 1850.  The corners  where the fort used to be have been recreated and form part of the historical walk around the sites of Lahaina, a guide can be obtained in the Baldwin Home which is on Front Street and open to the public.

Somehow Lahaina has retained its energy as a fun loving place where anything goes although I did not see anyone behaving badly, just lots and lots of people having a good time.  Many sit in the cool shade of the great Banyan tree, the biggest tree I have ever seen.  The Banyan tree covers almost the whole block and was planted in 1873. If it could speak what would it tell us?  I am sure it has heard thousands of stories of the people who have gathered beneath its incredible limbs over the years. 

I sat on the shore each evening and watched the surfers catching the last of the waves, lots of people gather along the sea front at the end of the day, some local some travellers but all quite friendly and seeming to soak up the atmosphere and energy of lovely Lahaina.  The silver sky in the late afternoon marks the end of another beautiful day in paradise but,  as the Sun sets, you are treated to the most magnificent display that mother nature can deliver when she is in the right mood.  Lahaina has her in the right mood all the time it would seem, those sunsets were the highlight of my time on Maui.

What did I feel there?  I felt the energy of old sailors, of good times and no thoughts for tomorrow, of Hawaiians and their culture, there was peace and happiness but not necessarily a sense of great, long range,  prosperity - only the now.  This did not matter, Lahaina makes no apologies and I liked that too. Not having  to be anything but what you are is a blessing and something I think we should all be striving for.

The name Lahaina means Unmerciful Sun, I didn’t find it unmerciful, it simply lit up my life at the end of each day, warming and feeding my soul.

This is an expanded story from Where is Hazel,com

Hazel Leung

Nov 2009©.