Stuff to Know

Question

What's it like to visit Maui and the Lahaina area after the fires?

Answer

This is such a great question and one that is difficult to answer simply. Plainly, Lahaina has experienced massive devastation and will never be "the same" as before the fire. Many people lost their lives, thousands have lost their homes and jobs and may never get either back. It continues to be a tender time for the community here. Many locals you meet will be openly thrilled you're here enjoying Maui again; some people are still upset that the tourism dollar remains one of the driving forces behind the local economy and thereby decisions being made about how to rebuild. Your greatest gift to the people who live and work here is to embrace the Aloha spirit of love, respect, and honoring the strength of those who are working to restore some kind of normalcy to life on West Maui. Please be kind and mindful while you enjoy your trip!

Question

What can we do to support Maui and the people who live and work here?

Answer

There are lots of great ways to do this. Just being here and mindfully enjoying what Maui has to offer is the first step. There are lots of small businesses that were lost and won't reopen - but there are many that have pivoted and are trying to make a new start. When shopping, we urge you to apply your patronage to a small local business - Paia is great for this, Makawao is great for this, there are many amazing artisans, jewelers, artists, clothing designers and more, many of them have online stores now or whose products can be found in larger shops alongside commercial products. One of the more fun experiences we recently had was the local glassblowing studio in Lahaina, Moana Glass. You can shop their gorgeous custom products, and also make your own if you book a glass blowing experience with them. These kinds of spending choices really make a difference to restoring the local economy. These two local foundations continue to serve and feed affected local residents, there are many other worthy local organizations to choose from, these are just a few: Hua Momona Foundation https://www.huamomonafarms.com/pages/hua-momona-foundation Hungry Heroes Hawaii https://hhhmaui.org/purpose The Lahaina Community Land Trust is doing critical work to help the Lahaina community stay in Lahaina. There is so much they do and you can learn about it here: https://lahainacommunitylandtrust.org/whatwedo

Question

What's special about Maui?

Answer

So many things, too many to name, but one of our favorite discoveries is the variety of rare and endemic honeycreeper birds found only on the Hawaiian islands. Many of them are endangered now due to the effects of climate change, which is allowing mosquitos to survive at higher elevations. There is some amazing work being done by these folks: https://www.mauiforestbirds.org/