We managed to sleep until 5:30 am which was a bit of an improvement. I have the high listed as 84 degrees. It was another beautiful day but I knew we (as in, Ben) would need some shade so I was hoping we wouldn't be too late to the pool to find some.
The Four Seasons has a main pool (aka the Fountain Pool) with loungers and free cabanas, a great amenity. There is also a kiddie pool with a waterfall, and the infamous Serenity Pool on an upper level that is for adults only. There are also tons of loungers, many with shade and umbrellas. The Serenity Pool also has cabanas, but they cost money. I had looked into renting one for our anniversary but the cost I was quoted was $465.00 so we passed.
I'm glad I did anyway because although I liked the actual Serenity Pool itself, I didn't care for the vibe there. There was something about it I just didn't like. It reminded me of a pool in Las Vegas--which I love when I'm actually in Vegas but not when I'm in Hawaii. We preferred the main pool.
Main pool area:
Kiddie pool:
Adult Serenity pool:
Down to Duo's we went for a light breakfast. Ben got a huge bowl of granola and fruit and I got a guava and pineapple smoothie which was really good and filling too.
We had a 7:45 am appointment to do the Outrigger Canoe Experience provided free of charge by the Four Seasons.
http://www.fourseasons.com/maui/my_four_seasons/paddle_through_history/
I figured this would be something really fun to do that we might not ever get the chance to do again. Ben was a little nervous about being able to man a canoe, but I assured him we would get instruction.
So we get there and are given probably 15 minutes or so of instruction on how to enter the canoe, how to paddle, how to switch paddles, the commands, etc. I was mentally trying to remember everything so that I would be a successful canoe team member and not just so much dead weight.
So then we're off and paddling away for awhile with intermittent paddling and resting. The canoe holds six people so it was us, our two guides, and a man with his young daughter from New Jersey. It was pretty easy once we got the hang of it, although I wouldn't expect to win any canoe paddling award or anything. It was fun and we had a blast doing it.
This canoe program is really a nice perk of staying at the Four Seasons and I highly recommend it to anyone staying there.
After we returned to the beach, we were given a snack of Maui Gold pineapple which I was so excited to finally try. It was good--I think my expectations might have been too high though because I just thought it was good but I couldn't tell a ton of difference between it and regular pineapple.
So after that, we went up to the pool to claim a lounger and I found a lovely shaded 2-person lounger with a view of the beach.
So the day was spent here drinking lava flows, relaxing, talking, taking dips in the pool, the ocean, the hot tub. We even went up to the Serenity Pool once or twice. It was great. At 11:30 am when food service started, we were both starving so we got a huge plate of nachos with pulled pork to share. They were so good!
After lunch, we decided to sunscreen up and go walk off our nachos on the Wailea Coastal Trail. This trail is a paved trail which runs from the South Maui beaches Keawakapu Beach all the way to Poolenalena Beach. You could walk to 5 or 6 of the South Maui beaches, although granted, depending on where you are staying, some of the walks would be really far.
I enjoyed the scenery here almost as much as in Kapalua.
We looked around the famous Grand Wailea hotel.
It got hot fast so we went back to the Four Seasons and sat at the bar at Ferraro's for happy hour and had a cocktail and some sushi. After that, we hit the Serenity hot tub one more time but it was getting very windy (the first really windy day we had) so we went upstairs to change and figure out dinner. We saw the sunset from our lanai.
The happy hour sushi appetizer we had made me want more, so we went into Kihei and went to Sansei for dinner. We had visited the Sansei in Kapalua twice on our honeymoon. We took Kihei Road this time instead of the highway that Google suggested so we could check out the town a little. It was fun to see all the places and condos I had read about while doing my research.
Dinner at Sansei was nice. I got a mango martini.
Everything we had was good just like we remembered, although we preferred the ambiance at the Kapalua location. Back at the hotel, we stayed up until 10:00 pm--the latest so far!
Tomorrow: South Maui beach day and another attempt at snorkeling.
