Adventures at a Maui Playground; Freelance Writer Evelyn Silver Describes a Stay at the Recently Renovated Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa

Business Wire, Oct 18, 2004

I picked up a card, which described various bathing rituals and chose a Japanese ofuro progression: sit and scrub with goshi goshi exfoliating cloth, soak in ofuro, dip in cold plunge, pair of specialty baths, drink soothing tea. Hmmmmm.

If you're having a treatment -- massages, wraps, facials or energy work -- an attendant will come and get you, wrapping you in a robe and leading you up to the uni-sex veranda (I once saw Nick Nolte there!).

My favorites here are the Hawaiian lomi lomi massage (fingers and hands are followed by the length of the arm and elbow in long, firm, hurt-so-good strokes) and the hot pohaku (stone) massage (heated stones sooth kinked muscles). The Lokelani Rose facial is unique to Wailea -- cleansing and cleaning, moisturizing and massage with herbal creams and oils, particularly oil of roses, the flower of Maui.

On a half-dozen visits here, I've found the attendants gentle, quiet and professional, open to direction, happy to explain techniques. If you do the pohaku, ask the practitioner to tell you the ritual involved with selecting and caring for the rocks.

CLOSE BY AND ALLURING

The Grand Wailea has its own well-chosen shops where I mooned over estate jewelry, fell in love with a Diana Lehr painting and found a cute pair of sandals. But just a pathway away, is Maui's answer to Rodeo Drive, The Shops at Wailea, offering everything from Cartier and Coach to Tommy Bahama and the must-have convenience store. Basically, anything you need, want or lust after, so no problem if you forgot your bathing suit cover-up or just have to have a ruby necklace to go with that red dress.

SAVOR THE FLAVORS

The Wailea's signature restaurants are both worth a visit -- or more than one.

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (a.k.a. Humu) is named for the state fish (small fish, big name), a thatch-roofed structure floating in a tranquil pond filled with a variety of local fish. The menu is sophisticated surf and turf: I recommend the pupu sampler (coconut shrimp, potstickers, ribs), the utterly indulgent pear and blue cheese salad on Maui-grown greens and the lobster (Australian or Hawaiian, depending on the season, pampered in the restaurant's own climate-controlled tank).

Kincha was Mr. Sekiguchi's private retreat. "When he came here," as he did every night when he was in residence, says longtime hostess Mieko, "he was back in Japan." Built low into a dip of the land, it is a network of small spaces connected by stone pathways -- a sushi bar constructed from a single gargantuan cypress log, private tatami rooms and little gatherings of tables. Once, the restaurant was a highly exclusive enclave specializing in kaiseki (multi-course dinners that topped out at $500 a person). Now it's more casual, offering sushi and sashimi, tempura and full Japanese meals.

TEE UP

Standing on the first tee of the Wailea Golf Club's Gold Course, you have this feeling of deja vu -- then you realize why. This is the kind of course you see on TV, with pros on the tee and a hushed gallery alongside. Which explains why I chose the Emerald Course instead, judged one of North America's most women-friendly courses by Woman Golfer magazine. The 6,825-yard course was designed to ideally balance difficulty and playability. Translation: You won't feel like throwing your clubs in the lake or picking up for good after the first couple of holes. My favorite feature is the four to six tees per hole so you can choose your challenge. The closer it gets, the better it looks, I say.