The two of us had a very pleasant stay in Michael’s apartment.

The apartment location is a good base for beaches in Kaanapali, Kapalua and Napili Bay, all of which are a short drive away. The two nearest grocery shopping options in Honokawai were complementary: Time with its broad range of goods and The Farmers’ Market which has an organic/gourmet angle.

I slept in the attic room which has no aircon. This suited me as I prefer sleeping with a fan to an aircon. The flat is well provided: all the cooking utensils a keen cook could wish for and various beach accessories such as ‘noodles’, deck chairs, snorkels, flippers, boogies boards plus a mini-library in the living room.

We had a face-on view of the swimming pool and the ocean, just like the photos. The grounds and swimming pool are well maintained and the beach has a secluded feel (we visited during term time) as there were a maximum of 5 others on the beach and in the sea the one afternoon we were there. What was special was watching turtles feeding off the rocks and in one morning I saw a turtle on the beach and a large rainbow.

As for contact with Michael, he was responsive to our pre-holiday email queries about hurricane/weather concerns (neither affected our stay at all!) and where to eat after arriving late in the evening. On my first night I had struggled with the shower thinking there was no water supply. The next morning my friend let the property manager (Victor) know and he passed by very promptly to show how to give the knob a good tug so I was pleased this was sorted before we set off to go out.

We left happy with our choice, having trawled through numerous options for our first ever visit to Maui (and Hawaii)!