I¡¯m two maitais into the luau at the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, and I¡¯m already impressed. It¡¯s not the maitais, even though they¡¯re tasty, and the bar is serving up both the fruit-forward modern version and the alcohol-only 1944 vintage recipe. It¡¯s more about the show itself, which is intimate, with a dance troupe of just six, and the focus on hyperlocal storytelling.

Many hula performances are in homage to the ahupua¡¯a¡ªor land division¡ªthe resort is situated on, or about the island of Kaho¡¯olawe, visible across the ¡®Alal¨¡keiki channel to the south.?

It would be easy to forget that Maui residents are still coping with the aftereffects of the wildfires that leveled historic Lahaina Town last summer, but reminders are present. What¡¯s most noticeable for Maui residents working in the tourism industry is that visitor numbers are still down after Hawai¡®i Governor Josh Green asked travelers not to come to Maui in the immediate aftermath of last year's fires. He quickly walked those comments back after residents pointed out the visitor economy needed to help support the island's recovery.?

¡°This luau is about half full,¡± notes Kalikolehua Storer, the Andaz¡¯s Cultural Advisor, while she butters a purple taro roll. ¡°Normally we have another row or two of tables, all the way back to the bar.¡±?

¡°This is for you,¡± she says, putting the buttered taro roll on my plate. I spent time on Kaua¡®i growing up. Hawai'i Nei always feels like home again, and once I'm reminded that simple, familiar gestures of hospitality happen almost by muscle memory among Hawaiians and residents.

I've come to Maui to see for myself what it's like for visitors to be here¡ªat this time¡ªwhen there's information overload. Visitors only lightly familiar with Maui assumed a wider part of the island was hit¡ªthat more visitor infrastructure was out of service, or that perhaps all of West Maui¡ªor all of the island¡ªwas closed to visitors.?

As of Spring 2024, tourism to Maui is still down, and the island's tourism promoters are looking for ways to get the message out: Maui is open, but please be respectful. That means no selfies with the burned ruins of Lahaina, no pressing residents for details of their situation (many of them are still coping with trauma, and during my visit in February, several island residents were still without permanent housing), and be sure to give back by volunteering time in the community during your visit (I spent a morning picking fruit for the animals at Leilani Farm Sanctuary, while visitors who are unable or unwilling to donate their time are encouraged to make a monetary donation to the Maui charity of their choice). ??

Whale off Ka¡¯anapali. (Photo Credit: Scott Laird)

I also wanted to get acquainted with the regions of Maui outside West Maui that have renewed visitors' interest. Upcountry destinations like Kula have seen more visitation, and there¡¯s a small crowd at Surfing Goat Dairy during my visit there on a crisp morning. I'm here to join the farm tour, learning about the goats and their milk, which new owner Jay Garnett's team makes into cheese daily.?

Garnett noted that visitor interest in the dairy has increased. Founded in 1999, it wasn't really a "visitor" farm (its claim to fame was having its cheese served at the inauguration dinner of President Barack Obama), but Garnett plans to grow the dairy as an agritourism enterprise. A new ticket office and function space are already under construction.?

¡°We found as the gift shop and ticket office grew, they began to take space away from the dairy,¡± he says, ¡°So we¡¯re moving those to a new building to give some of that space back to making our actual products.¡±?

On the half hour farm tour, visitors can feed the goats, referred to as the ¡°ladies¡±. From December to April, they can also do a separate tour, spending time cuddling with newborn baby goats. After finishing the farm tour, I joined another group that went into a pen and sat with some week old babies who ranged in personality from shy to wild¡ªquiet to opinionated, with a chorus of tiny bleats.?

The cheeses were also delightful¡ªranging from plain to earthy Garden Fantasia with herbs also grown on Maui to my personal favorite, the Men's Challenge, with horseradish and cayenne pepper. The dairy also makes chocolate truffles with goat's milk, and the Liliko¡¯i (passionfruit) is a triumph.?

Spinner dolphins off Lanai. (Photo Credit: Scott Laird)

It isn¡¯t just Maui that¡¯s been hit by the fires. Neighboring Lana¡®i (which, along with Molokai and Maui, is part of Maui County and has the same tourism promoters) has also seen a drop in visitors. The passenger ferry that used to dock in Lahaina¡ªjust an hour from Lana¡®i¡ªnow has to trek to the small boat harbor in Ma¡¯alea, which is double the journey time across waters that are famously choppy (my dinner cruise with Pacific Whale Foundation the night before ran into high winds, but the whale activity was tremendous).?

I take a Mokulele flight myself¡ªjust a 35-minute hop from the airport at Kahului. There, the Four Seasons Resort Lana¡®i is exactly as gorgeous as I remembered, even though it had been eight years since my last visit. My time here is short, but I have enough time for a sunset catamaran cruise, which ultimately reminds me of the visitor glut. The resort is cleverly designed to feel half full, even when it's busy, but there's no mistaking how much traffic is missing when I take an empty resort shuttle to the small boat harbor and am the only one boarding the catamaran.

¡°We appreciate you coming¡ªif there were no passengers we¡¯d have spent the time in the harbor washing the boat,¡± one of the crew smiles. So the sunset cruise is just myself and three sailors handing me mai tais, while we find ourselves surrounded by a pod of around 50 spinner dolphins playing around us while they head out to sea for the evening to hunt fish.?

It's a subtle reminder that the natural beauty of these gorgeous islands remains, despite the human traumas that have played out over the past year, and the people of Maui and Lana¡®i are largely ready for the visitor industry to return¡ªperhaps not in the same way it was before, but in a gentler, more understanding spirit of care for the fragile environment we all share.?

To learn more about the Malama Maui program ¨C visit the Maui CVB¡¯s dedicated website.

The author acknowledges the importance of Hawaiian Language orthographical marks such as the kahako (macron), but some of these may have been omitted for web browser compatibility.

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