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Author: Regular Guy Reviewer

Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa Shines Bright at Black Rock

Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa Shines Bright at Black Rock

Holy Honu (green sea turtles) – so far the summer of 2021 at the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa in Kaanapali has been teeming with tourists and guest numbers that exactly no one saw coming. No kidding.  Who opened the barn door? Industry experts were predicting a “gradual return” of visitors to the Valley Isle as the pandemic initially waned but instead got a Gold Medal rush of voracious vacationers with dollars to drop and depths to snorkel. It’s reasonable…

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Valley Isle Excursions Navigates the Road to Hana

Valley Isle Excursions Navigates the Road to Hana

Full disclosure – the content you’re about to read took place pre-pandemic. No masks. No social distancing. No Dr. Fauci. The good ole days. It was bumpy. It was curvy. It was 204 miles of beaches and waterfalls and rain forests and all the wide-eyed natural wonders Maui’s windward side could showcase in high-def living color. On the first Wednesday of March 2020 my BFF Harry and I boarded a Road to Hana Tour courtesy of Valley Isle Excursions. We…

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Papakea Ocean Front Resort is a West Maui Treat

Papakea Ocean Front Resort is a West Maui Treat

Mahalo, Papakea Ocean Front Resort. Looking back to February 2021 I was bored out of my gourd after being furloughed for 11 months because of the pandemic. Wanting to get back into the Pool Attendant game, I perused a fancy-pants employment website (rhymes with spindeed) and saw that Papakea was looking to staff up as Maui was gingerly beginning to open up. Papakea, shoot, it was literally right down the street. I could walk there in six minutes and drive…

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Paki Maui – My Hawaiian Hale in the Heart of Honokowai

Paki Maui – My Hawaiian Hale in the Heart of Honokowai

Looking back on the morning of July 1, 2019, I had no idea what lie ahead. Twelve hours earlier I had arrived at the Kahului Airport (OGG) with four packed suitcases, Alamo rental-car reservations, and the lock-box combination to the Maui Sands Seaside condo in Honokowai that would serve as lodging for the next 40 days. This was it. All the pondering and planning was in the metaphorical rear-view mirror. I had chucked it all (or at least most of…

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Teralani’s Dinner Sunset Sail Delivers a Full-Course Menu

Teralani’s Dinner Sunset Sail Delivers a Full-Course Menu

Attention Teralani ticket holders and soon-to-arrive Maui visitors – picture this: You’re sitting on the bow of a luxury catamaran that’s cruising around the blue Pacific waters of West Maui. It’s nearing sunset time and that bright yellow fireball is setting majestically over the island of Lanai. It’s also dinner time and you have a plate of grilled goodies resting on your lap along with a mai tai or chardonnay at the ready. The aquatic ambience is darn-near perfect and…

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Teralani 3 Delivers a Memorable Whale-Watching Spree

Teralani 3 Delivers a Memorable Whale-Watching Spree

Holy humpback – that was a whale of an experience! On a balmy Tuesday morning in mid-February I was booked on the 10 AM whale-watching excursion offered by Teralani Sailing Adventures. There was more than a slight breeze to go along with the tingly anticipation of our sailing group that had gathered on Dig Me Beach in Kaanapali for a trademark Maui treat. There were humpback whales out there to be seen and we wanted to spot every massive mammal…

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I’m A Pool Attendant at the Westin Maui Resort & Spa

I’m A Pool Attendant at the Westin Maui Resort & Spa

Never ever ever in a bazillion years did I dream, especially at an age when I’m almost eligible to receive Social Security benefits, that I would become a Pool Attendant at a swank hotel in a paradise setting. Never say never. Reality took a headfirst dive on October 4, 2019 when I was hired to work the gorgeous pool deck at the Westin Maui Resort & Spa in Kaanapali, Hawaii. Right on the beach. Right next to Whalers Village. Right…

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First-Time PGA Volunteer at The Plantation Course in Kapalua

First-Time PGA Volunteer at The Plantation Course in Kapalua

Nothing like ringing in the new year volunteering as a course marshal at absolutely one of the most beautiful golf courses in the Pacific designed to fit one of the most idyllic island landscapes on the planet. This was one of those Aloha experiences where you had to see it, walk it, and engage it to believe it. I had signed up from January 2-4, 2020 to donate 15 hours to the Sentry Tournament of Champions at The Plantation Course…

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Ballet Kelowna Makes MAMBO Memorable in Autumn

Ballet Kelowna Makes MAMBO Memorable in Autumn

Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets. That sultry line from a 1956 Sarah Vaughan hit was hard to forget as wife Elaine and I left Kelowna Community Theatre on a mid-November Friday night after Ballet Kelowna launched its 16th season with a performance aptly entitled Autumn. Promoted as a multi-faceted celebration of the splendor of the fall season, Autumn featured two premieres from lauded Canadian choreographers John Alleyne (Schubert) from 2000 and Alysa Pires (In Between) in 2018. The pièce de…

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Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Gets Wordy With Verdi

Okanagan Symphony Orchestra Gets Wordy With Verdi

If I told you wife Elaine and I voluntarily spent two hours of our Friday evening listening to choral outpourings of grief, funeral marches, incendiary strings, and convulsing drums, you might think we attended one of the darkest musical dramas on the planet. On the contrary, we became engrossed in a Latin Mass for the Dead that is classically known and universally revered as Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem.” Many have called it an opera in church clothing, while others say it…

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