On boarding my Mokulele Airlines flight to Kapalua, I had forgotten that this would be a one engine plane, something I cautioned against on Monday after the Asiana crash at San Francisco Airport. Oh well, too late. The flight path went right over a portion of Oahu, passing close to Punchbowl, being covered by the Nuuanu mist wafting in from the Koolaus, with my apartment in the background, then the Manoa Campus:
My office is located in the tallest building below:
Then over the Kahala Hotel, adjacent to Waialae Golf Course, where the SONY Open is played in January:
Hanauma Bay:
We passed by Papahaku Beach, West Molokai, where from the seventies there was a hotel and golf course:
The resort closed as a Sheraton in 2001 because of water rights. A picturesque scene while passing South Molokai:
The resort closed as a Sheraton in 2001 because of water rights. A picturesque scene while passing South Molokai:
What a beautiful flight, with a good landing at Kapalua, just up the hill from my three hotels in Kaanapali.
Here is where the problems began. There was a sign for TAXI, so I went there. No taxi. Walked back in to the terminal, and saw that there was a Kapalua Shuttle, but nothing for Kaanapali. I called the Sheraton, and the person said check with the airport for a phone number, but after I mumbled, some service, I was transferred to the front desk, where they said they would call for a cab, which should be there in 5-7 minutes.
Two girls who got off the same plane asked how can they get to Lahaina. I said, we can all go in the same taxi and you can pay for the portion from Kaanapali to Lahaina. Surely enough, five minutes later the car arrived. I began to load up, but then asked if the Sheraton had called him. Turns out not, so I went back to wait while the girls took that cab. Twenty minutes later my taxi arrives. The lady is so small that I had to do the loading, for which she is thankful. On the ride to the Sheraton I ask her why there were no taxis at the airport. She says the airport authorities don't allow taxis to wait. Anyway, only Mokulele now flies here, and manytimes not one passenger needs a taxi, so it's not worth their while to wait at the bottom of the hill because it is too hot.
This must be the only airport in the world where taxis are not allowed to wait for customers. I wonder why? Anyway, at least they should get rid of the taxi sign and place a more accurate guideline of what to do. The Starwood management needs to be on top of this and come up with a better way to get their clients to their three hotels.
It is around noon when I finally get to the Sheraton after an hour at the airport. I am scheduled to tee off at 1:06. My coming to this hotel has meaning for me, as Pearl and I spent a facet of our honeymoon here early in 1963 when it first opened half a century ago. There are now 4800 rooms on this beach.
Anyway, I'm told that my room was not ready yet (which is understandable, for check in is 3PM), but Plantinum members are given two certificates for drinks, so I go to their beach bar, where the view is fabulous. First Lanai and the beach with a lychee concoction of some sort:
After half an hour I had a melon rum drink, with a view further to the right of Black Rock, where divers are constantly jumping into the ocean:
All very relaxing, actually, so I finally cancelled my golf time. I then went to their other pool bar and had a third free drink. At three o'clock, the legal time for me to check-in, I wondered what happened, so back I went to the desk. Says the staffer, the maid is now cleaning the room. I joke that I am Platinum, a Kamaaina, missed my golf date...surely, the hotel would provide me free dinner with a glass of wine. Four o'clock came, and I finally get to my room, where they are still trying to fix the shower. They give up and the hotel asks if I want to move to another room. I say, no, there is a shower in the bathtub, and aside for a swampy smell from the shower, the room is terrific (actually, I could receive calls, but couldn't call out, but I blame my general ignorance for this, as I've had this problem in other hotels--the phones are too complicated for me--one pillow, though, smelled bad, the TV system took forever to change channels, and the internet was slow, but faster than the Westin Moana in Waikiki). But I joked again...I hope the glass of wine is a bottle of Chateau Margaux.
I had two hours before sunset, so I walked the entirety of Kaanapali Beach and back, all the way to the Hyatt. Two hotels and Whaler's Village Shopping Center from the Sheraton, about fifteen minutes, was the Westin where I will tomorrow (now today) stay. Then a rainbow. It took me an hour, about the same as Waikiki Beach, so the lengths must be similar.
Dinner was wonderful at their up-scale restaurant, Black Rock. I got a good table, and my waiter, Nelson, said I could have anything on the menu as a guest of the hotel. He brought a whole bottle of Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon, which he reported would have cost me $185. I ordered a tomato bisque soup with a Caesar's salad.
The soup was lukewarm, but an excellent start. The New York Steak was just perfect:
Except, it was too much, so I had a portion of it with the leftover wine delivered to my room.
The following morning I might have had my first red wine with a steak sandwich:
Sunrise over Lanai from my Sheraton lanai was absolutely gorgeous:
All in all, a wash, good and bad. I noticed as I was leaving the room the following card in the closet:
They can charge $4,999 for my room. At my departure, the hotel insisted that I deserved a special shuttle to the Westin instead of waiting for the scheduled one, and a group waved goodbye as I left.
Return for the Westin at Kaanapali and the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course.
They can charge $4,999 for my room. At my departure, the hotel insisted that I deserved a special shuttle to the Westin instead of waiting for the scheduled one, and a group waved goodbye as I left.
Return for the Westin at Kaanapali and the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course.
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