On Maui’s beaches it’s considered polite to try to move out of the way of a wedding party, even though you don’t have to. I consider trying to help the folks taking the priceless heritage photos good karma, but even the best intentions can have unavoidable difficulties; I am certain – by the camera flash and my surprise at surfacing from a snorkel dive to find a wedding group where I had thought my towel was – that I have at least one appearance in those poor folk’s album. I can just imagine the picture of the lovely couple, barefoot in the sand on Napili Bay on that beautiful sunny morning saying their vows, with my sunburnt and snorkel bedecked head and slipping swimsuit straps splashing up in the ocean foreground. If that was your picture, I’m sorry – and for what it’s worth, I tried really hard to get out of the way as quick as I could.

    If you’re a first-time Maui visitor -- and it's time for you to head home -- you may be shocked by the ad-hoc fruit devouring area next to the Agricultural check station. You may think you're in the clear... after you've cleared the baggage scrutiny by the TSA and almost reached your gate.  That papaya or rogue banana in your carry-on luggage will be doomed to the waste basket after the Ag check agents discover your devious smuggling operation... intended or not.
    Returning home, many Maui visitors try to bring pineapples, local mangoes, or other banned fruit back to the Mainland. While certain certified and checked fruit can be shipped home -- on the airplane or after your journey -- most walk-on items cannot. It’s not uncommon to see entire families of homeward visitors devouring the banned fruit only feet from the Agricultural Station workers.
     There’s no sign for the area, but you’ll see it right away... if the juice on the floor doesn't give it away first. Leaning against the hip-high concrete aggregate wall in the open-air airport breezeway, looking across the urban landscape of Kahului toward the West Maui mountains and the Iao Valley -- it really isn't a bad place to finish off that tropical treat.  A last taste of the island, if you will.
    Personally, I think the State of Hawaii or County of Maui should provide a table with hand wipes, eating utensils, or even those tacky lobster-joint plastic bibs. I know I speak for a lot of visitors when I say that we'd all really be happy with a community blender and some kind of debit card mini-bar where travelers could make one more tropical drink to enjoy before the long flight home.
    When you do make it to your plane seat, and find the person sitting next to you has sticky juice on his face and all over his tee shirt – he probably was one of the last minute papaya eaters. Viva la papaya/banana/mango revolution!

    One of the first things I do after purchasing airfare is to begin to program important local Mauiian phone numbers into my cell phone. I type in the word “Maui” before all of the names so that all of the Maui numbers come up together and later they’re easier to delete when I get home. I’ve used this trick for years, after a family member had a medical emergency on Maui and I had absolutely no idea where to go or who to call. Do some research before you go... what would you need in an emergency?  The "Doctors on Call" number should be on the top of every traveler's special Maui phone list.
    You don’t have to stop at the emergency numbers! Is there a favorite take-and-bake pizza place or Chinese food place near your campground or condo? Call ahead from the beach and pick your food up on your way to your digs. How about the surf conditions number? Are you a AAA Member? Their local number is at the top of my Maui phone list, and I’m proud to say I haven’t changed a tire in almost a decade.

    If you love sunsets you may want to book a room on the west side of Maui, and if you’re a sunrise nut the east side is for you.
    Regardless of which side of the island you choose to stay, almost every morning visitors to Maui can be found perched along the shorelines as dawn breaks. Most are hastily dressed with hair and makeup askew, holding cups of condo or hotel coffee tightly against the almost chill of the warm-but-cooler-than-yesterday morning breeze that rushes through to announce the sunlight.
    After the sunlight breaks across the water and over the waves the temporary Island residents make their way back to their rooms, condos, or tents. I’ve always made that walk with a great big smile on my face – appreciating the quiet and beautiful start of another day in tropical paradise.
    Groaning about getting up early on vacation? You don’t really have to. Not a morning person myself, I’m aided by the time difference in my favor. A six a.m. sunrise is, for us Oregonians, really an eight or nine a.m. call, depending on the time of the year.