Hello again from Wailea, Hawaii
Saturday afternoon – May 22, 2021 (Fourth post of this travelogue)
I guess it is time to catch up on our activities at the Grand Wailea. Simply said, this has been a very relaxing week. We have spent a lot of time on the verandah. It is great for people watching and just plain enjoying the beautiful view.
As I noted previously, our room overlooks the chapel. We have witnessed several wedding parties. Apparently this is a popular wedding destination. Indeed, we are told that one of the SU demonstrators had their wedding here this week.
We have taken two tours this week. Both were paid for by SU The first tour was on Tuesday to a cacao farm and chocolate factor followed by a stop at a coconut farm to learn more about coconut farming and to do some tasting. The second trip on Thursday was to the Maui Gold pineapple farm. Both tours included great lunches.
The cacao farm (link) was an amazing place. The cacao plant is not native to Hawaii (as is the case for most trees and plants). Indeed, the climate here is not conducive to raising the trees. An individual took up the challenge of finding a way to create an environment that was compatible with the tree using large shelter trees and lots of irrigation. We tasted 9 varieties of their chocolate and the taste of each was amazing.
The coconut farm visit was cut short a bit because we were running late. However, we were able to taste the coconut meat and drink the water from the coconut (very tasty).
There is an interesting contrast between the cocoa and coconut farms. The owner of the coconut farm describes it as a “boutique farm” where the product is not profitable but the history of the process is being preserved. The cocoa farm is a for-profit venture with some significant growth plans.
The Maui Gold pineapple tour was a lot of fun. We got to spend quite a bit of time in the pineapple fields and the guide harvested some pineapples from the field for our tasting. The taste of the fresh cut fruit is fantastic. Like the cocoa farm this is a for-profit venture. They do some export, but a significant part of their product is consumed on the Hawaiian islands. They only sell whole pineapples and not canned product.
That is all for this post.