Maui Nō Ka ‘Oi Magazine - Spring 2024 - Preview

VOLCANO

Spend a night on the The cabins of Haleakalā

22

A WAY WITHOUT WORDS

The exquisite artistry of Robert Lyn Nelson speaks volumes.

30 A NIGHT IN A VOLCANO

Experiencing the rustic cabins of Haleakalā Crater is worth the effort.

38 TUGBOATS OF KAHULUI HARBOR

These stout vessels (and their crews) are the workhorses of the Valley Isle.

ROBERT LYN NELSON

contents departments

46 ON THE COVER Maui's very own voyaging canoe, Mo‘okiha O Pi‘ilani, sails West Maui for unity with Lāhainā. Story begins on page 16.

Photo by Daniel Sullivan

16

Talk Story

Tales of the island, fresh off the coconut wireless.

60 Craving Maui

Reimagined lounges, a bartop aquarium and champagne dreams captivate Maui diners.

56 Calendar of Events

It's springtime on Maui! Here’s what's happening.

60

Photo Contest

The arch angel of Honolua Bay.

62

In Their Own Words

By talking story and staying true to herself, Kalikolehua Storer infuses Hawaiian culture into resort hospitality.

SPRING 2024 VOL. 28, NO. 2

Maui Nō Ka ‘Oi is an internationally-distributed magazine dedicated to exploring the life and culture of Maui Nui. There’s a saying known in the islands: Maui nō ka ‘oi, Hawaiian for “Maui is the best.” We hope you think so, too.

Publisher & Executive Editor

Chris Amundson

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Angela Amundson

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ED ITO RIAL

Editor Mona de Crinis

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TALK

STORY

Fresh off the coconut wireless

story by Lisa L. Schell

photographs by Daniel Sullivan

Wa‘a Unity for Lāhainā

Four legendary voyaging canoes welcome thousands who walked for unity and healing

HOURS BEFORE the unity walkers began their procession to Launiupoko Beach Park just south of the Lāhainā burn zone, canoe clubs from across Maui prepped their outriggers under the pre-dawn stars at Hanaka‘ō‘ō Beach Park.

They would be escorting four of Hawai‘i’s voyaging canoes, led by Hōkūle‘a, to the walkers’ terminus at Launiupoko. The walk and afternoon activities would help unite Maui five months after the fires, through Lele Aloha’s Ho‘ūlu Lāhainā Unity Gathering.

Hōkūle‘a, a replica of the sailing canoes used by the early Polynesians, ignited

a Polynesian cultural renaissance with her maiden voyage to Tahiti in 1976. She and her sister canoes have since sailed the world, sharing Polynesian voyaging knowledge and spreading Hawaiian culture. The canoes represent the shared desire to protect and perpetuate Hawaiian values and places.

Hōkūle‘a’s first voyage to Tahiti launched from West Maui’s famed Honolua Bay, so when the fires devastated Lāhainā and parts of Kula on Aug. 8, 2023, leaders at the Polynesian Voyaging Society interrupted a 47-month, 43,000-nautical-mile circumnavigation of the Pacific Ocean to return home to support Maui.

The canoe paddlers stood on the beach, marveling at the sky’s clarity and the way Maui’s Fish Hook, Mānaiakalani, loomed large over the outline of Haleakalā. The brilliant Milky Way hung off the tip of the hook, just like a fish.

“Look! You can see all of Ka Iwikuamo‘o!” said ‘Anela Gutierrez, pointing at the North Star and then the Big Dipper as she traced an imaginary line down to the setting Southern Cross. Ka Iwikuamo‘o, also called the Backbone, is one of four star lines used by Hawaiian ocean navigators – including Hōkūle‘a crew – to find their way to and from Tahiti.

On the day of Hōkūle‘a’s return to Maui, it seemed fitting to all those who observed from the beach that these celestial bodies — so connected to the Hawaiian wayfinding tradition — would shine brightly in the early morning sky.

Soon, the stars gave way to first light, and the paddlers turned their gaze to the horizon just beyond Lāhainā Harbor. Jet

skis supporting the canoes zoomed back and forth from the beach, adding to the air of excitement and anticipation. Someone shouted, “There they are! The canoes!”

The masts and double hulls of the sailing canoes came into view. The six-crew outriggers launched from the beach and made a short paddle out to meet Hōkūle‘a, Hikianalia, Makali‘i and Mo‘okiha O Pi‘ilani, Maui’s own voyaging canoe that survived the fire.

The four sailing canoes and their outrigger escorts arrived offshore at Launiupoko as several thousand people walked 3 miles down the Lāhainā Bypass, through burn zones on Hokiokio Place and along the oceanfront of Honoapi‘ilani Highway to tents, food, music and festivities at the beach park.

Crew members aboard one of the sailing canoes chanted, asking the ancestors for guidance. Honu (sea turtles) poked their heads out of the water along the way. Just outside the circle of canoes, humpback whales breached, as if answering the call.

The six-man outriggers paddled around their larger counterparts, stopping now and then to marvel at their designs or to throw shakas to the crewmembers.

The ‘ohana of the wa‘a had come together for Lāhainā.

Maui’s Mo‘okiha O Pi‘ilani voyaging canoe moored at Launiupoko for the Ho‘ūlu Lāhainā Unity Gathering on Jan. 20, 2024. The sailing canoe crews were welcomed ashore with traditional cultural protocol, including the blowing of the pū.

Voices could be heard singing in the distance, above the sound of the ocean meeting the reef at Launiupoko. The walkers, wearing red for Lāhainā, became visible along the Honoapi‘ilani Highway.

Carrying state flags and banners, they made their way toward the beach, as the outrigger canoes lined up to land. Once on the beach, canoe crews united with the walkers, sharing tears, smiles, and hugs — many hugs.

He wa‘a he moku, he moku he wa‘a. The canoe is an island, the island is a canoe. A reminder to work together and mālama our island. On that day, we were all Lāhainā strong.

To watch the Lāhainā Unity Gathering, visit: tinyurl.com/Unity-Gathering

The little holistic farm that could

by Mona de Crinis

At Simple Roots, regenerative agriculture sprouts seed of hope earlier. At Simple Roots regenerative farm, nothing stays the same. And that’s just how partners Erin McFarland and Korey and Alissa Harris like it. In fact, moving everything around daily was their idea.

AS DUSK FALLS Upcountry, deepening the folds where Haleakalā reaches for the sea, paniolo (cowboys) and ranch hands from Olinda to Ulupalakua wrap up the day’s chores without a hitch. For some, the work is almost innate, written into their DNA or burned into neural pathways through time, tradition and rote.

On a scratch of pastureland straddling Makawao, a young farmer corrals his milk cow’s calf for the night. Grabbing hold of the collar, he slowly leads Peanut Butter toward the paddock. But as baby bulls do, Peanut Butter takes off on a full sprint with the farmer in tow, ducking electrical lines and dodging nomadic chicken shelters in a clip worthy of the Keystone Cops Don’t blame the farmer though — or the bull; that chicken-coop obstacle course set in a tangle of wires wasn’t there 24 hours

It’s a holistic approach to encouraging soil health known as rotational grazing, a key principle of regenerative agriculture. Using temporary fencing, or electric wire, and wheeled chicken shelters to reposition farm animals gives the land pause from pecking hens and grazing bovines and time to absorb the organic matter left behind.

It’s also how three impassioned providers are changing Maui’s farm-to-table landscape. Prioritizing fields over yields, Simple Roots works with nature to offer the only pasture-raised chicken currently available on island and other just-harvested delights — all from the seed of a simple home garden.

Alissa Harris repositions chicken coop with help from Erin McFarland. Korey and Alissa Harris (left) on property with son, Kelan, and daughter, Kennedy.

RYAN SIPHERS (ABOVE AND BELOW)

While pregnant with their second child, Korey and Alissa Harris wanted to plant a few backyard veggies during maternity leave. Korey, an officer with the Maui Police Department, and Alissa, a board-certified behavior analyst working in child development, consulted Upcountry gardening guru Erin McFarland at a friend’s recommendation. She told them to add chickens, the “gateway to farming.”

They talked for a long time. Erin used words like “sustainable,” “permaculture” and “self-reliance,” which unearthed in Korey an untapped desire for Kennedy and her older brother, Kelan, to grow up understanding food origin and the value in caring for animals and the land.

“I want to make a go of this,” he told his wife one spring night over dinner in 2022, and a partnership was born. A few short months later, they entered a worktrade arrangement for six acres Upcountry, which had been run with horses and matted in thigh-high sour grass.

Toiling weekdays long after the whistle blew on their day jobs and weekends sunup to sundown, they cleared the land and gave it space to breathe. In less than a year, the trio had transformed the acreage into bucolic pastureland with quality grass free of pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

By July 2022, they had completed their first harvest, filled their first orders and grabbed the attention of elite Maui chefs. Pacific’o on the Beach, Papa‘aina and other popular restaurants began sourcing Simple Roots for local, sustainably farmed chicken. With business on an uptick, Korey took the plunge and resigned from the police department to focus fully on the farm.

Then Lāhainā burned, and with it, most of Simple Roots’ West Maui restaurant business. Saddled with harvests and few buyers, they donated the considerable surplus of those first months following to feed fire victims and partnered with Common Ground Collective, which sourced supplies for Chef Hui and westside food distribution hubs. Fortunately, Upcountry dining hotspot Marlow and about 500 loyal kama‘āina customers are keeping them afloat while the island heals.

With a Kiss-the-Ground sensibility rooted in compassionate land stewardship, Simple Roots appeals to enlightened foodies as well as the auntie on the prowl for local product. And for those suffering allergies, autoimmune diseases and dietary restrictions that prohibit eating commercially harvested chicken or meat refrigerated too long, it is a prayer answered.

A Way Without Words

A love of Lāhainā and the ocean enliven renowned painter Robert Lyn Nelson

by Mona de Crinis

ROBERT LYN NELSON

WWALKING INTO Robert Lyn Nelson’s home studio is an exercise in sensory management. Neurons fire and pulse quickens as eyes dart from painting to painting to painting, the brain fully engaged from cerebral cortex to medulla oblongata.

Hundreds of canvases representing almost as many mediums and styles easily eclipse the trappings of domesticity in this residence turned gallery. Abstracts lean against armoires, cubism punctuates corridors, impressionism floats atop high walls and surrealism seduces at every turn.

In what may seem a Maui brick-andmortar homage to the Old Masters and 20th century genre benders who helped shape Nelson’s craft, only the faint aura of their genius remains after the final brushstroke. Impossible to pigeonhole, his art defies both category and convention — products of a guiding philosophy that refuses classification and accepts no limits.

Paeans to other artforms — a sculpture here, a collage there, mixed media — are peppered throughout, as are exquisite explorations in oil that include whimsical

interpretations of everyday objects, a series of nudes in yellow and his sublime tribute to The Beatles featuring quintessential song elements surreptitiously woven into the iconic tapestry. A scattering of easels hold completed works or those in progress, patiently awaiting their metamorphosis from pupae to brilliant butterfly.

While grasping the magnitude of Nelson’s unbridled brilliance in a single glance is futile and proscriptive, it’s clear he dips often and deep into the creative well; his is a fount of fluid self-expression that cannot be capped.

His gaze resting on a recently finished piece, an asymmetrical explosion of angles and color, Nelson acknowledged the footprint of those who came before — David Hockney, Gerhard Richter, Pablo Picasso and other influential mavericks of contemporary art. But that’s where the similarities end. “I love Picasso,” he said. “But I don’t do cubism like he did. I do it my own way.”

And that’s how Nelson’s been doing it for more than 50 years. Hockney, Richter and Picasso may have set the signposts, but the path forged as one of Maui’s most prolific and

commercially successful talents is his alone.

In addition to a half century of showcasing his work in galleries in Lāhainā, most of which are now defunct or destroyed during last August’s wildfires, Nelson’s protracted curriculum vitae includes hundreds of worldwide exhibitions, collectors that include famous actors, four U.S. presidents and pedigreed rock stars Paul McCartney and Steven Tyler, youngest solo exhibitor (to date) at the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of Natural History and founder of the Modern Marine Art Movement, or “Two World” style blending the seen with the unseen.

“The ocean art thing in the 80s and 90s? That was one big experiment,” Nelson said, recalling the vivid depictions of abovesurface and below-surface life — dolphins cavorting with humpbacks and honu (green sea turtles) under the sea while the harbor buzzes with activity above — that catapulted his career.

As an artistic prodigy growing up in California, Nelson was fascinated by stories he read about 19th-century whaling expeditions. The tales stoked his imagination and,

CHRIS AMUNDSON

Robert Lyn Nelson poses in front of a Lāhainā tribute piece in progress with daughter Sienna, also an established artist. Nelson’s diverse styles show influences of Impressionism, Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh in “A Flying Flower” (top), “Sisters” (bottom left) and “Ka‘ahumanu Church.” Opening page: “Two Worlds.”

Nelson’s Beatles series celebrates the iconic group with song elements woven into the paintings.

John Lennon’s signature round glasses, a yellow submarine, an octopus and the record label’s trademark green apple appear in “Magical Mystery Tour” (above). His painted glass pieces include “Blackbird Vase” and “Strawberry Man Vase.”

“A fascination with the visual beauty of nature and the urge to draw it is my earliest memory.” – Robert Lyn Nelson

A longtime ocean protector and environmental activist, Nelson vividly expresses his fears and hopes for the planet through his art, including “Wisdom” (above), and climate change-centered works such as “On Thin Ice II” (top right).

at the age of 18, he came to the islands to find his muse in the historic whaling town of Lāhainā.

He found so much more. In Lāhainā, Nelson found a sweeping “culture of kindness” rooted in ‘ohana and carried by wind and sea. And when last August’s wildfires ripped through the heart of his adopted hometown, taking his along with it, he found solace in her memory.

Although the seven-day-a-week artist and self-admitted workaholic wakes each day not knowing what he’s going to paint, preferring to “be surprised, because you never know what life will bring,” there was no question in those following weeks and months.

Turning to canvas and palette, Nelson channeled his anger and grief into more than a dozen paintings honoring the spirit of the place that stole his soul more than half a century ago. “Beauty and Devastation,” a provocative piece juxtaposing a ravaged Lāhainā with the unsullied magnificence of Lāna‘i in the distance, went viral almost immediately.

The painting, while unsettling in its frank portrayal of tragedy, is a reminder of the promise that lives beyond the charred landscape, burned-out cars and blackened

coconuts. “I speak through my work,” said Nelson. “I wanted to convey that beauty surrounds us still. Lāhainā will rebuild, and we will hear her heartbeat again” — a powerful message of hope from an artist more comfortable with brushes than words.

Of late, Nelson’s focus has shifted to climate change. A staunch defender of marine wildlife, his dogged activism sparked decades ago after connecting eye to eye with a humpback whale while surfing Lāhainā waters. This once-in-a-lifetime encounter ultimately led to co-founding the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation with longtime friend, Jean-Michel Cousteau.

In a recent work, Nelson urges action and heralds the threat of inaction through strategically placed subliminal warnings — a tiny bee, a global obsession with pop culture, the crushing weight of the almighty dollar.

“I’ve spent 40 years trying to save the ocean through my work, and some people still only see Snoopy and Garfield,” he said with a wry smile. “But that’s the power of art, right? It resonates differently with different people, and they see what they need or want to see. Sometimes it’s better if you don’t explain it.”

If we’re lucky, one day he won’t have to.