Come Closer: An Invitation to Know Maui
If you’ve ever walked barefoot along a Maui shoreline just after sunrise – when the tide recedes, the lava rocks gleam like gold and salt lingers in the breeze – then you know how this island speaks. Quietly, at first. Then all at once.
We’re inviting someone to hear that voice for the first time. Thanks to Southwest Airlines and the Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa, Maui Nō Ka ‘Oi is giving away a luxurious West Maui escape. One lucky winner will fly roundtrip with Southwest and enjoy three beachfront nights at the Sheraton, with poolside breakfasts and a lūʻau beneath the stars at Pu‘u Keka‘a (Black Rock). Entry is free at MauiMagazine.net/WinMaui2025 – and worth packing a bag, just in case.
But truly knowing Maui goes beyond arrival. It begins when you look more closely, tread more lightly and listen to the people who call this place home. This issue is your invitation to come closer.
In “Haleakalā Adventures,” writer Mona de Crinis takes us from crater rim to jungle canopy. You can paraglide above Upcountry slopes, rappel down waterfalls or zipline through tropical forest – or slow things down and greet the sunrise from the summit or horseback through the hills. The experiences are unforgettable, but it’s the land itself that lingers.
Photographer Jenna Szerlag brings us in the opposite direction – not up, but down – in “In the Company of Shrimp.” Writer Ariella Nardizzi follows her beneath the surface, where shrimp no bigger than a pencil tip pulse with color, movement and curiosity. These reef dwellers are easy to miss, but Szerlag’s lens reminds us that wonder lives in even the smallest corners of the island.
We also hear from someone who’s helped uncover those stories for decades. In this issue’s “In Their Own Words,” cultural steward Puanani Lindsey shares her journey of restoring Honokōwai Valley – an ancestral landscape where families once thrived, and where stone terraces and sacred memory now rise from beneath the overgrowth. “The heart has to be clean,” she says. “We need to be one mind.”
And of course, no story about Maui is complete without its flavors. Our Dining Guide celebrates the local eateries that nourish us – roadside stands, mom-and-pop shops and chefs who understand that the best meals begin with care for the land.
So explore this issue, our latest love letter to Maui – not just to see the island, but to connect more deeply with it. Whether you live here, return often or arrive for the very first time – even by winning a contest – may you come away with a deeper sense of aloha for the people and places that make this island whole.
Chris Amundson
Publisher & Editor
chris@mauimagazine.net
