Your hosts, Sharene & Harrison Klein...
two Hawaiians at Heart!

Aloha! We’re glad you found us. While we tell you a bit about the two of us, along the way you’ll learn why a condo like Makai Surf or Makai Vista may be your best choice for Maui accommodations.

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

A Love for Hawaii

The story of our life together is the story of our love for Hawaii. Each of us fell in love with Hawaii on our first visits over 15 years ago. We started making one or two trips a year, traveling extensively throughout the Islands. Each time we returned we learned a bit more about the land and people of Hawaii, and our love for Hawaii deepened. We developed a strong interest in Hawaiian culture, music, and history, and a great admiration for the Hawaiian people.

With some planning and some luck, we both developed business interests in Hawaii, which brought us to the Islands even more often. Between our holiday and business travel, we made a number of friends and acquaintances in Hawaii, and our visits to Hawaii soon felt like we were going home.

A Wedding and an Eclipse

Each of us had started visiting Hawaii before we met, and our mutual love for Hawaii played a major part in our own relationship. When we decided to get married, we knew it had to be in Hawaii, and the solar eclipse of 1991 seemed like the perfect opportunity. The eclipse was to be one of the best of the century, with the path of totality passing directly over the Big Island.

Knowing how many people the eclipse would bring to Hawaii, we had made plans two years before to stay at the home of friends in Kona. When we suggested having our wedding there the day before the eclipse, they happily obliged, and we were married on their beautiful lanai overlooking the Pacific. The eclipse the following day disappointed many people, because much of the normally sunny Kona coast turned cloudy, but the skies over the house cleared after an early morning rain and the eclipse was perfect. We took it as a good sign!

Sharing Our Home

Like many visitors, we dreamed of owning a home in Hawaii and eventually living in the Islands. But for us, one of the best parts of having a home is the ability to share it with others. We have always loved welcoming guests. When Sharene lived in San Francisco before we were married, she opened her home to bed and breakfast guests from around the world, and we met many guests who remain friends to this day. From our earliest visits, we looked forward to doing the same in Hawaii.

During our first trips to Hawaii, we stayed in a variety of accommodations including large and small hotels, condominiums, bed and breakfasts, and private homes (including this llama ranch on the Big Island). We discovered that we loved the freedom and flexibility of a condo or house. We liked having the kitchen available for those times we wanted to eat in or invite friends over, and we liked having a separate bedroom so one of us could be up and about without waking the other. It was the closest we could come to having our own home in Hawaii! Hotels or bed and breakfasts are fine for a couple of days, but for a longer stay, you can’t beat something that feels like your own place.

Finding Makai Vista

After many years of planning (and saving), we were ready to purchase our first property. It was tough to choose a location, because we love all of Hawaii and each island has its own unique attractions. We finally settled on Kihei, Maui, because it has a great combination of attractions for a visitor. Kihei’s location in South Maui, on the leeward side of Mt. Haleakala, gives it the sunniest weather on the island. The area near Kihei offers a string of the best beaches on Maui. South Kihei’s location next to the luxury hotels and resorts of Wailea makes it upscale but affordable. Finally, compared to West Maui, Kihei is much more convenient to other Maui attractions such as Hana, Haleakala, Iao Valley, and the shopping areas and airport in Kahului.

We spent many months and several visits looking for the right property, and we finally found it at the Kihei Akahi complex. From the instant we saw that spectacular top-floor view, we knew it had the “Wow! Factor” we wanted. Once we completed the purchase, we completely redecorated the unit, incorporating everything we learned from our years of being both travelers and hosts. Makai means “toward the sea” in Hawaiian, so we named our unit Makai Vista because of its sweeping ocean and island panorama.

Makai Surf and Hale Kakahi

Not long after we finished decorating Makai Vista, we saw a unit at the oceanfront Kihei Surfside complex that seemed a perfect complement to Makai Vista. Surfside’s beautifully landscaped complex is just steps away from Keawakapu, Wailea’s first beach, and the view of ocean and palm trees gave the unit its own Wow! Factor. We named it Makai Surf to reflect its oceanfront location, and we did another complete redecoration to make it a place we could be proud to send guests.

We were starting to look for a 3rd condo when we discovered our dream house in Puna on the Big Island. We had expected the search for our own Hawaiian hale (house) to take years, but this property was so perfect we had to act fast. The house and grounds were so extraordinary that the Hawaiian word kakahi—unique, outstanding—seemed the only fitting name, so the house became Hale Kakahi. It took us awhile, but we have now moved to Hale Kakahi full time—proving that sometimes dreams really can come true.

Hawaiians at Heart

We hope you have enjoyed getting to know us and learning a bit more about Makai Surf, Makai Vista, and our home at Hale Kakahi. When you stay at one of our rentals, you are staying at the Hawaii homes of two real Hawaiians at Heart. We are not some big real estate firm or reservation service, and the pictures you see are not just examples of fancy units you won’t really get to stay in. What you see is exactly what you get.

We know that where you stay is important, and we know the only surprises you want are pleasant ones. We made Makai Surf and Makai Vista places we would like to stay ourselves, and we think you will too. We hope you will be our guest very soon!

Aloha, Harrison & Sharene

http://www.makai-vista.com/hawaiians.html — Revised February 21, 2006
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