Kahului Harbor

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After departing Honolulu, our cruise ship docked in Kahului on the island of Maui. It was very windy that morning with rough waters, so our snorkeling excursion was canceled. So we decided to explore the port area for a little while since our Haleakala excursion wasn’t until the late afternoon.

Kahului is the business center of Maui, with shopping malls and shipyards. This town was rural and undeveloped until the sugar cane industry boom. Then, the sugar companies built a railroad to haul their crop to the harbor.

In 1900, the bubonic plague swept through Kahului. Officials burned down the town to staunch the epidemic. In 1948, the Alexander & Baldwin Sugar Company built the planned community that is modern day Kahului.

The sugar plantations are gone now, the factories shuttered. Kahului is still important to Maui as a port, bringing needed supplies and tourists to the island on a regular basis.

We walked past the industrial cargo container yards and strip malls and found a decent beach. There were windsurfers and kayakers in the water here and a few sunbathers on the sand. Not exactly paradise, but clean enough to dip our toes in the water before heading back to the ship.