Summertime off the Road to Hana

Maui's famed Road to Hana. It's beautiful year 'round, but particularly so in the summertime. The winter rains have subsided, leaving a lush green tropical setting all along the 52 miles that connect Kahului to Hana.

Within those 52 miles, much of the speed limit along the cliffside roadway is a justified 15 miles per hour. With 620 curves and 59 bridges, 46 of which are one lane wide, the slower speed is desirable if for no reason other than to allow the unimaginable beauty to be absorbed.

Just before the road starts to get curvy, though, there exists an almost Batcave-like road called Honokala. Most people don't even notice it's there. The road turns inland just off the Road to Hana, extending toward the Ko'olau Forest Reserve - a nature space full of rare flora and fauna. At the end of the road sits an incredibly serene 2.49 acres atop a ridge overlooking a tropical gulch.

In the summertime, the mornings here may bless us with a 10-15 minute shower that's so light it can barely be seen, yet its gentle, cool moisture can be felt on the skin. Its rainbows are sometimes bright enough that you'd swear they're being beamed from a hidden Hollywood searchlight. The droplets it leaves behind on the greenery are sublime.

Imagine waking up to that every day, with the only sounds around being those of the birds or of the breeze rustling through the gulch below and the forest behind. Traffic is simply not a part of the sound palette.

This unique Hawaiian space is already home to two permitted structures. With the infrastructure already in place and plenty of level ground, a dream home of any style can easily nestle here. The view in the photo included here is the actual view from the ridge. Standing underneath a palm tree, looking out over the lush gulch, the expansive ocean views are never-ending. This property is priced right at $695,000.

Call or text me at 808-205-2175 to schedule your private showing of this peaceful property. See more at http://www.61SHonokalaRoad.com.

At your service with aloha,

Rhonda Smith-Sanchez, R(S)-73936
Coldwell Banker Island Properties
RhondaMauiHi@gmail.com
http://www.61SHonokalaRoad.com
http://www.RhondaMaui.com
http://www.NorthShoreRegistry.com

2 Homes on 2 Acres - A Tropical Dream Come True

Two homes on two acres right on the edge of one of Maui's rainforests  Sounds like a dream, doesn't it? It's real, though, and it could be yours.

The main 3/3 home features over 2100 square feet and sits at the highest point of the two rolling acres. Its views extend through your own banana groves eastward from the blue Pacific, almost 180 degrees to the West Maui Mountains. On a clear day, you can see Moloka'i, Hawaii's Friendly Isle.

The cute-as-they-come guest house, known locally as the "ohana," sits privately along the property line, backed by the majestic Norfolk pine trees. Here in Hawaii, the ohana often serves as a personal studio, a home for visiting guests, or as a rental to supplement the owner's income. 

This home practically begs for an earthlover caretaker - someone who enjoys digging, planting and arranging in the rich soil. The property rains avocados. You can make fresh juices from lilikoi and tangelo. Bananas abound, even shrouding two private outdoor showers. Just imagine adding papaya, mango, grapefruit and farm-fresh eggs to the mix.

With frequent tropical showers, this home could theoretically become its own sulf-sustaining entity. Water catchments and photovoltaic cells could lessen your dependence on the utility companies, and you could create dinner from the foods you so carefully cultivate around your own ornately landscaped home.

Two kichens mean you can prepare meals traditionally or you can venture to the upstairs screened-in lanai to enjoy the forever views.

Drop by me on the web:  
http://www.130KuloliPlace.com
See me from satellite:
http://tinyurl.com/mrwmfnv

Contact Rhonda Smith-Sanchez for a private showing. 

Cell & text: 808-205-2175

Email: RhondaMauiHi@gmail.com

http://www.RhondaMaui.com

40 Steps to the Ocean's Edge

Monday, May 26, 2014

It's Memorial Day. As I begin my usual home away from home sunrise routine, I'm reminded that the freedom to choose this lifestyle is mine because of the choices others have made. For that I'm grateful, and I do not take that freedom for granted.

It's a beautiful day here on Maui's North Shore, and I plan to take advantage of it. Although the water toys are all calling my name, I think I'm going to go the route of inner sanctuary today. We went to the farmer's market up in Pukalani yesterday and got some of the most beautiful, organically grown fruits and vegetables you can imagine. We also got some mahi filets, caught not too far offshore from our Sugar Cove home. Life is indeed sweeter here.

After a cup or two of Kona coffee, I think I'll just chill out on the lanai and see if I can prepare this mango salsa recipe that a local lady gave to me at the farmer's market. I hope I have enough self-control to save it for topping off the mahi that we plan to grill early this afternoon. All this from our lanai that's just 40 steps from the ocean's edge. What could possibly be better?

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You, too, can live this lifestyle now that Sugar Cove Unit 2C is on the market. Call or text me at 808-205-2175 to schedule your private showing of this pristine oceanfront 3/3.5. See more at http://www.MauiSugarCove.com.

At your service with aloha,

Rhonda Smith-Sanchez, R(S)-73936
Coldwell Banker Island Properties
RhondaMauiHi@gmail.com
http://www.MauiSugarCove.com
http://www.RhondaMaui.com
http://www.NorthShoreRegistry.com

Maui's Sugar Cove. Life is sweeter here.

Friday, May 17, 2014

Well, my last journal entry told of just arriving here on Maui, getting settled in for the summertime, and deciding how to spend our first full day at our home away from home. All I remember of that day was a feeling of gratitude. 

Although I don’t mean for it to come off as such, this may sound a bit arrogant. I’ve worked hard all my life to achieve a certain place in the world. I’m proud of my accomplishments, and I’m grateful to be in a position where I feel like I can live life to its fullest without distraction. I try to make it a practice to spend a bit of time every morning in a place of gratitude. There’s no place on earth where I feel that gratitude more than when I’m here at our Sugar Cove home on Maui's North Shore.

There’s something about oceanfront living that seems to heighten that gratitude; something I don’t feel back home on the mainland. I read not too long ago an article by environmental psychologist Mathew White that people who live closer to the coast report better health; that the seaside environment reduces stress and encourages physical activity. I can speak from experience: he’s right. I can feel the stresses of everyday life melt away every time we come here. I can feel the effects of the fresh ocean air in my lungs. I notice with great clarity how much more efficiently my mind and body work after having settled in for a few days. With all the wonderful fresh foods, awe-inspiring beauty, opportunities to play gently or play hard, I’m 100% convinced that I add years to my life every time we come back. 

My morning gratitude begins with a sunrise. I try to wake up before dawn and just wander out onto the beach all alone. After all, it’s just 40 steps from my lanai. (Side note: I’m still in awe that, in today’s busy world, there’s such a thing as an empty beach in Hawaii. I can’t remember the last time I saw another soul on this beach at sunrise). Even well into the day, there are times that I’m the only person on the beach.

Some mornings I feel like strolling along the secluded beach. Some mornings I try to jog right where the water and sand meet. Other mornings, I just sit on a beach towel - on the lush green lawn that I don’t have to tend to - and do nothing but enjoy freshly picked papaya and mango while I watch the sun come up. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to realize that all of this is real…that this home is mine…that I earned the right to be here.

Anyhow, enough of all that ethereal reflection. We’re low on supplies. I’ve got to head into Costco, Whole Foods and Target as soon as they open. I’ve got to stop by the surf shop on Dairy Road to pick up a few things to prepare for another energizing day out on the water right outside my back door. Can’t do those things back home bound by landlocked, bumper-to-bumper freeways full of stressed out worker bees.

Whoever came up with the tag line that says, “Sugar Cove. Life is sweeter here” was certainly right. Grateful to own and live here. I truly am.

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Now your opportunity to own at Maui's Exclusive Sugar Cove is here. See more about this rare, beautiful, maintenance-free home at http://www.MauiSugarCove.com. Call or text me at 808-205-2175 to schedule a private showing, or you can drop me a line: RhondaMauiHi@gmail.com.

With aloha,

Rhonda Smith-Sanchez, R(S) 73936

Coldwell Banker Island Properties

808-205-2175

RhondaMauiHi@gmail.com

http://www.MauiSugarCove.com

http://www.RhondaMaui.com

http://www.NorthShoreRegistry.com

Unpredictable is Good

There’s nothing quite like Maui’s rainy season. 

My photographer carefully packed all his gear just like he always does. He knew the weather might be unpredictable for the sunrise shoot at 61 S. Honokala just at the edge of the rainforest. “Unpredictable is good,” he said excitedly. “That means we’ll either get that indescribable sunrise, morning rainbows or both!” Little did he know he’d be describing his experience as a trip through Jurassic Park just a few hours later.

The property is located just off Maui’s famed Hana Highway, tucked away in a stealthy little corner so cleverly hidden that even the photographer who has lived here for 12 years couldn’t find it although he’d been there before.

He made his way down the Hana Highway with the light morning rains and several miles later decided that he’d missed the Batcave of a turnoff. He decided to turn inland, figuring all roads lead to the top of Haleakala (our dormant volcano), and he could work his way back down to a more familiar area again.

Such a plan was not to be. The rain got harder. His little dog was not happy with the hyperactive windshield wipers, and the foliage began to cling down over the road with all the extra water weight. Still, that trusty Honda Element made its way through the narrow tropical roads with hairpin turns and one-lane bridges.

If you know anything about Maui, you know that the windward side is one of the wettest spots on the planet. That means that the gulches that have formed over thousands of years have cut deeply into the landscape, perfect for draining off all the upcountry water that formed them in the first place. The photographer knows that fact well. Still, he didn’t quite know what to expect around every little bend.

At the height of his drive, he came across a gulch so filled with rushing water that the road surface itself threatened submersion. Not wanting to become a statistic, he pulled over, turned off the car’s engine and waited.

There’s nothing quite like the raw rush of nature on Maui. The greens in a rain like that are so green they’re almost otherworldly. The sound of the raindrops on the roof of the car are like nowhere else on earth. The rush of the water under the bridge teetered somewhere between awesomely menacing and beautifully efficient. 

As time went by and the rains slowed, he wandered around and got lost in the beauty and could not have cared less that he wasn’t able to get those morning shots he’d envisioned. The power and beauty of Maui’s nature was plenty for the morning. 

He did eventually make his way back to the Hana Highway and drove off into the sunrise, happy dog in tow.

Nary a dinosaur in sight.

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If a Hawaiian property perched at the top of a ridge overlooking a tropical gulch with panoramic ocean views appeals to you, give me a call. I’ll be happy to take you on a private viewing. No dinosaur repellent required.

Rhonda Smith Sanchez
808-205-2175

It Hits You Like a Ton of Bricks

It hits you like a ton of bricks.

You wake up one day and some event makes you realize you’re not fulfilling your bucket list.

That dream of owning a couple of rural acres has somehow slid to the back burner. You’d planned to have your own fruit trees, grow your own vegetables, live in a tropical paradise, learn how to paint or record in your own studio. The ocean and mountain views. They’ll come after there are x dollars in the bank and after x goal is accomplished. Throwing the surfboard on top of the car and driving 15 minutes to catch a wave. That’s on the list, but it can’t happen right now. That’ll come someday.

Friends, those things happen every day right here on Maui. One of the interesting dynamics of life here is that so many people understand that life is meant to be lived. It’s not meant to expire minute by minute at a soul-sucking, mind-polluting job or sitting in traffic.

This beautiful 2-acre property at 130 Kuloli Place in Haiku sits on the edge of the rainforest. It’s affordable. It already offers more avocado, lilikoi, tangelo, banana and grapefruit than you’ll ever be able to handle. Its rural location is peaceful and serene. The sights include panoramic ocean and mountain views. The earthy, rainy aromas are intoxicating to the nature lover. The sounds. If you love silence and the distant song of a bird, this is home. 

Learn more about the property by visiting http://www.130KuloliPlace.com. See the actual MLS listing at http://tinyurl.com/lbllynw

Don’t wait for that ton of bricks. Call or text me at 808-205-2175 and I’ll be happy to schedule a private showing.

Maui's Sugar Cove. Life is sweeter here.

Thursday April 24, 2014

Oceanfront living on Maui's Sugar Cove. Life is sweeter here.

It felt like we'd never get the packing done, get the dogs and cats taken care of, get the mail held, blah, blah, blah. One plane ride later, we're finally here.

Sugar Cove, our home away from home on Maui's North Shore. Before we bought this place, we'd heard that life is sweeter here. Whoever came up with that line was spot-on. Here's what we have planned for today:

• Wake up whenever we feel like it. Of course, being on mainland time, our bodies will want to wake up at 4:00 or 5:00, but that's okay. Let them wake up if they want to. Right now laying in bed with the windows and the lanai door open and listening to the ocean just 40 steps away sounds perfect to me.

• Pull the surfboards out. Decide which one to use for the morning session. Man, the beach smell, the sound of shore break, the easy going Sugar Cove swell...they're all calling my name.

• Tweak the sails add just tad more downhaul. Break out my Da Kine cool tool. Tighten the foot straps and, just in case kiting looks like the theme, my lines are all set and my pump is ready to rock. Basically, I’m locked and ready for all forms of ocean adrenalin fun. Decisions, decisions. It sure is nice to be in that place in life where I can really enjoy the fruits of all my work. I can’t think of a better place to be than right here right now.

• Before 11, breakfast on our lanai, which looks directly at the ocean. Beach life certainly inspires a positive and health oriented perspective all wrapped up in the can-do attitude seen in almost everyone’s stride here. It so refreshing to be among my type of “peeps.”

• Consider unpacking for a moment. Maybe not. We'll save that for later.

• 11:15. Time to a pull the trigger. Kite or windsurf? Hmm, I’ll do both. First windsurf, then lunch. My late afternoon session will be a blast upwind to Baby Beach and then send it downwind for a sunset run.

• Right on. I’m finally starting to feel what it must be like to smack the lip. I can now claim that I am within two board lengths of seeing the lip. That calls for a lunch break. Straight out of the water, up the steps, rig and all. A quick hose off on the green grass that I don’t have to cut. Yahoo.

With an ounce of newfound wave-conquering confidence, I land on the lanai, fire up the BBQ and sear that fresh ahi caught by my neighbor on my arrival. Tell me, does life get any sweeter than my condo on Maui’s North Shore with the ocean view and the beach just 40 steps away? This is it. I hereby declare I will no longer stress about missing another session again.

Love, Live Maui at Sugar Cove.

• Did you know Sugar Cove Unit 2C is for sale?
Send me a note so I can introduce you.....