My son's dream, since he was seven years old, has been to go to Hawaii to learn to surf. So we made surf lessons and surfing our number one priority for the trip. My son and his friend had never tried surfing before, so I didn't know how difficult it would be for them to learn. They both have spent many summers water skiing and wake boarding at the lakes here in the midwest, but they had only been to the ocean one time, and that was in the carribean where there aren't many "waves" to speak of.
I called around to several surf schools, and many were less than helpful with answering my questions. Some never even returned my calls. However, Wailea Water Sports was extremely helpful, friendly, and patient with answering my questions. Their prices were the same as the other surf schools for regular lessons. While looking thru their website, I noticed that in addition to offering regular surfing lessons, they also offer Surfing Safari's which are private surfing expeditons lasting 3 - 4 hours. The website said that the lessons are given by people who grew up surfing the waters around Maui , and they know the conditions and seasons that will best fit your surfing abilities. They also provide a picnic lunch on the beach.
We booked the surfing safari for the first morning we were there. The surfing safari costs more than regular lessons, but the safari was worth every penny. The boys had a blast and learned to surf very quickly. The surfing instructor, Val, is an excellent teacher. The boys were up and surfing their first waves within 20 minutes of arriving at the beach. Val took them to the beach known as "thousand peaks" because waves continually roll in there and are great for beginning and intermediate surfers. (Note: if you go to this beach, do not walk around barefoot, because thorn trees are growing next to the road and there are long thorns that fall into the sand. My son had a huge thorn stuck in the bottom of his surf bootie. So glad he had on shoes!)
After a couple of hours surfing at thousand peaks, the boys and Val took a break, and ate the picnic lunch Val had brought for them. The boys said that surfing was the funnest thing they have ever done. They said each wave feels different, which was amazing and not something they had ever expected. After lunch, Val drove us around to a couple of other beaches, giving us a site seeing tour while we drove. She made us feel like family, telling us about her dog, and living in Maui .
The boys had so much fun, and so did I. The surfing safari was definitely one of the best memories of our trip.
After the surfing safari, we made arrangements with Val at Wailea Water Sports to rent surfboards for the boys for the rest of the week. It worked out great. Every morning after breakfast, we'd head over to Kalama park (by the giant whale statue on Kihei road) where the Wailea Water Sports van would be parked in the parking lot, along with other surf school vans, and the boys would grab a surf board and a rash guard and surf booties and head straight for the water. The crew at Wailea Water Sports greeted the boys like old friends each day, and allowed them to trade out their longer boards, for shorter boards as the boys confidence grew throughout the week.
Wailea Water Sports has a professional photographer that went out into the water with the boys and took lots of wonderful close-up photos of the boys surfing. At the end of the week, he provided us with a CD of photos he had taken throughout the week and it only cost $25 per surfer. The pictures were great. He was one of the nicest folks we met on our entire trip, along with Val. The photographer also has his own photography business called John and Sol Photograpy - Maui Surf Shots. We got to meet his dog too, and he was a sweetie. He hangs out at the beach with John. I told my husband that I have never seen so many happy dogs as I saw in Maui . I guess they realize they are in paradise too!