05/26/2022
Spectacular review on Trip Advisor by sageglass
Austin, Texas
50th Anniversary on Maui
Review of Open Eye Tours & Photos
Reviewed 2 days ago
My wife and I decided to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary in Hawaii and wanted to ensure we had an experience that would complement the fantastic journey we’ve had over the many years. We chose to stay at the Mana Kai Maui resort so we could enjoy the beach just a few steps off our location and were not disappointed with the selection. Given this was our first trip to Hawaii we wanted to get as broad an overview of the culture, location, and nature of the island without getting caught up in the hustle of structured touristo tours. In preparation for the stay, we planned on the month of May knowing we would miss the whales but would capture great tempatures and warm water. We reached out to the conciergerie at the resort, gave her some specifics on what we were looking for, and let her recommend food, cultural locations, and potential tours. She directed us to Open Eye Tours and the owner/guide Pono. We’ve had individualized tours before on other vacations and the prospect of being able to personalize our tour to our liking was very attractive to us. We reached out to Pono, selected a date and initiated a dialogue to make our Hawaii tour our own.
We couldn’t have been more pleased. We met Pono in a mutually agreed upon location where we were greeted with leis and a welcome chant. We were taken on a tour that took us across a wide spectrum of the Island culture. We visited amazing geographical parks filled with waterfalls, beautiful tropical plants, and historical significance. We traveled across the Island to isolated beaches, unique villages, culturally significant locations, stopped at a local art gallery (met the artist), spent time in a sacred garden (met the proprietor), and had a personalized picnic lunch in the I’AO valley rainforest. Lunch consisted of food we selected at a local deli (Poke bowls) with a complement of local fruits from Pono’s farm. Pono was masterful in attempting to give us the local name, the cultural significance of the fruit, and the particular method of eating some of these native plants. It’s something we would have never gotten on our own or without his personal touch.
Throughout the tour we were impressed with the knowledge, the reverence, and the connection Pono had to the Island culture and to his chosen home of Hawaii. The locations Pono took us to seem to be only populated with local people and he was greeted by friends in their native language (Pono is fluent in several languages). We spent a full 10 hours with Pono in his car with a constant flow of cultural information, topical dialogues, music, and personal stories of his life experiences in Hawaii. We will retain fond memories of the definition and music of a “Maui Cruser”, excellent food, a quick stop at an organic farm and distillery, and ended the tour with a stop at a secluded beach where green turtles come to shore to spend the evening. At the end of our tour Pono presented us with a goodbye gift and surprised us with another chant, this one was for a celebration of our marriage. We can’t say enough about the personal energy Pono puts into his tours before and after the tour and it feels more like his life’s calling for him than a job. For us an amazing time – we’d highly recommend his tours to anyone that really wants to feel like they have immersed themselves into the spirit of the Island. Mahalo nui ia oe Pono, manaʻolana e ʻike hou iā ʻoe.
Date of experience: May 2022
Open Eye Tours & Photos: 50th Anniversary on Maui - See 176 traveler reviews, 163 candid photos, and great deals for Makawao, HI, at Tripadvisor.
