Years ago I visited the Kaimana Hotel located in the shadow of Diamond Head. Those visits were to see lunchtime solo performances by the legendary Arthur Lyman. He’d roll in, plug in the vibraphone and then play for a couple hours. Always the gentleman, Lyman would play his famous songs such as “Taboo” and “Yellow Bird” before asking for requests for those in attendance. It was such a pleasure to see Lyman play before his passing.
For this year’s O’ahu trip I wanted to return to the Kaimana hotel, so we jetted over for brunch at the Hau Tree Lanai. This is a wonderful location in the morning, since the patio is situated in shade and we were just feet away from the lapping waves. We were seated right next to the Hau Tree itself.
Brunch was fantastic, led by some Ube Cinnamon Buns that were to die for. Mrs. Mai Tai had a Mango Mimosa and I tried the Mai Tai that I remembered as being better than average from my visits years ago. The 1944 Mai Tai is made with Appleton and Kuleana rums, but I found this to be a little flat. Not really bad, but it didn’t hit me like I expected. As noted in a previous post I same reaction at some other places so it might have just been me.
As we ate, we noticed part of the beach being closed off but we couldn’t see exactly why. When we finished we walked out onto the beach to see a Hawaiian Monk Seal taking a siesta on the beach. Nice to see the folks keeping everyone away from the seal.
We really enjoyed our visit to the Hau Tree Lanai, a place we find very special. It’s pretty far off from the main drag of Waikiki but we felt the travel was totally worth it.
