Today we drove to Wailea, the community just south of Kihei, to walk the coastal trail and do some shopping. Afterwards, we visited Big Beach where, unbeknownst to us, many a person has left with a broken neck or a serious spinal injury.

But I digress...

The coastal trail took us through some of the resorts and showed us what we most definitely were not missing out on. I'm so glad that we didn't decide to stay at a resort where you have to fight for a good spot on the beach. It made me appreciate the peace and tranquility of Sugar Beach even more.

After awhile we were getting a bit hot and bothered, so we abandoned the trail and headed to The Shops at Wailea. At Whalers General Store, we discovered mochi ice cream, which is pounded sticky rice with an ice cream filling. So ono! Of course I had the lilikoi flavor, while Bill opted for raspberry white chocolate. I will definitely be having more of these before we leave!

From there, we drove further south to Makena, where I'd heard the Big Beach BBQ food truck could be found. I had fish and pulled pork tacos, while Bill had the pulled pork sliders. I gotta say, the sliders were better.

As we walked onto Big Beach, we saw signs saying things like "Dangerous Shorebreak". Huh, I wonder what that means?!?

As we set up camp on the beach, I knew I wasn't going in the water. The waves were much bigger than at Sugar Beach, and I was still a bit gun-shy from my first swim in the ocean. Bill said he was going in though, which made me a bit nervous since he's not exactly the best swimmer, and lacks a certain amount of common sense when sizing up his ability versus a potentially dangerous situation. Or maybe that's just me being overly cautious.

Either way, he marched out to meet the ocean.

Later, when the lifeguard drove up to check on him, we learned all about the numerous injuries that frequently occur at Big Beach.

Thankfully, Bill befriended an older gentleman from Seattle who was more adept at swimming in the ocean. He offered some helpful advice like telling him to dive into the wave, and that bigger waves tend to come in fours.

Bill seemed to be doing fairly well until he decided he'd had enough and that it was time to get out. It's a tricky thing to escape the ocean, because as each wave breaks, the current drags you back out where you get hit by the next wave. When he eventually collapsed on the beach towel beside me, and was finally able to regain his breath, he told me that as he was trying to get out, he'd been hit by a wave and turned upside down, was able to surface momentarily and draw a quick breath, before being hit by another wave and sucked back down.

All in all, he had fun, but probably isn't interested in a repeat performance.

We did stay awhile, because watching people swim at Big Beach is so much better than TV. And even though it wasn't a nudey beach (the nudey beach was just over the hill), one girl did lose her bikini bottoms in the surf.

On the way back, we stopped at Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice, my second favorite treat of the day. I had coconut and leche shave ice with macadamia nut ice cream topped with fresh mochi, while Bill had strawberry, pineapple and vanilla shave ice with vanilla ice cream. Happily, Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice is within walking distance of Sugar Beach. :)

And even though I lost my cell phone and later retrieved it, and Bill had a bit more adventure than he bargained for, Day Three in Paradise was a good day.