Best places to Swim on Maui during December-January

[CarlsbadJames]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

You seriously swim in 60F water?

72F is cold when you're used to 80-85F because you don't use AC.

I can handle 60s for a quite a while... adrenaline, activity, motion helps. 70s feels great. I hated swimming in the "hot" waters of florida/key west. You can actually overheat.

[kittyrocky]

south maui is the best swimming place as the waves head up north for the winter. Polo'lenalena is pretty easy surf and so is Palaeau in south maui. Wailea beach is easy too. the reason you don't see people in the water on the drive to lahaina is either lack of sand. Rocky bottom. Or locals surf spot. Keawakapu beach always has friendly waters too and mokapu ulua. As long as it is shallow enough for you to get past the shore break without being being over your head (like kaanapali and kahekili) it'll be an easy swim for novices. Try to get out to the beach at 9 and you'll see smaller waves. hang out all day! also if you go to a beach w a hotel you can run in and get snacks. Fairmont and grand wailea good for this.

[Calico Salsa]

Originally Posted by nemrut

Where are the best places to swim on Maui during the winter months? Looking at the guidebooks a lot of them mention beaches in Kihei, Walea/Makena as ideal swimming spots, but i have visited most all of them from Polo Beach to Kam 1-3 and the surf looks pretty choppy during the warmest part of the day.

Also, when i drive along Hwy30 toward Lahaina the water looks very calm yet i see almost no one in the water. Is the water hazardous there for some reason due to pollution of wildlife?

In South Maui - Kihei, Wailea, Makena - the winds start up at around 11am and make the water choppier. Since you mention "warmest part of the day", I suspect you aren't getting there during the earlier time when the water is calmer. Go to the South Maui beaches in the morning, and you'll see a calmer water and more people in it, especially on the weekends when locals have time to get in a quick beach fix before going home to do their chores.

For the Highway 30 route, again it might be somewhat the difference in timing & perspective. You are probably driving it during the day & time in which local folks are working or in school. The beaches aren't 'pretty' in that they don't have long stretches of sand and may be a bit more rocky. Plus many of the turnouts don't have developed parking lots, bathrooms, showers, etc. All those factors keep away most of the visitors, so you don't see those either. If you drive the route on a weekend morning, you'll see surfers, locals fishing. But surfing usually means steady sets of waves, which may not be ideal for someone who wants to swim or bob around.

The temperatures of the waters are probably available online somewhere, and how they feel to YOU is going to depend on what you are used to. For many from colder climates, the water feels warm all year. Once you've lived here for a while, sometimes it feels too cold, just as a 68 degree evening has everyone putting on jackets! My visiting friends had the woman splashing about happily, while her husband found the water way too chilly. It's all relative.

Of course any beach with a more gradual slope will be warmer as the water where the water is shallower.

Your best bet, if you want to judge by driving past, is to look for a beach where there are plenty of light skinned people and also lots of really sunburned people actually in the water. Not a racial thing, but chances are those are people who don't spend a lot of time out doors, so they may be visitors and if they are in the water then it's not too cool for them.