The Grand Wailea
Then I had my pick of Spa Grande's specialty baths: Moor mud, limu (seaweed), aromatherapy, mineral, and tropical enzyme. Since I get enough mud from my toddler son and the tropical enzyme looked like Gatorade, I chose the limu bath, purported to aid in cellulite reduction. Feeling thinner by the minute, I tried the aromatherapy bath which smelled strangely like Comet, so I bath-hopped my way to the mineral salt, perfect for soothing my aching muscles from all this exercise.
The final step in the terme is the Swiss jet shower's needle point jets - a little too needle-like for me, so I cut my shower short and relaxed in my robe to be called in for my honey steam wrap.
Talk about decadence! Imagine being scrubbed with sea salt to remove dead skin and impurities, slathered in raw honey, wrapped in a sheet and then deposited in a steam bath. Even I - a closet claustrophobic (no pun intended) - felt no fear as my therapist, Cam, checked back frequently to give me a cool face cloth and make sure I hadn't suffocated.
After I was hosed down to keep from attracting flies, I relaxed on the upstairs open-air balcony (or lanai, as we say in Hawaii) until Barbara Ann, my massage therapist, collected me all too soon. I was enjoying the fresh air, the sunset over the water and the magnificent dolphin fountain below.
But the lomi lomi massage more than made up for it. I was putty in Barbara Ann's magical hands. She set the tone by asking a blessing - in Hawaiian - over my prone body before she began the massage. Using a combination of warmed lava rocks, her hands, arms and elbows, she worked my muscles to submission. She then instructed me to relax as long as I wanted and spend several minutes in the sauna to sweat out the impurities released in the massage. I crawled back to my room.
To continue its theme of abundance, the Grand Wailea offers plenty of other wellness-related activities. "We're not just a spa," explained director of marketing communications Nancie Brown. For the less slothful, there are over 40 free fitness classes per week, including a sunrise power walk, traditional and water aerobics and hula. There's a well-equipped fitness room and personal training as well.
One thing stood out everywhere in the Grand Wailea - the service. The staff is impeccable,
Latest Articles