Five Cultural Spots To Visit While In Maui, Hawaii

In Hawaii, the Island of Maui is all about celebrating its culture. Whether it is celebrated through dance, food or the arts, Maui has a little of everything for you to enjoy and get involved with. Maui is also home to many art and cultural centers, as well as several museums dedicated to its past, as well as its present. The five here are just a small sample and yet very popular locations to consider.

Maui Arts and Cultural Center
It took nearly 30 years, but in 1994 the Maui Arts and Cultural Center opened its doors to the public and was designed to be a gathering place for artists to share their creative sides and interact with one another. The center is also used as an exhibit hall for local artists and often hosts lectures and educational trainings.
The center includes a state-of-the-art theater with a 1200-seat arena and a 5000-seat amphitheater. In addition, the center is home to the Yokouchi Pavilion concert stage and the Schafer International Gallery.

Maui Ocean Center/Shark Dive
Located in Wailuku, the Ocean Center was opened in 1998 and is focused on Hawaii’s living sea creatures. Here you will find the largest collection of live coral displays, green turtles, rays, sharks and many more of the life from the ocean. The animals are rotated back and forth from the sea throughout the year, so your visits may differ, but usually the sharks you will see include white tip, black tip, hammerhead and the tiger.

In addition, the Maui Ocean Center offers Shark Dive Maui. This gives you the opportunity to dive into their 750,000 gallon exhibit and swim amongst the tropical reef fish, rays and yes, the sharks. During your dive, you will get a chance to search for shark teeth in the sands and feed the spotted eagle ray. Shark Dive is only available three days a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and last for a little more than a couple of hours, with the actual water time being about 40 minutes. In addition, you must be scuba certified and be of age 15 or over to participate.
Although you can bring your own camera, hiring a Maui photographer can really capture your moment for you. Check with the center if they have one on duty or if you can hire your own. The Ocean Center is open every day of the year.

Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center
The Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center is a community based educational organization for the visual arts that allows for artists to come and teach art instruction, as well offering programs and different services regardless of your level of artistic talent or financial means. The purpose of the center is to allow creativity through the arts.
The art center, which was founded in 1934, allows for self-guided tours and is free to the public. The center also provides workshops for the public, exhibitions, lectures and many other cultural activities and camaraderie.

Maui Tropical Plantation
When you think tropical you think pineapple, mango and kiwi. However, the Maui Tropical Plantation is so much more. Not only do you have an area to shop or a restaurant to eat at, but they offer a tram ride tour of about 40 minutes around their 60-acre farmland. There you will get the pineapples, but there is much more as you will also be shown a demonstration on how to properly crack open a coconut and find that Maui is one of the largest producers of coffee in the world. Other items being harvested there include sugarcane, macadamia nuts, bananas and a full array of different cultural flowers, many used in Hawaii’s leis. The tour runs eight times a day, seven days a week. Don’t forget to try some of the free samples as well. The grounds at the Maui Tropical plantation are lush and also make for a great location for family photos. If your planning on visiting the Maui Tropical Plantation, you can also arrange for your Maui Family Portraits to be done on property.

Chinese Wo Hing Museum
In the city of Lahaina, before the missionaries and the whalers settled in, the Chinese called this home and over time their community continued to grow. Then in 1909 those living in this community formed the Wo Hing Society, which is part of the Chee Kung Tong. Chee Kung Tong is a fraternal society. In 1912, the Wo Hing Society built their temple on Front Street in Lahaina for their meeting and religious ceremonies.
With many of the Chinese moving to the island of Oahu, the temple fell to despair. However, in 1983 the Lahaina Restoration foundation restored it and it became a historical site. Today it now serves as a museum honoring Maui’s Chinese community and history.