hang loose at Little Beach, Maui!

When you’re in Hawaii, you’ll quickly learn the shaka sign, aka “hang loose”, and the perfect place to let it all hang loose is the Little Beach on the southern shore of Maui. The beach is quite small indeed, especially in comparison to the neighboring Big Beach, and it gets pretty crowded on weekends. Nevertheless, it’s easy to find a cozy, somewhat private spot, thanks to the trees and their massive roots that create sort of alcoves at the edge of the beach.

This place has a long hippie history, so the laid-back atmosphere is still prevalent there.

This beach is perfect for snorkeling and body-surfing, and when conditions are right, you could surf there too. I really wanted to surf there naked, just like native Hawaiians did, but unfortunately we didn’t have luck with the waves that day.

In the afternoon, there was a pretty big drum circle with a few dancers, but by sunset, it got really crowded as people were gathering for the famous Sunday fire-spinning gig.

I must admit that by this time 90% of the visitor were wearing clothes; perhaps they were mostly tender locals for whom a slight breeze feels too cold, or there were a lot of tourists not familiar with the tradition of this beach, but I felt totally comfortable naked.

There were fire-spinners of all ages, and some were very good.

Most performed with the drum circle,

but some had additional performances at the ‘backstage’. The party was going well into the night, but we left around 9pm.

If only I managed to surf that day, I would say this beach provided the ultimate Hawaii experience – perhaps next time?