Indeed, not everyone's idea of a perfect vacation is lounging on the board or by the pool. I live 3.5 miles from the beach in SoCal, though the sea water is certainly colder in SoCal than in Hawaii, to me a beach is a beach is a beach. I'm more interested in seeing what's unique about Hawaii, and to me that's not the average beach, it's not all that different from the beaches in SoCal if I'm not actually swimming. But the volcano mountain and the Hana road, that sort of I can't find most other places in the world, so that's what draws me to Hawaii.

I have the exact opposite reaction: Anyone who's going to Hawaii and spending all their time at the beach, how is that so different than going to the Caribbean and spending all your time at the beach, etc, etc. But away from the beach, the Caribbean and Hawaii are very different (and in Hawaii's different islands are very different).

So there are at least totally different kinds of visitors to Hawaii, those that just choose it because they like the beaches and concentrate on that, and those that choose it because it's so different than other places in the USA (and most other places in the world) once you get away from the beach. (There are of course even more types, as for example some people go to Hawaii mostly just to surf.)

The former might want to go back again and again. Me, I don't need to go back to Maui again, I've experienced it, and now it's time to move on: The next time I go to Hawaii, I'll go to a different island, and the time after that yet another different island. In between, I go to the Alesund region of Norway, the Lakes District of Argentina, the Anchorage/Seward area of Alaska, southern Africa, etc, etc. Ie, always someplace I haven't been before to experience something new.

There's so much of the world to see, I don't feel like spending my vacations lounging on a beach, I want to see the world! But everyone has different vacation preferences. I can quite understand how someone who lives in a snow and ice land (during the winter) may have a totally different outlook on beach vacations than someone who lives 3.5 miles from the beach year-round.

So while I did spend two or three days (out of a week and a half) on the western shore of Maui, it was still to explore it, not to lounge at the beach. I found the blowhole much more interesting than any regular beach. I found the "shark's teeth" stones much more interesting than any regular beach. (Both of those sights were along the coast.)

In any case, this is a thread about the Courtyard, not about the resorts along the beach.