ABOUT US

Best Hawaii Activities is a locally-owned, family-operated business based right in beautiful Lahaina, Maui. We've been on the island for over twenty years, so we know all the ins and outs and everything to do here, and we'd love to help you take a vacation from your vacation.

Starting over ten years ago out of the kitchen of our sister company, the Old Lahaina House bed & breakfast, we noticed in those early days that many of our guests needed honest advice about which of the multitudes of activities would be best for them. We decided to make it our mission to find out, and whether you are searching for snorkeling trips, luaus, helicopter tours, fishing charters, or anything else imaginable, we've got whatever you need.

Today, we are proud that our activities sales agents are certified State of Hawai'i Tour Guides, successfully completing Maui Community College's History & Culture of Hawai'i courses.

Since our humble beginnings in the kitchen, we have since grown into our very own building on the corner of Lahainaluna Road and Highway 30, directly in the middle of town, but we still promise to treat every one of our guests with the honesty and respect they deserve. We may not be the biggest activity company out there, but we sure are the best!

Our Mission Statement

Best Hawai'i Activities is a local, Hawai'i-based and family-owned Activity Booking Service, striving to provide affordable vacations for island visitors, support local small business owners and tour operators, and share Hawai'i's unique cultural history and Aloha spirit with all.

FEATURED ARTIST: BOOGALOO

He's never been much for boasting, but Boogaloo is one of the most impressive artists around. Since he first picked up a paint brush to give his dad's boat an unexpected face life, he's been refining his skills and broadening his horizons as an artist.

Mark Andrew Baagoe was born on the kitchen table at home in Patterson, NJ in late July, but don't ask the date or year; he hates birthdays. All that is known of this mysterious time is that he was young when the muscle car era swept the nation. Young Mark was enthralled with the art and music this counterculture represented, and began living his 'bad boy' lifestyle, one that would literally come to symbolize a decade of his life.

Graciously resigning from art school in Fort Lauderdale before he was forcibly removed for simply partying too much, Mark left on his first two cross-country road trips, alone and with unreliable transport. By the time he rambled into Los Angeles, he was beyond broke and starving. In no time he met up with a couple guys who gave him a couch to sleep on and a job packing boxes. They had a little surf company called Life's a Beach, and it wasn't long before Mark was nosing around in the art department, commenting on how he could do such a better job designing ads and logos then the other Mark that worked there. Asked to prove it or shove it, Mark promptly sat down and traced out the mischievous grin and bulging bicep that would become the widely recognized and fiercely envied logo for the 'Bad Boy Club.' Now elevated above box-boy but still sleeping on the couch, there was still the question of who could keep their original name of 'Mark.' A drunken colleague would definitively end the debate by completely butchering Mark Baagoe's last name during a first introduction. The name 'Boogaloo' stuck faster than Velcro to a baby goose and a new man was born.

That was, for a while, the end of Boogaloo's art career. After a brief stint as landlord of his own party pad in Carlsbad, CA, he sold the place and moved to Florida on his second whirlwind trip across the great United States. This time he did it all with only a jar of peanut butter, dirty towel, $100,000 cash (all that was left of the house) and a stray cat who had jumped in the car as he was leaving town. Ever the Renaissance man, Boogaloo found a new calling in the quintessential bad boy art. He is forever grateful to his brother Frank for teaching him the beauty of tattoos. At his shop in Florida, Boogaloo started to appreciate the painful aesthetic of ink on skin. After inking too many spring-break virgins and not enough true veterans, though, he soon grew tired of the game.

Restless, Boogaloo felt he needed a real change in his life in order to pursue his art, and especially his painting, from a different context. Finding no better place then Maui (is there?), he practically chartered his own UPS plane, determined to make the move permanent. The rest, as they say, is history.

Seeing inspiration in every drop of paradise, Boogaloo's art reflects his past by blending it with the present, and often, creating the future. His love of the ocean and the joy of surfing pervade each piece. It can be seen in the crashing wave or the peaceful scene, the tribute to an idol or the completely bizarre. There is a sensitivity to the savage, contempt for the commonplace. Because of Boogaloo, there is no better way to summarize life than with a blank canvas and a colorful palate.