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Lahaina is the largest town and census-designated place (CDP) in West Maui, Maui County, Hawaii, United States, and the gateway to the famous Lahaina and Kapalua beach resorts north of town. As of the 2000 Census, the CDP had a resident population of 9,118. Lahaina encompasses the coast along Hawaii Route 30 from a tunnel at the south end, through Olawalu up the CDP of Napili-Honokowai is to the north. During the heavy tourist seasons, the population can swell to nearly 40,000 people. Before Hawaii's annexation by the United States, Lahaina was the "Royal Capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom" as city signs proclaim. The name means "merciless sun" in the Hawaiian language, describing the long hot days; Lahaina averages only 13 inches (330 mm) of rain per year, much of which occurs from December through February. In the 1800s, Lahaina was the center of the global whaling industry with many title="Sailing ships">sailing ships anchored in front of town; today a score of pleasure craft make their home there.