Today we went to Maui and docked at a small town called Lahaina. This stop is apparently not usually part of the cruise. There's not a lot to do here unless you want to do more shopping for cheap trinkets or go to a few historical sites. Not us, we were EXHAUSTED. We rested a lot on this day because frankly we needed to. We hadn't stopped going going going since we left our homes Friday morning. One incredible thing is that as we were pulling into Lahaina we saw a humpback whale breaching out of the water. The video of that was posted a few days ago in a post brilliantly called "Whales". Honolulu, Hilo, and Lahaina all look so different that it's hard to believe they are so close to each other and are part of the same island chain. Honolulu has tall, lush mountains not far from the ocean. It's bustling with tourist attractions, hotels, and commercial activity. Hilo is a rain forest. The mountains aren't as tall, and it's nowhere near as busy. Lahaina looks like a desert! It's less lush and more brown in places, actually, with lower, rolling mountains.
We anchored at Lahaina and had to tender to shore. The tenders are actually the life boats, which hold 120 people and have enough food and water for a week. I wasn't worried about that at all since we were near land all the time! It was sort of fun taking the tender in, but I prefer docking to tendering. You can get on and off the ship faster if you're docked because you don't have to wait for a ride!
We went to shore but didn't stay long. We heard that people later in the day waited over an hour to tender back to the ship so we were doubly glad we hadn't stayed. It was a quaint little town, though. We did see a manta ray in the water while we were walking along shore, that was pretty cool! We talked with a guy who runs fishing boats for rent--he said the restaurants that line the pier buy the fish he catches and serve them fresh and that's how he supports himself. It's really fun to talk to different people, you get a real sense of how many lifestyles people can live. You don't have to get stuck in one or another. There are so many possibilities!
We at dinner in the Skyline Restaurant, which is an art-deco, 1930s style restaurant on the ship. It was nice to sit down and be served, take our time, and have a restaurant atmosphere vs. the hustle and bustle and craziness of the Aloha Cafe (buffet on a cruise ship, need I say more??) The food was good, too. We couldn't decide which dessert out of 4 (or more?) looked best so we ordered them all! We only tasted each one, we didn't polish them off!!
We went to see a comedy show starring Second City comedy group. (www.secondcity.com) They were pretty funny, I liked their improv acts better than their rehearsed sketches!
I'd said we did karaoke Sunday night but we didn't, that was tonight after the show.
Tomorrow: the other side of Maui and a visit to the beaches at Grand Wailea!
1 comment:
It was sooooo nice to nap and rest that day. In hindsight, it probably would've been the best place to do our shopping....oh well, the rest was worth it!
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