Hawaii Trip 2004
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Day 1 – Friday, June 4
Arrived in Maui, picked up the rental car, and headed toward the hotel – the Marriot Maui Ocean Club. Stopped by the harbor and grabbed a smoothie. Checked into the hotel, had a couple appetizers at Nalu and then ran over to Safeway to stock up on groceries for the week. Figured we’d stay up late to try and avoid any problems with the 6-hour time change. Going to bed at 11:00 pm meant we had been up for 24 hours…
Day 2
Road to Hana. For those who do not know, Hana is a Hawaiian word which, roughly translated means: It takes all day to get there. The common way to go, as we did, is to pick up a CD and map at the start of the trip. The narrator on the CD describes the sites as you drive, telling you when to start and stop the CD. Tight, winding roads, and pretty much every car you see is another couple of folks doing the exact same thing. A ways past the town of Hana you can find the Seven Sacred Pools. This is officially the end of the road, and you are instructed to turn around and head back the way you came, including the reminder that your rental-car agreement forbids driving past this point. However, the road does continue around the South side of the island, and those who are a bit adventurous at heart ignore the warnings. I will neither confirm nor deny that we traveled along the “forbidden” road, but suffice it to say that we saw many scenic views during our trip that many folks miss…
At Haleakala State Park we noticed the flag flying at half-staff over the administration building. As we had been only listening to the CD and not the radio, we did not find out why until we returned to the hotel and saw the news. Sad to hear that former President Ronald Reagan had passed away.
Walked down the beach-walk to Whaler’s Village and had dinner at Leilani’s.
Day 3
Spent much of the day relaxing and sunning by the pool. Very nice pool with several waterfalls and even a couple of (small) waterslides. Got in some reading between dips in the cool water. Back in the room we made a couple of phone calls and booked a dinner cruise for the evening.
The dinner was aboard the Maui Princess. Drove into Lahaina to pick up our tickets at Boss Frog’s, checked in at the dock and then stepped into the Pioneer Inn for a beverage. The departure was a bit delayed as, sadly, earlier in the day there had been a fatal car wreck on the main road around the south side of the island. So the crew was trying to give a few more people a chance to arrive. As it was, only about half of the tables ended up being occupied. Dinner was nice – but incredibly windy! Gotta hand it to the wait-staff… carrying those big trays with the ship bouncing around like that. Didn’t see any food wind up on the floor (or over the side). Sunset was very nice, with the wind dying down a bit by that point.
After dinner we walked around Front Street for a bit while Tracy did some shopping, then back to the hotel for a little hot-tub and TV before bedtime.
If you’ve looked at some of the pictures in the Gallery, the sharp-eyed among you may have noticed a slight change in Don’s appearance… That’s right, he shaved his moustache! Tracy has suggested this from time to time, and since we were planning on going snorkeling during the trip, now was as good a time as any. Don came out of the bathroom and said: “Did I miss any spots shaving”? Tracy turned around and her jaw hit the floor. Quite a shocker as, since he has not had a clean-shaven upper lip for 25 years, Tracy had never seen him sans soup-strainer. It has taken some getting used to, and now looks like it will stay this way – at least for a while.
Day 4
Slept in a bit and had breakfast (bagels and pastries) in our villa. Headed down to the beach excursion booth to look into activities. Booked a “Trilogy” sailboat tour for Wednesday and rented snorkel gear. Hopped in the convertible and drove up to Honolua Bay to snorkel. Lots of coral to see, but not that many fishies. It was fine though… drove around a bit and the scenery was gorgeous! The water is so blue, and just turn around to see the mountains.
Headed back to the hotel and stopped at Hula’s for lunch. Tracy had a yummy Ono fish-and-chips.
A little more pool time, then dropped in on the Marriot owner’s reception. Chips and dip; cheese and crackers; and, of course, plenty of Mai-Tais. A little entertainment too. It was nice – lots of people, unlike the 6-people reception we went to at the Marriot in Grand Cayman.
Dinner was an hour away (lots of time in the car here in Maui). We had to go to Mama’s Fish House, or Bion would have been disappointed in us. It was a wonderful dinner in a delightful setting. Very pretty, but it seemed just oh so far away. Stopped on the way back for a little star-gazing – beautiful blanket of stars in the night sky.
Day 5
Packed a lunch and drove off exploring. We went to two nice beaches just a bit north of the hotel. Both were beautiful, and we had lunch and fed the birds in a grassy area at the first beach. Don snorkeled a bit and saw a big sea-turtle but, naturally, did not have one of the underwater cameras with him.
Second beach was Kapalua Bay – the #1 rated beach by Conde Nast Traveler. It was a little crowded, but not to the point where it was a bother. We hung out, read a little, swam in the ocean… very hot today!
Back to the hotel pool. Don finished book number 11 in the Left Behind series and started on number 12 (the conclusion of the series).
Bubba Gump’s for dinner – neat place. If you’ve never been to one (it’s a chain) it’s worth a visit. Completely themed around the Forrest Gump movie, with lots of posters and movie props. Each table has a little stand holding two car-license plates. One is green and reads “Run Forrest Run;” the other one red and with “Stop Forrest Stop.” When you need something from your waiter / waitress, you simply flip over the red “Stop” plate. During our meal, each time we flipped the sign one of the staff was at our table practically before we removed our hand. Excellent service! Good food too, and at very reasonable prices.
Walked around Front Street again, and ran into a couple whom we had seen the previous evening at Mama’s Fish House. We stood and chatted with them for about 45 minutes.
Day 6
Up a bit earlier today for a catamaran sailboat tour out to Lanai Island. The trip is about 1.5 hours each way, with 3 to 4 hours once you get there. We also booked the “wild dolphin adventure” during the time at the island. This is on a zodiak boat – sort of a motorized inflatable raft, with a solid-bottom. Commonly seen in commercials or movies being used by the Navy Seals. Our driver was a crazy man! So fast and close to the rocky shore – I think he was mostly just showing off. It was fun but, alas, we didn’t see any dolphins… ah well. Back to the beach for snorkeling and a BBQ lunch. Another very hot day, but the boat ride back to Lahaina provide a cool breeze, with all the folks sitting up top getting soaked by splashing waves.
Day 7
OK… everyone has said we should snorkel out at Molokini, and the only way to do it right is to take a morning sailboat tour, as the winds and waves get too rough in the afternoon. So, up at 4:30 am for 5:30 drive around to the Maalaea harbor by the aquarium. It didn’t take as long to get there as expected, so we were a half-hour or so early. No big deal, as there were plenty of folks milling around, getting tour boats ready and what-not.
As could be expected, we had similar luck with Molokini as we had the previous day with the dolphin trip… it was so windy and choppy, our boat did not even stop to make an attempt at snorkeling! Arrrrgh… got up that early for naught. Once again, ah well… Still had a nice time. The boat headed over to Turtle Town, where we snorkeled and saw 1 turtle (more like remote turtle outpost than town). Better visibility for snorkeling, and we did get a couple pictures of the turtle. Back on the boat to head over to the Coral Gardens for some more snorkeling. The pleasant crew made the trip fun for everyone, and cooked up burgers, hot dogs and chicken for a 10:30 am lunch. Bit too rough to eat while underway, but the water smoothed out as we neared the Coral Gardens area and most folks ate then.
Drove back to the hotel. Rather slow going as traffic seems heavy most days (only one road, so that’s where all the cars are). Lounged by the pool again, then cleaned up to go to a Luau at the Royal Lahaina hotel (just a 10 minute drive from our hotel) for the required viewing of grass-skirted coconut-adorned young Hawaiian girls.
Got in line at 4:30, and tried to avoid standing directly in the sun. About 6:00 they started letting the line move into the luau area. We managed to get pretty good seats, directly center-stage at the front of the second set of tables. The luau show was very entertaining, and the food was good – particularly the poi! Nice folks seated at the table with us too. A young couple across from us were on their honeymoon (not unusual here). Both of them were Albanian (he came to the US just 5 years ago) and we talked about how it is common in their culture to marry young – he was 21 and she just 18. He then made the comment that his father is 41, which made us laugh, and then cry, as we realized we are older than his parents. Sigh…
Day 8
Our return flight isn’t until 9:30 pm, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that the hotel offers a 10:00 am to 6:00 pm room-rental. That allowed us to spend the day by the pool, and still have a room to use for showering and changing clothes before the trip back home. Don finished “Glorious Appearing,” the final book in the Left Behind series.
Check-out at 6, drive to the airport and say good-bye to Hawaii. Long trip home, and we sure missed our puppies! Vacation is fun, especially when it is an exotic locale such as this, but it does feel good to be back to normal life.
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