Wednesday, 21 May 2008:
Today, Amanda and I woke up with nasty sunburn and sore butts and went to Lahaina for our submarine tour with Atlantis Submarines. Lahaina is a very tourist-geared town with lots of small local shops. The harbor is filled with different kinds of tour boats. The water is extremely clear and we saw several nice beaches all along the Honoapiilani Highway. The drive was about half an hour from Kihe and we could see the top of Haleakula Volcano from the highway. Parking in Lahaina was a bit of a problem, however, as there were very few free parking spots and all of them were full by 8:30 AM. There are "public parking lots" but they are pretty expensive: $10 for 2-6 hours! The parking tickets are automatically distributed and I didn't realize that they don't provide change until I put in my $20 bill!Fortunatley, the submarine tour was lots of fun! The company took us out into Lahaina Harbor on a boat and docked with the submarine at the tour spot. We boarded the submarine and took seats that face outboard windows. Being on the surface was a bit rough and made Amanda a bit sick but things smoothed out once we dove. We descended to about 70 ft. and toured two reefs with very colorful fish. After that we toured a Boston Whaler that had been sunk to form an artificial reef at about 130 feet. I got some very nice video using my new hi-def camcorder. After the submarine tour Amanda and I toured the artisan merchants at Lahaina that were selling their crafts under a really large and unique tree. I bought a tiki god statue that is supposed to bring long life and prosperity to the owner's family.Thursday, 22 May 2008:
Today we went on a helicopter tour of western Maui. We took off from Kahului in an AS350 piloted by Dave and saw many lovely mountains and waterfalls. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring an extra mini DV cassette tape for my camcorder so we didn't get more than a few seconds of high-definition video. I ordered the DVD that was shot from the helicopter though and it should be waiting for us in Connecticut when we get home. After the helicopter tour we headed out to Hana along the infamous Hana Highway. This is one twisty highway with lots of one-way bridges and passes and lots of recklessly fast drivers driving you off of the road. There are lots of nice waterfalls alongside the Hana Highway to get out and look at but there's hardly any room to park because the road is so narrow. After two hours of consistantly winding road we finally got to Hana. Hana is a very isolated town. The only way to get there and out by car is the two-hour regurgitation-inducing Hana Highway. We ate lunch at the Hana Ranch's resaurant - all they had there was hamburgers! The only gas station in town was a Chevron that charged $4.74 a gallon and after two hours on the Hana Highway going about 25 miles per hour we had no choice but to get some fuel. I only bought enough to get us back to Kahului. We tried to find the infamous red sand beach but we were too exhausted and frustrated to look for very long so we spent a couple hours napping on a black sand beach - again, virtually no parking room!We had fun watching the little black sand crabs though; running out of their holes in the sand and scurrying back in again whenever a wave or human being approached. We didn't stick around Hana for very long and were eager to get back to Kihe.Friday, 23 May 2008:
This morning, Amanda and I were up early to head out on the Quicksilver for some snorkeling. We stopped first at Moloki Crater. There weren't nearly as many fish as there are in the Carribean but it was still fun nonetheless. The crater was packed with tourist diving boats so the waters were packed with snorkelers but that didn't seem to bother the fish too much. I even got to see a really nasty looking eel poking his head out of a small cave in the coral. I paid for the underwater videographer to record us as we were snorkeling. A DVD of that should be waiting for us when we get home!After Moloki, we shipped out to Turtle Town off the coast of Kihe. We got to swim up close and personal with three different sea turtles. And, of course, we got to be videorecorded doing it! We were having so much fun that we didn't even notice that everyone else on the cruise had climbed out of the water early! We stayed in until our time was up and as a result Amanda got the last hamburger and I had to settle for a chicken sandwich.Saturday, 24 May 2008:
Today we did our laundry, packed our stuff and flew out to Kauai by way of Oahu, which we didn't stay in for very long as our flight left immediately after we arrived. I don't do very well in airports - especially if they are crowded like Kahului's was. It just seems like everyone is purposely trying to get in my way or are just completely oblivious to their environment. And it doesn't help that everyone else is just as cranky as me.Friday, 30 May 2008:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
--JOHN 15:13
