Before I get started talking about today, I have some unfinished business from last night's King Kamehameha Festival, which was able to be held on the open deck. I guess as soon as we left the rainy side of the Big Island, the weather improved considerably.
The Hawaiian duo Makani E were playing Hawaiian music when we arrived, and Lokelina, who had been conducting hula classes on every sea day, taught us all the Hu Ke Lau, a simple hula, which was especially nice for those of us who hadn't made it to any of the classes. Then the passengers who had attended the lessons danced a couple more complex hulas. Finally, it was time for G (and all the other ukulele students) to show us what they had learned.
And before it was all done, both the hula dancers and ukulele players performed Tiny Bubbles and they were an impressive group.
Walking Miracles then took the stage to play more typical deck party music, but I was fading quickly. It was 11pm by then, too many hours after I had awakened at 5am that morning. We were quick to bed and asleep in minutes.
Source: http://www.mauirealestate.com
Kaho'olawe, the tiniest of the eight major Hawaiian islands, was historically sparsely populated because of its lack of fresh water. In WW2, the U.S. military used Kaho'olawe as a training ground and bombing range, and the island has been uninhabitable ever since.
Sea cliffs on the southern edge of Kaho'olawee
The pool deck looked so pretty in the early morning sun (this one is for the twins who wanted pictures of the food and the pool)
Life is good. :-)
Surfers near the breakwall in Lahaina harbor
Of course, up on the front of Deck 11, Douglas Pearson was already holding court, though his audience that early consisted of just three of us.
Pre-sunrise sky with the Molokini crater in front of the slope of Haleakala
On the opposite side of the ship was island Kaho'olawe (Ka-hoo-oo-LA-vay).
It was windy up on Deck 11, but as soon as we lost the protection of Haleakala and sailed up along that area in the middle part of the figure 8, the wind took on hurricane-al properties. I was afraid it would blow the contacts right off my eyeballs. But our tenacity was rewarded with the first view of the sunrise above Haleakala.
Eventually, we made our way down to the Club Restaurant when it opened for breakfast at 7:30am (we felt we had been up for hours by then!). It featured one of our favorite breakfast menus of the entire cruise- blueberry pancakes- and, while I still had my berries and orange segments and scrambled egg beaters, I allowed myself one blueberry pancake as my breakfast 'dessert'.
The weather today was picture-perfect, 88F and brightly sunny. There was a significant wind, though, and that made for an exciting tender ride from the Pacific Princess to the (former whaling) town of Lahaina. We will be returning to Maui on Thursday this week, and so decided to spend today doing a walking tour of Lahaina, with our only goal being to make it to the U.S. Post Office to mail a few postcards and the padded envelope I had purchased yesterday at WalMart to Mom. I have a feeling we are going to sorely miss the ease with which we can talk, and Internet and mail back to the U.S. once we leave Hilo Friday afternoon.
We first walked along the Lahaina harborfront checking out all the booths selling fishing and parasailing tours, and then walked through the museum and art galleries that are housed in the Old Lahaina Courthouse. We stopped at our favorite ice cream shop for shave ice topped with ice cream, purchased a silk flower wreath that I can wear on my hat and sat under the shade of the large Lahaina banyan tree to enjoy our ice cream.
William Owen Smith planted the Lahaina banyan tree in 1873. All of the other trees there come from the roots of that original tree.
We walked down Front Street and past the Christian missionary houses from the 1800s.
We eventually found the post office and then became aware of just how hot the day had become. About that same time, we started smelling good smells from the waterfront restaurants and decided to return to the ship. The terrace behind the Panorama Buffet offered the best views of the West Maui mountains.
And, just another reason to love this small ship...rush hour in the buffet. ;-)
We returned to our cabin by 3pm and I decided its cool comfort was exactly what I needed, but G spent part of the afternoon in a hot tub. We've watched very little TV since we boarded, but I was pleased to turn it on and find that The Sound of Music (also celebrating its 50th anniversary) was just beginning. Boy, does that movie bring back memories, both as one of my earliest movie memories but also in that Mom and I visited that house (castle?) where it was filmed when we were in Salzburg in 1984.
I was showered for the evening and up in the Pacific Lounge for the Elite Lounge while G was still getting ready, and so I got the window side chair with a view, and what a view it was. Shrimp, Parmesan shards and Chardonnay...and the sun casting shadows on the West Maui mountains. Honestly, this is NOT how we live at home but that fact didn't cause me a moment of trouble in adjusting.
Captain D, in his 'welcome back on board' announcement, mentioned how difficult the trade winds had made the tendering process (we had noticed; once back on board this afternoon I refused to leave again) and said that yesterday Maui had had torrential rains, so we felt quite lucky in our gorgeous weather today.
Tonight's dinner menu was the Chef's Dinner, and the funny thing about it is that when I am hungry, it all looks good and when I'm not hungry, nothing does. After just a small salad for lunch, and despite shrimp and Parmesan shards pre-dinner, I was hungry tonight. I enjoyed twice baked goat cheese soufflé (nothing to offer for it nutritionally, but this is comfort food if ever there was any), a Boston Bibb lettuce salad and orange roughy. But Henry was concerned that I was missing out, and so brought scallops, too. I skipped dessert, but then Henry brought gourmandises (tiny cookies) and two of them with tea were delish.
G still had energy for tonight's show in the Cabaret Lounge (comedian Cary Long), but, really, I was done for the day. I may head back out to a hot tub (after dark...the best) but otherwise it will be an early night. We'll be missing out on the Country Western night party, but there will be many others. I have a 6am date with a sunrise and need my sleep.