A little over a week ago we celebrated our THIRTY THIRD anniversary!
We celebrated in Maui. Everything about this trip was absolutely wonderful!
Rick had a companion pass from Alaska Airlines that needed to be used so that's how we got to Maui. We flew the two hours to San Diego with a very short layover and then flew five hours straight to Maui. We were able to arrive in the early afternoon. Rick upgraded our car rental to a convertible and it was so fun!
It was a CANDY APPLE RED CAMARO!! Not flashy or anything!๐
Maui had just come off a bunch of rain so everything was lush and green.
We stayed at the Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa on Kaanapali Beach and it was fabulous! We upgraded to a suite on the ground floor which we loved. It was nice to just open our patio doors to the beauty of the resort. The resort was so nice with beautiful pools connected by a river going under bridges to get to each one. They even had a little slide for kids in the river part. The resort sits right at Black Rock, one of the best places for snorkeling on Maui. We got to see divers each day jumping off the Black Rock (which are not low) and there were lots of coral and fish to see! What's neat about Black Rock is the ability to hear the whales singing in the water. We figured it was because the sound was bouncing off of the rocks.
It is really cool to hear them!
We were able to upgrade our morning breakfasts to a full buffet for just $10 each. It was a nice full buffet complete with omelet and waffle stations. Those waffles smelled so good but we resisted so that we didn't get too far off of our New Year's diet.๐ The breakfasts were so filling that generally we only ate two meals during the day. One in the morning and one in the evening. Of course we had some snacks to munch on at the beach or in the car.
Our first day there, after breakfast we headed out to the beach. It was so lovely. The view of whales spouting and breaching in the distance was amazing! Rick remembered to bring his binoculars this trip so it was fun watching for the whales through those. We spent the whole afternoon out on the sand and then came in to get ready for the luau.
The Sheraton hosts a luau every Monday and Wednesday right on their property not far from our room. Wednesday morning Rick was able to get us a spot at the luau for that very night. It was NOT CHEAP but the food was delicious and the entertainment was really nice. Lots of Hula and we always love watching the fire dancers! They are so cool to see! The buffet included: pork, chicken and teriyaki beef with sides of purple potatoes, noodles, fruit, cole slaw, and other delights I can't remember. The dessert was three small different delectables!
The next morning began our THIRTY THIRD ANNIVERSARY! Congratulations to us!
We started out the day with a nice walk along Kaanapali Beach (2+ miles:) and then had the buffet breakfast. We then packed up our stuff and headed over to Kapalua Beach. We remembered this beach from when we had come before. It has great snorkeling and views of whales out in the bay. We spent just a few hours there because we had an appointment with some whales.๐
We went back to our room to get showered and headed over to Lahaina to go out on an excursion with Ultimate Whale Watch. Oh boy, did we have an experience!!
This was the most amazing whale watch we have ever been on.
A female whale surfaced right next to our boat. For an HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES she stayed right there with us! She would swim around and under our boat, poke her nose out, pop her blowhole up to take a breath, moan, and turn completely over for us to see her underside and even a couple of times she came right up and looked right at us! She was as curious of us as we were were with her...or more so!
It was such an amazing experience that we will never forget!
During the time we were watching her, another male came up in the same vicinity to be with her.
He poked his head up, and showed much of his body, as well.
At one point, Rick put on some goggles and stuck his head in the water with the whale just feet from him!
Did I mention this was an amazing experience?!๐
We got loads of video....
At the end, just before we left one of the whales breached just 100 feet away! It was super exciting!
Here we are leaving the boat. That's Emma, our guide in the background. She earned a $20 tip :).
To top off a wonderful anniversary day, we picked up some L&L BBQ and had a picnic on the beach. We watched a beautiful sunset and had some delicious Hawaiian food!
We ended the evening with some shave(d) ice complete with ice-cream in the bottom.
What a beautiful day it was!
The next morning Rick got up early to drive into Kihei to do some scuba diving with Pro Divers. They went out to Molokini. Rick got to swim with a couple of reef sharks and even saw some huge lobsters. He had a great time! While he was doing that I was enjoying the morning to myself. I had breakfast on my own and then enjoyed the pool for a little bit. When Rick got back he found me at the pool and we enjoyed the water together:)
Here are a few shots of the huge Banyan Tree in the town square. We saw the "no climbing" sign AFTER Rick climbed it.๐ This tree never ceases to amaze me!
The next day was Saturday and I started it out with a lovely massage. I then met Rick at the hotel's restaurant where we had breakfast together. We then enjoyed some time there at Black Rock beach where I read my book and Rick played with the fish! We were out there for a couple of hours and even though I got sunscreened up, I still got a bit of a burn. This beach in Kaanapali at Black Rock is really nice. It is such a great place to pass the time!
That night we ate at Paradise Burger, a little place right on the water. I had the coconut shrimp and a salad. The shrimp was super yummy!
The next day was Saturday and I started it out with a lovely massage. I then met Rick at the hotel's restaurant where we had breakfast together. We then enjoyed some time there at Black Rock beach where I read my book and Rick played with the fish! We were out there for a couple of hours and even though I got sunscreened up, I still got a bit of a burn. This beach in Kaanapali at Black Rock is really nice. It is such a great place to pass the time!
That evening we had planned a sunset cruise. After being on the whale watching boat and Rick getting to sail out to Molokini I wanted to get back on the water so we found a dinner cruise. It was an older boat but it was very nice to just be on the water and to see more whales and a beautiful sunset. I had the prime rib dinner and Rick had the fish dinner. The food was ok but the ambiance was very nice. At one point this whale breached right in front of the boat. Unfortunately, both Rick and I were just two seconds behind seeing it. All I saw was the big splash. A fellow who had a front row seat got this amazing live photo though, so we get to watch it breach on our phone anytime.
The next day was Sunday so we got to the 10 AM church meeting in Lahaina.
The next morning we took a drive up to the North side of the island. We had forgotten that we had been there before. It was so lush and pretty. We stopped at a fruit stand and got to eat some coconut. It was young and not that great but it was fun to watch the lady open the coconut for us:)
We drove over to the Blow Horn and got to see it spouting. I didn't hike the whole way down but Rick did and got a front row seat (So to speak). The Blow Horn spouted up to fifty feet in the air. It was really cool to see. We realized at this point that we had been to this blow hole before. It's funny how things get erased from our memories and it takes being back there to remind us.
We then drove back and stopped at this beautiful viewpoint. That is Molokai in the distance.
How about that car?!
We saw some surfers down in the water and also saw a rocky beach with people snorkeling in some amazing looking coral so we went to find it.
We pulled off the road to find a trail that led through an old ancient burial ground to the beach. This beach was not made of sand, though. It was comprised of volcanic rock. Rick really wanted to get in the water here but seriously, there was no place to sit comfortably unless you had a chair. So... we didn't stay but next time I think I would like to get in and explore what's in the water there.
We drove back to Kapalua Beach and did some more snorkeling there. This time I saw an eel and a couple of turtles before I got out to relax on the beach. Rick said he would stay out for a few more minutes.
After about a half an hour he still wasn't back. I started getting worried and searched for him through binoculars and I still could not see him. I looked for quite a while and was getting fairly nervous (there were a lot of people out in the water) when I couldn't see him. I said a prayer that I could find him. I still couldn't. I said another prayer and specifically asked Heavenly Father to help me find him right away. I picked up the binoculars again and found him right away! A quick answer to my direct prayer!
Rick was headed in but still had a ways to go.
Here he is getting the last of his snorkeling in for the trip.
Cutie!
That night we ordered pizza and salad and went to the Kaanapali Beach Park to eat and watch the sunset for one last time before taking off in the morning.
After dinner we walked over to Leilani's Restaurant and picked up some HULA PIE to end our last night on Maui. It was a delicious send off!๐
Man, it was hard to leave this beautiful island! We could have stayed a few more days. In fact, Rick tried to extend our stay but couldn't arrange the flights. So..... until next time, Maui, HANG LOOSE!๐๐
No comments:
Post a Comment