Maui Part 4. Friday

It was a West Maui day!

We have enjoyed the nice sandy beach at Ka'anipali and shopping at Whalers Village, and we very much cherished the town of Lahaina before the devastating wildfire three years ago. We hadn't been back to Maui since the fire so we decided to make the trip up to the Northwest. 

On the drive up, this billionaire's huge yacht! It's the Nausicaä super yard owned by Japanese billionaire Yusaky Maesawa.

We staked a claim on the beach in the shade.

My pics of Honu from the shore:

And some of NeNe's photos from the water. I wish I could show you video, but these days it just isn't happening.

When we were done with the beach, we headed to Whaler's Village just behind us to do a little shopping. 

She certainly is!

She used a gift card to get a cute Lululemon outfit

After a fun day in Ka'anipali, we headed to Lahaina for a little dinner, to visit the Lahaina Banyan tree, and watch the sunset 'n surfers.

The Banyan Tree was planted in this spot in 1873, and though it got singed, it survived the fire of 2023 and is thriving.

It was so sad to be in Lahaina. The whole area at Front Street is gone. Completely gone. It felt disrespectful to take pictures of the devastation but I did get this one as a result of capturing the other side of the sunset. This is at the Harbor. If you have been to Lahaina, you know how vibrant the area once was.

Another wonderful Maui day complete!

Maui Part 3. Thursday

Woooo! Thursday was a packed adventure day!

Ate the Cinnamon Roll

We stopped by The Cinnamon Roll Place and grabbed a roll to take back to the lanai. Perfectly decadent!

Shopped the Shops

There was lots of shopping at Kalama Village's many booths. Without a lot of room for souvenirs, it was mostly browsing, but I got a cute local-artist-designed pin for my travel backpack!

And this apropros magnet by the same artist:

We were both tempted by this cute handbag

Drank the Maui Brew

Well, one of us did. We had a nice lunch, brewski, and mocktail at Maui Brewing Company. Split a sammy and an elote! Delish!

Milked the Goats

Surfing Goat Dairy in the upcountry town of Paia was a blast! Plenty of big 'n little goats! Baby goats, daddy goat, mama goats, and to-be mama goats waiting for our hands to milk them. 

Who doesn't love goats!?

Toasted Coconut was a single baby to her mama and only three weeks old. Huge!

Hemingway, the stinky daddy

Thanking our sweet subject

Lastly, the fruits of goaties' labors. Chèvre, liliko'i goat cheesecake, and goat milk truffles.

Missed the Beach

No beach day today!

Made the Boat!

Holy Cow!

We had scheduled the Dairy and a sunset boat cruise on the same day, thinking an hour was plenty of time for the half-hour drive between them. 

Ha. There was an auto accident on our route.

Our map app kept showing later and later on the arrival time. Once we were a mile and a half from the harbor, it was saying we had 45 minutes left. What the heck.

We tried calling the boat people. We tried calling the harbor.

Should we abandon the car and walk/run? Should I drive on the shoulder? 

We fretted. We wailed. We hoped. We cursed.

"We're not going to make it." 

"We might make it."

"They are going to leave without us!"

"Other guests might also be in this mess! Have faith!

"It's ok. It wasn't meant to be." 

"Maybe they'll have mercy and give us a refund."

"They'll call us! Don't worry!" 

"Damn."

"Damn!"

We watched as a tow truck, and then an ambulance, pass by on the shoulders. 

We watched cars turn around. We watched people drive on the median/shoulder. 

We fretted some more.

Finally, I spotted the turn-off to the harbor, just a little ahead. It was time to veer left and take the non-road less taken and get there already!

We zoomed the last bit, (safely) squealed around curves, and pulled into the parking lot just as the cruise people were calling us! They ushered us to a parking spot dock-side, and as we ran to the dock ramp to board the Pride of Maui, I zipped up my dress that I had wedged myself into during the slow slog. 

We made the boat!

It was a beautiful sunset cruise.  Hawaiian dancers danced to a man playing guitar. We were served a nice dinner and cock/mocktails. It was the most beautiful sunset we had had yet. We had a great time! 

A leeeetle windy on the way back to harbor.