Jamie and myself quickly fell into a routine, craving these rum-based tropical drinks, pretty much constantly.

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As you might imagine, we ate out a lot in the area, and Yum!! - the famous Aloha plate, featuring a nice hunk of grilled fish (Mahi, Ono, Rainbow Runner), one or two scoops of white rice, and potato-mac salad. Many places seem to serve this island-wide dish, but they are NOT all equally good.  We found two places where they were especially good.

One of our favorites, the Fish Market in Kaanapali. Food - excellent! Ambiance - also exceptional (if you like eating in the parking lot).

Also, there was NO plate with their Aloha plate. Only a Styrofoam box, in keeping with the parking lot atmosphere.

Another of our favorite eateries: the Aloha Mixed Plate in Lahaina.

Brandon and Moye are obviously enjoying it.

Walking a stretch just north of Black Rock, Kaanapali. We persuaded one of those pesky tourists to take our picture. Having been there for three weeks, we considered ourselves natives.

Apparently everything is lush, tropical, and well-kept on Maui, except the cemetery. And apparently their burials are an event that requires more than three hours?

We hiked several trails in Kapalua.

http://www.kapalua.com/activities/hiking-trails

This is the Ridge trail which requires a shuttle to a location far up the mountain.  We were hoping for some scenic views, but this was not that sort of walk.  This turned out to be an extremely dense, tropical jungle.  Behind me is a grove of Banyan trees.

We also walked the old golf course, staying on the cart paths. The course has long been abandoned and left to return to nature. The walk was extremely hilly and damn near gave Jamie a heart attack.

We walked several evenings on the Coastal trail along the beach and through Kapalua, which was VERY scenic.

Coffee beans, probably the world-famous Maui Wowee.

June pointing out this small fan palm grove on the Ridge trail.

The golf Academy in Kapalua. This is a 18 hole miniature putting course.  So we had to get our golf fix.

Downtown Lahaina, a world famous Banyan tree. Very eerie.

June craved these 'shave ice' concoctions. She started to think of them as lunch. It does have several of the 4 food groups: Ice, sugar, ice cream, but one is missing -- alcohol!

It actually IS called shave ice (not shaved ice).

Here is the view east from the Kaanapali golf course. Not that we were golfing. This is also the location of Whaler's village and Sephora, the make-up store Jaime would want to make an almost-daily pilgrimage to.

Another wedding on Kapalua beach. We weren't sure if the guy in the speedo was invited.

Makena State Park - south of Kihei. What a gorgeous beach!

See it on the map

One of our many days on the island we traveled to the south side to the town of Kihei (pronounced Key-hay). It means "lost" - as in a key in a haystack, similar to the English saying "a needle in a haystack". (JK)

This is June and Jamie standing on some old lava flow with the island of Molokini in the background.  We actually traveled south until the road ended at Ahihi Kinau Natural Area Reserve. That is Hawaiian for 'desolate moonscape lava flow.' (also JK)

See it on the map

Whale-watching

We just had to get a close up look at the whales so we actually paid to have some outfit (forgot the name) to take us. And there is the catamaran. Jamie was late, as usual, and had to swim out.

There were plenty of whales, but this boat STRICTLY adhered to the policy of not approaching a whale within 500 yds distance. They made it more like 1000 yds just to be safe.  Nevertheless, we got quite a show..from a distance.

Jamie playing checkers with herself while we waited to board the yacht. I think I had a nightmare about this; something like Jamie in Wonderland.

The boat pulled headlong into the shore, stairs were lowered off the bow between the outriggers, but the stairs were a moving target thanks to the crashing waves.

While everyone else was busy stowing their shoes, we opted to carry ours and got on-board quickly. We got this 'pole position' for the loading show.

But watching old people try to navigate the moving staircase was painful, and kinda fun in a sadistic way.  And every so often a wave would drench the poor soul who happened to be on the stairway. Oh joy!

And here is an edited video of what we saw.

Just about every beach we visited had kayaks pulled up on shore. How much to rent? Well, $40 an hour, but that is only after a group tour for $100/person. Ouch! So I called some local guy on craigslist and rented his tandem for $40/day.

June was a little wary since the swells were up. But once we were out, and we caught sight of a whale in the distance, the chase began as though she had spotted a long, lost friend. About 5 minutes of fast paddling and we gave up the chase. Good fun!

"The sea was angry that day", and this fishing vessel lost its mooring and ran aground near Lahaina.

We almost missed our flight home because of this mishap. Traffic was backed up for an hour because of a fire engine blocking the only south-bound lane, apparently watching the boat to make sure it didn't come up on the highway.

Nice job to June for catching this on her IPhone as we crawled by.

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