Maui is magnificent!

October 6, 2014

We woke up as we were sailing into the harbor of Lahaina, Maui.  We enjoyed a relaxing breakfast on our balcony.

  Rob decided to nurse his "tight" back, so Lana ventured out on a spur of the moment  excursion entitled, "Deluxe Tour of Maui" and it truly was a good thing that Rob had opted out because boarding the tender was a rather rocky challenge!  First stop on the tour was the Maui Ocean Center, the largest tropical aquarium in the western hemisphere.  David would have really loved all of the sharks! 

  Next stop, a working plantation where pineapples (no longer Hawaii's leading export), coffee, jack fruit, coconuts (actually watched a husking demo), mango, bananas, avocado, macadamia nuts, and corn (the new number one export) were grown.  Finally, we stopped at the Iao Valley State Park, also the source of all of Maui's water, and hiked to the view point of the "Iao needle" - Kukaemoku. 

  It was quite an educational excursion, which pleased the teacher.  The lovely full moon glistening on the water made the evening perfect.  Once again, we enjoyed the company of two retired Marines, Dick and Christine, during our amazing dinner at Blu.  Afterwards, we went to the late show, enjoyed an after dinner drink.  Ahhhhhh, this cruising life is really tough!!