Alberto and I stopped at costco on the way back to West Maui and I got us some of the delicious "Aloha Maid" fruit drinks I'd discovered on the plane. My favorite: passion-orange. Yum.
Then it was a driving tour with alberto as the guide all the way over to Lahaina. He showed me Haleakala, which we were going to visit on Monday for the sunrise, Ma'alea Harbor where we were going in the morning for snorkeling, and Ka'anapali, a resort area that has awesome snorkeling. He also pulled over at a vista outlook over the ocean to show me my first glimpse of whales in the water. Sure enough, just out to sea I could see a whale swimming in the distance, blowing water out of his blowhole as he went. How cool is it, to be able to just pull over on the side of the road and see whales in the water??
Alberto has lots of things planned for us while we are here. He has got all the bases covered between now and when he goes back to work on Tuesday. We are going to go on a snorkeling trip, we're going to do a little sightseeing, we're going to see the sunrise at Haleakala, and on Tuesday night we are going to a luau. I can't wait!
Since we couldn't enter my condo until 3:00, we had some time to kill – about 2 hours. Alberto walked me through Downtown Lahaina, which truly is a little whaling/boating establishment right on the water. There was a crafts fair going on underneath the massive Banyan tree in the central square, and I thought of my old coworker Rik Nieves and the gourd art he makes. I was hoping to see him there, but of course I did not.
Right around then, I realized how HUNGRY I was! Cheeseburger in Paradise (recommendation from Eric Klauss) was just up the street, but we opted to hit the Cool Cat Café, just across the street and overlooking the activities beneath the Banyan tree. I'm so glad we did! Their Mai Tai's are AWFUL but I had a very refreshing pineapple and rum drink and their burgers were super good. I had the Marilyn Monroe and actually ate every single bite of it!
After we were stuffed and happy, we headed to the condo at Maui Sands. I had no idea what to expect and was prepared to be a little disappointed – it was the cheapest option I was able to find and the pictures made it look a little run down. It turns out that this place is great! It's cute, it's functional, and it's obviously maintained with love by its owners. The roar of the ocean waves is very strong and, true to the photo online, I can sit out on my lanai (balcony) and watch the waves crash in. It short, it's perfect J
That night Alberto treated me to a night out dancing at the very post Spat's, at nightclub inside the Hyatt Regency in Ka'anapali. Cover charges apply and dress code is strictly enforced! Here we are, we paused to take a photo before heading over there:
The place was very nice, but I was surprised to see that my beer was served in a can. The bartender said that guys tend to want to use bottles as clubs, so only cans are allowed. There's nothing like being dressed to impress and sporting an aluminum can of beer. :P Crazy Hawaiians!
The dance floor was nice, and I was tickled to see that every song played was accompanied by its music video being played on several big screen tv's mounted on the wall. I got to catch up on some of what I've been missing! J
Alberto remarked that the crowd that had filled up the place was a lot different than what he'd seen before – where there had been a majority of tourists, it was clear that the crowd had a much more local element that night. It's so odd for me to see the locals – I know it's generalizing, but my distinct impression of the local population is that they are pretty much all short and fat – with the exception of the occasional gigantic fat people I see. Nobody seems to smile very much.
After dancing until about 12:15 we headed home for bed. I was seriously jetlagged (my body thought it was past 3 am), and I wanted to make sure I was going to be my best for our snorkeling excursion in the morning!
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