Lahaina Maui

Darn this getting up early is well horrible!  We have the clock set for 6 am cause we have to be in the Princess Theater for 7:15.  ARGH – and what was worst we chose to order room service this morning and the only request I had was a bagel and cream cheese and all I got was cream cheese, but at least there were two containers of the cream cheese!  No bagel!  Bernie got his fruit and cereal and we had juice and we managed.

 

Lahaina is a tender port (our only one) and we are herded into the theater, okay herded may not be the right word but since we rarely do ship’s tours I am feeling a little like cattle. 

The Tour we booked is the snorkel trip to the crater and then snorkel at the turtle cleaning station.  The cost if I remember correctly was $119 each.  It included a breakfast snack (muffin, fruit, coffee and juice) snorkel at two spots and then a lunch (sandwich, salads, sodas/water, chips).
 

We are taken by tender and directed right to the boat which is only a few feet away.  What is definitely noticeable is the large amount of people on our tour, the boat is filled.  Our guess is about 75-85, it is crowded and the hardest part is when we do make our first stop it takes about 20 minutes just for all of us to get in the water.  I just jump in and then put the mask on, much faster.

 

 

 

The first stop is the volcanic crater….initially I was like “there are not a lot of fish here” but as we head towards to the sides of the crater where there are more coral and you stop and look and I am surprised at the variety of fish.  Cool!  We stay for about a half hour then make our way to another spot that is known as a turtle cleaning station.

It is very neat – these turtles are very large and I saw three at least.  Now it isn’t like Barbados where we had about 30 all around us and they are fed and we can touch them but it is still very neat. 

All in all I am glad we did the tour, was it worth the cost – hmmm well I would say no but that is because we normally do our own excursions and they are much cheaper and a lot less crowded but we couldn’t of done this tour on our own so I am glad we did it and would highly recommend it to others.  The crew were amazing and very funny and attentive and professional.

We dock at 2:30 and we cross the street for one drink and then walk around a bit before catching the tender back to the ship.

We are both exhausted!  I lay down and I am asleep before my head hits the pillow.  We nap for two hours before getting ready for dinner.

 

Tonight we are dining at the Crown Grill again with Hotel General Manager and Customer Services Director, and Ricardo is our waiter again.  The staff are top notch here so attentive and professional.  I change things up a bit tonight, I have just the onion soup, and the sea bass for dinner and well I can’t miss the molten chocolate cake.  We had a great dinner with new friends and some great laughs.

We come back to the cabin and there is an Happy Anniversary Cake here?  After reading the cake we realize it is for the original owners of this cabin not us.  Well I hope they get their cake.  We don’t want it and we are so full but it is a nice jesture.

So looking forward to four sea days now.