A New Maui Experience - Tobi's Shave Ice

Wayne and Marsha had a favorite shave ice location in Kihei that, to their great disappointment, closed a few years ago. They were more than excited to hear that a new one had opened up in the little "hippie" town of Paia.

Oh No! It was Jenni's fitness challenge "no sweets" week! Randy hadn't made it even one day, but I was on day FOUR! What's a girl to do....

One look at the giant scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with Guava, Passionfruit, and Strawberry shave ice, covered in cream, and I was a GONER!

BEST five points I've ever lost!

A New Maui Experience - Julia's Banana Bread

We drove over the north shore of the island to explore a bit. We attempted this drive in October, but nearly ran out of gas and had to turn around. This time we were prepared.

We had heard there was a place to purchase the "best" banana bread.

There was no mistaking it when we came across it!

Yes, the bread was DELICIOUS!

A New Maui Experience - The Whale Watch

Wayne and Marsha sat through a timeshare presentation and gave us their "prize," Whale-watching for two aboard the Teralani. Each year from December to May the humpback whales make their home here traveling the 3500 miles from their feeding waters in Alaska. The warm waters of Hawaii make a more suitable environment for their newborn calves.

We heard the whale song while snorkeling at Black Rock the day before. Check it out by clicking HERE. It is a haunting sound. We could tell the whales were relatively close by.

Kaanapali Beach is one of two places in the world where a catamaran can be boarded right from the beach.

To dodge the waves, you RUN when they say RUN! Still got soaked up to the tops of our legs.

We motored out into the deep waters and waited.....

and waited...

We were NOT disappointed. The whales put on quite a show.

Randy was in the right place at the right time for two good shots.

Here is the tail of a mother with her calf beside her.

Love this shot of the breaching whale. If you look closely, you can see the barnacles attached to his nose and "chin."

Such a cool experience. You really must try it sometime!

Maui Revisited - January 2012

Our very kind and generous friends, Wayne and Marsha, invited us to "share" their Marriott time-share on Maui once again.

I don't know what it is, but I just HAVE to take pictures from hotel room windows. I've done it for years. It's a "don't forget this moment" kind of thing for me, I think.

Our daily routine is pretty much the same as last time, only with Jenni's fitness challenge going on, I make use of my early mornings (I have difficulty getting accustom to the time change). I throw on my tennis shoes and take an hour-long walk alongside the beach. I look pretty glamorous at 6:00 a.m. - morning hair and face and all. I am amazed at how many have the same idea!

My Morning Walk

I am up early enough to watch the sun rise.

There is a nice walkway along the Kaanapali beach - takes about 60 minutes to traverse it both directions...

... stopping to enjoy the scenery now and again. 

I have the voice command "Siri" on my new iPhone. I thought I would be pretty smart and dictate my journal entry while I was walking:

This is what Siri THOUGHT I said:

"I decided to get up early with the sunrise walk along the walkway and moist grass just been sprinkling for you and taking a walk to Black rock? Are we wants not going to watch that when things later today this walkway will be busy with you. But now it's just me and my surrounding her trip talk is at best pretty common for me to have a heart just change so I go to bed about 9 inches up at about 530 or 6 inches at this time with just my thoughts rather schedule is little bit different beasties a person listening to you sleeps little later in the morning."

WHAT?

Here is the translation more or less:

"I decided to get up early along with the sunrise and take a walk along the beach. The grass has just been sprinkled and smells sweet and moist. In a few minutes, this walkway will be bustling with people, but for now it is just me and my surroundings. It is pretty common for me to have difficulty with the time change -- I get pretty sleepy by 9:00 pm and I'm up by 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning. Randy sleeps in a while and joins me a bit later."

It gave me a good laugh anyway.