Day Two

Aloha!

Well, as many people say, the first few days on Maui, you will usually wake up early and that is true.  That travel time, even tho ours is only from the West Coast, takes a few days to catch up to you and I really enjoyed this!  I got up early enough today to have my coffee while the sun was just starting to lighten up the west side so I watched the cloud formations and then the kayaks zooming by. 

Morning Breaks

Pretty Clouds over Molokai

Here comes the Sun

I envy anyone who can kayak because my hubby and I went out with family one day to kayak around Moss Beach here in California. Well that was a real fiasco.  I can't swim (ya, I know can't swim and love Hawaii??? long childhood story) and the only time I had been in a kayak was on a river in Kauai, and even that time I was the laugh of the group because I kept us going in circles every time I tried to use the paddles or oars or whatever they are called.  Can you tell that I am not very athletic?   No one made fun of me cuz it was my birthday trip, and I think they had mercy on me because of that.  My birthday is on Christmas Day and we were there about a week or so before, but they just sang their little hearts out to the tune of Happy Birthday between their giggles at my skills or lack there of with a kayak!  Finally Walt said very emphatically but in a kinda nice way, "Cindy, you just sit back and enjoy and I will paddle". I said okey dokey and we did finally get down the river with the rest of the group (tho not by my doing, that's for sure!)  

Anyway, this time in the ocean at Moss Beach, little known to us, our rudder I think it's called was broken (which we didn't know til we got back to the rental place..thanks guys for renting two novices a broken kayak!) and we could not for the life of us keep up with the rest of the family. Walt was so frustrated and I was waiting for him to yell "Man OverBoard" knowing that it would be a woman, namely me, getting tossed over, not a man!  It took us over one hour to get back up the slew to the dock with his family and it was very embarrassing for him for sure. We got defeated by 2 kids, a tiny woman and his little brother. All he said when we got to the shore was "NEVER AGAIN!"  At least not with me, I think he meant, but I kept quiet and said "yes dear, I agree completely". Now when we see kayaks and I am thinking that maybe we should try it again, he just looks at me, shakes his head no, no, no and I don't even open my mouth, hee hee.

What we don't even think about trying again

We had decided that today was going to be fairly relaxed because we are doing the Road to Hana tomorrow.  So, after coffee and muffins from Costco, we got ready and hit the road.  

First stop today was the Hawaiian Craft Fair at the Ritz Carlton.  It was a nice little craft show, only about 6 or 7 vendors but what woman can resist purchasing a few things made by local artisans?  NOT this one, nor my mama. Guess I learned from the best!

We found one vendor who did wood carving and his sisters made book marks, purses and the like.  I purchased a couple bookmarks and a pretty little coin purse made of various shells.  Around the corner I found another vendor who had beautiful sea glass pendants, rosaries, and then these very unique pieces made of Asiatic Grass (aka coiy lacryma-iobi) or called Job's Tears,  that were picked in the Honokohau Valley and strung by his wife.  I purchased an anklet from him made of these seeds and also one of his cd's. He played his ukulele and sang for us while we visited for nearly an hour about his family who have been on the islands for nine hundred years. He knew Iz and his brother, and I was impressed with his musical voice.  His name is Kahu and he was a delight to visit with!

My goodies from Ritz Craft Fair

The Ritz is a beautiful place and we enjoyed snooping around. I would of loved to of gone back and eaten lunch or had a drink there, but 11 am is a little too early for me.   It seemed like there was never enough time to get back there.  

Pool area at the Ritz

Lounge at the Ritz

Lobby of the Ritz

Mama and Me

Mama and Walt

Sitting Pretty??

Distinguished Guest of the Ritz

Another Lounge at the Ritz

Next stop was the Nakalele Blow Hole at MM 38.5 or there abouts.  It was a pretty windy day and the trail down closer to the blow hole looked way too tough for mama to do so we just watched from above.  I knew better than to go down close like some people had done, and we could of probably walked a bit closer, but I didn't want any trips or falls on this vacation, so we played it safe.  Isn't that the beauty of zoom lenses after all?

There

She

Blows!!

We stopped along the road a little ways from the Blow Hole to grab a couple photo ops.  Sure are some pretty views from this side of the island!  We took a leisurely drive down the road.

View Near Blow Hole

Near Blow Hole

Views near Blow Hole

Photo Op

Surfer Dudes and Dudettes

Tummy's were growling, so next stop was going to be Happy Hour at the Sheraton.  We wanted to see the cliff divers at Black Rock for sunset, so off we go!


The place to see the Cliff Divers if you want to be at the Sheraton is the Cliff Dive Bar.  It has a really nice view from most of the outside patio area.  There are really good views right on the beach tho so unless you want to imbibe, I'd go for the beach.  I decided that this would be the day I would try some mixed drinks.  I'm a wino at heart and if I drink much more than the occasional margarita, it usually isn't a pretty site.  Ha!  Just joking, but I do tolerate wine better than liquor so let's just leave it at that, ok?  



Anywhoo, they have their Happy Hour here from 3 to 5 and the usual drinks I think were $12 or more, Happy Hour they are $8.  I had two different drinks, one was called the Cliff Diver (figured why not?) and it was tequila, peach schnapps, orange and mango juice and a Framboise Liqueur Float.  I liked it best of the two.  The second one was the server's fav she said, so I said ok, let's try it on the 2nd round.  

White Water

It was called White Water and was Malibu Coconut Rum, pineapple juice, coconut cream, rose's lime and fresh mint.  It was ok, but not as tasty to me as the first one.  Walt tried both of their Mai Tais, one called the Black Rock Mai Tai, and the other was Cisos Passion Mai Tai, he enjoyed them both he said, but liked the Cisos a bit better.  Mom had a vodka sour, she doesn't experiment much, like me, she enjoys her wine and the wine she likes is white zin.  They did not carry it there, which surprised me, but oh well! We had an order of nachos to stretch out the day because we still had a ways before sunset.  A little later we ordered hot dogs. Food is good, nothing sensational, and pricey but it satisfied us.  

Yummo Cliff Diver

We were entertained by the cutest and sweetest gal the entire time we were there.  She dances hula the whole time and I never saw anyone in my entire time there, smile as much as she did.  She should be nominated Miss Congeniality of the Sheraton, she was great!  I intend to write a note to the manager of the hotel to compliment her.  It started raining,  as is usual in Hawaii.  It started as a sprinkle, then a good rain shower, but only lasted about 20 minutes.....she just danced right thru it all, smiling all the way! Beautiful!  It was getting kind of hot so the rain felt good to us too!

Beautiful Woman and Spirit

Sheraton's Cutie

Dancing

Serious Dance Now

The cliff dive ceremony and lighting of the torches were a nice touch to sunset.  I had trouble getting good photos of the diver tho, so sorry the pictures for that are not so great.  

Fire Man

Black Rock Divers

Sailing by Black Rock

Well it was time to head home and rejoice over our first full day in Maui. Tomorrow was the Road to Hana and we wanted to get up fairly early for our start out.







I too will close today.  Thank you for all your kind words, my Trip Advisor friends, on the Day One Blog.  It is really appreciated and I am having fun with this.  It really wasn't too hard to learn at all!  I may get slowed down a bit with the holiday coming up soon, but I will finish, I promise!

Aloha!
Cin