Monday morning we boarded a raft boat in Lahaina Harbor, slip #11. Wait, first there was the souvenir photo in front of the life preserver. And yes, we I was a sucker and paid $10 for the photo at the end of the day because I just had to have it. Maui Adventure Cruises was taking us on an 8 mile ride to the island of Lana'i. There would be snorkeling, hopes of spotting the resident spinner dolphins, and a few hours to explore the island on our own.
The ride over was smooth, which disappointed Scott because he wanted a ride.
We snorkeled by Sweetheart Rock. Lots of cool stuff to see, including a sea turtle! For a while it was right in front of me, looking right at me. I think I got a couple good pics on my underwater camera.
They dropped us off at the harbor, each with a cooler and lunch inside, gave us directions to the beach and we were on our own for 3 hours. We ate, explored the huge expanse of tide pools, and tried to see how close I could get to the edge and bet whether or not a crashing wave would drag me away. We took a short hike to the end of Flat Rock to enjoy the scenery. We played a bit on the beach (hard crashing waves), laid out a bit, and watched the snorkelers swimming faaarrr from shore, Scott hoping/wishing a shark would come and snatch one of them up (too much shark week on the brain).
Back on the raft our captain was sad to report that none of the other boats around the island had spotted the dolphins today. Wah, wah. Oh well.
For the return trip I contemplated, for a moment, riding on the pontoons with Scott. Gladly I dismissed that thought and rode in the middle because, holy cow, we were in for a wild ride back! The winds always pick up in the afternoon and this day was no exception. With choppy waters, the raft was bouncing, jumping up and down, with buckets of water splashing whoever was crazy enough to sit on the sides. After a short while, Scott was the only one who hadn't ditched to hide in the middle and he was loving it. This is what made the entire day worthwhile for him.
And that video doesn't even show the worst of it! Soon after I had to put my camera away because I was getting pelted with water.
After a day at sea we went back to the hotel, showered up, and came back to downtown Lahaina to get our very favorite . . . pineapple smoothies at Cheeseburger in Paradise.
Three years is way too long to wait for this sweet deliciousness. But it lived up to our longing expectations.
