Maui is named after the demigod who pulled the 123 Hawaiian islands from the ocean's depths. Yes, I was surprised there were so many, too. Apparently, Hawaii is the largest state in the US, the archipelago being about 1600 miles long. Polynesians arrived on the island around 450 A.D. and after Captain Cook discovered it in 1778, Europeans began growing pineapple there. Hawaii produces 320,000 tons of pineapple every year.The cruise ship couldn't dock in Lahaina so moored in the harbour and we took tenders (large lifeboats) ashore. It took about a half hour so a nice trip to enjoy a closer experience with the ocean. The town had not changed since I had seen it. Glen was thrilled to see the famous banyan tree that is draped around the square (planted in 1879). It was a very hot day, 32ºC, so sitting under the shade of the tree was pleasant. The main street is wall-to-wall shopping but this was good as Glen wanted to buy some Hawaiian shirts. He started wearing these wild shirts over 30 years ago and so must constantly replace them as they wear out. We found a shop that gave us a good deal and bought some T-shirts for the grandsons as well.
I then showed Glen where I had almost been hit by a car in 2012 (see above link). Little did we know we'd have another close call not an hour later. This happened as we waited to board the tender. We stood under a marquee in the shade but I was still sweating. A lovely breeze came up to cool us until it suddenly became a whirlwind. One marquee was torn apart and ours almost blew over. The cement weight keeping ours down hit my leg leaving a nasty bruise. But I was lucky as one man was knocked to the ground and one of the cross pipes hit a woman in the back. The wind died immediately and an ambulance was called to care for the injured.
We had lunch on board the ship glad to have survived that ordeal. However, our time in Maui wasn't over as we had booked a catamaran cruise of the harbour. It was to leave at 3:00 pm returning two hours later. However, the last tender departed Lahaina at 4:30. Glen said not to worry as it was a Princess tour so they would know about our group. And they did.
I believe the harbour tour (see above photo) would have been more exciting had there been whales in the vicinity but there weren't. Lahaina was once a whaling station as humpback whales mate and calve in the area (see my post, Hanakao'o Cemetery). These marine mammals summer in Alaska (see Juneau, Alaska for our whaling experience there) then head south. The first one had been spotted the day before we arrived but we didn't see any on our tour. The crew was very informative and told us all about Maui as they served us tasty canapés and drinks. Our group didn't seem to be big partiers so the cruise was restful. We did pass through a rain cloud and saw a lovely rainbow but that was the only excitement.
We arrived back at the dock and a tender waited for us. Yay!! Turns out it was the last one and the crew who had aided us on and off the boats were onboard. Apparently, there were two people who hadn't made the last passenger tender so they were going to be left behind. Just as we began to push off, a shout went out and two men leapt on board. They were lucky!
See my photos here.
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