It was our last day in Maui and we were determined to make it a great one. We got up at the crack of dawn and made our way down to Makena Landing in South Maui for a sea kayaking/snorkeling trip with Maui Kayaks. Jared and I shared a tandem kayak and were 2 of only 7 people in our group. Our guide, Griff, was super nice and extremely knowledgeable. His passion for the island and respect for the marine life were contagious. We went to three different snorkeling sites and saw huge sea turtles at each site. (We saw lots of fish, too, but the turtles really stole the show.)
(btw, all of these photos were taken with a Fujifilm Quick Snap waterproof disposable camera... we were pretty impressed with the quality compared to other underwater disposables we've tried)
If you're ever in Maui and want to take a snorkeling trip, I highly highly recommend Maui Kayaks. When we went to Australia for our honeymoon we took two different charters out to the Great Barrier Reef, and while the charter boats are less work, kayaking gives you access to sites the big boats can't get to, and going out in such a small group made the experience even better.
After our snorkeling trip, we headed back to the hotel, took a nap, and went down to the pool for our last afternoon of sun, sand, and swimming. I'm not going to lie, it was really really really hard to leave that pool. Those last moments of warm sun were so bittersweet. Oh, who am I kidding - they were just bitter. We live in Portland. The sun won't shine like that until next July. That's TEN MONTHS AWAY! What? No, I'm not crying. Must be - uh - sand in my eye. Or something.
Anyway, we got all gussied up and set up out on the lenai to watch the luau until it was time to leave for dinner. The hotel doesn't usually have luaus on Saturday nights, but we got lucky - a cruise ship had pulled in that day and booked a private luau. Did I mention that the cruisers were nearly all retirees? Have you ever seen retirees try to hula? Well take my word for it - it was fantastic. Truly truly fantastic. The actual dancers were pretty great, too... particularly when they busted out the torches. I don't know how they don't burn themselves to a crisp, but I guess that's why they're the pros and I'm the girl watching from her lenai 5 floors up.
The luau ended at 8, just in time for us to make it to Lahaina for dinner. We decided to have a belated anniversary dinner on our last night in Maui (the chili dogs were great, but not exactly the romantic celebratory dinner we're accustomed to) and everyone said Lahaina Grill was the place to go for such a dinner. Those people were not wrong.
Our dinner was aaaaaamazing... easily one of the best dinners we'd had in a long time. We were the old farts of our section (everyone else was on their honeymoon) but the hostess took pity on us and gave us a card signed by the entire staff, and took a customary couples picture of us...
- Bufala Salad (olawalu tomatoes, bufala mozzarella, truffle oil, aged balsamic vinaigrette, alziari extra virgin olive oil, and black kilauea sea salt)
- Sauteed line caught local mahi-mahi (kula spinach, herbed mashed potatoes, gorgonzola pancetta bits, and chardonnay beurre blanc) -> this was the best mahi mahi we'd ever had and we d-e-v-o-u-r-e-d it.
- Kurombuta Pork Shank (pork shank with black currant demi-glace, pearl onions, asparagus, creamed spinach mixed in with mashed potatoes)
- Triple Berry Pie (raspberries, blueberries, and black currants with whipped cream and strawberry sauce) -> this pie was insane! Absolute pie perfection.
We rolled ourselves back to the car after dinner and took a quick stroll on the beach at the hotel before spending the rest of the night out on the lenai, playing cards and getting tipsy. Despite a relatively early flight the next day, we didn't go to bed until 2am or so to try to delay the inevitability of going home just a little longer.
And with that, our amazing vacation and this series of posts have come to an end... thanks for reliving the adventure with me! :-)