I was able to sleep in today because our ferry didn’t leave for Maui until 2pm. Once I got up, we packed up for our trip back to Maui. We checked out of the hotel and then walked around the rest of the town we had not seen yet. After we finished our walk we sat and relaxed on the porch of the hotel and I finished reading the book I started on the way over.
The shuttle arrived and we headed for the ferry. We boarded and it took about 30 minutes to get down to the harbor. Once there the ferry was just arriving so we didn’t have too long to wait. We boarded and sat inside this time so that we stayed out of the sun. The ride back was just as smooth as the ride over and took about 45 minutes. After we disembarked we had to wait for the rental car shuttle because the reservation was not properly made, not the first problem, but hopefully the last. Fortunately, I was able to call them and they arrived in about ten minutes. We picked up the rental car and then drove back to the hotel. We checked in and unpacked and had our stored luggage sent to the room.
Angie was hungry so we went over to the Hula Grill for food. We sat and listened to music while we ate. After we finished lunch we went to the pool for a swim and hung out for a while. We sat in the spa for a little while and met some people from Riverside. His eldest daughter was starting at Point Loma University this Fall. We were graced with the presence of a woman who was a bartender from Las Vegas and was way more than three-sheets by the time she entered the spa. She definitely had way too much to drink. It was more comical than anything because she was one of those Meer drunks. She had an opinion on everything, especially the weather in Seattle. She kept saying how much she hated it, but later we found out she had never been there.
We had left overs for dinner. We figured after carrying them around between three islands we should finally eat them.
The next day we got up early for breakfast and drove into Lahaina. We parked and walked to Cheeseburger in Paradise for breakfast. I guess this is a Jimmy Buffet themed restaurant, but for some reason they were playing Hawaiian music. The food was good, but the employees really know how to cross and up sell you. If you are weak, you may not want to go there. 😀
After breakfast we walked over to Hilo Hattie’s so that Angie could do some shopping. As it turned out I ended up spending more money than her ;-). I bought a shirt and she bought some pineapple earrings. We also bought some candies. We headed up the coast for some snorkeling. We went to Honoluka Bay on the advice of several people at the hotel. The best advice was to not park on the right side of the road as they give people tickets. We lucked out and got a spot just as someone was leaving. We walked down the steps to the beach and found a place to lay our stuff.
The water was not too cold and Angie and I went in to do some snorkeling. I am not sure that snorkeling is something that she is ever going to get the hang of. I think she needs to spend a lot of time in the pool first. I was able to swim out to some rocks and saw a lot of fish and even one eel. 
Because I didn’t have flippers or a life vest, I got pretty tired floating and treading water so I came back in and we laid out on the sand.
We went in the water a few more time and enjoyed the water and waves. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel. We drive along the coast through some of the older parts of the town. This is the road I remember from twenty years ago. We even drove by the China Boat restaurant.
We returned to the hotel and hung out at the pool. We tried several times to flag down the waitress for drinks but she just refused to come by. We finally just went up on our own and got the drinks. We got a little burned laying at the pool, but not too bad. After swimming and relaxing we got dressed for the Luau at the Sheraton hotel.
We walked about ten minutes to the Luau. They gave us drinks and took our picture while we waited to check in. After checking in, we were seated at our table. We went to get some drinks , we took a look at some of the local artists works. I ended up buying a mask for my collection. 
They had some demonstrations of native Hawaiian games and skills.
We watched the unveiling of the pig from the IMU. The pig looked fantastic once it was revealed. I need to figure out a way to put on in my back yard. Perhaps the pool needs to go?
Once the pig was revealed it was taken in to be shredded and dinner was served. Dinner consisted of potato salad, pasta salad, purple sweet potatos, Mahi Mahi, teriyaki steak and the kulua pork. The food was really good, although neither of us was willing to try the poi. We finished eating and enjoyed the sunset.
At sunset (our last one on Maui :() we watched the lighting of the torches and the cliff diver jumping into the ocean. The sunset here never gets old. After the sun set, the luau show started. The dancers came on stage and the show started.
The show was amazing. The dancers performed many traditional Hawaiian and Polynesian dances. We both enjoyed the show a lot.
After the show we walked back to the hotel and went to the spa to relax. We met some people we had chatted with the previous night. We talked about what we all did during the day. They had actually been at the luau but we didn’t see them there. After soaking for a while we went back to the room and went to sleep.
Today is our last day on the Islands. We got up and packed for our flight home. We checked out of the hotel (seriously, they charged me $2.00 to make an 800 call?). This really has to be one of the most nickle and dime hotels we have ever stayed at. Overall, I have to say all of the hotel are overpriced but at least at the Marriott on Kauai they provided some quality service. The Westin doesn’t seem to know how to really provide quality service. I normally don’t book package hotels and probably won’t again…well with the exception of the Atlantis Hotel in the Bahamas.
We drove into Lahaina and found a place to park. We went to Longhi’s Lahaina for breakfast, the food was good, but really really slow service. Angie’s food didn’t come out for quite a long time because they burned it the first time. After breakfast, Angie wanted to go back to Hilo Hattie’s because she didn’t get her free shell necklace. We then had to return to the restaurant because she left her hat there. Fortunately, it was still there. We walked back to the car and headed back to the airport. As we drive out of town there was a lot of traffic. Apparently, a canoe event had just finished so a lot of people were crossing the roads at random causing the traffic to stop to let them cross. This caused about a five mile backup. Once we passed the beach area it was smooth driving the rest of the way.
We stopped to fill up on gas and then I dropped Angie off at the airport with the luggage while I returned the rental car. I made it back to the airport and we checked in. The check in terminals all had 404 browser errors running IE. Ah, welcome back to reality. The line for security was really slow, but the X-Ray seemed to go quickly. We had to pass through two agricultural inspections. All they do is X-Ray the luggage, because I guess fruits, vegetable and flowers show up on the X-Ray machine?
Our plane was a little late arriving but it finally pulled into the terminal. Alaska apparently does something interesting, if you have luggage you are willing to check, you can board early if you choose to check it through baggage claim. The gate attendant said it was because they had $24k in fines last year. I find that hard to believe, but I did find a lot of other fines they have received with a quick Google search. I am not so sure I want to be flying on this airline 😉
The flight home was uneventful. We arrived a few minutes later than planned but it was good to be home. We picked up our luggage and went to get a shuttle home.
Tags: anniversary, hawaii, maui, vacation