December 15, 2018
The ship anchored in the bay off the Hawaiian island of Maui near the village of Lahaina. We heard that ships couldn’t always stop here because cross-winds frequently make anchoring difficult and tenders have a hard time getting people ashore. I guess we were lucky that the wind wasn’t very strong.
After reading so many good things about the island of Maui, we were looking forward to seeing as much as we could in a few hours. We signed up for an excursion called “Discover Maui’s Hidden Treasures.”
We were a small group of a dozen people in a passenger van. We drove up the coast and passed beautiful beaches along the shore. Our first stop was a town called Makawao which was known as a farming and ranching community. There were successful sugar cane and pineapple plantations in the region for decades.
We stopped at a tiny museum which displayed a few historical artifacts. Today, Makawao was a town of high-end boutiques, cafes, and restaurants. We crossed the street to see a glassblower at work and his beautiful creations.
Maui lived up to its reputation as a very beautiful island. It looked like a wonderful place to live, but real estate is very expensive. We had a picnic lunch on the grounds of the former Baldwin estate.
O’okipa, which means ‘hospitality’ in Hawaiian, was another gorgeous beach with huge rolling surf.
Green sea turtles on the beach:
We visited a state park that paid tribute to the immigrant groups that originally settled in Hawaii.
Our last stop was Kumu Farms that grew a huge variety of produce, including sweet Maui golden pineapples:
We returned to Lahaina early enough to walk around town. The tree in the photo below is a huge Indian Banyan tree. It covered the entire space behind the Lahaina museum.
Lahaina was a tourist town with souvenir shops, restaurants, bars, jewelry stores, and an outlet mall. There were a few historical buildings:
We were lucky to have such a lovely warm sunny day so we stopped at a ‘Shave Ice’ shop to celebrate our last cruise port of this trip. Tonight the ship leaves Hawaii and we have five sea days to reach Los Angeles, California. It’s been a fabulous adventure and in a week we’ll be home.