Day 9 – Lahaina, Maui

Our last day in Hawaii had a small delay in getting started because of the winds creating huge swells which made the tender boats unsafe!( We found out later that some people got stuck on the ship for several hours because of them and only had 3-4 hours on the island! ) Again we were among the first off the ship. Kenny had to take the shuttle to pick up our rental car and all of us girls shopped while we waited.

The center of the shopping area had a HUGE tree which took up an entire city block!

When he got back we quickly got ready to go out and Parasail! We were all super excited to get in the air…our sails were quickly deflated when we learned the weather conditions were to windy for us to go up…

another snag in our plans. We waited 40 mins and tried to enjoy the boat ride, cool breeze and mist from the water, but were all stressed that we might not be able to go up and were fully aware of the convertible parked at the port waiting to be driven! FINALLY we got to go up! Here is Kenny and I -

Barb and Sarah were supposed to go first, but they let us go first in case the weather didn’t stay nice enough for everyone to have a chance. Our ride was totally amazing and terrifying at the same time. We paid extra for the 800 foot rope and because of the wind we were probably at lease 600 feet in the air… With the wind rocking the boat and in turn making us sway and bump it was a little nerve racking, but an absolutely beautiful ride!

See our ship parked obnoxiously near the beach? 

Here is proof how high up we were! 

When we got down they unhooked Kenny and left me on there… There was one woman who wanted to go up, but because of the weather she was too light to go up alone… SO I went up with her (originally Barb was supposed to go up with her). I was worried about going up that high again, but her and my ride was SO much smoother than Kenny and my ride! The wind had even died down enough for the driver to dip us… lucky us : )

Next it was Sarah and Barb’s turn… This was Sarah’s first time Parasailing and I didn’t want to tell her how scary I though it was and was worried she would hate it! Boy was I wrong! She loved it!! 80 years old and parasailing for the first time like a pro (except for her landing… that is all I will say).

DIP! 

After a beautiful morning on the water we finally got into the car for the road to Hana.

Our main goal was to have Kenny return the black sand he had taken from the Black Beach in 1999… Apparently it is bad luck to take anything from the island, but he didn’t know that until he was on his way home. We are superstitions, but we figured why not return it, it couldn’t hurt anything. We headed to the Hana… but apparently not on the “Road to Hana” we may have been on the wrong road, but holy Hannah did we have fun on it!

Sugar Cane fields - 

Barb and Sarah got SO wind blown in the back seat of that convertible and he laughed SO hard…. I can’t share all the pictures (at least not until the time is right; ))  but I will share these few…

We made our way to the Pineapple Wine Factory and did the wine tasting. I am not a huge fan of wine, but the Pineapple wines were pretty dang good!

Since we were on the wrong road we weren’t able to make it back to the Black beach… we all decided that it would be okay to return the sand back to any beach since it was at least the right island. When people take Lava rocks and just mail them back they don’t necessarily make it back right beach… So Kenny returned the sand-

We had to head back to the port since the last shuttle was at 4PM from Dollar Rental Car to the port (and the last boat in was 5PM). We did more shopping while we were waiting and I think everyone got their fill of shopping!

Kenny’s family says you should always leave something to do on your next trip back… When we go back to Maui I really want to see the Road to Hana, black beach and do the 36 mile bike ride down the crater.

Today’s Forecast- Scattered Showers – high 81, low 68