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

Day 8- Nawiliwili, Kaua’i

We started our day with a zipline excursion. We rode out in a van to their warehouse and once we were weighed in and suited up we got into this for our 4 wheel drive up to the top of the mountain;

It was a beautiful scenic tour and a very fun drive to the top since it was sprinkling on and off. Once to the top it was time to start our 1mile descent down a series of 7 ziplines. This is the 2^nd largest zip line course in Hawaii and in the top 10 in the nation. This is the area where Tropic Thunder was filmed and on the way back they even showed us some palm trees that were still damaged from the explosion scenes.  BTW the guy who owns all of this land is the same guy who invented AOL!

When it was time to walk off the first platform I realized I was nervous! I didn’t think I would be since sky diving was a lot higher up, but there is something about looking down off that platform and realizing you are depending on a couple of metal pieces and some thick nylon for your life! After the first zip it was nothing but fun! We couldn’t have asked for better weather. We had a gentle sprinkle on and off which made it smell and feel wonderful!

Our group- 

 We even got so comfortable that we hung upside down while zipping across the canyon! Kenny did it too, but there are no pictures because he had both cameras! I was actually thinking as I saw him coming across that it must not be him, because he wouldn’t do that… but he did! It was so, so much fun!

On another line our guide pulled the line which caused us to bounce across. It was SO awesome, but kind of a secret since apparently it is against the rules.

We got a fun snack after zipping-

 Hawaiian grown Bananas! Best Bananas EVER! 

And then headed back up the hill. Since it had rained on an off all morning there was lots of mud which just encouraged the men to aim for mud holes and drive as fast as possible. Apparently these vehicles are military vehicles in other countries and virtually impossible to get stuck. By the time we got to the top the backs of our shirts were covered in mud!

We hopped back on the boat for lunch and got a quick piece of pizza and were ready to hit the town again on our snorkeling excursion.  

We booked the snorkeling excursion through the ship so we were a little frustrated when they showed up late to pick us up. Once they loaded our group up into 2 vans we headed over to their office to pick out our equipment. We were again annoyed at the amount of time that was wasted because they were not organized and several people were complaining that their gear did not fit them perfectly. FINALLY we were on the road to the beach after an 1 ½. We got a short lesson on the “how tos” of snorkeling and were in the water!

 I was amazed that we saw SO many fish almost immediately when we got in the water!

After about 45 mins we took a break and walked up the road to another spot where the Sea Turtles hang out. I was pretty waterlogged at this point, but wasn’t about to sit out and miss something! I wish I would have taken pictures of the area and how we had to get in the water, but I didn’t think of it at the time. We had to climb over a bunch of black rocks to get into the water and swim a couple hundred yards to get to the place where the sea turtles were. As we swum out I could see the water getting deeper beneath us and feel the waves getting stronger… I started to panic. I am very worried about drowning since I can’t swim well and being out that far with no life jacket made me freak out a little. That is when I turned and saw the Sea Turtles-

It was worth it at that point! The turtles are protected so we were instructed to stay at least 5 feet way (touching the Sea Turtles is punishable by a fine up to a $10,000), but our guide took some of these awesome photos for us-

We both really enjoyed the snorkel trip and felt like we had plenty of time in the water even with the delay getting to the beach. Guess this was a good lesson for us that we should “Just hang loose and just have fun” which is the Hawaiian way! We boarded the ship exhausted!

At dinner I ended up getting sea sick and had to leave the table early… I went to bed just after dinner!

Today’s Forecast: scattered showers, High 78, low 71