Fear the Crab

Maile and I woke up at 0430 to get ready for our trip to Maui. Our flight wasn’t until 0630, but with all the new security measures in place (and the fact that we hadn’t taken a trip in 3 years), we decided it’d be better to be early than late. Arrived at the airport at 0510, so we grabbed some breakfast after we checked in. Still had about an hour to kill.

Landed on Maui around 0715, got the rental car and drove the 45 minutes from the airport to the hotel, the Royal Lahaina Resort. Unfortunately, we couldn’t check in until 1500, so we held our baggage at the concierge and drove back out to visit the Maui Ocean Center.

The MOC was a pleasant experience, and a good start to the vacation. Their indoor reef displays are, apparently, the largest in the nation. There were tons of sea life, and not just limited to the reef, neither. We got to the open sea exhibit where they were holding a shark week event, so the tanks were full of black tips and makos, and lots of rays. Maile got freaked out each time a shark swam out from behind the wall. My favorite exhibit, though, was the jellyfish tank. It looked like a giant lava lamp with florescent colors and a slow current to move the jellyfish along. It was quite surreal, and I wouldn’t mind having something like that in my house.

After the aquarium, we still had hours to kill, so we decided to visit the Maui Winery, which was about a 1-2 hour drive down the scary Kula Highway. People say that the Hana Highway, with its twists and turns, is stressful, but it’s nothing compared to Kula. Kula has its own twists, but what makes the road more nerve-wracking is the hilly terrain, such that as you’re taking a turn you can’t see where the road is going, much less if an oncoming car has crossed the center line. That two-lane road is even more dangerous when the clouds roll down from Haleakala, but thankfully our journey was sunlit.

The Maui Winery was celebrating its 30th anniversary, so there were a lot of tourists and locals. It was so crowded that we couldn’t partake in the tasting of the various wines, and even then, I was doubtful of my ability to drive that damn highway with just a smidgen of alcohol in my system. We wanted to take the tour through the grounds, but because of the anniversary celebration, all the winemakers and cellar masters were there to conduct. And they were a long-winded bunch. Standing in the sun listening to the various planting of grapes and all sorts of technical details was too much for us. Top it off with a bunch of wine geeks asking all kinds of questions and the tour just dragged. Maile and I left after the third stop; we didn’t even get to the cellar. We did buy some pineapple wine before we left, for gifts.

By the time we left the winery and drove the rest of the afternoon to the hotel, our room was ready. We checked in and promptly fell asleep.

Later in the evening we visited Crystal and her two children, Justin and Skye. Skye was rather shy, but she was only 5. Justin, 13, used to be like that when he was 5, too.