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My Portrait
Photography
My Nature Photography
Today was originally planned to rent a car and do a self-tour of Maui. Most likely visiting the Maui Ocean Center and some other sites. We discussed in the night before and everyone was all excursioned out and wanted to spend the day on ship relaxing. I had made a photo scavenger hunt for the girls and they were chomping at the bit to finish it.
The scavenger hunt was a photo hunt. The girls were to take digital pictures of everything on the list. The list they had did not have deck numbers on it, but I had it in case they couldn't find an item. The rules were simple, no running, no interrupting, only public areas of the ship, don't take a person's picture without asking, no pictures can be found in a cabin - do not enter any cabins.
We had breakfast at the buffet again and everyone found their food good and tasty. Lines were not too bad and tables were a bit easier to find this morning.
In the Atrium is where you picked up your luggage tags for disembarkation. Usually these are delivered to your cabin and I overheard several people complaining. There wasn't any line so I didn't see it being too much trouble. It did make it easy for those doing their own travel to get the proper tags.
I decided to check-out the ships excursion list and noticed a trip to Molokini for snorkeling. We had originally planned this tour, but I learned that Kona was better for our needs so we had switched. The papers said the tour started at 1:00. I called Al to book me and he called back saying the tour had been changed to 11:00AM, and did I still want to go. I did.
The family all went their separate ways. The girls had me make sure that their digital cameras were ready and they were off. I got my things prepared and headed down for my tour. The bus left about ten minutes late, but that was no big deal. As it turns out the tour normally has over 100 people, but today there was less than 30 so we would have plenty of room onboard the boat.
The bus dropped us off a the dock for our tour. They had soda and water for us to drink, but there were no restrooms. Then in turns out that we would not be boarding our boat until 12:30 - almost 60 minutes from now. So why did we need to be there so early? So we sat/stood around and waited. Luckily I had plenty of sun block as there was no shade. The group in general seemed pretty relaxed and I did not hear anyone complaining. We saw the boat come in and knew it would be ready soon as they cleared the prior tour.
We finally did get onboard. The boat was nice and crew friendly. No videographer on this trip. After we had been under way about 15-20 minutes they announce that it was too rough at Molokini and we would go to an alternate site. I was really disappointed as I really wanted to do Molokini. I knew that it was rough there in the afternoons. Part of me wondered if they didn't want to go out there due to the small tour size, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. It was very windy and the sea was choppy. They said the water would be tough rough to snorkel in.
The area they were bringing us to was to have sea turtles, so that was a plus as I wanted to see a sea turtle. When we got to the alternate area it was on the leeward side of the island and shielded from the wind. The sea was much, much calmer.
The ship was really empty as you can see from this picture taken on the way. There was no one below deck.
Once we got there it took what seemed like ages for them to tie the boat off. They dropped anchor and then had some crew dive to tie off on some rocks/reef. They kept looking for a good place and were not having much luck. They did get it tied off and said we would still have our 60+ minutes of snorkel time.
The water was not near as clear as Kona. The water was also much deeper, which meant the fish where further away. The fish were also not as plentiful. I would probably rate this is an average snorkel. But all was not lost I did see a sea turtle which I filmed for quiet a bit. I also saw a second hiding under a rock. Others reported seeing sea turtles too. No one seem disappointed. After a bit over an hour it was all aboard.
Once we were on board they had fresh fruit and drinks. I did notice they did not check the passenger list to make sure we were all there like the prior company. Before we knew it we were almost home. I did see two large sea turtles at the surface as we neared the dock. They were at least twice the size of the one I saw snorkeling. I did get some video of it too.
We docked at a different location, but our bus was ready and waiting. The ride back to the other side of the island didn't take long at all. Port security got on the bus and verified all our id's. Off the bus and back into the security lines. They were much shorter today and I was back to the cabin very quickly.
My girls had spent the entire day working on the scavenger hunt and still had not found a few of the harder items. I promised them after dinner I would show them the ones they couldn't find.
We had dinner in Crossings again and got our favorite table with Lindsay. Once again she provide excellent service. We tipped her and a few others who had helped us during the trip even though tipping was not required. They were working extra hard and deserved it. Once again I ate just about everything (menu):
Avocado Caesar Salad
Gingered Crabmeat Fritters
Hawaiian Lobster and Pumpkin Bisque - once again I feared the pumpkin to be too strong and it was just a slight background flavor as it should be.
Lasagna alla Bolognese with sides of Roast Island Duck and Sautéed Red Snapper
For dessert White and Dark Chocolate Delight (mousse) and Cappuccino Soufflé
The Lasagna and Duck were very good, the Snapper was average.
Everyone wanted to check out Karaoke. It took a while to get started as typical. Olivia ended up singing twice as the crowded was a bit self-conscious. She sang "Sk8ter Boi" and "On Top of Spaghetti." Another woman also double-dipped and was quite good. At 9:00 they had some Karaoke contest so we decide to call it a night.
Back in our cabin it was time to finish packing it all up so are bags could be outside on time. We carefully made sure we would have the clothing we needed for the next morning set aside.
Going to sleep tonight was a little sad as we knew tomorrow we would be in Honolulu and headed home.
| Our Trip | Pre-Cruise | Sun-Board | Mon-Kauai | Tue-Kauai | Wed-Hilo | Home |
| Thu-Kona | Fri-Maui | Sat-Maui | Sun-Honolulu | Ship Tour | Videos | Back |
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