Marshall and I went to Maui for a week thanks to Martin Doors. Maui is a beautiful place and we saw a rainbow almost every day. It was rainy season and like here, they got a lot of rain this season. So that made our time in Maui a little tricky. I also came down with a cold so that was also unfortunate. We made the most of our time in Maui though and really are so happy we got to go!
We left early on a Monday morning. We flew to Oakland and had a quick layover and then flew to Maui.
We stayed in the Westin Marriott resort in Lahaina. It was a beautiful resort. It was next to many resorts and in the middle was a shopping mall. This mall had an electronics kiosk that saved me. I forgot my work computer power cord. I needed to work while we were there and we found a power cord at the kiosk that worked for my computer. Thank goodness! The mall was also great for souvenir shopping. One night we saw an elderly man leave a restaurant in the mall with his wife on a dolly. He was pushing her on the dolly. She didn't look well and we couldn't help but stare trying to figure out what he was doing. We hung around the mall for a little bit and saw a security guard stop the elderly man and made him take the dolly back to the restaurant. Then once he did that and came back to his wife who was standing on to a hand rail in the middle of the mall, we realized she was too drunk to walk. He wasn't much better off but better than her. So crazy!
We had a room facing the island when we checked in. It was a beautiful view and we were just happy to be there even though it wasn't an ocean view. The people in the room next to us started playing music really loud. We could hear it in our room as if we were playing it loud in our room. Then we went to the hall and you could hear it just as loud. There were others in the hall with the same shocked looks. They said there was loud music all weekend from that room. We talked to the front desk and got a new room on a different floor and we got an ocean view.
Next to the lobby was a beautiful garden, waterfall and flamingos.
We enjoyed exploring the black rocks behind us. There were sea turtles and lots of fish.
Our new view. We thought the island view was beautiful, the ocean view was breathtaking.
Monday night we went to a welcome dinner with everyone there with Martin. The view from the patio was picture perfect.
Tuesday Marshall had a meeting in the morning which gave me time to get some work done. Then the rest of the day was free to do whatever we wanted. We went to the beach to snorkel and swim. It rained on and off all day. The wind was crazy and the waves were bigger than we were used to but we figured it was normal. We heard Hawaii had big waves. Marshall enjoyed cliff jumping off the rocks. He impressed all of the on lookers by doing a back flip.
We enjoyed snorkeling and seeing lots of fish and coral. Then I decided to do an open water swim. I love practicing when I get the opportunity. It was a little nerve wracking going out with the big waves but once I got past where the waves broke I was all good. I swam about a half mile. It was very enjoyable. I used my snorkel because my lap goggles were in the hotel room and I didn't want to go get them. Once I was done swimming I was nervous to come back to shore because of the big waves. I had Marshall come out and help me. We watched the waves and made a run or swim for it in between big waves. Well, I was almost in and a big wave crashed on me. I was wearing my snorkel and the wave took it off my head and away. I couldn't find it anywhere. It was so crazy and powerful! I felt so stupid and like such a rookie. Marshall began looking for it but it was nowhere to be seen. The waves were like a vacuum sucking things in. Nothing was getting washed onto shore. While Marshall was out with his snorkel on looking for my snorkel, a big wave took him out, flipped him around and took his snorkel. It was such a force. So we both lost our nice fancy snorkels as rookies in the Hawaiian waves. The funny part is we thought that was normal. Well, on our last day the wind had finally stopped and we went to the beach. The waves were so calm, almost non existent and we bobbed in the water like it was a pool. If we had known that was normal I don't think we would have been out in the water on the first day.
This was one of the sea turtles hanging out on the black rocks.
Wednesday we got up early for a snorkel cruise. It was windy and raining but thankfully the snorkel cruise didn't get cancelled.
One thing that was good timing and in our favor was whale season. We got to see a lot of whales while on our snorkel cruise. That was really cool seeing water blow up in the air, tails splash and whales jumping.
The snorkel cruise was super nice and served breakfast and lunch. We were suppose to snorkel at Malokini crater but it was too windy so we went to a different area. We enjoyed both areas. There was lots of coral and fish to see.
That night we went to the Hyatt to the Luau. The show started and we learned how to dance the hula and then we were watching the program and it talked about the history of Hawaii people. Sadly the weather turned rainy and very windy. We all had ponchos but it was so windy and a downpour so the ponchos weren't enough. We all took cover in the hotel and ate dinner. Then we found out the rest of the show was cancelled. It was such a bummer!
Saw this as we walked from our hotel to the Hyatt.
View on our walk to the Hyatt.
Entrance to the Luau.
It looked really nice when it first started. Everyone got necklaces.
Stay tuned for part 2 of our trip...
