… blew right by some whales because we were on a schedule with the Pacific Whale Foundation. Grr!

It was pretty frustrating – nice day for a snorkel cruise, good conditions, nice boat (the Ocean Voyager) with Pacific Whale Foundation. But because we were on a “tight” schedule, our 7.5 hour trip consisted of motoring right past pods of whales. Which, perhaps due to our high rate of speed and high engine noise, generally dove as we approached rather than hanging around on the surface.

I did get some decent shots that will be useful for identifying individuals – they’ll be on Flickr with the tag “whaletail” – but we weren’t close enough for a really good focus. It was a pleasant day, nice people on the boat (including someone who was on our difficult “Mauipocalypse” flight from Dallas on Saturday), but somewhat frustrating in that we’d spot whales at 1 o’clock or 11 o’clock and holler, and we’d watch as they quickly went by at 2, 3, 4 and 5. The captain would only slow down if the whale was dead ahead or crossing our path.

Also – Captain Doug Hunt of Pacific Whale Foundation, your comedy stylings were fine for a boatload of schoolkids, but not so much for a boatload of people of different age groups. It was a long day to have to listen to all the announcements in a childish sing-song delivery… wow, really. Nice boat, nice crew, and but even the kids would appreciate being talked to as adults.

We coffee’d up this morning and headed north with our cameras, as we decided the surf looked a bit high yet to snorkel off our beach. We noodled along in a relaxed way and drove as far as the Honokowai Valley, an area with one of the scariest roads EVAR. Normally, there’s a little school bus parked there at the top of the road, which acts as kind of a cue to stop and look over the one-lane road that goes down into the valley. But it wasn’t there today (maybe because it’s President’s Day, because I did see a sign for it.

Here’s what it looked like on one of our previous trips, anyway.

We noodled along after turning around at the bottom of the “scary road” and headed back toward Kaanapali, thinking that we’d stop in and get some brunch somewhere. But I erred in telling David to park at Kahekili Park, when we should have driven farther down towards the Sheraton. We discovered that the “beach walk” gets detoured away from the beach and through the grounds of the Royal Lahaina Resort, going WAY out of our way. Hungry, hot, and tired, we finally lost the trail entirely and wandered into the Sheraton and found something quite tasty to eat at their “Cliff Diver” beachside bar.

Feeling revived (we’d also walked down the steps to Honolua Bay, and walked back up), we didn’t look forward to the long, boring trek back to the car. Decided to cut away from the “beach path” and actually walk on the “beach” itself, which was pretty good exercise if a little hot and quite a workout. Drove back “home” to relax and futz with various Internet chores.

We’re now members (again) of the Pacific Whale Foundation and also booked on an all-day excursion tomorrow with them, so we’ll be on the water at last. Hoping to get some good photos tomorrow, we’ll see how they turn out.

Dinner started to loom and we decided on Cuatro, based on some favorable reviews on Yelp, and I’d have to totally agree with this one:

Cuatro – Kihei, HI

When Sansei turned out to have a 45 minute wait, I turned to my handy yelp app for an alternative. Fortunately, Cuatro was right next door and had no wait.

Our party of 4 wasn’t drinking, so we were able to sit outside. They don’t allow alcohol at their outdoor tables. Outside was a great option, as it was rather warm inside. Cuatro is cozy and cute, with a small number of tables. I was kind of relieved to find someplace that was going to be relaxing and quiet.

This place has an unusual concept – Mexican/Asian fusion. Very interesting. Their menu is simple, fresh fish with a selection of a few different preparations. It was perfect, we were looking for some good fresh fish and it looked like we hit the jackpot. I settled on the seared ahi prepared Mexican style and my dinner companions settled on the ono served Mauiterranean style.

My ahi arrived perfectly seared and incredibly tasty. The fish was spiced well and served with a fresh salsa on top. It was accompanied by a delicious mushroom rice. I seriously couldn’t stop eating it, it was that good.

My friends enjoyed their ono as well. The Mauiterranean preparation was light and simple, yet flavorful.

I also had the Mauiterranean-style ono, and it was a “WOW!” David enjoyed his ono too, which was the Riviera version. We also sat outside, because there were no available tables inside and we’d already had a beer at home. So that was no problem, and the people-watching was pretty good. It’s right next to the Kihei police sub-station, but nobody was doing any perp-walking or bringing in big busts. It’s just a quiet little strip mall by the Foodland, and Sansei is indeed at the end, with a long wait for a table. We were very happy with our dinners, but thought they needed maybe one more person to run interference inside (it’s a very small location). We did have a pleasant talk with the guy who took care of us (who may have been a partner or part-owner).

It was a nice evening, even though it was odd that some guy was on the pay phone near our table, speaking Spanish, for the entire time that we were there. He couldn’t have been a criminal, because, hey, the cop shop was right there. So we did wonder.

More specific to the meal, my fish was perfectly grilled, hot but not overcooked. One thing the Yelp posters didn’t mention was the delicious and tangy salad dressing, on a bed of very fresh and tender greens. Come to think of it, the turkey wrap I had at the beach bar had amazingly tasty greens, too. That’s something about Maui – if you’re at a restaurant that knows their business, no matter the price range, they serve locally grown produce. Mmmmm.

Tomorrow, not so much gourmet stuff is likely, as we’ll be nomming on board the excursion boat, and we’re planning on making pasta. Easy, peasy, we’ll be pooped from a day on the water with our marine mammal friends.

Somewhere Over The Pacific

I always wanted to start of with an evocative dateline, full of the mystery and intrigue of travel. However, this trip is starting ought to be one of slapstick and misdirection.

Several months ago, when planning this trip, I booked us on connecting flights Chicago-Maui, because the nonstops were about $1300 each and connections on American via Dallas were about $900 or so. I didn’t want the early set of connecting flights because the time in Dallas was too short; also the fare was lower.

Who knew Texas, and indeed 49 out of 50 states would have snow on the ground? Who knew our Dallas flight would have a mechanical delay, and a double gate change? Who knew that the earlier flight had NO delay, but we might not have made it in 10 minutes’ time? Who knew that our eventual flight to Maui would end up with a change of aircraft in Los Angeles?

Thank God, it WAS a quick swap and we’re now about 3 hours from Kahului. We’ve seen a movie, “The Boys Are Back,” and now it’s the rest of the so-called in-flight entertainment.

And now it remains to find out if we’ll get in before Avis closes at 11pm (looks like 9:30pm) and if we can find the lockbox with the condo key (talked to them, sounds like no repeat of the Great Expedia Debacle of 2007, when nobody was in the office and there was NO lockbox code).

Yeah okay, rambling.

Our day’s been shot going back and forth between the B, D, and back to the B terminal, and the delay (about an hour and 20 minutes) and the extra stop.

Everybody on the Maui flight has been pretty good natured, although a few people that missed the first flight had to stand by (and I don’t know if they made it, think they got some volunteers).

In spite of the mechanical and the bobbled gate change, American has been pretty good about pulling the aircraft change and re-seating everyone. But I don’t think that one gate agent will live down her cheery, wrong “I have found another aircraft for you, please proceed to Gate B39” anytime soon. At least Dallas’ skytrain is better than their old people mover was, which was outside of security.

So that’s where we are, somewhere over the Pacific, looking to outmaneuver the Mauipocalypse, Real Soon.

UPDATE: About an hour and a half to go. It seems the only time I ever watch “30 Rock” is on airline flights.

At least the TV part is over and now the tiny plane is getting closer to the Hawaiian Islands. The cabin is dark and relatively quiet… Uh oh, more NBC-Universal programming. Eureka!

It’s a rerun, but I’ll take it. It’s the one with the “network update” and “smart asphalt.” And the annoying product placement.

And Kim 2.0. Ah, poor Henry.