Sabins on the Sea - Day 18 - Kahului, Maui
by Nina Sabin - Travel Blog
During this Voyage some of our locations were adapted. Maui was one of them. Instead of going to Lahaina, Maui which is more of the tourist area with hotels and beaches, we docked at Kahului, which was a more industrial area. It took an extra hour to disembark as the port authorities were waiting for one of the security staff to take their posts. So basically one person held up 1600 people on the cruise ship. That reminded us of our typical experiences when traveling through Saudi and the Middle East.
Once we disembarked, we had this long-gated path to proceed through. The path was similar to what we experienced when we went from Israel to Palestine.
On the path there was also a sign that said $130 for jaywalking. This made John actually comply. Which for those of you who know John, this was extremely difficult for him, but I was proud of him because he did comply. When we finally made it through the gate. We walked along the main road to the parks and beach.
Kahului, a central area of the Valley Isle is the region that is primarily known as “town,” home to the Kahului Airport, Costco, Target, the Queen Ka'ahumanu Shopping Center, and most of Maui's convenience shopping at big box retailers. Besides shopping, which is not really our scene, there are parks, a beach, and nature to sightsee.
One highlight along the waterfront is driftwood sculptures. There are several of fish and one of a turtle. We also sat along the sea wall next to a Fishing Club. There we saw a mongoose native to Hawaii. He was was walking along the sea wall. One look at us and he scurried off quickly. The weather has been pretty sunny, warm and humid. We wore hats, sunscreen, and long sleeve shirts to protect us from the sun.
We were joking with each other, because at home we would never be walking around in the heat of the day. However, on vacations and seeing places we are out to explore. Our steps today were around 16,000 steps. We are doing well with keeping up with 10,000 steps per day or more when we are on land. It is harder to accomplish those steps on sea days. We walked along along the sea shore and in the water along the beach area. After three hours, we were ready to get back on the ship. It is awesome to be able to explore in the morning and then come back on the ship for lunch, drinks, and a nap.
Who needs to go to the beach resort area when we have a floating resort to enjoy. We finished today with another delicious meal at the dining room, meeting new people and the a BBC Earth movie with live music. It is amazing that just about every night we can go to open seating and meet people we haven’t seen before. We have really enjoyed that experience. In a ship of 1600 people it is hard to meet everyone but open seating makes more opportunities to meet others. Tomorrow is our last port, Kona, in Hawaii. Then we will be at sea for five days before arriving in the French Polynesian Islands.