Maui -- day six

Monday was a pretty relaxed day. We slept in a little and then ate breakfast at the hotel (yummy french toast and portuguese sausage). Then we got our snorkel gear and headed to the beach in front of the hotel.


The beach attendant said there were two turtles hanging out just behind the little group of rocks, and sure enough you could see them poke their heads and fins up every now and then. So we got in and swam over to see them. They were HUGE. They didn't seem to mind people swimming pretty close and they hung out there all morning long.


(By the way I got stung by a man-of-war on the back of my hand. The beach attendant said I was the first person in a week, lucky me. It didn't hurt that bad but the marks are still there almost a week later!)

We took a short break to lay on the beach and then swam out to some of the reefs. I took my camera that time to try to get some pictures, but it's pretty hard when you can't see the view finder and don't really know which way you're pointing. I think I did get a couple good ones though.


This was also the first time I tried actually swimming down below the surface while snorkeling. It was really hard to stay down though, the sea water makes you very buoyant.


We saw some angelfish, trigger fish, the long skinny fish, a unicorn fish, a puffer fish, and Chris thinks he saw an octopus dart into a rock very quickly. And we saw sleeping fish just hanging out on the bottom! (The guy at the luau later said that scientists are convinced fish can't sleep because they have to stay moving, but sure enough that's not true for these fish at least.)

We spent a little while at the pool and got a hamburger and fish tacos for lunch at the pool bar. Then we cleaned up and drove into Lahaina to do some shopping before the luau.

In the evening we went to the Old Lahaina Luau. I definitely liked this one better than the one we went to on Oahu. It was supposed to be more authentic with regard to ancient Hawaii customs and dance and the whole place was more intimate. Plus ALL the drinks were free.


Before dinner they give you a chance to walk around the grounds and see various crafts, instruments, and people. There was a lady selling shell jewelry and guys selling tiki wood carvings. Some of the hula dancers were demonstrating how you dance with the various instruments. And the guy we listened to for the longest time was talking about how they lived in ancient Hawaii. It was really interesting. We learned for instance that the way a man was measured was by how well he made his rope. You had to scrape every little string off the inside of a coconut husk and braid them all together. A 6 foot long piece of rope might take you 6 months to make. Then if you wanted to make a fishing net (that you cast out in a circle to catch a school of fish), it might take about 2 years to make. He showed how they made fishing hooks and how they caught octopus. And how they cast fishing nets and how they made poi.


They had a guy there the whole time he was talking that was mashing the purple stuff on a large rock. He explained that Poi is not something that you really ate in ancient hawaii unless you were the poorest of the poor because it's watered down with about 2 gallons of water. But regular people ate a much more concentrated version (which we got to try, and it wasn't bad at all... very much like sweet potato).


The other interesting thing we learned is why yellow fin tuna is called Ahi. Ahi means "fire" in hawaiian and when they used to catch the fish with their coconut husk ropes, the fish would try to get away of course and pull the course rope through the fisherman's bare hands. Well you can imagine that burns pretty bad so they named the fish Ahi.

Soon it was time for dinner (buffet style) and I think I tried a bit of everything. They had ahi poke which is raw tuna chunks with some chives and maui onions mixed in. Chris liked that but what I liked even more was the octopus poke. Yes I ate raw octopus. With the little suckers and everything! It was pretty chewy and kind of salty, but very good. I would definitely have it again.


They also had mahi, steak, chicken, kalua pork, and another kind of pork wrapped in tea leaves which I didn't like as much. But overall the food was very good. Desert was little samples of macadamia nut tart, fudge brownie, coconut pudding squares, and lilipoi mousse (sweet but tart fruit) in a little cup made of dark chocolate. That was my favorite.

After dinner they started the show which was really amazing. And they actually had the stage well lit during the group dances so I got some good pictures.


The dances told the story of the goddess Pele and the history of the hula, including the time in the 1800s that hula was banned but continued underground. It was just amazing that the girls can move so fast from the waist down and be perfectly graceful and calm from the waist up. I'm sure it's an incredible workout, especially for the guys who do so much squatting and jumping.


Overall it was definitely a cool experience. On the ride home we strongly considered moving to Hawaii.