Maui -- day two

The first real day in Maui was overcast so I was a little worried about the water temperature since we had our surfing lesson scheduled. We got some breakfast at the hotel (I've waited two long years for portuguese sausage), picked up our rented snorkel gear in Kihei, and drove over to Lahaina. We walked around and saw the banyan tree which is really cool. (The entire tree takes up the whole block. The roots grow down from branches and then grow into "trunks" for additional support)

Then we headed to Goofy Foot surfing school for our two hour lesson. The boards were HUGE. I think our guide book described them as "garage doors." I think they were about ten feet long and 4 inches thick... definitely different than wakeboarding. Our instructor was Danny and we were in a group with a couple from Indiana and another guy from Alabama. We spent about 30 minutes on the beach learning our safety tips and practicing standing up on the board. Then we got in the water, which was not cold at all and actually very refreshing. We paddled out to the "safety zone" where we would wait and rest while it wasn't our turn to catch waves. I was exhausted already from just paddling out there. I didn't get up on my first or second wave then took a break. Chris didn't get up on his first two either. We were the only ones that didn't so we weren't feeling very good at that point about this whole thing. But we did stand up on the second turn and various ones after that. Actually, we usually didn't "catch" the waves. Rather Danny would tell us to start paddling early, then he would catch the wave behind us and come up and give us a little shove, yell "push up!" and then it was up to us. Overall it was really fun. I wish we had gotten more tries, but then again I don't know if my body would have been strong enough to do much more. It's a sport I would definitely try to pick up if we lived by an ocean.

We got lunch at a place called Cool Cats. Chris got a hamburger and I got fish tacos with Mahi. It's funny because Mahi is like their trash fish here, like catfish is in Texas. We walked around and shopped a little then headed back to the hotel to shower and change for the evening.


Later we headed back to Lahaina for our magic show at Warren and Annabelle's. We checked in and they ushered us into this tiny room with four doors, a couple of chairs, and a bookshelf against one wall. They gave me a key and said we had to figure out which door to take and they would come find us. Each door said something like "destiny," "passage," or "enlightenment." I won't spoil it in case you ever go (and you should!), but Chris and I didn't do very good. It took us the maximum number of tries to figure out the riddle. Once through, we got to the parlour where we got dinner and drinks and then Annabelle, the resident ghost, entertained the crowd on the piano.


Then it was time for the show. First of all, the guy Warren was just amazing in the fact that he knew so much trivia. He was a great comedian and really got the crowd involved. I should mention we were asked to sit in the front row and be participants in the show, which we agreed to. So Chris got made fun of a little, but not as much as the guy sitting on the other side of me.

But the magic... unbelievable. I can't really give it justice by describing, but everything was up close and all "sleight of hand" type tricks. There was a disappearing hundred dollar bill trick and the best part was he started it about 30 minutes into the show and it didn't come back until the last minute so he really played up the comedy with the poor guy who "lost" it. Again I won't spoil anything, you just have to go see it.