2 PaddlersYour total including Hawaiian state sales tax is $XXX.XX, your confirmation number is: Karen, and your customer number is 47075. Check in no later than 7:00AM for an event start time of 7:15AM.

Meet at Makena Landing, which is on Makena Road just before the Maui Prince Hotel (vendor name is South Pacific Kayaks). Call them the day before your tour to reconfirm the meeting time and to get precise instructions. Their number is 808-875-4848. Plan to bring sunscreen, a hat, a sweatshirt, and a towel.

Call them when you arrive on Maui to reconfirm the meeting time and place and to give them a lunch order. Their number is 808-875-4848. Plan to bring sunscreen, a hat, a sweatshirt, and a towel. Snorkel gear and lunch is provided.

Adventuremaui.com will charge your credit card for this activity five days prior to your trip to Hawaii. The charge will appear on your credit card statement from “Hawaii Travel and Tours.”

It was a good day out- we were done at noon after making a couple of stops – we were supposed to go to a third site, but the wind and waves started to kick up and it would have pushed us over a shallow reef too much, I think so the guide took us for an extended paddle.

The highlight of the trip for us was probably when a big turtle came up with a school of large fish behind it – David thinks he got video.

The lowlight was when I got into the water incorrectly the second time from the kayak, didn’t alert David first, and dumped him, the kayak, his mask, and my sunglasses over. We had to wait for the guide to come back and retrieve them, as at that point he was taking three people in who had taken the “short” tour. I stayed on station over David’s mask and my sunglasses, and Steve retrieved them both handily.

We were on a longer one that included a picnic lunch on the beach. We paddled around, looking at reefs from above while Steve, our guide, explained about wildlife in the islands, and also about living in Maui. It was really interesting, but then we just made a big loop and paddled around some dive boats. I got tired a lot, but tried to keep paddling. David got pretty frustrated because I was consistently pulling to the right, because my left side isn’t as strong. I did my best, and at least I felt I was getting the hang of it. Next time we do it, I’ll have to try harder to push forward, oddly enough, with my left arm, because it’s the overhand push that’s supposed to be the power stroke.

Steve was good at finding things and bringing them up to us (gently), such as a wee little octopus, a slate pencil urchin, and a collector urchin. The slate pencil is beautiful – I never knew how it looks like its shell is encrusted with garnets, in addition to having the bright red “pencils,” which wave about. I could feel it moving its little foot-like pedicles (or whatever they’re called) against my hand.

We came in one boat at a time – just two boats after the reduction in our party – and had to come in carefully to avoid snagging some fishermen’s lines. Once again, I tried to exit the kayak as gracefully as I could, meaning falling to my knees and dumping myself okole over coconuts in sandy surf. It was my second finest moment of the day. I could hear David cackling away – he was avenged.

The locals were there with their gear, their food, and their kids, including one little keiki urchin running around nakedy jaybird on the beach. He looked like he was about 4, but would grow up to be a strong fisherman who could live off the sea like his dad. He was watching his dad intently, watching the waves, and also having fun old-school.

During lunch seated on driftwood logs under the kiawe trees, Steve showed us urchin shells and how different they look after they’ve died. He talked about how some of the beautiful homes lining the Makena strand go for $9-11 million dollars, and are probably used for only 2 or 3 weeks of the year. Yet they drive up property prices and tax rates for everyone.

We stopped off after lunch at Serendipity to pick up a fancy-schmancy outfit for going out in, and then came back to the condo, showered, and collapsed.

Never really napped, but conked out for a good long while, and then what did we do? Watched an SG-1 episode and ate the rest of the cookies from lunch. It was the episode with the two fish-out-of-water scientists on an offworld mission, played by Patrick McKenna and John Billingsley -I believe it’s called “The Other Guys.”

We are such geeks. And tonight, if we don’t order a pizza and stay in, we’ll go out for Greek! Yum!

Tomorrow, the plan is to pick up David’s parents and he’ll drive them to the condo in their car, and I’ll stay with our car in short term parking and pick up my college buddy Debbie, and she’ll stay in our second bedroom. More activities ensue.

We got our coffee and toast thang going and then got out all the snorkel gear and went off to Wailea/Makena for some snorkeling. Ahihi Cove was almost deserted when we got there, and as a pair of women were getting out, I asked about conditions. “Murkey and disappointing,” they said. David was all for bailing and trying somewhere else, but I already had my wetsuit on.

Let me tell you, it’s a big exhausting fight getting into the wetsuit, and I wasn’t about to bail just yet. So I took a turn around the cove while David stayed on shore, and sure enough, not a lot of fish, lots of sediment in the water, and lots of sediment covering the coral. So I came back out over the old boat ramp, and as I was getting myself definned and situated, I said to David “Just call me Paula… Paula Murkey of Murky Research.”

So we went back up the road to the public access section of the beach in front of the Maui Prince, and had a good time there because it was clearer and cleaner. Also, bathrooms are always a plus! And a shower!

We had dry clothes with us – I even had a sarong outfit – so we went to Longhi’s in Wailea for brunch, splitting a seafood omelet and a big bowl of fruit. We did not fail to make “second breakfast” jokes.

We browsed some of the high-end galleries and had a somewhat off-putting experience at one: the gallery person invited us back for a special treat, sat us down on a couch, and promised us an “indoor Maui sunset.” Then she darkened the little viewing room and lowered the lights with a rheostat. “Pop” went the colors in the painting: anything highlighted with the special white or yellow paint they used seemed to glow more brightly and remain visible longer than the rest of the print. It’s some process they use with special inks/paints that have reflective properties. An interesting technique, but the subject was kind of…well, an updated version of a flourescent velvet Elvis, in a way. It was kind of a garish sunset treatment, and so the effect was a little over the top.

After escaping her clutches (she had an odd way of over-pronouncing everything, a little like an East Coast uppercruster) we shopped for a wowzer outfit for the upcoming birthday(s) dinner(s).

David tells me we get to celebrate my birthday twice, as he got the date wrong the first year we were together, and so the 27th will be my “second birrrthday,” a few days after my first. Whoopee, etc!

We relaxed at the condo during a big, booming windstorm, and then went to Sansei for sushi last night, just missing the “happy hour” discount. Apparently, the trick is to get there at least 30-45 minutes BEFORE they open at 5pm to get a table before the cutoff -you have to be seated and order by 6 to get 25% off.

This morning, we had planned on an easy snorkel, but decided instead to head toward the Upcountry. Left the condo at around 830am. We just returned at around 9pm, having made a day trip totally by accident and completely enjoyably. We missed a turn for Makawao, the cowboy/artist/hippie town, and decided to carry on toward the Ulupalakua Ranch/Tedeschi Winery, stopping for coffee and a cookie at Grandmas in Keokea first. Read the local alternative newspaper, listened to music, chatted, and got going again. We arrived at the winery just as a tour was beginning, so we tagged on to that and enjoyed the good humor and sassiness of the lady leading the tour. After petting the winery Siamese cat just a bit, and taking a few arty photos, we headed back toward Makawao.

There again, a gallery owner or two pounced on us. Once more, we were invited back for something special, except this time instead of a sunset, it was a still life with a bottle of wine and two highly reflective glasses. This time I was all for the subject, and even interested in buying, but David was not. Still, pretty cool use of the “glowing” effect, this time with a print of something where the original was a watercolor – it was almost photographic in appearance, with bright reflections on the glasses and incredible realism. That was worth seeing. Then we got a recommendation for a place to eat – the Garden Cafe – which was a great meal, but they charged extra because we split a whole sandwich instead of buying two half sandwiches.

Grr, but the sandwich was delicious – snow crab and avocado with Kula greens in a Caesar salad. Worth the price, as the ingredients were really high quality.

More gallery browsing – one place we went in, the guy said “Everything’s for sale, painted by my wife.”

Do they all think we’re marks or something? We decided it was because it’s the off season.

Then we took a long drive to nowhere up Olinda Road, which goes up through eucalyptus trees and Norfolk Island pine to a more or less dead end, but there’s another road down from there that leads back toward Makawao. Then we took a right and headed for the ocean, driving at random but always downhill-ish. We came out right by the house with all the surfboards, and I hope to go back on another day for morning light. I took a photo on a previous trip there but wasn’t all that happy with it because I rushed it and the light wasn’t great.

Maybe on the way to Hana later in the trip we can detour briefly, it’s just at the beginning of the Hana road by the highway memorial.

So after that, we drifted down toward Pa’ia with the vague intention of returning to the condo, although it was relatively early. We stopped for a while at the overlook for Ho’okipa (the big surfing and windsurfing beach) and there wasn’t much going on with the waves, although we took some photos. It looked like we’d head back for a nap and then go out later.

But wait! There’s more! We decided on the fly to go all the way across the island and north at least as far as Napili, and see if anything was happening over there. So we risked traffic and stripmalls to get there, and were there big waves? No, but the enjoyment was in the journey. We did go down the steps to whatever the beach is there where the surfers hang out – Slaughterhouse? and also drove up and around Honolua, although just a few snorkelers were there. It was very calm. We chatted with some fellow shutterbugs on the beach, and then climbed the stairs. Whew.

Decided we just wanted a drink or something – that turned into appetizers at the Mala Grill, which were life-changingly good. We never knew you could combine salsa and edamame before, the mahi-mahi ceviche was died-and-gone-to-heaven good, and the ahi tuna bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes (from Hamakua?) made me feel like a shark in a blissful feeding frenzy. I believe my eyes rolled back in my head and everything.

I had a mojito, David had two glasses of Maui Brewing Co.’s Big Swell IPA, and enjoyed the sunset from the Mala lanai. Then we strolled out to walk off the alcohol, chatted with a lady about her dog and found out that in Hawaii, pets can go through a “home quarantine” now for people that move here. Hmmm.

Then as the Cannery Mall was across the street, we wandered in there to windowshop – I was looking for a necklace or something for the wowzer outfit, which I should have gotten in Makawao when I saw it. We stumbled on to a hula show with music that was actually pretty good, so we stayed and watched that for a while.

And then it was time to bumble off home, and here we are blogging instead of getting ready for the kayak/snorkel excursion we’ve got laid on for tomorrow. Must get that pulled together. So sleepy. Long day.

Tomorrow is our last day on our own, and then Thursday the remainder of the party arrives. Big fun ensues, but we’re already having medium-large fun on our own.