We wouldn't be golfing or shopping, so we continued past those attractions to the sandy beach along the beautiful ocean until we reached the natural black rock outcropping near the Sheraton, which we have found to be one of the best places to snorkel in the world.
Once again, we had cooler than normal weather, but I was soon swimming out to the point, passing colorful fish and coral along the way.
The water felt warmer than the air, and the gentle currents required little work to get around, an experience that feels like being able to effortlessly fly.
Before long, I was joined by a huge turtle, who let me follow him around. When Julie took her first turn, she also found a turtle. I assumed it must be the same one, but when I went out again, a turtle led me to a second, larger turtle, and the three of us explored the ocean together until a teenager with a camera mounted on a selfie stick came over splashing around to capture the moment, scaring the turtles away.
On this particular day, we also had to be careful of bodies falling from the sky. There are always a few people who brave the heights of the craggy rocks to dive in, but on this day, a steady stream of teenagers kept jumping in.
Further out from shore, some considerably larger splashes appeared as whales breached the surface and flopped down either their tails or full bodies. While we've been able to hear whales singing under the water before, we've never seen anything like this at Ka'anapali Beach.
When lunch time arrived, we headed to our favorite Maui restaurant, Hula Grill. On this particular day, a gentle soul named Derick Sebastian played his ukulele and sang on the small stage that rises from the sand of this barefoot bar on the beach. Our waitress seated us right by the stage. From the outset, I realized Derick was the most skilled ukulele player I had ever heard, and his lilting vocals embraced the meaning of the lyrics as well as the melodies perfectly.
As these things go, I didn't write down his name, but I was suitably impressed to try to figure out who might have been playing at the Hula Grill at lunch on that Thursday as I wrote this blog. I found a name that sounded like it might be right and searched it on the web. Isn't it amazing how far we've come with technology in our lifetimes (no matter when you were born!)? Sure enough, Derick had a web site, and it turned out I am not the only one to think he's an amazing talent.
Of course, there was also a delicious meal to go along with that great entertainment. I ordered my favorite Hula Grill meat, Kalua pulled pork, which is now served on lavendar poi buns as Kapulu Joe Sliders accompanied by Mac Nut Slaw. With ice cold Lavaman Red Ale, beautiful ocean view, lovely date and sand under my toes, I was in hog heaven.
As tempting as it was to stay, we headed back to our snorkel spot until it was time to catch the bus back to Lahaina.
Port congestion in Lahaina resulted in a line to catch the tender back to the ship, but it couldn't diminish my belief that for a full spectrum of fun and easily accessible activities in a tropical destination, Maui remains hard to beat.
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