Saturday, September 13 –

This morning we went out and enjoyed perhaps the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, with white sand, swing hammocks under palm trees and crystal-blue waters. We could see Molokini crater out in the waters in front of us, Kaho’Olawe further ahead and Lanai to our northeast. I tried out the hammock for a while before going snorkeling and returning to the easy life of the hammock. Later, Jeff and I went with Dad to the pool.

Hula pie

That afternoon we drove north to Lahaina to explore the colorful old whaling town. We had lunch at very good restaurant called Kimo’s, owned by the Duke’s Restaurant family. We had their signature Hula Pie, chocolate brownie desert with ice cream and chocolate sauce. The slogan of the dessert is it what’s “sailors swam to shore for.” We hit some souvenir shops while admiring the views of Lanai. Then we toured the northern part of the island stopping at a couple of beaches, Ka’anapali and Kapalua for snorkeling.

That evening, we enjoyed our first luau at our Marriott Resort. They cooked the barbecue kalua pig in a traditional manner for hours in taro leaves over a fire pit of coals. The huge dinner party enjoyed the biggest buffet you can imagine. In addition to traditional Hawaiian foods like poi, an almost tasteless soupy food made from the taro plant, we had all kinds of barbecue pork, fish, vegetables and desserts. The mai tais were great too while the bands entertained us. Quite a few young couples were celebrating their honeymoon and a few older couples celebrated their anniversary. After sunset, the entertainment heated up. We watch a great show of Hawaiian hula dancers and fire dancers. What an entertaining show!

It’s time for the kalua pig at the luau

We had to go to bed early because we had a big day ahead of us on Sunday.