Maui Day 1

I was up at 5am this morning - couldn't sleep.  But this meant I could hang out on deck and get a great view as we approached Maui - and docked at about 8am.   Unfortunately the port itself is not that picturesque - this was the view from our stateroom:




Today we were supposed to be going on an Atlantis submarine trip and then shopping in Lahaina. But our booked excursion has been postponed until tomorrow as the submarine was undergoing maintenance today.  Bridie and I walked into the town to the Queen someone or other Center (I know a lot of people complain Welsh doesn't have enough vowels - but my problem is that Hawaiian seems to have too many and all the words are really long).  Anyhow, we caught a local bus and got off at Waikapu to  visit a tropical plantation.  Had a lovely lunch there with nice cocktails and saw lots of interesting plants and a coconut husking demonstration and trolley tour of the plantation.

Then we jumped a bus again and went on to some Harbor town and had a look around there.  Now back on the ship and exhausted.  But I feel quite proud that we went out and used the local bus service and found our way around for the day on our own rather than paying for an expensive organized excursion.  The local bus was 4 bucks to ride anywhere all day - and entrance to the plantation was free (although we did have to pay for the trolley tour)