This is a whale watching mecca. Not only can you see whales from the shore, but small boats line the wharf ready to run you out and let you run with the whales for a few hours. If you have the time, this is a must do.
Lahaina is touristy town on western side of Maui, the second largest of all of the Hawaiian Islands. Slightly more than 100,000 people are scattered around he island. The western end sports great roads and some terrific views of the ocean. It also has the only tunnel on the island.
The humpback whales are here and whale watching is a big industry. Small whale watching boats line the shore. Professional whalewatchers are also nearby with binboculars watching.
Various governmental and quasi-governmental organizations keep a close eye on the whales and offer information. The woman in the background has an advanced degree and sophisticated knowledge to share if you ask her questions; unless you say hi, you'll probably think she is just a babe with binoculars sunning herself.
Watchers can identify individual whales by the patterns on their tails. Hunting of whatles is slowly dyibng out – the Japnese are giving up and that will leave only two countries still fishing for whales.
Still an endangered species, these whales are almost certainly going to survive now.
Lahaina, while now morphed into a tourist city, got its start as a whaling port in the 1840s reaching its zenith in 1846 when an astounding 400 whaling ships sailed from here. By 1859 the whales had been fished out and the industry was gone.
But at its height it drew some interesting people to town, including Hermann Melville who would write Moby Dick about the whaling in these waters. Moby Dick, now a classic, never found its audience in Melville’s life and he died in relative obscurity eaking out a living as a government clerk. Here you can walk the streets that Melville walked.
Missionary cottage in Iao Valley. Christian missionaries got here in the 19th century and liked what they saw. They started grabbing land and today some of their descendants are financially quite fat. God's will?
Lahaina is terrific in documenting its history. Historical signs are everywhere. Hollywood has also been here – the motion picture “The Devil at 4 O’clock” was shot in Lahaina after World War II. Walk the Pacific Hotel if you want to visit where the movie was shot. Not only that but Thomas Edison was also here and his films from 1898 and 1906, the first ever taken on Hawaii, are being shown in the Wo Hing Museum’s Cookhouse Theater on Maui’s main drag. True movie buffs shouls make a beeline for this place
The dock is not large enough, or perhaps the water is not deep enough for cruise ships to get into the port. The Queen Victoria moored off and tendered its passengers in. The ride to the beach is about ten minutes and as the boat approaches shore you can expect to ride past people standing far out in the water.
This young woman has just whacked a coconut in half and is holding up the results. If the coconut milk is whitish it means it is contaminated. Clear means fresh. Either way, it is a natural laxative.
Lahaina is chocked full of teeshirt shops and will feel familiar to anyone who has visited Cariibbean islands or such relentlessly touristy places like Gatlinburg, TN, although it is not quite that awful.
Maui has the last operating sugar plant in Hawaii and sugar cane fields. The process of making sugar is well explained (turn off the irrigation for three weeks, burn the fields at night and scoops up the stalks and grind them up). Sugar is now processed into molasses now instead of granular sugar before it is shipped to Crocker, CA, outside San Diego where it is now processed into sugar. “C&H Sugar” is the dominant brand – and it probably stands for “California and Hawaii”, although one guide on another island said it stands for Crocker and Hawaii. If you live in Crocker, you probably will want to say it stands for “Crocker”.
Besides the beaches and surfing, which depending on the time of year, go from great to super fabulous, there are a few places on the islands to go day-tripping – but it might be a stretch if you’re expecting to see much. On the other hand, maybe we didn’t take the right tour.
The Pioneer Hotel adjacent to the dock. Walk through this place and walk back into the 19th century. Don't miss the list of films on the wall that were shot here.
We opted for the half-day Iao Valley and Maui Tropical Plantation Tour. Our bus driver/tour guide was Tim, a balding affable enough guy who talked in a singsong fashion and managed to drone a fair number of people to sleep. One problem was that this was primarily a riding-around tour. Great for people who are in very good walking condition, but it was an hour long ride to first the Iao Valley State Park and Tim seemed to be running his own personal tape. When asked the population of the island when he had been silent for a few moments, he began talking ignoring the question. It was as if someone had pushed a button and turned him back on. Still this guy came armed with lots of knowledge if you could stay awake.
The Ioa Valley was the site of a monstrously bloody battle in 1790 that unified most of the Hawaiian Islands and is well documented here. There is also the “Ioa Needle” a 2,250-foot cinder cone that dominates the terrain. Hikers can climb the 158 steps to an observation point, a climb that weeds out the people on the bus between those in shape and those not. Once up at the observation point hikers are rewarded with seeing exactly what those not making the hike see.
Pioneer Hotel house phone. A long boat is in the courtyard. Wander this place if time permits.
Our tour also included the Maui Tropical Plantation. Because there is so little to do on this tour, large amounts of time were left to wander and search site, and at the Plantation that meant about 45 minutes in the gift shop before a half hour tram ride through fields. The trams stop at one point and two young women husk a coconut, split it open and parade the two halves through the gathered crowd. Imagine what these girls could do dressed in leather and working with whips. Several of my misconceptions were dispelled about coconuts including that inside a coconut is coconut milk. The liquid inside a coconut, which is definitely nourishing and good for you, should be clear, not milky. If it is milky t is still healthy, but in a different way. Milky fluid inside a coconut indicates that the coconut is old or that a worm or two has gotten inside which, according to the young ladies is not all bad: – it is, the young ladies both nodded in agreement, a great laxative.
Shopping in Maui holds some surprises. If you are looking for vintage movie posters from the dawn of the movie industry a hundred years ago, this may be your place. On the main drag there is a nook with stunning posters that including providence of authenticity. They’re not cheap — $850 into tens of thousands of dollars, but there they are.
That's the Iao Needle in the background in Iao Valley State Park. Supposedly to reach this overlook, Carol Anne and I had to climb 158 steps and they were so insistent that it was 158 steps that I counted them. It is 158 steps.
There are also art galleries, including photographic art galleries. Photo artists, unlike painters and sculptors, always have a story about the special quality of their prints since, today, you can step outside and get the same quality shot these guys are trying to hawk to you for hundreds or thousands of dollars. But they’re worth a look.
Hilo Hattie’s is also here, a chain of variety stores aimed at tourists. There’s a selection of clothing, candy, grass skirts and tourist items, and other zany stuff like a lounge chair for your cell phone.
Snap! A member of the Victoria's crew takes a picture of his ship as we tender in at Lahaina. Lahaina was the only port where the Victoria anchored off shore. The Victoria holds her position by setting her GPS allowing her various thrusters to keep her in place instead of anchors.
Prices in Hilo Hattie’s need watching.
The store, part of a chain, is a few blocks from the main drag and to get there you either have to walk or take a short bus ride that Hilo Hattie’s provides.
It’s probably not worth the trip, though – we paid $10 for a grass skirt and later found the identical skirts mere steps from where the Cunard tender docked for only $5.
Hattie, Hattie, Hattie. Play nice.
“All Aboard, the Cunard Queens” is © copyright 2009-2011 by Seine/Habour® Productions, LLC, Studio City, California and by The Peter Michael Crow Trust and Peter Michael Crow, individually.
All Aboard, the Cunard Queens 