Maui

After the beauty and majesty of the Big Island, we looked forward to the next island in the Hawaii chain - Maui.  We had positioned ourselves at the top of the Big Island, with an upcoming favourable weather window to cross the notorious Alenuihaha Channel between the two islands.  Due to the topography of the islands, being steeply mountainous, with a narrow strip of sea between aligned to the prevailing Trade winds, this channel has a reputation for deception - the wind is almost always at least 10 knots higher in the channel due to the venturi effect, and the seas can be huge, making it challenging for smaller craft at all times.  We felt we had timed it well, and with an early start to try to beat the building wind and waves during the day, we headed out in the direction of Maui.  As it happened, it was a rather nice sail, with a brisk but not troublesome NE wind on the beam and making good speed. Even the waves were not mountainous so we were left wondering a little - 'what was all the fuss about?'. Around lunchtime we were in sight of Maui and soon found ourselves passing up the western coastline of the larger southern part of the island.

We had heard about an interesting small island called Molokini, which lay on our path to Lahaina, out intended anchorage.  It is a crescent shaped outcrop with sand and coral surrounds, and was a favourite snorkelling and diving destination for tourist boats.  We were prepared to stop for a break and take a look, and maybe even jump off for a swim, but were disappointed when we arrived there.  There were no other boats there right then, but it was a very tight crescent with only submerged mooring balls and no anchoring allowed.  We decided it was cool that we had taken a quick look, but that was all it deserved.  On to Lahaina!

Lahaina was once the whaling capital of the world, and within 10 miles of Lahaina, we could see why.  This was humpback whale season and we could see spouting whales in the distance all around.  Back in the 1820's, whaling boats from all over the Pacific would visit Lahaina to hunt the abundant over-wintering whales and pull the huge creatures aboard their specially adapted boats.  They were terribly wasteful and only extracted oil from boiling the blubber, often throwing the huge carcasses overboard to rot in the sea.  By the mid 1800's however, whaling lost favour to goldmining and never again were the whales hunted in such numbers.  Today 6,000 to 7,000 humpback, sperm and right whales come to the area to spend the winter and visitors from all over the world take boat trips a short way out to view the whale families as they frolic in the shallow, warm waters around Maui.  As you'll see, this was just a small taste of what was to come.

india anchored with Lanai in the background

Approaching Lahaina in the late afternoon, we found an easy anchorage not far from the town marina and dock, and set the hook in the typical rocky and gravelly seabed.  The next morning we dinghied ashore to visit the harbourmaster to present our negative Covid tests - a necessity when travelling inter-island into Maui, and to pay our anchor fees - a peculiar and annoying ruling in Hawaii for cruising boats.  We also had the chance to meet up with Vicky and Greg on Sirena, who we had met in the Tuamotus and whom had passaged to Hawaii a few weeks before us.  They had been in Lahaina for a few weeks and were able to give us a useful download on what was going on.  A quick walk down Front Street gave us the impression that this was an old western frontier town, on a cute island.  Lots of whaling stores, and memorabilia and of course surfers.  We had just missed the major Maui Pro surfing competition just close to here, where unfortunately a man had been bitten by, but survived, a Tiger Shark.  This made us nervous to swim, but in any case the water was cold and not at all clear, having been spoiled by the warmth and clarity of the French Polynesian waters!

Lahaina from the drone

Surfing, baby!

India at anchor

Lahaina proved to be very casual and laid-back and a perfect spot to explore the island of Maui.  As is usual, we rented a car for the day to explore.  Maui is quite a bit smaller than the Big Island, so could easily be circumnavigated in a day.  There are two mountainous areas, a smaller one in the North and the larger one in the South, separated by a flat isthmus where lay the main town of Kahalui and the airport.  The coast road around the Northern part is particularly interesting with many precipitous dropoffs and sections of single track road.  The views out to sea were of course spectacular.  The main town of Kahalui is as you would expect, with the usual malls, outlets and hustle and bustle of a large US town.  Coming out the other side however, one has the scenic view of one of the best surfing spots on the island, with huge swells and breakers rolling in from the North East.  This small surfing town, Paia, was very quaint, and was home to one of the best restaurants on the island - Mama's Fish House.  The first time we drove through here, we never even noticed it but my old boss from years ago messaged me to urge us to visit it - as he put it - one of the best restaurants he had been to, and I know he has visited quite a few.  So on the second occasion we rented a car, we made a reservation and had one of the best meals we have had for quite a while.  If you ever visit Maui, it is a must-do.  Having the car meant we were able to catch up with an old acquaintance of Dara's from St Martin, who had moved to Maui.  We spent a pleasant hour or two with Marianne and Don, enjoying a homemade Lilikoi (passionfruit) beverage.  Marianne proved to be a useful local contact as she was able to send us weather warnings before we saw it anywhere else!

Warning says it all..

Blow hole!

Mama's Fish House in Paia, Maui

Some extreme surf sports in Paia

Marianne and Don at home...

We arrived in Lahaina the week before Christmas and decided we would spend Christmas day with our friends Vicky and Greg.  On Christmas morning they arrived by dinghy, suitably garbed for Christmas and we started by having a snack of homemade sausage rolls and champagne before opening pressies.  Later we enjoyed lobster risotto and more champagne.  Vicky had also planned a Luau for the four of us a few days later.  Despite Covid the traditional Luau centers were still able to function, with suitable social distancing and gave an interesting dance show telling the history of Hawaii and Polynesia, whilst enjoying a feast of local foods and drinks.  All in all, a very enjoyable Christmas break with good friends.

Homemade sausage rolls!

Tree and pressies

Local Luau

We had planned to stay in Lahaina only two or three weeks before moving on to Molokai, but india had other ideas.  During some planned maintenance on the starboard engine, I discovered some severe corrosion damage to the heat exchanger.  Severe enough that a new heat exchanger was needed and we had to wait a week for it to be delivered from Florida.  One of the attractions of Lahaina was that we could have mail and packages delivered to the local yacht club for pickup, and they came to know us quite well. Eventually the large box with the new (and expensive) heat exchanger arrived and within a day or two it was fitted and all was up and running again.  This had delayed our departure, and together with waiting for the appropriate weather window to move on, we eventually stayed here a full month.  Did I mention whales??  The anchorage was surrounded by breaching whales, so on many occasions during our prolonged stay, we would either weigh anchor and chase whales we had spotted close by - often giving chase with a small flotilla of local charter boats full of tourists, or sometimes we would just jump in the dinghy and speed off towards them.  We would always give the whales a respectful distance, after all, you wouldn't want one surfacing right underneath you!  We managed to take many breathtaking photographs of the whales close up, and one dark evening as I was sitting on deck, I heard the unmistakeable sound of a whale spouting, just yards from the boat, in only 30 feet of water.  Magical, huge, gentle creatures.  Dara learnt from a local that the whale calves were known as 'pickles'! Too cute, despite being half a ton in weight!

The damaged Heat exchanger

Shiny new one

Lahaina proved to be a loveable, quaint town with lots to enjoy, from surfing, bars, breweries, museums, restaurants and beaches.  And as so often this last year, made all the more adorable by the relative lack of tourists.  We feel so lucky to be able to enjoy these destinations like this!

Huge banyan tree in Lahaina

From the local prison museum during whaling times....

View from the top of the Haleakala volcano in the south

The observatory atop Haleakala