mindless ramblings

Day 4 started off early when we made our way to Ma’alaea to go snorkelling! We had booked a trip on the Four Winds II when we were still in Vancouver since it seemed like the best boat out there. Boarding time is at 730am and try to go there early so you get a nice seat on the boat. So what do you get for $84? You get breakfast and a BBQ lunch, as well as a good spot at Molokini and potentially whales and turtles. The ride out and back takes about an hour each way, and you get to spend about 2 hours at Molokini snorkelling away. As you can see from the picture, the water is awfully clear! The depth is probably around 150 to 180 feet, and it is clear all the way down. We didn’t see all that many kinds of fish though, just lots of the same ones. I’d still recommend it though, simply because the water is so clear and the conditions so calm. We are also lucky enough to spot a few whales, as well as some very adorable Hawaiian sea turtles on the way back… so good trip overall!

We spent the afternoon shopping in what is the only major mall in Maui, Queen Ka’ahumanu Mall. It’s a nice open air mall with a fair amount of stores. Being 2 days before Christmas, the mall was naturally packed with people doing last minute shopping. We actually managed to find good deals at the American Eagle store there, so it wasn’t a waste of time by any means.

Dinner (sorry no pictures!) was back in Kihei at a Japanese restaurant called Sansei. It’s not just a Japanese restaurant, they serve regular food like steak and pasta too. We got their just before 6pm and it turns out they have a 25% off before 6 deal. We quickly ordered our food and snacked on some complimentary edamame. First up was a lobster and asparagus roll. Interesting idea and it actually turned out pretty tasty. Next was a combo platter of some fresh nigiri sushi and california rolls. I’d say Vancouver has better california rolls, although the fish was as good as anything I have tasted here. Next up was an appetizer the sushi chef recommended, which was a miso flavoured butterfish. Butterfish has a most excellent texture and flavour to it, the miso was a good match for it, although it was a bit on the sweet side. The last item was prawn tempura, which was nothing special really. Generous sized prawns, but the batter was average at best.

The service was very fast at dinner, and I think it was probably because they wanted to get us out for the real dinner crowd. I don’t blame them, and we were out of there within 45 minutes. We were back in the hotel by 7pm, and we forced ourselves to hit the sack early, because an even earlier morning awaited us in a couple of hours, because we were going up Haleakala! Stay tuned for more!