After several hours of pouring rain, the sun came out and the weather was lovely. We got down to the dock early and hopped in line to board. While Oscar waited in line, I walked over to get some photos of the scenery and saw a whole bunch of Black rock crabs on the seawall. I caught seeing them just in time since they scurried out of sight very quickly. I probably wouldn't have gotten any photos of them if I hadn't already had my camera app open and ready.
Here are our photos boarding the boat. They had a professional photographer on board, and he let us pick our own price to get access to all of his photos. I thought that was very reasonable and paid him $40. I'd gone swimming with Allison then hopped in the shower just before we drove down to the dock, so I have no makeup on and my hair is still damp in all these photos. I probably would have put a bit more effort into my appearance if I'd known we'd be able to get professional photos for such a good deal.
They already had salads at our tables, so we ate those while enjoying these lovely views. The dinner in general was really good. My only criticism was the proteins were getting cold when we got them, but in this small boat/small kitchen situation, I'm sure it would be difficult to keep them piping hot. It was also difficult to keep our drinks full since the rocking of the boat would knock over your drinks if you weren't holding them.
We saw a few different rainbows while we cruised.
These were areas of the island we weren't allowed to drive to due to recent flooding. It was nice to at least get to see them from a distance along with another rainbow.
The photographer also got some candid shots of me. I hadn't realized he was behind me in the one on the right.
I love these ones he took of the two of us with the rainbow in the background.
It wasn't a whale watching cruise, but to our delight, we saw several humpback whales! There was a VERY active baby jumping out of the water for us. Luckily we were near an actual whale watching cruise and were able to just cruise along near them. If you couldn't find a whale, look for the whale watching cruise and you could nearly always find one near them.
You can see our photos are alright, but the professional ones are MUCH better.
We were in the perfect spot for watching this little guy while enjoying our meal. Oscar had salmon and I had prime rib. The food was delicious, though a bit on the cold side. I'd need my own personal Sterno just to keep it warm with all that ocean breeze.
The baby was followed up by its mother and an escort. The adults never jumped out of the water, and the male rarely came to the surface, but the mom often did just after her baby jumped out. I sympathized with her. She's barely catching her breath just trying to keep up with her energetic toddler!
We later learned from the Maui Ocean Center that whenever there's a mom and a baby, there's typically a male escort trying to convince the mom that the baby can survive on its own and that she should abandon the calf and go off with him. Sometimes the escorts are trying to "mate at all costs" and can be aggressive towards the mother and calf, but if the escorts are well behaved, it's a beneficial relationship for everyone. The extra adult male helps prevent predators like orcas and sharks from getting to the calf, and the male secures a new mate once the calf can take care of itself.
Dessert came out right around sunset. The sunset wasn't quite as nice as it could have been due to a bunch of clouds blocking it, but it was still lovely. Dessert was a yummy cheesecake with passion fruit sauce. I wish there'd been more of that yummy sauce! I could've drunk it by the gallon!
On our way back in the clouds finally began clearing around Haleakala. It'd been blocked for most of our cruise out.
This was the best view we had of Haleakala our entire trip. I tried to keep my hair out of my face for this photo, but this was the best I could with all that wind.
At dusk as we were getting back towards Maui, gray clouds came out, the temperature dropped significantly, and it started raining lightly then increased in intensity the closer we got. It was coming down hard by the time we were walking back to our car. It might not have been the best way to end our day, but at least it was well timed!
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