Day 3

The alarm was doing overtime these days unlike office days when the alarm was set when the results were like a vegetarian tiger. As we walked towards the valet parking we were apprehensive about the reception we would get based on the previous days "thieving". But it was another person and another day. On the way to the car rental we recalled filling the gas in the car and could not find any gas stations till we almost reached the rental return and there like tall saving grace big neon board claimed something in blue but surely selling gas. We caught the shuttle to the airport just as it was about to leave. The unacknowledged scratch on the yellow PT cruiser shall remain unacknowledged. The rental policy without insurance was like a loan sharks dream, anything that happens regardless of whose fault it was the renter was liable for full damage. It was almost intimidating one to get the insurance policy just like thou shalt return the car with full tank of gas else be charged a arm and a few toes for a gallon of gas.

After reaching the second island while waiting for the rental car pickup we saw a few enthusiastic joggers running up and down the hill and a full rainbow behind them. Just to digress for a moment if anyone knows the radius of a rainbow please let me know. Back to the regular scheduled program. We are thankful for the delays else we would have been busy poring over maps and trying to figure where to go how to get there and miss the rainbow completely. Are we so busy trying to catch the moment for eternity by filming it or taking a picture that we forget to actually savor the moment? We do relive the moment everytime we think about it or tell it to friends and family.

Do we tend to observe more when on vacation like birds or leaves or sounds or views that on a normal working day would be tossed aside like a used sock.

After a hunt for a breakfast place we found a fast food joint that also had a activity for less store which we will find hundreds of later in the day. We figured out where and what and when for the next few days for selling a piece of our time listening to sales pitch of a vacation home/time share. But unfortunately we did not qualify since we were not on the island for more than a day/24 hours and had activities scheduled within the next 5 hrs.

Statistically they were targeting people with leisure time who were likely to buy unlike us who would probably make it back to Maui maybe once more in lifetime. But we did get free lunch out of the deal and got us back to Lahaina for the whale watch and that was also close to the hotel.

We walked around till we could check in and then walked around waiting for the sail boat to arrive. Once checked in we were were absolutely positively stumped by the view. We could see the entire ocean from the balcony conveniently located chairs was awesome. But our initial excitement waned quickly when we could not locate the bedroom or the bed. We tried out key on all the doors we saw without success. We had seen a few house maids outside so as she stepped to find out the mystery we found that the bed was stored vertically integrated like a wall cabinet. There goes the midvale school of gifted award to us...again. Luckily she had not found the maids yet.

Luckily my wallet did not loose any weight even after we walked in and out of a jewelry store and strolled past a few others.

The sailboat was probably a 60 footer with a main sail and a jib. the crew was friendly and champagne, beer and chocolate flowed freely, we did have to ask for chocolate twice though. Once out in the ocean the captain shut down the engine and let the wind find us. Looking far out we could see whale snout sprays. As the boat crawled towards the whale sightings the whales would move farther away. We did manage to see one whale up close and looked very graceful and huge. But more than the whale watching the weather was just perfect with sun coming down and light breeze and smooth sailing. The payload was just around 10 people which was great and had newly married couple teaching in SF and a realtor from Austin.

The stroll back to hotel was a scenic route walking away from destination to see local shops and budding artists. We found a pretty good bargain for a straw hat much below the range we had expected. The same hat was more than twice the price in a store right next door. And at another store they had marked down price for a gift item incorrectly and we benefitted well too.

In the hotel chicken tikka masala and veg manchurian with chapatis and rice was the meal dejour. It had never before taken so much trial and error to make a meal from frozen chappatiis and microwavable curries. The chapattis had thawed a bit and would stick to the pan and then the pan got too hot and burned the roti. The machurian gravy leaked out and some of the flavor was lost to the cardboard packing. Watching the waves and hearing the soft lull of the water and sand meant a early sleep time.