April 6 Maui

The first place that the ship docked was Kahului on Maui.  After breakfast on the ship we disembarked and went to pick up our rental car.  We spent the morning driving much of the Road to Hana, a very narrow and winding road with beautiful scenery almost everywhere.

We didn't make it all the way to Hana because we were all getting a little woozy from the winding road and we knew we had to return the way that we came.  We returned to Paia and ate a the Fish Market that Connie had recommended to us.  The town of Paia was very "touristy" and reminded me of Park City or Helen, GA with the kind of shops and amount of tourism. The town had been a booming sugar cane plantation town with old plantation style wooden buildings.

After lunch we decided to drive to Iao State Park and see the Iao Needle and area there.  The needle is a 2,200 foot high peak that was used as a lookout during periods of warfare.  The people gathered there to honor Lono, the god of agriculture each year.  Today it is known as a place of spiritual value and spectacular scenery.

We returned to the ship, ate dinner in the nice dining room and then went to the program in the Hollywood Theater.