Day 9: Snorkeling Black Rock and Lahaina

We'd planned to kick off our time on Maui with breakfast at the Gazebo, but thanks to yesterday's rental car debacle our first order of the day is arranging for someone to pick us up from the hotel.

Alamo is less than apologetic about leaving us stranded in Lahaina, but they at least send a driver to pick us up and -- albeit grudgingly -- comp us for last night's cab fare. Mind you, still no one from Alamo apologized for THEIR mistake. Disappointing to say the least. <end rant>

The short drive up to Napili Bay erases any lingering frustration.

As expected there's a bit of a line when we get to the Gazebo. As one who hates wasting precious vacation time you might wonder why we choose to hang around a hotel pool waiting for pancakes of all things, but these are not ordinary pancakes; this is gooey white chocolate chip deliciousness!

After breakfast we walk down the path towards the tide pools

We hang around on the rocks for a while before heading back to our hotel; The Ka'anapali Ocean Inn.

It suffers some questionable reviews online and we agonized over our decision to stay there. I even went so far as to solicit advice from an online travel community and was told repeatedly to cancel and rebook while we still could ... yikes.

Good thing I don't always do as I'm told, because we ended up in a gorgeous oceanfront room with a loft ceiling. The room is nothing fancy, but it's spacious and clean with comfortable beds and a mini fridge, plus it's within easy walking distance of Black Rock.

And did I mention the view from our lanai?

I'm not entirely sure how we managed to pry ourselves away from this view, but we must have, because there's a lot of time missing between this picture and the next. My guess is we walked down to Black Rock for some snorkeling and relaxation.

Maui was my least favorite island when we first visited Hawaii last year, but with all the stress of what was happening back home I always wondered if maybe it never stood a chance? Would our experience be any different if we went back?

My best memories of Maui were of relaxing on the beach at Black Rock and I longed to recapture that feeling this time around, so instead of staying down in Kihei we moved up the coast to Ka'anapali close to everything we liked. And what a difference it ... we now love Maui!

Another balcony view later in the afternoon

Later that day we drive down to Lahaina (another perk of staying in Ka'anapali) and treat ourselves to some shave ice from Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice. Can you guess which one's mine?

Yep, mochi ball goodness on the right is me and to make it even better I got it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the bottom. It sounds a bit odd, but trust me on this one ... you will love it!

I love strolling along Front Street! Here's the view towards the harbor:

We browse the shops for a while and spend some time hanging out near (and on) the banyan tree, before setting out to find a place to have dinner. Tripadvisor is coming up with lots of great options and we decide on the aptly named Cheeseburger in Paradise.

There's a bit of a wait, but if we don't mind eating with live music they can seat us upstairs right away. Well ... yeah, what's not to like!? He even plays "Somewhere over the Rainbow" ... a song that has reminded me of Hawaii ever since I first heard it played on ER.

So, seating arrangements are a bit weird -- there's less than a foot separating our table from the one next to us, but that means we get to sit this much closer to the window AND make some new friends. This might not be for you if you're very shy.

After perusing the menu for some time, I order the cheeseburger babies with guacamole and fries, marking the start of a lifelong guacamole burger obsession. Sandy sticks to healthier fare and orders a salad with blackened Mahi.

When our new friends leave, our waitress lets us move over to the window for a front row seat of the sunset.

Magical Maui ... I think I'm falling in love!

Lahaina is quite the artist's community and after picking up some necessities from the ABC store, we lose track of time wandering around the many art galleries, just barely managing to leave without buying an expensive piece by a local artist. We do end up adding a small print of a surfboard fence to our collection for a far more reasonable price.

I liked this one too ... kind of different, but fun to look at.

Breakfast: The Gazebo
Snack: Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice
Dinner: Cheeseburger in Paradise

Accommodation: Ka'anapali Ocean Inn