Maui Day 1

On our first day on Maui, we had arranged with a local tour firm (Ekahi Tours, booked using Adventure in Hawaii) to join them on the Road to Hana.  This involved an 8:15 pickup just outside the dock gates.  There were 10 of us on the tour plus Andy the guide/driver, a highly entertaining tour guide with a fine line in astrological and numerological nonsense who somehow washed up in Maui 15 years ago and never left.

The tour started off with a visit to the only winery on Maui, were Dave tried the various samples.  The red was pleasant (although to be honest no better than what you can get in Tesco's for half the price), the blush (rosé) drinkable, but the pineapple based wine was very sweet and frankly unpleasant.

After this, we headed off up the windy road to Hana. This 29 mile road takes you through the 'classic' Hawaiian scenery - rain forest, waterfalls, black and red sand beaches, surfers and so on.  Be warned though - the road is very windy and narrow, with 29 single track bridges to be negotiated.  It's also a dead-end, since a recent earthquake brought down one of the bridges just past Hana - all vehicles that go in have to come out the same way again!  We eventually got back to the ship after an enjoyable full day just before 6.

We ate that evening on board in Papa's Italian Kitchen, another of the speciality restaurants.  Italian food (obviously), Kate started with Spaghetti Bolognese, followed by a pizza.  Dave had bean soup, followed by lasagne.  It was excellent.