Hawaii (Maui)

My group at work got the magnificent reward of a four day trip to Hawaii, November 12th to 15th, 2007. It was great! I went consciously intending not to attempt to fill my days exploring. Indeed, unlike nearly every other trip I go on, for this trip I didn't research sights, hotels, or restaurants. I nary had to make any decision about what to do each day. Those days on which I had free time, I decided to not make a decision (and certainly not do any research) and instead lay on the beach by the resort, relaxing, reading, listening to my iPod, and occasionally swimming, wading, or running.

I took only a few pictures during this trip, mostly snapping photographs that captured the feel of being in Maui. I took so few pictures partially because my batteries kept dying, partially because I decided I didn't want to spend much time thinking about which pictures to take and what I would caption them, and partially because I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures at company events. Besides, I trusted others, all wandering around with fancy cameras, to fill up albums of our group’s trip to Hawaii. Sorry, but nearly all of these albums are private/password protected.

The temperature in Maui was comfortably warm except for when clouds blocked the sun. This happened more of the time than I’d prefer; often, it seemed as if the clouds weren't moving. For hours, at times, it’d be on the cooler side. Nonetheless, the water, especially when the sun was out, was delightful. The constant hint of humidity made the weather quite a contrast to India’s dryness.

On Monday, the day I arrived, we had a buffet dinner outdoors at the resort. I particularly liked the papaya seed salad dressing and the honey roasted chicken.

Tuesday I didn't really do anything. I met some coworkers for lunch at a restaurant in the resort. Near the end of the day, I had some pent-up energy so I went running down a path adjacent to the beach. I ran past many resorts similar in size and design to ours. On the way back, the sun came out--it was cloudy for most of the day--and I ran to my room to grab my camera to snap a few more pictures. In the evening, we had dinner of pizza and salad and a team building activity, which turned out to be much more fun than I expected.

Wednesday was busier. I chose snorkeling as my morning activity. A boat took us out to two snorkeling spots, one with lots of fish (some that practically disappeared when they turned sideways), and one with fewer fish, some coral, and a few turtles. I only saw the turtles from the boat, not while in the water. I enjoyed the first spot, Boomerang Island, more.

It was fun to be snorkeling for the first time in half a decade or so. I still find it difficult to pace my breathing when underwater. (It tends to change a bit, probably because I keep thinking, “oh my god, I’m breathing underwater.”) On my last snorkeling trip, it took me a few days to get used to it; I only had one day this time.

The snorkeling boat served burgers, mai tais, and white chocolate chip cookies: pretty pleasing stuff, and satisfying given the temperature and the exercise. It also provided breakfast snacks when we left the dock around 7:30am.

Once back at the resort, I went swimming a bit more, then relaxed on the beach.

In the evening, we were bussed to the Old Lahaina Luau for some Polynesian entertainment. Our group made up only a fraction of the people at the Luau. Judging by the hands that were raised in answer to the M.C.’s question, half the people there were on their honeymoon or celebrating an anniversary.

The luau mainly consisted of watching hula dancers, listening to drumming, and eating from a massive buffet. The hula performances were reasonably pleasant to watch, but I kept being disturbed by the women’s smiles. They appeared forced, immobile, and standardized, as if plastered on. As for the food, there were too many items to even list. I drank a number of funky cocktails, ate myself silly, then had four desserts, topped with a few snacks at the after-party. No wonder I wasn't hungry until mid-afternoon the next day.

Tangentially, I wouldn't recommend the resort for reasons of cleanliness. It’s not the silverfish in the bathroom (that’s not a big deal); rather, it’s the roach I spotted on one of the dessert platters at Monday night’s buffet and the piece of plastic wrap I found in my lunch on Tuesday.

On Thursday I flew home. Despite my complaints about United's food, I was hungry enough that I bought a chicken wrap on the flight. I was surprised to be decently happy with it.