Just one day in Maui, 3/26/15

It was fun to just get up and go.  On Tuesday, we (coworkers) decided to enjoy Prince Kuhio Day on Thursday in Maui.  Lahaina, Maui is a better place to enjoy "whale watching" because the waters are surrounded by other islands making the waters calmer.  Lana`i is to the west and Kaho'olawe is to the south.

Near the harbor is this 60 foot Banyan tree - is one of the largest in the United States.  It was impossible to photograph the entire tree.

A bird's eye view of the size of that Banyan Tree

We chose Pacific Whale Foundation for our adventure.

The group is about to disembark. Yup we chose the raft.

Maui's nickname is The Valley Isle, makes sense.

My friend did this collage.

Mom' humpback flippers were slapping the water a lot and with such a large flippers it was powerful.  The guides were saying she is inviting males to join her.

This photo was cropped so you can see the mom and her calf. The other photos are not cropped.

We stopped at various spots. Our navigator used binoculars and lowered a device in the ocean to pick up the whale sounds to help find their location. It was amazing to hear their sounds/communication.

This part was the best...

Notice the turquoise, that is the color we see when its body is below the surface.

We were ecstatic as 3 whales were swimming near us.

After a wonderful 2 hours, we head back to the harbor.

Pi Artisan Pizzeria was perfect. It is on Front Street. Funny, I have a photo of our ice tea and tiramisu cheese cake - but none of our pizza and salad.

Pioneer Mill Co. created a 225 foot high smoke stack to generate electricity for the production of sugar. It was in operation from 1860 to 1999. This smoke stack is a wonderful landmark.

Don't laugh too hard. We needed to jump around as we were getting tired. Our flight to Maui was at 5:05 am.

Back to Front Street and the Harbor.  Needless to say, I was surprised to see this, however being Chinese, I was also happy to see this.

So long Maui, it is 7 pm and we need to head off to the airport.

Disclosure: I used my Canon G1X Mark 2 during the whale watching and most of my photos. I also used my iPhone 5 but definitely not during whale watching.  Since it was so much fun for us to experience it, I chose not to share my videos. I do however recommend doing a video.