I went snorkeling this morning (Diane’s feet were bothering her too much to be able to get into the fins!) but I didn’t see a whole lot of fish – just a couple of yellow tang. I might have seen more if I’d gone farther out, but I don’t like snorkeling on my own.

This was the first time I’d used my phone for underwater photos (I bought a drybag at The Snorkel Store on Monday); I have a lot to learn. Most of my photos were out of focus (I’m guessing that the phone wasn’t quite touching the inner surface of the bag), and the phone kept wanting to switch into video or portrait modes – if anyone knows how to force the camera app on an iPhone to stay on “Photo” instead of sliding into other modes, I’d love to know the secret!

We attended the General Manager’s Update after lunch – it was interesting, possibly useful, and had some two-way conversations (unlike the sales pitch Owner’s Update they bribe you to attend). I found out why there are no lights on the room balconies (to discourage birds from flying into the building), some of the improvements that they’re making, and a bit of how the resort is reacting to the Lahaina fire of last year (cash contributions, fostering trees to be planted as people rebuild their houses, and buying a quilt which tells the history of Lahaina to support the Pūnana Leo Preschool of Lahaina.

After the update, we walked all the way down the Beachwalk to the Hyatt Regency, only to discover that the penguins were no longer there. We did see a heron on the way down, and the hotel still has a nice collection of swans (the information sign about the swans says that “swans are beautiful birds, best admired from a distance”), so the trip wasn’t a total washout.

This evening, we went to the “Rhythms of Polynesia” luau on the lawn at the Westin Ka’anapali Resort North, a short walk from Nanea. This was our first luau, so I don’t know how authentic it was, but Diane and I enjoyed it. The open bar probably didn’t hurt. :-)

They had cultural activities before dinner – you could learn a little hula, try to play Hawaiian instruments, or make a bracelet to accompany the lei they gave all the guests.

The show itself featured six dancers and an emcee, along with a band. It was fun.

The staging of the luau was a little unusual. Most of the luaus we’ve walked by have been isolated to make sure passers-by can’t see anything; this one was on the resort’s lawn, just off the Beachwalk and easily visible (and probably audible) from half of the buildings in the resort. I wonder if it encourages guests to buy tickets (the luau just started last month and only has one show a week).

We went back to Upcountry this morning, arriving in Makawao just in time for lunch at Freshies. Makawao is billed as Maui’s cowboy town, but you wouldn’t know it from the restaurants, shops, glassblowers, and galleries which line the rather small downtown area.

We spent an hour or so after lunch shopping and enjoying the scenery before moving on to our next stop, Surfing Goat Dairy for a “casual tour” and goat cheese tasting. The goat cheese was delicious, and the tour let us pet and feed goats before watching them being milked (they do it a dozen goats at a time – by the time the milker had hooked the last goat up to the machine, the first goat was already finished).

After goats, it was time for booze – we drove four minutes to Ocean Vodka for a tour and tasting. We missed most of the tour but we were there for the full tasting (one vodka, three rums, and a gin, all made with sugarcane grown on the property)!

After booze, it was time for dessert at Ululani’s Shave Ice in Kaluhui. Before the Lahaina fire last year, they had a location at the Hyatt Regency at the south end of the Beachwalk, and we’d walk there once or twice during our week on Maui. They closed that location after the fire, so I was glad to find the Kahului location just a couple of blocks off the most direct route back to the Nanea.

We got back to our villa just after sunset. The sky looked interesting, so we went down to the Beachwalk to see it better.

It gets dark quickly here!