There is a Safeway grocery store in Lahaina that we stopped by on Day 2 and got muffins, yogurt, and water for a MUCH better price than we would have paid at the Starbucks stand. I highly recommend doing this since it not only saves money but also makes the mornings easy since you already know what you're doing for breakfast.

So Tyler ate his muffins and yogurt, and then we were off to Lahaina Harbor for our 8:15am check in for our boat trip to Lanai with Paragon Sailing. They actually serve breakfast on the boat (breakfast breads, bagels, fruit, and coffee), which I ate, but Tyler was already full from his muffins. We were late, again, but still there by their 8:30 take off time, but we ended up waiting until like 8:50 for another family that was super late. That was pretty annoying, but oh well.

We ended up booking our boat trip with Paragon for two reasons: 1) they only take about 20 people on their boat, which allows everyone to have great views the whole time and not feel crowded, and 2) we wanted to go sailing and they are one of the few companies that actually sail.  Well, we only had about 16 on our boat, which ended up being wonderful. We could sit anywhere we wanted and never had to fight for a good spot. The wind did not cooperate however, which meant that we never got to sail. Sail boats are not good motor boats, which meant that we went slooooow. It actually made it really relaxing though and we were able to stay at the bow of the boat the entire time (as opposed to our later trip on a motor catamaran that got way too wet in the front for us to stay there while cruising), so I wouldn't consider it a bad thing.

So after leaving the harbor around 8:50am, we leisurely made our way over to the west side of Lanai.  We ended up being treated to amazing wildlife shows. We first came across 3 false killer whales. These are apparenly extremely rare to see, so the crew was super excited. They almost look like giant dolphins but with rounded heads. We could hear them talking to each other, which was awesome. One kid on the boat first asked "What are they saying?" and then said "Let's test if they're really false." Haha, so cute.

We then got to see a big pod of spinner dolphins, or nai'a in Hawaiian. They are so playful and fun to watch. We even saw a few babies(or keiki, in Hawaiian)!  And then we came across some humpbacks. They were far away, but we could easily see their spouts and tails as they went back under.

Around 11am we got to Manele Bay Harbor, where we spent about 30 min snorkeling.  We saw a lot of really pretty fish there, and the waters were so clear. It was a little chilly though, so if I ever go back I might want to bring a wetsuit top with me or something to keep me warm.

After that the crew handed out our picnic lunches and docked at the Manele Bay Harbor to let us off. We then walked down the road about 5 min to Hulopo'e Beach. It was gorgeous there! It was pretty empty, and the sand and water were beautiful. So was the view! We snagged a picnic table to eat out sandwiches, pasta salad, chips and cookies. Then we decided to just lay out in the sand and get a tan while relaxing. A few people brought their snorkeling gear with them or went over to the tidepools, but we opted to just relax.

We had to be back to the boat by 1pm. Once we were all back on board, we started our return journey. They put the sails up in the hopes of catching some wind, but nope, nothing. We did lots more humpbacks on our return trip, and this crew was great about stopping and even turning around to let us see the whales more. They also served us some brownies, mai tais, and champagne on the way back.

We stopped a few miles out from the Lahaina Harbor to do a deep water swim. That was pretty crazy! You're just out in the deep blue water. We tried going under water to listen for whales, but we couldn't hear anything.

Then we got back to the harbor about 4pm.

After getting all cleaned up, we went out to dinner at Pacific'O, which is located on Front Street. We got an outdoor table and got to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous. We both got mahi mahi dishes, which turned out to be delicious. I thought the price was pretty reasonable for a nice dinner as well. Definitely a great start to our fine dining!

leaving Lahaina Harbor

snorkeling at Manele Bay Harbor