Maui to Los Angeles

Thanks for stopping by the Island. Today's post takes a look at our last stop in Hawaii and the return to Los Angeles. I can't really call the stop at Maui a "Port Stop" since our ship doesn't go into port, but rather, anchors out and we take smaller boats into shore.

Overview of the island of Maui from our anchoring spot just outside Lahaina.

The small boats are called "tenders" ... the ship carries them along and deploys them as in this case to get us into Lahaina where the "Light at Lahaina" greets us.

Here we have a little panoramic view of the main street which runs along the waterfront. The street really doesn't curve much at all, it's just that putting almost 180 degrees of photos together makes it look that way. The island you can see in the distance, with cloud cover, is Lanai, also known as the pineapple island. Historical fact: James Dole bought the whole island in 1922 for pineapple production and his company later became the well known Dole Foods.

Actually, Lahaina is a little too touristy for me. It seems like there are a thousand little shops. A little gift for just about everyone can be found here.

After spending a couple of hours in town we return to the ship. I like these views from the tender which give a good indication of the size of Golden Princess.

Here is a panorama of the more mountainous part of Maui from the Sky Deck of our ship.

As we pulled anchor and sailed away from Maui, the sun was setting and I thought the pastel colors in the sky quite pretty.

After dinner it's time for movies outside on Lido Deck ... "Movies Under the Stars"

For four days we are at sea as we head to Ensenada, Mexico, and then, finally one day later, back in Los Angeles.  During these days I like to sit out on the Promenade Deck and read. The thing I liked about the picture below is the way it captured the feeling of a sunny morning on deck.

I spent about 3 hours on one of these last days doing what is called the Ultimate Ship Tour and I highly recommend it to my friends who really enjoy ships. It's the behind-the-scenes look at what makes the ship work: the theater, the kitchens, the print shop, engine control, the laundry, and concludes on the bridge where we have a short chat with the Captain. The ship's photographer takes a group picture of the 14 of us together with the Captain and gives us a copy of the photo.

Finally, a sunset and then a sunrise. The sunset is looking out the back of the ship the evening before arrival at Ensenada. The sunrise is on the last day as we arrive at the Port of Los Angeles and prepare to disembark. In a future post I will share some more photos of the Vincent Thomas Bridge which is a pretty neat thing on its own! Again, thanks for going along on the journey.