Friday, March 6, 2026
Grab yourself a beverage of your choice, this is going to be a long post on an action packed day.
We started our day at a nearby spot that is part zen garden and part food truck with as few old, eclectic wooden structures sprinkled in for, what else, flavor.
This old Nash Rambler with a
mini-surf woody atop greeted us . . .
. . . we entered the South Maui Gardens
An Island Rooster carved in stone
Fun way to display fruits and vegetables
Several more potential dining
opportunities awaited
So did this ancient roadster
Of course, yoga was an option
So was a game of giant chess
That fellow on the far right
was happy to be alive
Damn, I missed seeing him
Alaska?
And I was
They had me when they declared that they
"Cook with Beef Tallow"
Promising . . .
. . . with a positive attitude
We did not eat on our stroll through the gardens but, I for one, felt reinvigorated by the surroundings.
On to shopping!
I preferred to just sit at this spot soaking in the atmosphere while the ladies shopped.
I liked that heart on the far right
Shopping done, we were off to our Big Deal of the Day, a Pacific Whale Foundation two hour Eco-Tour on a catamaran in search of humpback whales.
Only Laurie and I were sailing as Susie and Mark had a few thrift stores to visit this morning.
We arrived in Wailuku at the pier located on Ma'alaea Bay.
But before sailing . . .
One last temptation,
but I was S-T-R-O-N-G!
Our catamaran for the day
Laurie with Deb Merrill
Our long relationship with Deb began in 1974. She was my Stat Girl when I was coaching the Thousand Oaks H.S. Frosh Baseball team.
Later that Spring, she would be the first babysitter that we trusted to take care of our son Andrew when we opted for a night out by ourselves. She did a wonderful job with both of the tasks that she was given. She was our go to babysitter for a long time.
One of the star pitchers on that team was Verne Merrill. Eventually Verne and Deb would marry and a little over ten years ago these two empty nesters moved from California to Maui.
Now her love of and volunteer efforts for the preservation of whales has translated into a Board of Directors position on the Pacific Whale Foundation.
Today we were her guests on this fun eco-tour.
THANK YOU, DEB!
Our catamaran was an excellent
eco-touring vessel
Time for a GREAT DAY AT SEA!
THAT SHE BLOWS!
While most of us were armed with our cell phone cameras, Deb the ever professional, brought her much better camera to the eco-tour.
A spout in the distance
For the safety of the whales and our boat, our captain would not get closer that 100 yards to any of the humpbacks.
Two humpbacks rolling along
Cavorting some more
West end of Maui and our harbor
in the far distance
Dropping a microphone into the
ocean to hear the whale's singing
We got to hear them singing via a speaker and it was AWESOME!
This was a relatively
close encounter
Lots of humpbacks just frolicking about
I just wish that I had a better zoom feature on my phone to get a better look and these beautiful, graceful behemoths.
Later in the day, Deb sent us some of the images from today's adventure that she had captured with her camera.
Those great photos by Deb now follow.
Flukes . . .
. . . are the main ID markers for whales
Mother and . . .
. . . newborn calf
Calf learning the ropes
Fascinating
Hump and Fluke . . .
. . . twice
It was . . .
. . . a GREAT day watching all
of these whales up close
Thank You for these photos, Deb!
Time for lunch . . .
South Maui Fish Co.
1794 S. Kihei Rd, Kihei
Yum!
Sated, we all headed to the
condo complex's pool
Relaxing!
In the evening we drove over to Wailuku again, this time for their First Friday Town Fair. Wailuku is Maui's County Seat.
Shopping never ends
Neither do Line Dancing classes
Back to the shopping
Wailuku's historic Iao Theater
was built in 1928
Lots of Food Trucks open
for land office business tonight
The First Friday events brought
out a lot of people tonight
A band was playing
We, of course, had back stage passes
We had great fun today on our latest segment of our vacation.
I got two photographs today from Vanessa featuring Mary and her Fifth Grade classmates on their field trip to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library located in Simi Valley, California.
In the replica Oval Office,
Mary is third from the left
A much more dignified look than today in my opinion.
Mary's class in front of
Marine Corps One as this helicopter
is called when the President is aboard
Mary is on the far right.
What a GREAT day, stay tuned for more tomorrow . . .
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