Bellingham to Maui

This morning the temperature was hovering just below freezing, turning everything the fog touched to a glistening sheen of ice. Time to get the hell out of here. Bags are packed kitties are fed, and the ice is scraped off the windshields. We headed our small craft out our Fairhaven harbor and onto the bustling river that is known as I-5. Even though it was 7 am, the traffic behaved itself and we made it to seatac without any delays. At the gate, I couldn't help notice all of the brave souls in their shorts and island gear. Me? I was a whimp and wore jeans and a pile jacket. Those planes are cold!
Okay, I know that is just way too much detail, but I am sitting on this plane typing on Kathy's blackberry ... Just trying it out (really).

Coming in For A Landing

We arrived in Maui around 2:30 pm. We had heard that rental car lines could be long, so Kathy headed to baggage claim while I headed out to Avis. Unfortunately, Avis was out of the compact car that I had rented. Fortunately, they upgraded me to a Jeep. I suspect the Jeep will be handy when we drive the back road to Hana.
After picking up Kathy, we headed out to our hotel, Lahania Shores. Kathy was able to score ocean view rooms at the last minute. The facility is pretty small. The upside being that the rooms are only about one hundred feet from the water. We have a studio room with a full kitchen. In the morning we are able to make breakfast and watch the whales. Oh, I didn't mention the whales. The bay is just chocked full of them. At anytime, you can look out the window and see several spouts. With binoculars we are able to see flukes, fins, and snouts.
After we checked in and unpacked, I headed out and snorkeled to the little reef right in front of the hotel. Maybe not the best reef, but pretty good for the first day.
After that we headed over to the Aloha Mixed Plate for some traditional Hawaiian grub and finally over to the Grocery store for some provisioning. We had high hopes of doing the Friday art walk in Lahania, but the early morning wake up and traveling got the best of us and we fell quickly to sleep.

Andy