Last night the Feast at Lele was amazing. Four courses of food, each consisting of three to four dishes, each course in turn representing Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Samoa. The shows were fun too, and the setting was absolutely gorgeous.
This morning we got up very early (4:40am local) and got on board the Trilogy IV with Trilogy Excursions for a sail to Lanai‘s Hulopoe Bay Marine Sanctuary. On the way to Lanai we slowed down and observed a large pod of spinner dolphins. Once at Lanai we transferred to a small raft (think Zodiac on steroids with a frame and fabric roof) and went along the cliffs of Southern Lanaii and saw the same pod of spinner dolphins again, and a second pod, and two (though some on board said three) green sea turtles, and birds. Then we went to Hulopoe Bay Marine Sanctuary itself, and snorkeled along a beautiful sandy beach and swam for hours. While snorkeling I was thrilled to see Hawaiian cleaner wrasses in the wild, doing their funky cleaning thing. We saw a humuhumunukunukuapa’a fish, and many tangs, groupers, butterfly fish, parrot fish, squirrel fish, and lots and lots of small polyp stony corals in many different pastel colors. The Trilogy crew and staff were amazing, and they cooked us up a BBQ chicken lunch, peas, yakisoba, and juices, iced tea, and water. The sail back was a bit choppy, but once in the shelter of Maui, Captain Mike let us swim off the catamaran itself in the open ocean (though sheltered by Maui) and then we sailed back into Lahaina in time to siesta before dinner.
Dinner Wednesday night at Pineapple Grill was the highlight of the trip until the Feast at Lele, and now that’s been bumped for the day’s sail with Trilogy. Astounding. We got a bit too much sun, but so much fun.
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