We went 2200 miles to have lunch with a friend

2/10/12

We woke up to no movement as the ship was tendered in the port of Lahaina in Maui. We dressed quickly and headed down for breakfast at Sabbattini’s. We found that Nancy and Ken were still there, so we sat with them. I guess they had one thing booked for the afternoon. I know they were planning to go to the Paradise Cove Luau in Honolulu on Thursday, so I asked if they were able to rebook. They were. The luau was a little controversial on Facebook, because the Luau no longer picks up at the pier, but at a hotel. They also told many on our roll call that they only drop at the hotel and many were concerned about getting back to the ship by 11pm. Nancy called and they said they would go back to the pier, but others said they were told not, and cancelled. I guess we’ll all find out after tomorrow.

Following breakfast we headed to the tenders. With our cruise card we were able to get right onto a tender. While on the tender, I called Dollar, and they sent a shuttle. When we arrived at the pier, we looked for the rental car pickup location, and as we walked the dollar van showed up, so we just followed. Once we were on the van it took about 20 minutes to reach the rental counter.

Prior to the trip, we’d arranged to have lunch with an old friend, Don Couch and his wife Leslie. About two weeks before we left, Don told us that he had to go Manilla with some state officials (he’s a member of the Maui county council). However, Leslie agreed to have lunch with us, so while Glen took care of the car rental, I called her. We agreed to meet at a new restaurant in Olowalu called Leoda’s, about 15 minutes from Lahaina and about halfway between us and her.

I realized I’d forgotten my GPS, but I did have my phone, so I used that to find the restaurant. Fortunatly, it was on the main highway, so easy to find. And we passed it on the left. We had some time to spare, so we thought we’d try to find the town and look around. Turns out, there wasn’t much to it – blink and you miss it. Trying to find somewhere to turn around was a challenge, but we finally were able to and got to the restaurant a bit early. We visited the Olowalu General Store, and Glen saw a polo shirt that he liked. They only had it in XXL, so he couldn’t get it, but then decided he needed a couple of polos. We decided to look in Lahaina.

It was getting close to lunch time, we headed to the restaurant. They offer an eclectic menu of sandwiches, salads and pot pies. Leslie arrived a few minutes later and we had a very nice lunch. I asked her if Don was connecting through Honolulu, she said he was and texted him to see if we could get together at the airport tomorrow. It might just work.

After lunch we stopped at a beach and took some pictures, including a few of my duck. Glen got some of sand crabs, and we placed the duck near a crab hole but we think the rubber duck scared the crab, so he didn’t come back out.

Following that, we decided to return the car. They’d recommended that only one of us return it, since the buses were crowded. So Glen dropped me at Starbucks in downtown Lahaina, and headed back to drop off the car. I told him to keep me informed via text.

I went in, and asked about getting an Hawaii card blank, since the case only had one marked “for disply only”. She said she had them, but in order to get them, you had to put money on them. I said I’d get 4 for 5.00 each (minimum) and then I’d register them, and move the money to another card and reregister it. She said I didn’t need to register them, any store could change them, and then offered to do it there. So I have 4 blank Hawaii cards now. I bought a coffee, and found nowhere to sit. I did find a table outside, but people were smoking so I just texted my friend on his way back from Manilla, and then went across the street to Hilo Hatties.

I chatted with a fellow passenger, and in the meantime, Glen texted that he was in that he was in the shuttle.

I bought a few food items at Hilo Hatties – some dried fruit and Macademia nuts, and then went out. I was writing a text to Glen to the effect of Where are you when he said right behind you. (I’d told him I was Hilo Hatties, so he came over there.

We next went to the ABC store, where I got candy for my dance team. Then we decided to find him some polo shirts. We stopped in several stores, but only found tee shirts and Hawaiian shirts. We decided to go find a Nordy’s tomorrow in Honolulu.

We wandered around a bit more, and then got in line for the tenders. We didn’t get on the first tender, but were in the front of the line for the second, so we were able to sit on top. That was fun – I’ve never been on the top deck before.

After dropping off our stuff, we went to the Patasserrie, where we found Vera and Vickie. We chatted with them until about 5 when we all decided to go to the Elite Lounge. On the way to the back stairs, we heard Indigo practicing for their Beatles tribute.

We met Vera and Vickie up at the lounge. We continued talking with tem until about 6:30.


We dressed for dinner, and then went to the Beatles tribute. We sat with our tablemates, Jack and Mary, and danced to a few of the songs.

We had a nice dinner, although we had a couple of no shows. Since we were in port, our guess was maybe they were too tired.

Following dinner, we did some dancing to Indigo. At the end of the first set, a (probably inebriated) gentleman asked them to play one more song. They said they’d play it after the break. He said it had to be before, because they were leaving. They asked what the song was, and he said Honky Tonk Woman. They said they didn’t know it. He told them it was B, C, G. (Something to that effect). They offered to let him play the base – so he got up, played it, sang it, and promptly fried the amplifier. So the band started the break, as a techie came up to fix the amp.

About 10 minutes later, Angela, the lead singer came out and apologized for being unable to do their last set, since they couldn’t get a new amp. We chatted with her for a while. We learned that she is engaged to the bass player, and they met on a ship while in different bands. They started Indigo, and gathered other Bulgarian musicians, After chatting for a little longer, they headed out and we went to bed.