Hawaii Day Seven – Whales, Pineapples, and Luau

You know you’re a tourist when you start cramming lots of things in one day. And being somewhat typical tourist, that’s exactly what we did. Oh it was carefully planned the night before … too many people in this group who seem to calculate the timing of each activity but that’s ok. I mean there are some in our group no matter how they plan, their timing is always off. Heehee…..


Any way, the plan is to go on the 8:30 whale watching tour. You’re out in the water for about 2 hours and this being the end of the whale season in Hawaii, it shouldn’t be a problem seeing a few before they head back to Alaska.

It’s drizzling and a bit windy, will we really see anything today? We find seats on the upper deck (no enclosure for me!) and head out. While heading out into the ocean, we learned from the naturalist on board that the humpback whales come here to the warm waters of Hawaii not to eat but to mate and have their babies. As he put it, Hawaii is their bedroom, Alaska is their kitchen and it’s connected by a long corridor. And sure enough we see whales. The first one(s) we see is a momma with her calf.

We learn that the mom is always very close by to her baby. The baby is like any other youngster, frolicking in the water. In fact, baby jumped out of the water like a porpoise! … something everyone, especially the naturalists on board, were surprised to see. Apparently, because of their body weight and structure, adult whales can’t twist and turn like dolphins. If they did, they’d die when they hit the water, so this was definitely the baby and a sight to see.

It is suspected that the other whales in the water with momma and baby are males. And this being their bedroom, you know what they had on their minds…..

The boat was right on time getting back to port, which was good because that gave us just one hour to get to another part of the island for a pineapple plantation tour (Maui Gold Pineapples). Our selection of this tour was apparently somewhat offbeat as we were the only four tour participants (and the bus held about 20). I guess most people see the Dole plantation on Oahu.

We had a private tour of the acres and acres and acres of the pineapple farm. Maui Gold Pineapples are the only pineapples that are truly grown in Hawaii. And because these pineapples are left on the plant a bit longer, it not only has a more golden color than most you see, but it becomes a sweeter fruit as well. The guide gave us a very careful explanation of how pineapples are planted, how they grow, and how they’re harvested.

The best part was when the guide stopped the tour bus in the middle of the field, near where the workers were picking pineapples (still a very labor intensive activity), and we got out to pick our own pineapple. Now this sounds like a great idea, but when it came time to pack to go to the next island, what are we going to do with 4 pineapples???? Stay tuned for that upcoming adventure…..

We came back to our hotel to rest and then get ready for the final activity of the day, the Hawaiian Luau. A trip to the Hawaiian Islands just isn’t complete without going to a Luau …. so that’s what we did.

The Old Lahaina Luau is supposedly the best one around. Conveniently, it was located in the town we were staying in. When we arrived, we were greeted by a staff dressed in traditional costumes ... the men wearing little more than a skirt-like wrap, bare-chested ... the women wearing sarong-type garb (some complete with coconuts in strategic places). As soon as we walked onto the Luau grounds, we were lei'd again and we were offered a Mai Tai to get things started.

We booked “mat” seating, where you actually sit on the ground on top of pillows instead of chairs. We took some of our things to our table, right next to the stage, and met our table-mates for the evening. Then we wandered the grounds until dinner was ready.

This luau used the ocean with the beautiful sunset as a back drop to start of the night’s activities. They had crafters there as well, to not only sell their wares but to entertain the guests until the official program began. After about 30 minutes, we noticed alot of activity behind the buffet building. They were pulling the roasted pig from the cooking pit (no pictures offered of that).

The food is buffet style so it was okay but the entertainment was fantastic!!! They told the story of the history of Hawaii through chanting, music, and dance. Folks were right, this was a great Luau to attend.