Aloha Maui!

Aloha and welcome to Maui, the 'Valley Isle'.  It was a short flight about 35 mins.  from Honolulu in Oahu island to Maui.   Upon touching down at Kahului airport, we headed off to fill our stomachs at Sam Sato's to have a taste of their  local Hawaiian food.

This is dry noodles or mein with meat.  Looks like our wonton mee with char siew.

'Chow fun' with some char siew.  There's no sauce in this dish.  So it's rather bland but you can add in the sauces which are on each table.  The 'fun' here looks like our 'kway teow' and 'chee cheong fun'.

This is a popular dessert.  The round pastries are called 'manju'.  We had one with red bean filling and the other with lima beans.  The curry puff looking pastries are turnovers and there's one with pineapple and the other with apricot fillings.

After having our fill at Sam Sato's we drove to Lahaina, a former whaler's village, on the west  for our submarine dive.  Lahaina's name translates from Hawaiian as 'cruel sun' and not a day will pass if it's not warm, sunny and dry in this picturesque seaside town.  History has it that King Kamehameha established Lahaina as the first capital of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1802 as it's an important stop along the Pacific sea routes.

touristy boardwalk lined with restaurants and souvenir shops selling scrimshaw (handiwork of whales)

This is a small park along Front Street in the town which is sheltered by a humongous banyan tree.  One of the largest banyan trees in the US, this Lahaina tree was imported from India and planted in 1873 by a Maui sheriff in Courthouse Sq. to commerate the 50th anniversary of Lahaina's first Christian mission.  Now it stands 60 feet tall and spreads over 200 feet, and the area is commonly called Banyan Tree Park.  Its 12 major trunks stem from one huge cove, perfect for relaxation and reflection or kani ka pila.  (Hawaiian for gathering together and playing music).
Arts and crafts fairs are held in the park throughout the year, and are often accompanied by live Hawaiian music.  During the holidays, the tree is lit with thousands of X'mas lights.

Atlantis Logo Store which is only available in Maui.  One can collect the tickets for the submarine dives and also purchase some souvenirs.

Atlantis Submarines is the world's largest passenger submarine fleet and submarine rides are available from Waikiki in Oahu, Lahaina at Maui and Kailua-Kona on the Big Island. Here on Maui, Atlantis offers submarine tours daily with departures from Lahaina Harbour. The cruise out to the Atlantis Submarine dive site off Lahaina is beautiful.

This is the pier where we boarded a shuttle boat to take us to deep waters and the submarine 'lookout' point.

Paul, the Co-Pilot who gave us an introduction on the safety measures like how to put on the life-jacket, etc. during an emergency.

On the way to the dive's 'lookout' point.

We had arrived at the spot and the submarine Atlantis IV had just surfaced to bring the passengers to board the shuttle boat to take them back to the pier and it was our turn to board the submarine.  Can't wait!

Inside the cabin - Paul, our Co-Pilot, alerted us to various fishes that we could spot through the thick viewports.  He pointed out that if you wear a red shirt, the colour will change to purple .... true as I was in a red T-shirt and it 'turned' purple. But if you were to wear white, it'll turn transparent! (Just kidding). He described some fishes that look like Angelina Jolie and his commentary was very entertaining, hilarious, informative and educational.  Good job, Paul!

Looking from the viewports, can you spot the stingray?

Can't remember what's the name of these fishes.  The pilot was kind enough to turn on the lights to give us a good view through the viewports.

the colour chart which indicates the change of colours as we 'dive' lower.



Part of the 'sunken' vessel Carthaginian II.... acting as reef for the fishes to multiply.

Part of the artificial reef growing in the waters off the coast of Lahaina. This reef was established when the remains of Carthaginian II, a whaling vessel was sunk into the waters off Lahaina.

Descending to nearly 130 feet, the high-tech submarine presents a rare opportunity to experience the deep sea. Through the giant viewports one can see schools of beautifully coloured fish and exotic marine life swim just inches away from you.

Submarine rapidly ascending to the surface.

See ... the colour chart was back to normal when the submarine surfaced.  The dive was an hour's fantastic journey to another world.

Took these pictures after we returned to the shuttle boat that brought us to this 'lookout' point'.  It's the submarine  Atlantis IV submerging to take another group of eager tourists to view the exotic marine life.

Back to the pier and onto our next stop ..................

Folks, hope you've enjoyed this post.  Will be putting up more pictures of my holiday soon.........!