☀️ West Maui and Lahaina

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Sleep still continues to evade me past 4am, and the cockerel (whom we've affectionately nicknamed Jan after Daryls Mam on account of how early she gets up at home!) woke Daryl up not long after that. We went for breakfast to our new favourite haunt, (and after 3 days in a row seem to have bagged the same table) before going to the chemist for some mozzie spray, seeing as my legs had been lunch for one of the little blighters in the night. We picked up some bits from the grocery store, and decided to get some beers in for later. Now I know this rehab degree has aged Daryl by 10 years in about 10 months, but since he's had some sleep, grown his hair and got a bit of sun on his face, and is having a break from uni, it looks like it's done him the world of good. Cue compliment one of the day, when he got asked for ID buying Budweiser -I don't know who laughed more, him or me. He was happy with that nevertheless.

Back at the bungalow we did some washing, which worked out to be about £2 to wash and dry 1 load-bargain, and as Daryl was making a cup of tea in the kitchen, struck up a conversation with a bloke who had just arrived. Naturally the subject of sport came up, and Daryl was talking about Rugby (as all Welshman do) Cue compliment #2 of the day. when he returned with a brew, he gladly informed me 'apparently I'm a line backer' I looked at him puzzled 'a what?' 'A line backer, in American football, some bloke just told me that's what I'd play in American Football' curiously I had to google this and the result I read out to a smiling DSJ:



When a kid thinks about what position they want to play on defense in football, it's usually linebacker. Linebackers are the portrait of toughness and grit that epitomizes the game of football.

They will be called upon to blast through gaps and stop the run. They will also be required to drop in pass coverage, both zone and man-to-man. They also do a lot of communication to the rest of the defense, helping the team adjust to what the offense is doing. If you want to play linebacker, you have to be versatile in your athletic ability. You will need to have good size and speed. You have to be strong, physical, and mentally tough, not afraid to put your head in there and make a collision. Lastly, you have to have a great understanding of football, and ability to read plays successfully. If that's you, you might be on your way to being the next Brian Urlacher or Ray Lewis.

(It did also say 'The average NFL linebacker is over 220 pounds and over 6 feet tall.' But I think the rest was quite accurate!) nice to know there's options outside of the Army.... ?



At midday we set off on our second day trip to West Maui and Lahaina which used to be the Capital and residence of the Royal Family many years ago. Apparently the Kings favorite wife (out of about 20) was from this town! Isaac was out driver today and again another nice mix of people on the trip. This drive was lovely and scenic with mountains at one side and miles and miles of coastal beach on the other. We stopped at a supermarket to buy bits for lunch (we went all out and bought a rotisserie chicken to make sandwiches with) and stopped of via Scuba Bobs to hire some snorkel gear for about $13 for the both of us which included mask snorkel and fins, so quite a good deal. We made our way to Kaanapali Beach which was another lovely white sand and clear water beach. After devouring half the roast chicken, we got our snorkel gear on and waded into the sea. Immediately 2 turtles came swimming right up to the shore. Daryl got some great pictures on the underwater camera, although we couldn't tell which one was Donatello or Leonardo haha!

http://www.hawaiisnorkelingguide.com/kaanapali_beach.html

We snorkelled for a while and saw some lovely coloured fish, before relaxing on the beach for an hour or so before pick up.

In Lahinia town, we went to Betty's Beach Cafe http://www.bettysbeachcafe.com for happy hour cocktails and Daryl ordered Lobster, which didn't touch the sides. It was a lovely place right on the beach, and was quite busy with most people ordering the Lobster-seems its famous for it on a Wednesday. A few cocktails later we headed for the Banyan Tree park to see one of the largest Banyan Trees in America.

'The Banyan Tree was planted by the Sheriff on April 24th, 1873 to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Protestant Mission in Lahaina. When the Banyan Tree was first planted, it was just eight feet tall. Today it reaches a height of close to sixty feet and spreads out to cover over a two hundred foot area. The Banyan Tree has grown so large by dropping roots from its branches and then these roots become additional trunks over the process of time. It is hard to get a decent picture of the Banyan Tree because it is so huge.'

It really was impressive, and like the article said, near impossible to get a picture of the entire tree because it's so big. I told Daryl it should be called the Slade-Jones tree as akin to the family, when you thought that was it-there seemed to be another branch pop up from somewhere and add to the size! lahaina was a great town, and if we weren't set on doing these day trips this hostel offers, we'd probably come here for a couple of days. If we don't managed to get booked on a trip one day, then that is the plan.

Back at the bungalow, we showered to get rid of all the sand we'd picked up again, and chilled out with a beer before getting our sleeping heads down after another lovely day in the Hawaiian Sun.

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Comments

[Claire]

Loving the blog and pictures. X

[shaz and phil]

What a fab hol
Happy Birthday Linebacker