What a day we had today! We’ll start with the sunrise.

It was a beautiful and calm morning. We sat outside and listened to the birds as the sun rose in the sky. Today we got up early enough we thought we’d walk over to the cinnamon roll place and get a cinnamon roll for breakfast. Yes, it is literally called “The Cinnamon Roll Place.” I didn’t realize this place would be so popular. When we arrived at 7:30 in the morning, there was a line out the door.

We had to wait about 20 minutes to get our cinnamon rolls and decided to take a quick walk and visit the general store next door while we waited. The 20 minute wait was well worth it! We took our cinnamon rolls back to our AirBnB to eat them in the sunshine on on our balcony.

After breakfast we decided to go on a stroll up and down the beaches by our place. We had a few hours before we needed to get down to the dock for the whale watching tour. We both commented that today’s weather has probably been the best of our entire trip. Blue skies and sunshine!

After our walk we got ready to head over to the dock to catch our whale watching tour. I have always wanted to do a whale watching tour and when I heard this was peak migration time here I knew I had to do it! I was thankful Jacob was game for it even if he was concerned about seasickness (to be honest, I was worried too!). There are so many whale watching tours here so I focused on finding a place near us. I found Blue Water Rafting within a half-mile of our AirBnB with openings today. I booked the trip for noon and we both hoped the seas would be calm. Most afternoons here have been really windy so I was hoping a noon launch would be early enough to avoid the winds.

When we arrived the crew member let us know that we only had 11 people booked for the tour today and the boat can fit 24. After seeing the raft, I am not sure how 24 people would fit on it – but I am just glad we had a small group today. Before we set off I talked to a family that was visiting from Buffalo, NY. The father told me it was blizzarding back home. The crew person asked where we were from and asked if it gets cold where we are at, like under 50 degrees… and I was like yes – it definitely gets colder than 50 degrees! Below is a picture of the raft.

We had to relinquish our shoes and then the captain helped us hop onto the boat. After a quick safety briefing, we were off! Once we got into open water he stepped on it, I mean we were sailing (boating?) going really, really fast! So fast we had to hold onto to our hats. We blasted over the waves. Jacob and I were sitting in front and we felt the brunt of the crashing waves. I was squealing with joy. It was like a Disneyland ride. I was only slightly worried about falling off a few times and there were a few times the boat landed hard on the water and I thought my spine was going to collapse. But otherwise it was absolutely incredible.

Once we got out into the water the captain slowed down enough that we could put our hats back on and bring out our phones. I was worried a few times I was going to launch it off the boat.

For the first 30 minutes we didn’t see anything and I was starting to get a little worried. We could see whale spouts way out in the distance but nothing near us. Then a few minutes later we saw a whale in the distance breach the surface for a moment. I thought to myself, well I saw a whale.. whale sightings guaranteed…. But not long after that our luck would change!

During the boat tour the captain shared facts about whales and Hawaii, and he also explained that whale watching was a waiting game that required patience. Jacob asked me if I had any of that and I said no. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long. It seemed like all of a sudden whales were everywhere. They were coming up out of the water behind us and and ahead of us. These are North Pacific Humpback Whales and they can be anywhere from 46 to 56 feet long.

The captain explained that whales that have white markings, particularly pectoral fins, would be easier to see under water and would appear turquoise. (Hard to see in the photo below but just above the boat in the center is the whale below the water).

For at least a half hour we followed two male whales as they floated around in the water. We got to see each of them come to the surface multiple times. It was amazing and so unreal to see these huge whales so close. I was trying to be present and not experience the trip through my camera lens so I didn’t get a ton of photos but I snapped a few good ones!

The captain was so excited about the experience he asked if it would be ok if we returned to the dock late and everyone enthusiastically said yes. He said the was the best whale watching trip he’d been on in years.

After we spent amazing quality time with these whales, it was time to move on. The captain gunned the boat again and we were flying across the water. While we were heading back to dock not far off not one, but two whales breached the surface and leapt into the air. It was the absolute icing on the cake of a fantastic journey. I was so in awe and overjoyed.

After our whale watching absolutely-amazing-adventure we headed back to our AirBnB for a light snack and quick break before heading down to the beach. Jacob had big plans to watch the Seahawks game on his phone, and I was going to read my book and sip on my “tea” (ok it was wine!).

While we were enjoying our beach time I thought I saw something odd, and I did! Someone brought their pet pig to the beach and it was frolicking about like a puppy. It was so cute!

I ordered takeout from a local restaurant and we ate our food as we watched the sunset. The title of this blog today comes from Jacob during our walk when he was commenting on how nice the weather was. There is supposedly a big system headed our way that is going to dump a lot of rain and bring strong winds. Flash flood warnings have been issued through Wednesday (our flight home is Tuesday). I am hoping for the best and that we do not get delayed getting home…. (or do I? jk!)

Alright, with the storm on the way it is going to impact our plans for our last two days in Maui. We were hoping to see more of the island but we are going to have to be flexible. We are already accepting that we won’t get to everything on our list but we are very thankful for the adventures we’ve had so far.

We will see what tomorrow brings…

Until then!