The morning was quite cloudy with temperature in the 70’s. This was the last whole day at paradise and our to-do list was dwindling down to a few items, including whale/dolphin watching, visiting the Maui Ocean Center, snorkeling and trying out the Hyatt huge multi-acre swimming lagoon. We knew there was just not enough time given one day left. Time just flew by.

Boats for Hired at Lahaina

Our boat went from Lahaina harbor to the southern tip of Lana’i and turned northward up the west side of Lana’i (see above map). Our boat’s main objective was to look for dolphins, whale watching would be secondary although they would stop and observe if whales were encountered. We picked this trip because there was no vacancy on the early morning whale watching boat, it turned out it was the right move.

Approaching Lana’i From West Maui

As we approached the south side of Lana’i, we came across a mother humpback and its calf. We first saw a series of blows, the water spray the whale shoots off when they breathe, followed by the dive with the characteristic tail flap. It was very exciting to watch. The boat lingered for about 15 minutes and saw a couple more surface dives. Afterwards, we continued up north on the west side of Lana’i.

Four Seasons Resort Along Lana’i Shore

They said dolphins like to hang out in shallower waters at times. In particular, spinner dolphin is nocturnal and like to hangout at shallow waters in the morning. We went to a couple more of their favorite hangout spots and found nothing. We did see the resort on Lana’i, like the Four Seasons. We may want to visit Lana’i next time we come to Hawaii.

The west side of Lana’i has vertical sea cliffs about a few hundred feet high. It is like part of the island fell off into the deep ocean floor. About half an hour went by, we saw a second group of mother and child humpbacks. They were doing the same routine, the blow and the dive. The calf was quite close to our boat. Federal regulation required us to shut the engine if the whale is very close. A few dives later, we were already 2 hours into the excursion and it was time to turn back. No dolphins in sight yet.

Sea cliffs on West Side of Lana’i

On the way back, someone suddenly spotted the dolphins surfacing closed to the shore line. Our boat went in right away. It was a pod of spinner dolphins. Apparently, they like to swim along boats and watch what’s going on board. They would swim along and leap into the air; a few of them flap their tails to create bigger water splash on purpose. One was doing it upside down, with the belly facing the sky. Once a while, one of them would jump into the air and spin their body around, much like an ice skater doing a triple rotation. They are really very cute. They’re not afraid of human at all and seemed to enjoy greeting us as much as us watching them. Time flew by as we were having fun, we were late to port by 30 minutes and the dolphin watch at the end made the trip really worth while. Highly recommended.

A Pair of Spinner Dolphins, One Swimming Upside Down

Green Sea Turtle Exhibit at Ocean Center

We liked the reef exhibit the most, featuring popular Hawaiian pacific species. I guess that takes care of the snorkeling requirement also. The place also features an underwater tunnel where we could see divers feeding the fish. The diver would talk to a host in the tunnel exhibit area. His voice sounded like Darth Vader and that dark ambiance with a Darth Vader breathing voice scared the wits out of a kid. The father had to carry him out of the exhibit.

Diver Feeding Fish

By the time we finished the exhibits, it was already 5 PM, definitely no more time for snorkeling; it had to come off the To-Do list for this visit. The last time we snorkeled, it was at Kauai 3 years ago, it was definitely fun. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t fit it in this time.

Dinner that night was at Sensei at Kehei. You see the pattern here? Sensei is becoming one of our favorite restaurants on Maui. We enjoyed a few minutes of sunset on Kama’ole Beach before driving across the street to the restaurant. We learnt this time; we made a 5:30 PM reservation and were seated right away, no more waiting in line. We had 30 minutes to place our order to qualify for the early bird discount. Somebody had to be the cheapskate.

Kama’ole Beach Sunset

We ordered Roasted Eggplant in Miso Sauce, a repeat from last night. We then tried out their Caterpillar Roll, a sushi roll with eel in the center, wrapped in sushi rice, topped with thin slices of avocado, making the roll look like a green caterpillar. A very imaginative presentation. Then there was the shrimp tempura, large shrimps deep fried in light batter, cooked to perfection with a crispy outside, moist and tender shrimp inside. Ahi Poke, very fresh, but not as wonderful as the Yellowtail Poke we tried on the first visit. Then there was the Miso Butterfish, the butterfish meat, accompanied by a crispy skin, just melts in your mouth, giving it a ying-yang presentation. Finally, we ordered some sautéed vegetables with mushroom and asparagus, nothing much to write home about but satisfying. As you can see, we went all out on this last dinner meal and the restaurant delivered.

More Fish: Reef Exhibit at Ocean Center

We forgot to mention we took dopamine to prevent sea sickness in the morning. Dopamine’s side effect is drowsiness. We were fighting the sleepiness the entire afternoon. By the time we returned to the hotel, we were totally exhausted and slept straight through.

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