Day 6 Sunday 2 November

We woke as the ship was entering the port of Kahului on the island of Maui & we watched the ship dock from our veranda before proceeding to breakfast. Our first tour from the cruise is to the summit of Mt Haleakala, a dormant volcano just over 10,000 feet above sea level. The 8am start bus trip is interesting as it winds up the slopes of the volcano, travelling through different types of vegetation, including Australian eucalypts & casuarinas, not to mention the odd macadamia. We stopped at an information centre at around 7,000 feet, for a comfort break & to get acclimatised a little to the altitude. The cloud band that was hiding the summit of Mt Haleakala we eventually passed through as the road got steeper & more twisted. Then the vegetation almost disappeared as we entered the alpine heights & the rocks dominated the scenery. A very striking unique plant called “Silver Sword” grows up there. The bus stopped at 9740 feet, Tereza felt quite woozy from the high altitude, I wasn’t too bad so I climbed up to the top of a cinder cone next to the visitor centre. Right at the top of Mt Haleakala is an international astronomical observatory with lots of white domes. Haleakala crater is very large with lots of cinder cones scattered around the crater floor. The crater extended well into the distance before disappearing into the clouds, it is very long. In the distance & over the top of the cloud bank can be seen two volcanic peaks on the island of Hawaii, the “big island” as the locals call it. As the clouds clear the other dormant volcano that makes up the other half of the island of Maui appears in the other direction. It is a baby in comparison to Haleakala. We were awe struck by the enormity & to actually be so high to see inside this crater. The different colours & contours of rock formation is something to see. It was a very special experience.

After the mandatory photo shot of the elevation at the visitor centre we headed back downhill, just as windy but the driver excused himself for not doing a commentary as he really had to concentrate on the driving. We got back to the ship in time for a late lunch in Cagney’s. The afternoon was spent relaxing on our balcony recovering from the altitude changes. Jose, the butler came with delicious tiny little tarts for our afternoon treat. Dinner in the Skyline bistro was followed by a great local Maui talent hula show in the Hollywood Theatre.