Where in the World are Mike and Jan?

It was a dark and stormy night….No, no, that was Edward Bulwer-Lytton writing in 1830. But it is apt to our day in Kahului, as it was a dark and stormy….morning! Yep, all these photos were taken before noon. It rained and the wind blew and it was all quite dramatic.

We were a little disappointed with this first port of call on the cruise. In the past, we have docked in Lahaina, which is a very cute, laid-back, quintessential Hawaiian town. Known as a historical whaling center, Lahaina is now a tourist center. It is just 23 miles from here, but another passenger said a taxi driver wanted to charge him $87 for a one-way trip! Kahului is more of a working port, as you can see the shipping containers and port facilities along our route to town. We passed an auto junk/salvage yard, and our pedestrian walkway was flooded. The town had a few big stores in the outdoor mall, a grocery store, and some pharmacies, and that was about it. So….not too impressed. In the last photo, you can see some people kiteboarding. It was rainy and gloomy, but there must have been about 100 colorful kites pulling people along on the water. Very surprising!

One of the activities we were thinking of for today was renting a car and driving the famous Road to Hana, filled with many twists, turns, and glorious viewpoints. However, it takes 3-4 hours one way, and we are only in port until 8 pm. So rather than risking the car breaking down or some other calamity, we decided to drive it when we are in Maui longer than a few hours. And since it was such a dark and rainy day, we made the right decision! We just looked up Kahului on Wikipedia to see whether it is noteworthy for any reason. It is right there on the Internet, so it must be true: “Kahului is not generally considered a tourist destination.” Enough said!