Aaaaahhhhh Friday….. on Maui

One of our resident roosters awakened me at 5:45am, late for me here on Maui.  Luckily I didn’t miss the sunrise.  It was another fabulous vision with the clouds dancing over Haleakala.  After coffee, we noticed red in the clouds that looked like dirt or dust, but at times more flames in the sky.  Hope one of my pictures got a good view of what we actually saw.

Today we visited the Maui Ocean Center and found it to be a great aquarium.  Thank goodness Crystal likes aquariums as much as I do.  Lots of great fish to see along with coral, sharks, turtles and rays.  I think the most weird fish we saw was the frog fish.  It was re and camoflagued in with the coral and took awhile to even see.  Since we arrived right as it opened, we missed most of the shows, but they were probably more geared for the children.  My headphone died half way through the shark building, oh well.

Lunch was at the Seascape Restaurant.  We both got the fish tacos and they were great, but the view of Maalaea Harbor was the best.  Crystal made the comment that we had now eaten at 3 of the 4 restaurants and by tonight all 4.  We really do love this place and hopes it continues to be Maui’s best kept secret….. as I tell all of you!! (post script:  just saw on the map that there is a restaurant called the Maalaea Grill that we may need to add to our list of restaurants.)

Right next door to the aquarium is the mall where Beach Bums is.  We ate there our first night here.  Upstairs is an Farmer’s Market & Crafts Fair, so we walked in.  Seaglass earrings, mink seed bracelet and Mango Mandarin lotion, and could have purchased more….  Many vendors only take cash so make a note. 

My bartending lessons of many years ago paid off today, I made an island concoction I named Mango Madness:

-          A heaping spoon of frozen guava juice

-          2 shots mango juice

-          1 shot vodka (but It might taste good with rum…. We’ll let you know)

-          Ice

Blend well and serve in glass.  Garnish with fresh island fruit slice.

Tonight dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant in Maalaea.

Dinner on the protected lanai was delightful.  Being protected means we didn’t have as much wind as those in the other section.  We had the lanai to ourselves for most of our dinner.  Michael was our waiter and told us he had been working at the Waterfront for over 20 years.  For dinner, I had the Lobster Bisque.  We asked if they were local lobster and Michael told us that the blue spiny Hawaiian lobster were very hard to catch and most fishermen kept them if caught.  The fresh fish menu was very interesting.  Four or five different fresh fish are offered a night, then you have four or five different ways they can be prepared.  I had the Monchong fish prepared A La Menguine style served in a lemon sauce with either macadamia nuts or capers.  I opted for both which ended up macadamia on one side and capers on the other.  I like capers but sometimes, too many can overpower a dish.  This was just right.  We sipped on a bottle of Honeig Saviaugn Blanc and split the award winning White Chocolate blueberry cheese cake which we brought home some for later.  All of this with a lovely view of Maalaea Harbor!