The wind was very calm today so we motored along the coast admiring the green mountains of upcountry maui and the sandy Makena beaches. It was not long before the bar opened up so I went down to grab a drink. They have four different micro brews on tap, mix drinks made to order as well as juices and smoothies for the family. As we headed west towards the setting sun the wind picked up a bit so the captain cut the motors and brought up the sail. The sail was huge and with no motor noise all you could hear was the waves splashing along the side of the catamaran and the sail flapping in the wind, it was very tranquil.
As we stood on the bow of the boat enjoying the views they brought out the food platters filled with fresh fruit, meat balls, vegetables, and cheeses. I grabbed a plate and headed to the back to talk with the captain. A group of kids came back and the captain let them steer the boat and he even had a pirate outfit for one of them to wear. The kids were having a blast and everyone was laughing. We then headed out toward the setting sun I spotted a pod of dolphins playing about 200 yards off the boat. As we got closer the captain noticed that they were bottle nose dolphins which are rare to see off Maui. They jumped and swam around the boat for a while until finally taking off into the distance. As I watched the sun set one of them did a huge arching jump right through the sun on the horizon, it was like something out of a movie, I unfortunately did not get my camera out in time.
The sunset tonight was beautiful and a great way to end the day. The time had flown by so fast and it was time to start heading back to the beach. With the vibrant purple and red sunset as our backdrop I enjoyed another cocktail and talked to some of the other passengers on board, everyone was showing each other their dolphin pictures and sharing stories of their adventures thus far in Maui. We pulled up to the beach just as the colors in the sky started to fade.