Hawaii Holiday [Day 2]

DAY 2 DAWNED EARLY and beautifully. We were scheduled to attend a breakfast buffet and activity presentation conducted by Pleasant Holidays at 7:30am at the Royal Lahaina Resort. We didn't know how far the venue was from The Whaler, so we made the assumption that it was quite far (which, really, just meant that it was within 30 minutes' driving distance). We left our hotel at 7:00am, and imagine our surprise when we discovered that the Royal Lahaina was a mere 2 minute drive away! Infact, we could have walked.

At the Royal Lahaina, we were directed to a lawn abutting the resort's swimming pool and overlooking the ocean, and were given the option of having our picture taken by a "professional" photographer, which we opted for. The lawn was dotted with plumeria trees that seemed to attract a large number of local birds of a certain feather, which (the birds, not the tree) rather fascinated Rohan. The several moments we had to spare after the photo session, we spent taking pictures of our own.

Following the picture session was a vacation event sales presentation, under the guise of a breakfast buffet. While it's true that it was not, as the Pleasant Holidays brochure correctly promised, a timeshare presentation, but that hardly seemed to make a difference; while we were treating ourselves to a rather sumptuous feast of muffins, oatmeal, cereal, coffee, juice and really delicious papayas, we were shown videos of the various activities in which we could indulge ourselves while on the island. Tickets for most of these acitivities were available at a discount through Pleasant Holidays, and we were being pushed (well, okay, nudged gently) to take advantage of the discounts by deciding right then and there our activities during the rest of our stay. Never mind that none of the activities was really suitable for a couple with a barely 11-month old baby. Nevertheless, we ended up making the second costly mistake (IMO) of our trip: we purchased tickets for a 1pm-5pm snorkeling trip scheduled for Monday, September 3. The sole saving grace was that we had two $25-off coupons which we applied to the cost of the snorkeling trip, leading us to pay only $30 out-of-pocket instead of the regular $80. Richa was also very keen on parasailing, which I thought was a good idea: she could parasail while I stayed ashore with Rohan. We considered this rather seriously until, at the last moment, she decided against it.

Halfway through the presentation, Rohan had become a little restless, as all the excitement had kept his morning nap from him. It took a while to calm him down, but by the time we were done at the Royal Lahaina, he was fast asleep. After he awoke, we went back to the Food Court at the Whaler's Village we had visited yesterday and after a filling lunch and a brief siesta, headed to the Iao Valley State Park. The Iao Valley is a picturesque valley nestled amongst the northwestern hills of Maui. The drive to the valley is flanked by deep forests on either side and is as beautiful as it is winding and narrow. The Iao Needle, a volcanic monolith 2,250 feet (686 m) high, soars nearly straight up from the valley floor. As we reached the entrance to the state park, we were pleasantly surprised to find innumerable guava trees growing in the wild. Both Richa and I are big fans of the guava fruit, so as soon as we finished parking, I went back along the road a little ways and plucked a few ripe (I thought) guavas from the trees. Unfortunately, all the fruits turned out to be sour and unripe. Nothing like the Indian Guava!