After an exciting day on the water with the whales, we tried to tackle an even bigger foe, Hula Pie.

We were stilll buzzing after our whale watch by the time we made it back to the resort. We didn’t have very committed plans for the evening, but we thought we’d head down to Whalers Village for a little bit. After freshening up from being on the boat for 2 hours, we went downstairs to the beach. 

The timing worked out perfectly, as the Black Rock Cliff Dive Ceremony was just getting underway. It was hard to believe it was Wednesday already and, (1) we hadn’t seen the cliff dive yet and (2) this was our first chance to walk out on the beach. We stayed to watch the ceremony, which unlike years past, I actually “watched” instead of trying to take photos or video. The sunset backdrop was a lovely one as usual here on Maui, and when the dive was finished, we headed to Whalers.

As we walked towards Whalers Village, we decided on Leilani’s for dinner, and of course, the Hula Pie for dessert. They were rather busy that night, with about a 45 minute wait for a table downstairs. No worries, though, since we were more than content to wait and walk around the area in the meantime.

Whalers Village usually has some free and live entertainment going on in their main courtyard throughout the week. Wednesday night, it was an Irish band singing sea shanties. It certainly seemed a little out of place, but the shop owners we talked to while walking around said they enjoyed the variety. They were pretty good.

Back at Leilani’s, we finished our wait for a table on the lawn near the beach. There weren’t too many clouds, but it did start to drizzle. The view out on the water was mainly pitch black minus a few boat lights and what looked to be the planet Venus high in the western sky. Back on the lawn, a threesome was playing bocce ball, which we turned into a spectator sport.

Queue the Hula Pie story. The service at Leilani’s that evening was a little slower than normal, but likely because they were pretty busy as I mentioned. It wasn’t that big of a deal, though, since we weren’t in any real hurry. We started with a salad and I had to have a glass of the real Hawaiian Punch. Entrees were next, but the real story is the Hula Pie.

This was going to be our third attempt at tackling this towering dessert. Could we finish it? Did we have enough room left in the tank to accommodate all this wonderful goodness?  Well, we knew we were in trouble when the waitress brought it out and the slice she gave us looked to be 2 inches taller than we had remembered. Gulp!

We did our best, though. Throwing almost all of the last few weeks of exercising and eating healthy out the window, we dove in. Slowly but steadily we chipped away. The ice cream center, as always, we the best part. Cindy was being a little creative, and scooping off the whip cream and adding it to her coffee. What did us in, however, was that super rich chocolate layer on top. While leaving quite a nice sugar buzz afterwards, the sweetness and thickness of that top layer was slowing us down, and fast.

Did we finish it this time?  I’m afraid not. We came closer than ever, with only maybe 4-5 spoonfuls left. There was just no room, though. And we failed, again.

Cindy and I normally enjoy a nice, lazy stroll on the beach after dinners like this, but the wind wasn’t cooperating. There was still a light drizzle in the air, which was starting to coat much of the ground by now and even the open air breezeways at the Sheraton. The wind was also carrying a bit of nippiness with it that we weren’t particularly dressed for, so the after-dinner strolll along the beach was postponed to another night.

Back at the room, the wind was making wonderful music with the palm tree just outside our lanai and with the waves crashing on rocks right below us. Had we wanted to sleep with the lanai door open, they would have been wonderful sounds to sleep to. The buzz from dessert was wearing off faster than we had expected, and at the end of another exciting day here on Maui, it was time to call it a night.