Sunset Cruise
Originally uploaded by webnelly

Time for another sunset shot here for our Sunday Photo series. It’s true that you can see a great sunset just about anywhere on Maui (or Hawaii for that matter). One of the extras you can do in West Maui, though, is to hop on a small boat or catamaran with one of the many tour companies offering sunset cocktail cruises and you can get even closer. A nice way to end any day on Maui, for sure. We usually book a cocktail cruise for the last night of our trips as sort of the final send off.

This photo was taken from the lanai of our room at the Sheraton (of course), and forgive me for not being able to remember what particular boat and tour company is pictured in this photo. There are at least half a dozen companies that offer these sunset cruises, and they’re all pretty affordable as far as Maui tour standards go. We’ve gone with two different groups in the past, the Teralani and the Pacific Whale Foundation.

The Teralani was a smaller vessel, and it docked right on the beach near Whalers Village, so that was pretty neat. The PWF boat was much larger and went further out along the West Maui coast than the Teralani, plus part of the cost of the tour goes towards research and education on the islands, so you can’t go wrong, either.

If you have had experiences with other sunset cruises while on Maui, don’t be shy!!! We’d love to hear from you.

Mahalo.

If you’d like to see more photos, you can check out our Sunday Photos category here at the blog, featuring a new photo every week. Our website also features daily photos on the Today’s Photos page, and if you’re Flickr fans like us, you can check out our Ka’anapali Dreamin’ collection.

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Sunset from cocktail cruise
Originally uploaded by webnelly

Perhaps one of the most photographed items in Maui is the spectacular sunsets seen anywhere on or around the island. It’s true what some people say, that the sun sets everyone on the planet, you can see it from anywhere, and it happens every day. Regardless, seeing these in Maui is beyond words.

As have many, I have taken my fair share of sunset photos from many different places on the island. This particular photo was shot from aboard the Teralani 3 during our ’06 trip. With all the sunset photos I took on that trip, this one perhaps did the best job of capturing the blue sky above the horizon as the sun retreats just off of Molokai. I can’t say that I’m an expert with the dozen or so settings on your standard digital SLR, and I have to admit that there is a lot of trial and error that goes on, but it still doesn’t take away from the result of a shot like this.