Monday Summary
Our first day on the islands is never very action packed, mostly because we're getting adjusted to the time difference and recovering from our travel day. The only real tradition we have for Day 1 is having dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Lahaina. Something about putting grilled pineapple slices on burgers really says Aloha!

Since we didn't stop at Safeway like we usually do on our travel day, that was our first item of business on Monday, after the breakfast buffet anyway. We always book a package that includes breakfast, and usually load up in the morning and only have a light lunch.

Well, nothing is ever planned for this first full day on Maui, but that doesn't mean that amazing stuff doesn't happen. Just after breakfast and before we left for Safeway, we're out on the lanai in our room and spot something in the water, waaaaay out in the distance. Sure enough, it was our first whale sighting and we grabbed to binocualrs. It was too far to snap a photo, but it was still awesome. Our first full day and we're already seeing whales. Very cool.

Itinerary - Monday, April 14th

• Breakfast buffet at the Sheraton
• Grocery shopping at Safeway (at the Lahaina Cannery Mall)
• Shopping on Front Street in Lahaina
• Dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise
• Cliff Dive Ceremony at Black Rock

Monday Timeline

7:06 AM HST

Slowly waking up

Morning of Day 1 is always a little weird. At this time, our bodies still feel like it's noon, so it's time to get up.

7:32 AM HST

Blogging in our vacation journal, travel day

There's three of us this year, so there's extra time in the morning to blog before breakfast. I did my best to keep on top of things this year with blogging from Maui. I was a day behind early, but was pretty good for the rest of the trip.

9:29 AM HST

Finishing breakfast at the buffet.

We're not big breakfast fans during the rest of the year, but the buffet at the Sheraton has so many choices, and they change daily. Cindy really likes the omelette bar.

9:55 AM HST

Spotted our first whale from our lanai. Wow.

This was a total surprise this early in our trip, and it was just happenstance that we needed to stop back to our room between breakfast and Safeway and decided to look out on the lanai. It was our first of about a dozen whale sighting from our lanai alone. Those high-priced deluxe ocean front rooms were starting to pay off.

10:24 AM HST

Our first stop at the Cannery, Starbucks, of course.

If they ever put a Starbucks at Whalers, Cindy would be in heaven (not like we're already there anyway). Back before I had my mobile broadband card for the laptop, we spent quite a bit of time at Starbucks keeping up on our finances and expenses. My how times have changed.

10:48 AM HST

Shopping at Safeway

Groceries in Paradise, well, sort of. A good reality check that the cost of living in Hawaii is much higher than back home on the mainland. Food prices were a little higher than we're used to. Still good to have snacks and food for the room, though.

11:29 AM HST

Going out to do my homework

Yes, this time I had brought homework with me for our trip. It was for a digital photography class I'm taking, and I think it started to help. I started out as a good student and finished my first assignment on time, however, that didn't last long. I ended up taking so many photos over the course of two weeks that I couldn't go through them all.

1:40 PM HST

Watch more whales from our lanai. BIG tail splashes

After we saw the first whale in the morning, we came back looking for more. This time, while Cindy and mom were at the pool soaking up the sun, I found one whale out in the water slapping his fin in the water, splashing like a playful youngster. This time, I was able to grab the video camera and zoom in enough to catch some of the action. I'll get around to posting it online soon.

2:33 PM HST

Getting ready to head into Lahaina

With Cindy back from the pool, it was time to clean up and head to Lahaina. It was still a little early for dinner, so that just meant more time for shopping.

3:41 PM HST

Shopping on Front Street. Just bought some matching Aloha wear.

That didn't take very long. We'll usually look around for a few days at a few different places before we find something we like. And we always find something we like. This time, it was right there, front and center at one of the clothing shops, and after a trying on a few sizes, Cindy found the right one and we had new outfits for the luau.

4:06 PM HST

Eating dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise

Nothing like a familar favorite to start off the dining out. We first stopped at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Waikiki on our honeymoon, and it has been part of each trip since. That seems like a really long time ago by now, mostly because of everything we've seen since then.

7:55 PM HST

Bummer, Twitter was down earlier. Back in our room, finishing my homework.

I guess being 5 hours behind the mainland falls into maintenance downtime for some websites. We had gone down to the Ka'anapali Beach later in the evening to watch the cliff dive ceremony at Black Rock.

Related Links

• Blog Post - Our First Whale Sighting
• Blog Post - Monday in Paradise
• Photos - Black Rock Cliff Dive