Maui Wedding Planning Trip: A night on the West Shore

Have you ever had such a long day that it felt like two days? That's how this day was for us. After we had our amazing whale experience and spent most of the day cruising around Lahaina, we headed back to our timeshare. When we arrived the night before it was already dark and when we left in the morning it was still dark, so this was the first time we were seeing it in the light. And it was beautiful. It was right on the beach with tons of tropical flowers.

Originally we were planning on having a little rest when we got back to the timeshare, but once we got there I wanted to get right in the water and pushed for us to get back out the door. Unfortunately, by the time we got down there the wind had come up and it felt to windy to go swimming. Plus, the water was pretty dark by that time, the area had a lot of coral and since we didn't know the beach at all, we figured better safe then sorry. I know, what a bunch of squares, we are!

The view of the beach from our timeshare.

Bird of Paradise

Pink Ginger

Instead of going swimming in the ocean, we went for a walk along the beach while getting our feet wet in the water. We saw lizards scattering around on the white coral and watched the sunset. The clouds had really come in around the islands of Lanai and Molokai which kept us from fully seeing the sunset, but it was still pretty. Besides, we were on Maui and didn't have a care in the world!

Hey, good-looking!

Anyone know what kind of lizard this is?

Looking out at Molokai. 

I wasn't really feeling the pictures that day since I was so tired, but I let Drew take this one on the beach. 

Love the red. Makes it look like Lanai is glowing.

After our walk along the beach, we headed back up to the timeshare and went swimming in the pool. Yeah, we sure can be crazy some times! Safe swimming in the pool! Wooo Hooo! We checked out the rest of the grounds and found the guy below keeping watch. Well, I found it. Drew didn't even notice him until I pointed him out. What kind of a tiki lover is he anyway? Shheeessshhh!

When we were done swimming, had a little rest and got cleaned up, we headed back into Lahaina. We'd heard there was a Mai Tai lounge there and we were excited to check it out. They also had the only rooftop seating and we thought it would make for a nice night. Boy were we wrong. 

When we got there we asked for rooftop seating, but we're told it had already closed for the night. Ummm, it wasn't even 8pm. Ok? What kind of lounge was this? At least they had one table that had just cleared up by the open windows that over-looked the ocean. Sadly, that ended up being the best part of our whole experience. 

Now Drew and I are connoisseurs of great tiki/tropical drinks. We knew that these Mai Tais were not going to be made correctly and instead would be Hawaiian Mai Tais. However, this place was also said to have the best Mai Tai on the island and we wanted to give it a try. Made correctly or not. Even though it wouldn't be made correctly, it could still be a good drink. And they had a tiki mug you could take home. We are always a suckers for mugs you can take home!

I decided to order something different than the Mai Tai so we could try more than one of their drinks and went with a Scorpion Bowl. You can tell what a big mistake that was by the picture below. Blended? What kind of Scorpion Bowl is this? Oh, one made incorrectly. Let me re-frame my earlier statement, Drew and I are tiki/tropical drink snobs!

Mai Tai and Scorpion Bowl? If you say so...

The Mai Tai tasted pretty good. Sure, it wasn't made correctly, but it was good for what it was. We liked the lilikoi flavor that was added to it. The Scorpion Bowl was a whole other story. I felt like I was drinking a Slurpee, not a tiki drink. It tasted bland and it didn't have a sting, what, so, ever. Come on, it's a Scorpion Bowl! It should have a very big sting! One that sneaks up and gets you in the ASS. I've barely been drinking lately and I didn't even get a buzz. At least the drinks had fresh orchids in them. Really that was the only thing good about my drink.

Since it was dinner time, we also ordered some food to share; a pupu platter and an ahi tuna dish. Now the pupu platter listed as being stuffed with all kinds of finger foods, but when it arrived we found that to not be true. There was barely any of the items, stuff was over cooked and it was barely enough for one person. Notice in the picture below how much of the platter is pretty much empty. The chicken was the pre-cooked chicken strips you buy at the grocery store to use in salads. The ahi tuna dish was also a disappointment with the tuna being really fatty and having dried out rice. This was honestly the worst meal of our trip. It was also one of the most expensive. What the?

If you go to Lahaina and you want a good Hawaiian Mai Tai then go to the Mai Tai Lounge and get one. Just don't get anything else. You will be sorry you did. I know we were. Good thing we had snacks back at our timeshare to fill us up after such a long busy day. Hmm, Kona coffee glazed macadamia nuts!

What will we do tomorrow on our Wedding Planning Trip? Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of our many Maui adventures! 

Have you ever gone anywhere you were excited to try only to be majorly disappointed? 

All photos are personal photos. 

West Maui on Dwellable