We were up at 8am to finish packing, get our boarding passes sorted out - Paul, Di and I had been upgraded, leaving poor Dave and Colin back in cattle-class, er, economy, for our flight to Los Angeles - and hand over our bags to the bellman before catching a cab to Lahaina - it was touch and go if the shuttle would make our 10.30am check-in for the Atlantis Submarine. We were actually early and there by 10am so wandered through a few shops before heading to the Atlantis shop to check-in, ready for our 10.45am boarding time.
Along with your ticket you get 10% off merchandise in their store - they had a fabulous stuffie submarine Di insisted I didn't need (I still argued) - t-shirts and the like. There were also a couple of other vouchers for the stores across the road and a postcard that they'll post for you free of charge, which was a nice idea but we decided to keep the postcard instead.
We had to walk down to the dock for the boarding area and the 9am tour boat soon returned. There was time for a quick photo of each group that was boarding before getting onto the boat that would take us to the submarine. We were a bit concerned about Di, after the cruise experience, but she wanted to go on the submarine as much as I did so she was determined to be fine - and she was! Helped that the sea was pretty flat though! Even my driving didn't cause her a problem!
There's a ten to fifteen minute transfer but we got a nice view of Lahaina as we pulled out of the harbour. You could get a real appreciation of the way the clouds hang over the rocky coastline. The boat was pretty quiet though - capacity is forty-eight and there were only thirteen of us this trip. At least we'd have some room to spread out.
Our boat slowed down when the blue and white boat - The Roxie - came into view. This was the surface vessel that kept in contact with the submarine and co-ordinated activities. The next bit was brilliant as we watched the submarine break through the surface. I have to say that, having seen it in movies, it is totally awesome to watch for real. Well, it was to me anyway. Unfortunately, I think my assistants were a bit overwhelmed by the experience too, cos their photos are pretty rubbish!
Once the sub was fully at the surface, we approached it.
As we pulled alongside we got a great view of the conning tower. Isn't it amazing?
They laid a gangplank between the two boats and we stood to one side while the 9am tour folk disembarked from the submarine and onto our boat. Then it was our turn! I have to admit, I was a bit worried Di would drop me, but she did okay. Then this crew member asked for a photo. He seemed to be having fun!
I had to turnaround to step down the ladder into the sub. It's not made for little bears but humans so Di had to give me a helping hand to get down. Once inside it was surprisingly spacious - or not! It's clearly compact, with a little round space for human bottoms to sit in prescribed places before the portholes, but, with so few of us on board, it wasn't bad at all. Colin and I could see a propeller out of the window and it wasn't until our boat pulled away that we realised it belonged to the boat we'd just left and not the sub. D'oh! They asked all of us to spread out along one side of the boat, then we'd all get a better view, instead of having to keep circling so both sides could see.
Before we headed under the water, they sounded the DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! klaxon that you know from the movies. Whether or not they have them in real submarines I don't know but it was a great touch. Silly, but brilliant.
I was nice and comfy when this Hawaiian-shirted weirdo came and took the seat next to mine. It wasn't a weirdo after all, it was Paul (well...) We were soon underway and checking out the sea bottom.
The submarine has cards hanging up in it which help you to identify the fish you spot. I wasn't very good at this and instead preferred to just watch the fish through the window. The one below right was particularly sad-looking!
You have to understand this is a tourist attraction and as such they have to provide something for the audience to see when there's nothing so down here we found an anchor they planted for us to see.
Even more impressive was the shipwreck that we, well, didn't exactly stumble across. Another clue that this was a teensy bit planted here was when the guide pointed out that Sponge Bob Square Pants was living on the ship!
Planted or not it was very exciting to look over a ship stranded at the bottom of the (not very deep) ocean. I accept it's not quite finding the Titanic, but it's the nearest this bear is ever likely to get to that!
As the sub circled the wreck so everyone could get a good view they told us how the wreck came to be. Having bought a boat for the purpose, they sank it. There are pictures on board of how it looked before the sinking and as it disappeared under the water.
It's a light-hearted ride, with the crew milking every pun they can. Bottom right is a moray eel which they had to accompany with a song - something about big eyes and big teeth that's a moray (to the Dean Martin That's Amore tune). I wish we'd been fast enough to get that on film!
The lowest depth was 126 feet below sea level, accompanied by the Mission Impossible music. I really just wanted to experience being in a submarine and it was fantastic to get the opportunity, especially after our disappointment at Oahu.
It was so totally worth it - even though the seats were incredibly UNCOMFORTABLE! We stayed under the water for about forty-five minutes before returning to the surface (when the next boat arrives). As we were waiting to disembark I met the Captain and got a couple of pictures of me in the driving seat.
We clambered up the stairwell back to the deck. That was fantastic!! All the guys were fabulous - irreverent, silly, interesting and informative. A couple more photos and we crossed back to the surface boat. Once we were off, the next group - a lot more people this time, so we had chosen our time wisely - crossed from the surface boat and onto the submarine. Then - so cool - we got to wait to watch the submarine submerge below the waves. Awesome. It totally made the trip to see the boat come to the surface and then go back below, so it's cool that they wait to let you see it.
For the temperamental i-thingys, please go to YouTube and watch the movie here.
Even the trip back to shore was fun! I got to help drive this boat too and they got me to demonstrate how to use the lifejacket - they need to get some in Ted-size. They were all nice, happy folks and so they got my best available five Teds for excellence. I met a little boy and his mom on the boat who had been on our trip. His name was Noah, which I thought was very appropriate for a boat-fan! I said I'd put his picture on my website, but it's taken me so long, he's probably in High School by now! Heehee.
As we disembarked, the Submarine folk offered us our photo for $20, but at least it came with a little booklet about the submarine. We'd enjoyed ourselves so much, we actually bought it! I'm sure if the boat had been full it would have been a different experince, and almost certainly less enjoyable than it was, but I got to ride in a submarine! Wooooooooohooooooooooooooo!!!!!
As we left the dock, we passed the other "submarine" ride in town. While it's yellow, and the seats are below the surface of the sea, this boat doesn't submerge below the water and that just doesn't cut it for me. It was very pretty though!
We still had a few hours to kill so we decided we'd go find lunch. We took a few more photos as we walked through the town - past the The Old Lahaina Courthouse, and the Richards House, belonging to missionaries of the 1820s. Rev Richards became the envoy to King Kamehameha III and co-writer of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii. As we walked through the town a bunch of classic cars drove through town. Dunno why, but I thought this particular car was pretty cool.
We settled for Moose McGillicuddy's for lunch. We thought the name was great and I have a few moose chums on Twitter that would really want me to go there! So we did. What a great move on our part. We couldn't fault it for value - Di had a big basket of cheesy fries and we all shared some onion rings, but us guys each had the American Skillet. Blimey, there was a LOT of food! We left a few fries and one and a half onion rings (which was still my bodyweight in onion rings!) but the food was good, hot, quick and for all that as well as two Cokes and a draft Budweiser, the bill only came to $45 - a far cry from last night's pitiful dinner for twice the price. Good food, good service - no complaints at all!
We made a quick Post Office stop to ship some 100% Kona Coffee to my pal Duffy Bear (@DuffyBear17 on Twitter) before moseying through the shops in town, one last time. We bought a few more shirts (made in Hawaii) and some tourist tat (probably made in China) before grabbing a Starbucks frappuccino. Then we caught the Westin Hotel shuttle back to our hotel.
We lurked in the hotel lobby while we reshuffled our bags with our new purchases, before setting off for the airport. With one last look around we went to meet our minibus to the airport. We had it all to ourselves!
We arrived at the airport at 6.30pm and had an agricultural check of our checked bags then through security. We had time for pizza at California Pizza Kitchen - it was just a pre-made individual one, but it was pretty good! There was another agricultural check of our carry-on bags at the gate before we boarded our plane to Los Angeles. We'd been upgraded so we got our comfy seats and let Dave and Colin make their own way to Economy.
We left pretty much on time, with a four hour forty-one minute flying time to Los Angeles LAX Airport. We were due to land at 5am. Yawn. Time to catch some zzzzzzs. Just wake me for food or drinks! In our upgraded seats we got dinner, which was grilled chicken with tangy sweetcorn, carrot and onion, corn chips and salsa which wasn't bad at all but I skipped a dodgy tired-looking salad with ranch slime (dressing). There was also a double chocolate crunch bar and a small packet of pretzels. Other than the food, the flight was pretty uneventful.
