Honeymoon Day 1 - Sunday

After 4 hours of sleep, Karen and Tim picked us up to leave for the airport at 6am! I’m not a morning person, but I was doing my best to stay chipper considering we were leaving for Maui, Hawaii! After a 50 minute flight from Portland to Seattle, we had a 2 hour layover in Seattle then boarded our 5+ hour Hawaiian airlines flight to Maui. The flight was nice. They played the Soloist but Kevin and I just watched Wedding Crashers on his laptop. It was the best airplane food I have ever had—I was very impressed. Once we landed, there was a lady standing at the entrance of baggage claim with a sign reading “Kevin Garkey.” That was the first of many times the Garvey name would be incorrectly written or said. This lady was as cute as could be, in her mid-70’s and smiling, trying to push our luggage around on a rolling cart while she whispered a conversation that we could barely understand. I felt bad and tried to carry my own purse but she wouldn’t allow it. She led us straight to our private charter bus. It was literally a 60-passenger tour bus only for us. We instantly knew we’d love Maui 
Once the bus dropped us off at the Sheraton, we checked in at the lobby. They welcomed us and congratulated us on our honeymoon. Then, tried to upsell us to a more expensive room for only $50 extra per night! What the hell? In all the movies they offer you free upgrades and champagne in your room. Needless to say, once we got to our room and realized there was no champagne, no card, no lei necklace, no rose petals, I was very disappointed. I didn’t wear my Mrs. Garvey t-shirt all day for nothing, people! Then, I quickly got over it once we saw the gorgeous view of black rock and the ocean off our private balcony. We immediately put on our beach gear, grabbed our camera and snorkels and headed to the beach. I took tons of pictures on the way; we grabbed a couple tropical drinks and took it all in. We were finally in Maui!
Our hotel was built into Black Rock on Kaanapali Beach. We strapped into our walmart snorkels and snorkeled around Black Rock on all 3 sides, looking at beautiful tropical fish varieties and SEA TURTLES! The first time one swam by me, I got so excited that I touched the turtle. Little did I know, that is a BIG no-no. So, I popped above the water, yelling at Kevin that I touched the turtle. Then everyone else yelled at me that you’re not supposed to touch them. Oops. My bad. Can’t a girl get excited?
After a long day at the beach, pool and bar, we explored past our hotel to Whaler’s Village for dinner. Hula Grill is where we ended up for our first meal. While we waited for our table in the dining room, we ordered a couple tropical drinks (complete with pineapple garnish and umbrellas) and the coconut calamari appetizer. It was the best calamari we’d ever had! We loved the environment—live band, nice chatty bartenders, warm weather and fun people. At dinner, Kevin bought me a beautiful flower lei. I ordered the Macadami nut crusted Mahi and Kevin ordered the Tandoori style Ono. It was so weird to be in a city where the fish of the day isn’t always salmon! We shared a great first meal and many drinks at the Hula grill then stumbled our way back to our room. We were pleasantly surprised to see our own complimentary bottle of champagne and note wishing us a happy marriage and thanking us for honeymooning at the Sheraton Maui. It was a very nice touch!