Most people understand passion. Most can recognize a person
who has passion for what they do. Passionate people could be dedicated to a
cause, they are willing to do things they love for no compensation, they want
to spread the word, make people understand their passion or just have so much
energy about what they do that you can’t help but be drawn in. Meet Captain Dave…a
passionate man.
What Captain Dave is passionate about is Maui, the ocean,
the fishes, whales, turtles, life. Captain Dave owns and runs Safari Boat
Excursions, a small company that specializes in taking customers out for
adventures at sea. Snorkeling, sightseeing, whale watching are their
specialties. Departing out of slip 16 in Lahaina Harbor, Maui, we had the
pleasure of taking part in the Lanai snorkel excursion. While waiting for the
rest of the customers to gather, watching Anita, the Co-Captain, busily
readying for our trip, we saw a middle-aged man walking up wearing shorts, a
t-shirt, ball cap and mirrored sunglasses. “Anita,” he said loud enough for all
to hear. “Why is it that when a man speaks to God it’s called prayer….but when
God speaks to man it’s called schizophrenia?” I whispered to my wife chuckling,
“This is going to be an interesting day!”
We boarded after Captain Dave gave us a briefing about our
day and set sail for a 6-hour tour, a 6-hour tour…oh sorry. You see, Captain Dave
loves to play music to situations that occur. It so happens that as we
departed the harbor, the stereo system was blaring out the theme to Gilligan’s
Island. We were all giggling. To those that have done this excursion before,
this is not new info for you but I’ll bet you’re smiling thinking about that.
Captain Dave is all about keeping that smile on your face throughout the day.
The day would be spent traveling around Lanai in his 51
foot, custom designed, twin Cummins powered boat Lanakila. Her design allows for free
movement around the boat as there is no cabin per se. Instead there are
bench-type seats that are located from about amidships to the bow and some
behind the steering console aft. A simple, but very robust cover, is welded
into place forward of the console up to about 6 feet of the bow, to keep the
sun and about 20% of the frequent ocean spray (more about this later) off of
passengers. There is a head on board so relieving oneself overboard is not
required. The boat is very fast for her size. This allows the trip to be
possible in the almost 8 hours allotted.
The trip is filled with music, Captain Dave’s narration of
the particular areas visited, a continental-style breakfast of fruits and
breads, and a delicious lunch of three-types of sandwiches, pasta, chips, and
soda. Alcoholic beverages may be brought on board but needs to be in aluminum
or plastic containers. As stated earlier, Captain Dave plays music appropriate
to what you’re seeing. When the song starts, it dawns on you the relationship
and you smile. Sometimes, you laugh…out loud. There are three stops for
snorkeling. Captain Dave takes the boat into places that you wouldn’t think
would be possible, or should go into for that matter. He makes it look easy,
however, and is completely safe. There are several caves along the route. On
one instance, he tells people to get up on the bow as he gently noses the boat
into the cave.
You are maybe three feet away from the rocks around you and below! Not until
the bow is partly into the cave do Captain Dave’s true intentions reveal
themselves.
You see, Captain Dave likes joking around too. Surprised? I
think not. The people on the bow (yours truly included) were sprayed by the
back-blow of the wave slamming into the back of the cave. In all fairness, he
does give everyone a warning about perhaps not having your camera out. It was
quite funny actually. The entire trip is similarly stimulating, informative
with doses of comic relief and one hundred percent fun. I mentioned earlier
about the ocean spray allow me to explain. Although the Lanakila is
a large boat, the water is quite rough during the open ocean part of the
crossing to Lanai so there’s quite a bit of bouncing, and consequently, the
inevitable salt-water spray into the boat. Everyone found this to be extremely
fun. There are vinyl windows that Captain Dave can roll down to help protect us
from severe incursions of spray but we didn’t mind. It was a nice day. The
return was even better as we hit swells of about 5 feet. Standing at the front
of the boat, seeing and feeling the boat rise up out of the water and drop down
again was much like little mini-roller coaster rides. My wife and I sounded
like a couple of baby piglets squeaking, “Wee!”.
If this trip sounds like a bit of an adventure, exactly. If
it sounds like a bit of a historical narration, yes. If this trip sounds like
riding in a boat with a stand-up comic and jokester, you got it. I guarantee
you will not be disappointed…unless you’re prone to sea sickness. They do give
warnings about taking Dramamine or some form of sea sick prevention if you are
prone to this. All this aside, this was the highlight excursion of our trip.
When we go back, we will engage Captain Dave’s services again. In the meantime,
we intend to highly recommend one of his excursions to all our friends and
business associates. Try it. You won’t regret it.
Wade & Maureen Bissell
www.seasthedaycruises.com
Author’s Note:
We did not receive any compensation, monetary or otherwise, for this review. It
is based solely upon our experience and opinion. As travel professionals, we
feel it is important that factual and unbiased experiences are provided to our
customers.