So the plans for today changed at the last minute. Last night we were offered the opportunity to go kayaking or on a skiff tour this morning. The boat was going to drop us off at one part of the coast and we were all going to make our way up to the harbour where the boat would anchor. Depending on the wind would depend on how long it took with the kayaks. However, just before breakfast a pod of Spinner Dolphins turned up and it was a bit windy out so we all jumped in skiffs instead and went to follow the dolphins. These dolphins are a lot smaller then Bottlenose dolphins and they jump out of the air and spin. When I first saw it happen I thought it was a fish because it looked so small. Really cool to see. We spent ages amongst the pod, having them ride our bow waves and jumping, spinning and tail slapping around us. Just a shame we couldn't get out and swim with them. That would be cool but just wasn't calm enough. We also saw a Brown Footed Booby bird out and about. I have seen the red and blue footed ones in the Galapagos previously. We rode up and down the coast checking out the cliffs which have calved off before some last few minutes with the dolphins before heading back to the boat. It was still too rough to launch the kayaks so they opened up the swim deck instead for those who wanted a swim..no high jump today though.

After lunch, we were shuttled into Lanai'i City. Skiffs to the harbour and then transfer to a van. We had a choice of heading into town and checking out the historical museum or going to a cat sanctuary which houses over 600 cats. All the feral cats that are found on the island are bought here, neutered and spayed before living out their life here, unless they are adopted. Bizarre.

Mum and I chose the town and the museum was quite interesting. Lanai'i is pretty much owned by Larry Ellison (owner of Oracle who Adam works for). He bought it 5yrs ago for about 450million. Apparently quite a bargain they say. There is a population of about 3000 people here and the only ferry in the state of Hawaii actually goes from here to Maui 5 times a day. There is a huge resort, starting at about $1000 per night which has it's own golf course and Larry's yacht was in the water which apparently means he must be here (it is the most expensive yacht in the world apparently). Has been built with something which means it pretty much doesn't rock, even in rough waters. Pretty good stabilisers.

The museum was interesting. I always wonder how someone buys an entire island. It didn't start off that way. Someone bought a parcel of land and then another, and then another till they pretty much owned it. It has been used for sugarcane plantation, cattle ranch, pineapple (Dole family owned it for a while) and then not much else since then. I guess it is just the fascination of owning your own island. Had a look through the few shops in the town and ummed and urghed about a piece of art but decided against it. We then jumped back in the vans and were taken down to the beach where we got to hike (mini hike) up to Sweethearts Rock where we were told another great Hawaiian legend. Some great views of the cliffs too. At the bottom there were some great tide pools which had lots of baby fish, safe from predators.

Back to the boat, but because the swell picked up they spread us out over 3 shuttles instead of the usual 2 to be a little bit safer. Once we were onboard, we picked up anchor and made our way back to West Maui where it is much calmer. Tomorrow is the day where hopefully we get to snorkel with turtles. They have also thrown in an extra activity, sunrise whale watching trip at 6.30am. Would be great to start the day with a humpback viewing. I haven't slept great on this trip but I'm pretty sure tomorrow I'm going to be sound asleep when that alarm wakes us up, when every other day I've been awake.