February 17, 2020 Lunch – Down the Hatch Fish and Chips. Dinner – Aloha Mixed Plate

February 17, 2020 Lunch – Down the Hatch Fish and Chips. Dinner – Aloha Mixed Plate

We had another great day.

We went to the pool area around 9:00.  We sat in the hot tub and then I swam and Suzette walked the beach.  We showered and then dressed and drove to town.  We were in a hurry to arrive at the Atlantis submarine for our 12:00 departure so we walked across the street and ordered fish and chips to go at Down the Hatch and carried the box of food the one block past the largest banyan tree in America to the tables near the boat slips. The fish was large round fillets of fresh mani mahi battered and deep fried plus thin fried potatoes.

                                                Down the hatch restaurant take out order desk

We shared the fish and chips and the large can of XX we bought yesterday and then at 11:45 walked the few feet to slip 16 for the Atlantis submarine ride.  At 12:00 we were ferried to the dive site were the sub surfaced and after unloading the prior group, we entered the sub.  Atlantis is a commercial 65 foot long submarine with rows of portholes on either side.  During the hour tour the sub submerged and dove to a depth of around 100 feet and toured several beds of coral.  Then it dropped to a depth of 133 feet to the ocean floor.  We saw lots of fishes and a sunken whaling boat that created an artificial reef and fish habitat at a depth of about 75 feet and then returned to the surface next to the tug boat that acted as the surface support boat for the sub.

The Atlantis IV

                                               Three trays swimming past the sub

 

 

A parrot fish 

                                             On the bottom at a depth of  133 feet

 

                                          The  view of Maui from the transport boat

We really enjoyed the submarine ride and would count it as one of our favorite adventures of the trip.

After the sub tour we explored the history museum in the old courthouse and enjoyed walking under the 2/3 acre banyan tree that dominates the block in front of the courthouse that was planted in 1873 to commemorate the fiftieth year since the arrival of Missionaries.  

 

The story of the largest banyan tree in the US.

Suzette under the Banyan tree 

We then drove to a pawn and antique store that offered lots of items including 8 Tiger coweries, all
$80 or less, but they were beach shells that the owner had found over the course of 28 years of ocean swimming every morning.

I passed, since I had already bought a perfect hand picked specimen shell from its original habitat on the reef.

The other thing he had that I found interesting was a set of Hawaiian coins dated 1883, a nickel, dime, 50 cent and dollar.

I waited while Suzette visited another store and then we drove back to the hotel room.  We lay down and rested until 6:00 when we took the bottle of Chenin Blanc champagne we bought at Maui Wine to the pool and opened it and drank glasses while we watched the sun set over Lanai.

 

We discussed where to go for dinner and tentatively selected Fu  Linn but when we approached it Suzette said she would prefer to eat at Aloha Mixed Plate about two blocks further down Front St. because Fu Lin’s menu was a Chinese menu and Aloha had more local Hawaiian dishes.  We parked and walked to Aloha Mixed Plate.  We ordered an appetizer of Aka miso sauced, peeled, and sautéed ichiban eggplant rounds. The eggplant was cooked to order and Delicious.

For our entrees Suzette ordered the Mahi Mahi fish of the day and I ordered the Chow Funn, boiled flat noodles tossed in teriyaki sauce green onions, bean sprouts, with ground pork.  Both our dishes were dry and the sprouts in my dish had collapsed.  Suzette’s dish was served with lots of undercooked, steamed zucchini, green beans, carrots, which I enjoyed as a warm raw vegetable salad.  We ordered more sauce and were brought ramekins of teriyaki sauce, which helped add flavor and moisture to both dishes.

 

As Suzette said, “They cooked all the flavor out of the fish.”  So, unfortunately the fish did not
improve as much as the noodles.  In retrospect, the succulent round fillet of Mahi Mahi in the fish and chips at Down the Hatch at lunch was the best fish of the day.

We ordered the special dessert of the day, pineapple upside down cake, to go, paid the bill, put the ice cream on ice in our ice chest, and drove home.

When we arrived home in about ten minutes we watched the last bit of Antiques Roadshow and ate the pineapple upside down cake, which was delicious, especially accompanied with the last 1/3 bottle of chilled sparkling Chenin Blanc.  The wine and pineapple dessert complemented each other so well that that dish turned out to be the best food experience of the day.

We decided that pineapples in Hawaii are usually delicious.

So Aloha Mixed Plate’s special appetizer and special dessert were good and its regular entrees were overcooked or undercooked and not good.

Tomorrow we pack up and drive back to the area near the airport for our last night in Maui and hopefully a good fish meal at Mama’s Fish House.

Bon Appetit