Men's Basketball: The Word from Hawaii 2
11/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2008
MAUI, Hawaii - Aloha!
After a week that included a stunning loss in the season opener, some intensive study (both academically and athletically) and some even more intense soul searching, the Alabama basketball team was in great need of some relaxation. The trip to Maui, a voyage of almost 5,000 miles that began less than nine hours after the victory over Florida A&M, provided a perfect opportunity for just that. Friday provided an excellent mix of relaxation, fun and whale watching (that's right, whale watching) for the Crimson Tide.
Thursday's long trip can take a lot out of anyone, even highly-conditioned college athletes. The team was allowed to sleep in Friday morning with breakfast scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Maui time. Still, many of the players were rested and eager to start their first day in paradise. By the time 10:30 rolled around most of the team had already been to the breakfast buffet (featuring a mixture of common American fare along with some distinctive Hawaiian touches).
The players were ready to enjoy the sun and the surf, and they wasted little time in doing so. After breakfast and a mandatory study hall, the team hit the beach and the pool at the Westin for some fun and relaxation. The weather has been typical of Maui at this time of year, a slight breeze with a high of about 85 and mostly sunny. The team's shoot-around was cancelled in an effort to give the players a little more down time to decompress after what has been a trying week, the team enjoyed the sights around the beach and the hotel, got in some swimming and sun bathing, and joined the rest of the Alabama traveling party for a catamaran cruise off Kaanapali beach.
The cruise, courtesy of Teralani Sailing of Maui, took place via a catamaran designed and built for safe sightseeing, particularly for whale watching. The Teralani 2 was the ship taken by the party, a 65x35-foot catamaran that can accommodate up to 125 passengers, although our entire traveling party (including a few other tourists) totaled about 45 people. The catamaran has two restrooms, fresh water showers, outside and inside seating with tables and a covered salon and bar.
Maui is an outstanding place for whale watching. Humpback whales spend their summers in and around Alaska in the north Pacific. When the seasons change, the whales head south to spend the winter months in the warmer waters of the Pacific. According to the experts (in this case our captain, Captain Budd), more than 3,000 humpbacks normally pass through the waters around the Hawaiian Islands each winter. These whales come to mate and give birth. Generally, the best time to see whales in Maui is December through April or May, but we were in for a treat as we saw several whales about 200 yards off of our bow during our two-and-a-half hour cruise. We saw these whales spouting from the blow hole, spraying a cloud of water vapor into the air like a geyser as they would reach the ocean surface before descending and splashing the water with their giant tales.
The players were genuinely interested in both the whale watching and the landscape they were seeing as the cruise took us off of Maui close to the nearby islands of Molokai and Lanai before circling back and returning to shore. A short time after returning to shore, the team was treated to a meal at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant in nearby Lahaina.
It was a relaxing day for the Tide, but work begins in earnest on Saturday when the team has its first practice of the trip at the Lahaina Civic Center on the same floor the tournament games will be played on. The practice will afford a chance for the team to get acclimated to the court and the lighting in what is probably the smallest (capacity: 2,000) arena any of these players have played in on the college level.
