Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Hawaii,Day Three, Part One

Sorry this blog post is a bit late.  Yesterday was jam packed from morning til night.  The day started out with a snorkeling trip on a 65 ft boat.  We checked in our group of 16 at the Lahaina Harbor at 7:30 and boarded the boat about 8.  There were several other people on board for the half day snorkeling adventure.  The day was clear and sunny with a wonderful breeze as we set out.  The crew set out a continental breakfast for our enjyment as we cruised out of the harbor.  Fresh fruit, muffins, and juice were enjoyed as we moved at a nice clip towards our destination.  After about an hour we reached our first stop, the Molikani crater.  Those who wished could get off the boat to snorkel.  The kids loved this, even A.  Wearing a life jacket and her own tiny fins, snorkel, and mask, she swam with her daddy and saw all kinds of Nemo fishies.  Her words, not mine. 

I did not get off the boat, but stayed aboard to take photos from the deck.  I should tell you that I did not bring my dslr camera on the snrokel trip.  Not being sure what to expect, I was worried it could get damaged so had to be content with the rest of the group'soint and shoot cameras.  I will tell you the scenery was beautiful and I wished I had brought it along and taken the risk.  We did have some underwater cameras but those photos will have to get developed and scanned in back home.

After about an hour, everyone reboarded the boat and we set off ofr our second stop.  While we were cruising, a dei style lunch was provided and was again delicious.  We reached our second stop, which the crew simply referrred to as turtle town, in about an hour.  Unfortunately, the wind was a bit high, so the captain made the decision to move onto another turtle town, so called because of the large number of sea turtles in the area.  At the second stop, I even got off the boat.  I love sea turtles and the chs nce to see them in their natural environment was too tempting to resist.  I used a boogie board with a "mask"  viewer nd was able to enjoy all the beautiful sea life and corla.  I didn't see any turtles while I was in the water, but saw several from the boat deck.  Guess they all hid with eveyone splashing around!

I must include a description of the surroundings in this post.  The mountains and beaches we passed were beautiful of course.  But it was the Pacific Ocean that was the star of the day.  The water alternated between a deep sapphire blue and emerald green, depending on where we were.  Colorful schools of fish were visible even from the surface.  And below the surface was a whole world of magical creatures and colors.  And let me tell you that water was cold!   Living in Florida, I've been in the Atlantic plenty.  The Pacific is definitely colder!

We returned to the harbor about 1:30.  The first part of our day was over and it was time to head back to thenhouse to get ready for the evening.  A traditional Hawaiin Luau.  See the next post for details on that.

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