Ocean Life and Luau

Today we did different things. Bob and Bev decided to stay at the condo, and went out for a walk in the morning.

Gerard and I wanted to do a snorkelling trip. So we booked with "Boss Frog's", and off we went.

They served a nice breakfast on board, then our first stop was the island of Molikini, which is a sunken crater just off of Maui. The reef around it is quite good for snorkelling on the inside, and diving on the outside.

We then went to a site called "Turtle Town". We didn't see much in the way of turtles - only one - but again lots of coral, and a few fish. Overall, not the best snorkelling I've done. This is me looking for turtles.

After the 2 snorkelling bits, they served lunch on the boat, and drinks, if we wanted. But the best part...as we're heading back to the harbour in Ma'alaea, we keep being waylaid by ocean creatures. I don't have any pictures of them, because they just pop up all of a sudden, but a whale breached (jumped) out of the water. It must have been the mother, because then the baby whale jumped out of the water. We did see that, and it was amazing. Then another large whale...as it was diving the captain said, "the tail's coming next", and sure enough, the huge tail came up out of the water before going down. The tail, tip to tip, can be 12 feet, and weigh a ton...just the very end portion.

After a few more minutes, 2 dolphins swam along side our boat for a while. They didn't jump though. Then we went by more whales even closer than the others. The whales are humpbacks, by the way.

We went back to the condo, showered and got ready to go out to a luau. It was at the Hyatt in Lahaina.

It was a cross-section of dances from different Polynesian islands (Hawaii, Tahiti, Samoa), and was well done.

Hey...who's that guy in the back, learning the hula?

The smorgasbord dinner consisted of kalua pig, meaning it was roasted in the sand. And other traditional Hawaiian dishes as well.

I think dinner had been announced.

This was the Samoan fire dancer.

And the finale with all the dancers.

Our last night on Maui and in Hawaii. Tomorrow is packing in the morning. I don't know when I'll complete the blog. I might have access in an airport somewhere. But that won't be until the evening, at least.