Day 7 - Maui, Hawaii

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On this day, there was excitement as well as some apprehension. Snorkeling! We left home around 8:30 am after breakfast. We need to find a parking spot that will be valid for 7 hours in Lahaina. Mornings are OK to park in Lahaina area. We got a lot that is free. By 9 am we were sitting in front of Pier #18 waiting for the catamaran. There would be at least 45 people. This hi-speed boat had bench seats on either side of the captain’s station. One can sit on the outside tube also. Captain Greg and Andrea gave a nice introduction to the activities that day. This cruise and snorkel is organized by ‘Maui Adventure Cruises’.
Plan is to take us to east lanai (snorkel area about 1000 yards from shore), then search for Dolphins and land on the south side of Lanai near the popular Hanalua beach. We would have lunch in the beach area, spend couple of hours there and head back to Maui.
Near the snorkel area, the instructor asked first timers to stay back until they got a lesson in snorkeling. This is just a quick 10 minute do’s and don’ts. P1 and I got prescription snorkel gear. That was cool. Sindhu and I wanted noodles to float. Greg encouraged us to get into the water. We were one of the last to go in. Surprisingly, we got the hang of it in couple of minutes. We started floating and viewing the corals. Soon, I could see colorful fish, school. The water was very clear. There was so much color between the corals and the fish. I started moving around little away from the boat. Now, I spot a white tipped coral reef shark about 50 yards away. It turned away from me. I was stunned. Then I shouted to Sindhu and P1. Sindhu was little far away. P1 had a glimpse of the shark as it turned and moved away. I was thrilled! We heard the three whistles. That meant we had to get back to the boat. 45 minutes had gone by so fast. Now, we dried ourselves and had some snacks. Greg steered the boat toward Lanai. He had gotten radio contact about Dolphins in the area. We started seeing them as we headed toward the Lanai shore. Pretty soon the whole boat was surrounded by dolphins, probably about 150 of them. They were spinner dolphins, spinning as they come out of the water. They seem to know that we were watching them.
Boat dropped us by the pier. We carried our lunch boxes and backpack. We also took the snorkeling gear. There was a slight chance that we could swim about 100 yards and snorkel in the Hulopo ‘e bay. It is easier said than done. After eating our lunch in the nearby park, we walked to the beach. On our left were the lava pools. Four seasons were to our right. It was sunny, but we found a shaded spot. P1 and P2 went to the beach. I followed them after a while. We were allowed two hours there. Boat was leaving from the pier at 3 PM. Kids and I walked to the lava pools ten minutes away. It was a neat location. When big waves come in, rocks of various sizes are filled with water. There were lot of fish and black colored crabs. One can even swim in these waters. We felt like 3 PM crept on us very fast. On our return trip, I told Andrea and Greg about the sharks. They were surprised since that area is not popular for sharks. Greg has seen sharks only 5 times in his 17 years of visiting that spot.
In Lahaina, we went to Leppert’s ice cream. One of the vendors there was trying to sell time share to us. We headed home to freshen up and rest. About 7 PM, we left home for dinner. We headed back to Lahaina. There are number of restaurants here. I had narrowed a few during my research. We picked ‘Cilantro’ Mexican. There were quite a few choices for vegetarians. We ordered burritos, Quesadillas and Enchiladas. Quality of food was very good. We also went to Safeway to replenish some groceries. After coming home, Sindhu got the warm clothes ready for the next day. We also arranged wake-up call at 2 Am.

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