Early Morning Snorkelling Tour

Up at 5 and off to McKenna Resort and Golf Club for our early morning snorkeling trip.  This was the early morning express snorkeling trip with Kai Kanani.  This tour leaves from McKenna, as opposed from West Maui and is therefore at Molokini Crater earlier than the other boats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ok, so first off, there are no pictures of snorkeling because the waterproof camera thing we bought sprung a leak.  Fortunately, we used the crappy camera that neither of us like, just in case.   We did end up buying a film underwater camera before we got to Turtle Town, so we did get some turtle pics, but have to get them developed.

Now, I have always thought of fish as icky slimy things – never saw the beauty in them.  But when we got into the water at Molokini Crater, the first time I put my head under the water, I was absolutely stunned.  It’s a whole different world under there.  I couldn’t believe how incredibly beautiful it was.  The 45 minutes we spent there sped by in no time.

As we left Molokini Crater, the other companies’ boats were just arriving.  I can’t imagine how crowded it must be with all of those boatloads there at the same time!! When we were there, it was just the people on our boat and a few kayakers snorkeling.

[added later].  We salvaged a couple of pictures of when we were at Molokini Crater:

 

Off to Lahaina

After returning to the condo and showering that salt water off us, we headed up to Lahaina.

The drive north to Lahaina was lovely.  Driving through lush, green trees and such, then past outlooks over the ocean and the past several beaches full of people.  We found  a parking lot and went a block to Front Street.  Front Street is awesome!  Quaint, cool and very much geared to tourists.  We stopped along the walkway along the ocean and took some photos.  There were several boats and some windsurfers out there.  Pretty cool.

Front Street and Cool Cats Cafe in Lahaina

We wandered into several shops, all carrying pretty much the same thing – Hawaiian shirts, sundresses, sarongs and things like keychains and such.  Tons and tons of shops like this, with pushy saleswomen!! Also lots of art galleries and restaurants.  We headed about a mile down Front Street and found Cool Cats Café which they say has the best burgers in Maui.  This restaurant is located across the street from the Banyon Tree on the top floor of  an outdoor mall.  We ordered Bogey Burgers and they were pretty darned good.  Steve, our burger connoisseur, said that it was one of the best burgers he’d ever had.

Banyan Tree

After lunch, we went across the street to see the Banyan Tree.  Wow, that thing is massive.  It is like a whole bunch of trees that are all connected and take up the entire park (which is about a block long!!!  Took a bunch of photos here (and a kind lady offered to take some of the two of us).   It was nice and shady there, and we wandered around a bit, amazed by this massive tree! 

Then to the Old Lahaina court house just behind the tree, at the back of the park, wandered through there. It was now an art gallery.

Time to Leave Lahaina

The early morning and hot sun were beginning to take a toll, and my hips, knees and lower back were really beginning to ache, so we headed back.  The sun was so hot.  We walked by Maui Yogurt and Steve couldn’t pass it up. Went in and got a couple of bowls of delicious Cookies & Cream frozen yogurt, took it across the street to the boardwalk along the ocean and ate it there, looking out at the ocean.  What better way to spend time!!!!  Wandered into a few more stores as we went back to the car – Steve found a couple of tee-shirts, and I bought sarongs for Kara and I.

 

Back to Wailea

Finally back at the car and I was exhausted and aching.  I had had enough for the day!  Back towards Wailea.  We stopped at one of the rest stops overlooking the ocean and it was really beautiful.  There was a van parked there, with the back opened and they were selling souvenirs out of the back of the van.  Kind of odd – considering it was a very small rest stop, and there weren’t many parking spots or people there.

Finally made it back to the condo.  I needed a nap and crashed for 2.5 hours.  Steve came in around 5 and woke me up.  The steaks hadn’t thawed yet, and we didn’t want to go out, so we just had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.

It’s a bit windy tonight, but such a warm wind.   Steve went to bed early – I was still awake because of my earlier nap.  It will be another early morning tomorrow – we will be picked up at 6:50 a.m. by Valley Isle Excursions for our Road to Hana tour.

Oh, and also a few sunset pictures from this evening.