Maui! Part 4.

On Thursday the water was calm again and it was time to try snorkeling. I was hoping for something a little more relaxing than our crazy experience in Costa Rica, and it was. A little. We walked down to the beach, rented the gear, and pretty much walked straight into the water. Unfortunately there were quite a few corally rocks in the shallow water, so we were trying hard to get into deeper areas without getting scraped up. At the same time my mask seemed to have a steady inflow of water! So I had a minor panic attack while I was trying to dry out my mask and protect my knees at the same time. Finally we got into the deeper areas over sand, and all was well. We got to see lots of interesting fish, although unfortunately we couldn't find any sea turtles! They must have seen us coming.

We left the beach for a while to eat lunch at the nearby Honolua Store, and came back for some snorkeling in the next bay over. (The bottom was all sand, but not as many fish.) For me, the highlight of the day was actually seen safely from the beach - I got to see a full whale breach! It was tiny, out on the horizon, and I only saw it for a split second, but I'm convinced that's what it was.

We spent the evening having snacks at home, and Dave watched Lost while I read. Did I mention I got lots of reading done every day? I finished Plain Truth (Jodi Picoult) and started World Without End (Ken Follett), both very entertaining.

On Friday we hoped to go to a fancy restaurant for lunch in Lahaina, another recommendation from friends, but the restaurant was closed. So we ended up again at Cheeseburgers in Paradise. We got little cheeseburger sliders, and after the table was cleared we got into a debate about whether sliders (like those at Dave and Busters, which are excellent) are really miniature burgers, or just four quarters of a normal burger! Of course, they are mini-burgers, how silly.

My favorite part of the entire trip was our whale watching boat ride. We went with a tour company called Trilogy, and it was exactly what I was hoping for. The boat was big but not too big, the crew was really nice and knowledgeable. And we got to see lots of humpback whales up close! Legally the boat can only come within 100 yards, but if you shut off the boat, and the whales drift over, they're not required to abide by the rules. There was one whale that was floating around only a few yards off the deck of the boat, it was amazing. At one point we got to listen to their underwater singing by microphone. We also got to see lots of flippers splashing, lots of picturesque whale tails, and even a little conga line of boys chasing a girl. Unfortunately, whales are pretty tough to catch on camera.

It was also really fascinating to learn some of the details of their migration. Apparently they estimate 6,000 whales hang out right off the coast of Maui where we were!

After the tour, we stopped for happy hour at a nearby restaurant, picked up a fish dinner at the Honolua Store, and headed home for the rest of the fixings.