Maui 2

Saturday was our scheduled snorkel tour to Molokini and Turtle Town! We got up bright and early to jump in the Jeep and head over to Ma'alea Harbor (about 20 minutes from Lahaina) to catch our Trilogy boat.

Such a happy license plate design.

Heading out of the harbor. We were served fresh cinnamon rolls and coffee for breakfast on the boat.

The boat had two big props that motored us around most of the day, along with sails that they let loose later on. We had about 40 people on the boat with us.

On the Trilogy boat in the a.m.

November through March/April is whale-watching season in Hawaii! The whales give birth in the warm waters of the islands and then move on to Alaska in the summer to feed on the abundant seafood. Kinda neat to think that the whales we saw around Maui may be the same ones we see in Prince William Sound or Kachemak Bay this summer.

I thought we would have to look hard to see the whales but they were EVERYWHERE. Even just driving along the coast we'd look out the window and see them breaching, spouting or flapping a fin.

The coolest thing about the whales is that we could hear them calling to each other while we snorkeled! You had to stop breathing and block out any noise but their whale songs were audible. Really, really neat experience.

This is below deck on the boat. We stored most of our stuff down here and sat upstairs on the deck in the sun.

Looking out the window, from inside the boat.

The first stop of the snorkel tour was Molokini, a volcanic crater shaped like a crescent. The boat connected to its mooring buoy and we all jumped in the water. Some of people on the boat opted to scuba dive and a few tried snuba.

Molokini from the air (not my photo!)

One edge of Molokini island.

 

The water was SO blue and clear here. We could see very far underwater.

This area is extremely poplular with tour boats.

Along the outside edge of Molokini.

Bye Molokini!

The second stop of the day was a place just off the southwestern shore of Maui called "Turtle Town." Supposedly there are tons of turtles living in the coral and rocky caves on the sea floor. We saw a grand total of 2 turtles and like 100 other snorkelers. At one point D swam up to me and said it looked more like Snorkel Town than Turtle Town. So very true. But one of our turtle experiences was very cool - the huge turtle slowly circled as he approached the surface and we both were able to watch as he got closer and closer.

Leaving Turtle Town.

Time to unleash the sails and head back to Ma'alea Harbor.

After Turtle Town the crew fed us a very yummy lunch, with seconds even. I was feeling a little woozy coming out of the water - too much sun and not enough food I think. It was a nice breezy ride back to the harbor with some whale-watching along the way.

Maui 1

Anchorage was COLD the day we left so the warm weather was something D and I were both looking forward to. We ended up sitting 14 rows apart due to the timing of our airline reservations - I could kind of see the back of his head if I sat up in my seat. Kind of a bummer to not sit together but it turns out Alaska Air serves free mai-tais on flights into Hawaii - so that helped a bit. It was the first of many tropical drinks for us on this trip!

The city of Anchorage is at top in this photo, with Fire Island on the bottom. 

It was fairly clear and very chilly on Thursday as we flew out of town. You can kind of see the Chugach Mountain Range here. Our house is towards the top middle of the photo. 

Ice floes galore. This photo is looking down Turnagain Arm - the Seward Highway runs along the edge of the shore at left. 

Goodbye Anchorage!

As we debarked the plane in Maui, a little girl ran up to me in the terminal and I remember thinking, "wow, this looks just like my boss' daughter." Turns out it was - they were waiting for a flight back to Anchorage. We grabbed our luggage, hopped on the shuttle and were on our way to pick up the rental car. I really have to recommend Kihei Rent-A-Car. They drove us to their off-airport location (about 20 minutes away) and set us up with a Jeep that would have cost two or three times as much at a regular rental car company. Of course, our Jeep did not come with sidewalls so the back portion was open to rain and we couldn't lock anything up, but it was a fun ride regardless.

Hello Maui!

After picking up the car and grabbing a quick dinner, we headed down the coast to Lahaina to check out our home for the next 7 days. The Makai Inn was not fancy (by any means!) but it was right on the water and the sound of waves crashing on the shore was heavenly.

So many birds on Maui! Anyone know what this is - a finch of some sort?

The birds really enjoyed bathing in the Makai Inn's water fountain out front.



View from our front door.



Plumeria trees everywhere.



A few days into our stay D came out onto the patio area where I was lounging and said he saw Woody Harrelson hanging out next door! Our bedroom window overlooked an absolutely breathtaking beach house, right on the water with a lush backyard. I am in love with the style of this home - clean lines, neutral colors and lots of wood furniture. AND the big windows downstairs all slide back to open up the living room to the huge wraparound porch. It's like doubling the space of your living room. Pretty amazing. I think this was our only celebrity sighting during the trip - I heard Oprah has a ranch in Hana but we didn't catch sight of her on our foray down there.



I had to take this photo through the bedroom window screen.

Our first full day in town was Friday and we suited up (bathing suits, that is) in search of a snorkel beach. My handy dandy iPhone was instrumental in not getting us lost on quite a few occasions - love Google Maps.

Soooo white.

On the way north we stopped at the Nakalele Blowhole. See all the people standing around in the photo below? They are waiting for the eruption.

Yahoo - there it is!

After a little more driving plus some hiking and exploring, we came upon Honolua Bay. It was very rocky and required a little hike through the jungle. I don't have any photos of this area since we locked the cameras in our Jeep's glove box, but this is where were snorkeled (below). There was no sandy beach so getting in and out of the surf was tricky - quite a few people got banged up on the slippery rocks.

Honolua Bay. Lots of neat coral and brightly-colored fish. We had to swm out a ways to get to this point.

Further out in the bay surfers were catching waves.

Honeymoon funding

In our kitchen lives a little glass jar that holds all of the loose change we collect. I'm not quite sure how long this collection has been growing but we decided to finally use it towards our honeymoon trip to Hawaii.

I took the overflowing jar and dumped the contents into a sturdy tote bag. Right before we left town I stopped by the bank and used the coinstar machine - the bank takes 5% of your total after the machine processed all the change.

How much do you think we got?

Ends up that little jar was worth $86.67! Not too shabby.

Aloha

D and I are home from our busy yet relaxing honeymoon trip to Maui. We're both trying to catch up on home chores and tasks at work but I'll try to start posting some photos and recaps soon!