Maui Day 4: Snorkel Adventure on Maui

My husband insisted we couldn't go to Hawaii and not go in or o the water so he booked us all a snorkeling tour. We walked down to where we pick up the boat for Blue Water Rafting company from out rental to be there for 6:30-- it was a 5 1/2 hour tour so we were gone through lunch. The boat provided muffins and fresh fruit for breakfast, sandwiches and cookies for lunch and lots of drinks as well as all of the snorkeling gear, of course.  

It was a beautiful morning on the water. We had such calm seas and I was told by several people all day that it is really quite unusual for this time of year. I was relieved because I was dreading this tour after our snorkeling adventure in the Caribbean earlier in the year. Seriously, I was hoping that one of the boys would veto this idea and while I had that pit of dread in my stomach most of the day I refused to voice any negative thoughts aloud since I didn't want to ruin any of their fun and it does seem like the boys really enjoyed it so much. I am so glad we went. 

We all climbed onto the large raft boat. 

Almost as soon as we started out we stopped to watch some whales; this is humpback whale season for Maui and we saw a lot of whales (even though this wasn't a whale watch trip). 

a whale surfacing

a  mom and baby logging!

we'd often see whales spouting (exhaling water/mist)

before spotting part of the whale sticking out of the water

We drove to the far side of the island (what they refer to as the backroad to Hana) where all the lava caves and formations are. 

We learned a lot about lava, volcanoes, how the island was formed and grown, and lava formations themselves. 

I thought the caves were the coolest part; many of them make loud noises and spray water when a large wave hits. 

They refer to this formation as "the sorting hat"... it has withstood endless storms and strong waves even though it's quite small. 

It was such a calm day at sea we were able to nose our way into this large cave.

We snorkeled near the lava formations since there are lots of small animals that make the lava rocks their homes. It honestly looked a lot like a coral reef... but all my photos came out much too blurry to see anything-- sorry!

We got back on the boat and headed out to the Molokini crater for some more snorkeling but on the way we saw some more whales. These whales were so much more active than the ones we saw earlier. 

flipper slapping..

breaching

more flipper slapping

It was like they kept waving to us over and over

before they'd round out and dive. 

We continued onto the crater and while it's a bird sanctuary on top it's also got a reef like atmosphere below water.

our boat from the water

Lots of sea urchins this time! We saw some larger black fish too but apparently I missed them in the photo! LOL

From the crater we headed to our final snorkel spot-- turtle cove! We saw tons of turtles, some swimming, some being cleaned by other fish, and some just hanging out on the bottom.

My only (slightly blurry!) photo-- see the turtle?

My only complaint was that I wish our boat had a bathroom; 5 1/2 hours is just a long time! I was regretting that one bottle of water I drank by the time we made it back to the dock. 

But overall it really was a fabulous trip and Captain Mikey and Kanoe (pronounced like canoe) were great! 

We walked back home (after using the public restrooms) and got a Dole whip on our way. Then I took a nice, long hot shower, changed into comfy clothes and hung out on the lanai for a few hours. 

The boys and I took off for an hour or so to go souvenir shopping-- I picked up a dress and a jumpsuit. Then we came back to the condo, got my husband and headed for dinner. Peggy Sue's might not have looked like much but they had delicious burgers and I was told their shakes were really good too!

The Good Golly Miss Molly is a burger with teriyaki sauce, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, onion, and cheese. I was starving after having skipped lunch and it was delicious! 

Others in this series:

Days 1 & 2

Day 3

Linking up with: Thinking Out Loud,