One of the reasons we’d chosen Maui was for the exceptional snorkeling, which we really enjoy. We snorkeled almost every day of the trip, and we were not disappointed! Our first major outing was at Black Rock, where we just snorkeled from the beach. We saw a great variety of fish and coral, a number of sea turtles, and a hypnotic school of fish undulating below us.
We had a lot of fun paddling around and even were rewarded with a turtle sighting! Our only complaint about this location was that you didn't stay at one of the resorts that abutted the beach, it was a hike from the nearest parking garage. But as you can see it was worth the journey.
Our second outing was on a catamaran that took us to Lanai, where we snorkeled at the Hulopo’e Marine Preserve. The tour company we took had a family tie to the park there, which is the only reason they are allowed to visit the beach; the rest of the island is owned by Steve Ellison, and the only other people who can snorkel there his guests, or guests of the 4 Seasons Hotel (4 digit nightly rate). We were asked to stay on one half of the beach (the other half was in front of the hotel), but it was a huge beach, and we're not beach people. We donned our snorkel gear immediately and waded in to the water, which was shallow, clear, and full of fish.
Afterwards, we rinsed off, and walked through some tide pools, then hiked up to the overlook above the bay, which was quite pretty.
After lunch on the island we sailed back to Maui, enjoying the fine weather and the beautiful view of Maui as we approached.
The other snorkeling trip we took was on a catamaran to the atoll of Molokini and a spot near Makena known as Turtle Bay. Both stops were amazing, and totally different. Molokini offered us a chance to see eels, an octopus, and lots of cool fish. This particular boat had a stairway that dropped into the water between the hulls, which was the easiest entrance in to the water we've ever had. We'd also been snorkeling a few times by then as well, so that added to our enjoyment. It always takes us a few tries for us to get back into the swing of it with snorkeling.
Above is a Moray Eel; David trimmed the video at the point where he realized that the current was pushing him directly above the eel, which is when he started using both hands to correct course--not a pretty sight from the camera perspective. Below is an Orange Spine Unicorn fish.
Lana spotted an Octopus and managed to convey that to David through her snorkel. It's the greyish thing that he tried to keep in the center of the frame.
Our second snorkel spot was in Makena Bay, just south of Kihei on the island's west coast. It's known as a great place to see and swim with turtles, and it did not disappoint.
Turtles not nervous about us at all
Below is a clip of a turtle that swam right under Lana (those are her fins). You can hear David's chuckle through his snorkel mask. It was an excellent way to close out our second snorkel trip. The turtles glide so beautifully through the water, and they aren't afraid of people, so it's just delightful to hang out in the water with them. There was also plenty of interesting corals and fish to discover between each turtle sighting.
We hadn't been snorkeling since we were in the Sinai peninsula in Egypt in 2013, when we snorkeled a bit in the sandy shallows of the Red Sea. It was so nice to spend a good long time indulging one of our favorite hobbies as we explored Maui and soaked it all in.
No comments:
Post a Comment