As usual started the day early – and we were really excited as we were going snorkeling again. This time a diff harbor, a diff catamaran and a diff island. We were taking off from the Lahaina harbor, in the Pacific Whale Foundation boat and we were going to island of Lana’i. Well, first a little bit of information about Lanai. It is another small island not far from Maui. It was known as the Pineapple island. It was the official supplier of pine apples for the Dole company of juices. But now there is no pine apple cultivation anymore. Presently the island of Lanai is privately owned (yes!) by some chap named David Murdoch. Newho, that place is known for its pristine coral bed and also dolphins. So basically the trip that we were taking was a snorkeling trip combined with a dolphin search. So we were super excited. Got on to the boat and started the trip with breakfast. We were sitting on the deck as usual and this boat was not too crowded. Well just 15 minutes into our ride, and we spotted whales again!! Same amount of awe and wonderment, but this time managed to capture something on the camera. We were really excited as we saw like 3-4 whales.
The excitement died down and we reached our first spot of snorkeling. Yes, we were going to snorkel at two different spots today (Yay!)The first spot is known for having a superb coral bed. There are fish there, but not too many. The captain already told us that don’t be surprised if you don’t see too many fish out there but just enjoy the coral bed – as it was one of the best places to see it. We plunged in to the water and this time Sush and me kept together for most of the time. I thought after the Molokini snorkel I wouldn’t be too surprised with what I see as what we saw there was soooo good, how can it get better? But I was wrong – the coral bed here was magnificent. It was a bit wavy, and the water was not very clear, a little murky – but that did not spoil it a bit. The corals were captivating, the colors were splendid. And we did see quite some fish. I counted this time and we saw around 13 varieties of fish. After 45 mins or so of snorkeling we got back to the boat. The bad part was that there was no professional photographer on board this time who would click pictures of the water life and from whom we could buy them.
If you see in the picture - the tail of the humpback whale can be seen!
So we continued our trip to the island of Lanai. No dolphins so far. The boat was rocking as it was very wavy because of the strong winds. And the ride was pretty bumpy – almost a mini-roller coaster ride – that was how much the boat was rocking. We enjoyed it nevertheless. It just feels great to be surrounded by water all around – and not too many boats come to Lanai for snorkeling – so we couldn’t see anybody in near vicinity. We reached Lanai – it was getting very windy and we could see the currents in the water – they were really strong. One of the crew members jumped in to check if it was safe enough to snorkel. And she came back saying too wavy – not safe to let us snorkel. The captain immediately turned around and started towards Maui, but told us that he would take us to another snorkeling spot which was popular for sea turtles. He said that would definitely make up for the disappointment of not seeing any dolphins.
On our way to the other spot which was in the direction of the harbor, we again spotted whales!! We were sooo excited again!
Check out the awesome video Sush managed to shoot of the humpback whale!
Check out a few pics of the views from the deck and us posing after our snorkeling!
We reached the spot, and immediately from the boat we could see sea turtles in the water. They were just huge. We got so excited, we just jumped into the water. The water here also was murky, but the fish that we saw were too good. There were too many fish – it was a huge area where we were snorkeling. The coral bed here also was great. We snorkeled – were enjoying it totally, and we spotted the turtles. We stayed absolutely still so as not to alarm the turtle and waited for it to come closer. The turtle came closer, checked us out, circled around us and left. Believe me, its intimidating. The sea turtles are huge, and its quite scary when they so so close to you and swim by. But it was great. We saw two more turtles after that and we were very happy. We saw huge variety of fish there. And then suddenly a lady who was snorkeling near to us called us and said that there were sharks there and we should check them out. Immediately we swam to the place she was pointing to and surely saw two sharks – I was alarmed and came up and then the lady from the crew said that these sharks here are harmless and there is no danger. Phew!! Some excitement!!
I just did not want to get out of the water – cos I knew we were not going to snorkel after this and wanted to see as much as I could. But finally it was time and I had to get on board.
We had lunch – hot barbecued burgers and got off the boat and started to drive to a diff part of Maui to cover the beaches there. We drove around and covered the Ka’napali, Napili and Kapalua bays and beaches. Stopped at the various look out points and also at a beach to see the water. They were beautiful beaches, a little secluded - but absolute gems. Well, in Hawaii beautiful beaches are a way of life - we were kind of gotten used to the beauty of the place :).
We reached Lahaina around 4:00pm and had time on our hands. So decided to check out the Cannery mall there. It is a cute little mall. Were just browsing and went to a couple of Hawaiian souvenir/gift stores. Not the usual keychain, magnet stores but these stores had real Hawaiian stuff – that is designed and made in Hawaii, most of it hand crafted. Bought some stuff there and were delighted at the ingenuity of the designs. Sush started talking to a local there – to find out a place to eat good food in Lahaina – ocean facing to watch the sunset. He suggested the restaurant Kimo's – we decided to have dinner there.
After our shopping, we headed to Kimos for dinner. We reached there at around 5:30pm and decided to have dinner – at 5:30pm. We were on the upper level – like a roof top – facing the ocean directly. There was a huge cruise liner right in front of us, all decked up and everything; it felt just perfect. We placed our orders – the hotel recommended me the Opakapaka fish (that’s the Hawaiian name for pink snapper) – that was the fish of the season. He said that it was white and flaky and delicious – that’s what I was looking for. We had a 3 course meal – and quite honestly it was one of the finest fish preparations I have eaten. We had a long dinner – we were there for almost 2 hours. We saw the sun set over the ocean – the cruise liner was lit up beautifully – it felt as if the cruise was lit up just for us as it was right in front of us. There were ‘mashals’ burning for light. The sunset was magnificent and it was undoubtedly the most romantic dinner setting ever.
After dinner, we called it a night and returned back to the condo.
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