Maui Photo Album - October 2008
Wednesday- Kayaking
We'd read briefly about Kayak/Snorkel trips prior to going to Maui, and had read good reviews of Kelii's Kayaks. On a whim, we scheduled their 7:30am West Maui Shore trip, and it turned out to be just about the best thing we did all week!
Our guide, Aaron, was fantastic. He met us at the shore with sit-on-top double-kayaks (2 people per kayak), dry bags (for our gear), snorkel equipment, and a cooler of snacks & water bottles. He gave us sufficient lessons in how to kayak and then helped us into the water. We kayaked with the guide and two other couples. Kelii's Kayak's had another tour going in the same area at the same time, with a different guide.
We kayaked for quite a while - Matt & I covered the largest distance, just because we had a hard time going straight. As most of my friends & family know, I still don't quite know right from left, so steering is a bit foreign to me. Anyhow, it was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. We tumbled out of the kayaks (and managed not to flip it!) right over a turtle "cleaning station." Areas like this are apparently used by the turtles as places to get clean - not sure how that happens exactly. Our guide was great at showing us where to look to see the most turtles. He also (very carefully) brought up some shells (making great care to not disturb the turtles at all) for us to hold. Don't worry - he put the shells back after we'd seen them. :) We kayaked over to another area with more coral, where we saw tons of fish and even a small shark. Then, more kayaking (by this time my arms were sore and Matt was a bit seasick, so our path was even more crooked) and back to shore. It was a lot of work, but so much fun. I'd highly recommend a trip like that -- especially with Aaron and Kelii's Kayaks.
Becky, posing for the camera. The disposable underwater camera didn't give the greatest pictures -- but it did capture the beautiful turquoise color of the water that day.
We didn't see a ton of fish, but the ones we saw were really easy to see, since the water was so clear. We saw another school of fish, where all were grey except for the queen, who was bright yellow. Our pictures of that didn't turn out that well - but wow, was it amazing to see.
Matt, sitting on the kayak.
Matt, with the West Maui Mountain in the background.
Becky, caught in the act of snorkeling. :)
The Hawaiian word for turtle is "honu." We saw 10-15 turtles of various sizes. Most sat on the ocean floor, though a few swam up towards the surface. We got out of their way, of course, when they moved (since it's not right nor legal to interfere with these amazing animals).
Look carefully and you can see several turtles on the ocean floor, at the cleaner station rocks/coral.
In the middle is another turtle, over a coral area.
Aaron brought this up for us to look at - I think he called it a chalk urchin (or pencil urchin? - some writing instrument urchin!)
Becky, snorkel gear on, with the mountains behind.
More turtles.
Matt, ready to head back into the water.
Kayaking took a lot out of us, so we rested in the afternoon before going to see sunset at the overlook on the highway between West & South Maui. There, we had a great view to the other islands and a clear view of sunset over the ocean (which I think is better than watching it set over another island).
Rainbow over the West Maui Mountain, from our hotel
Sunset
Sunset had faded by this point (not quite that much - my camera is focusing on Matt here instead of the sunset) - but I think it shows that Matt's camera lies! :) He always gets amazing sunset photos, which are brighter and more vibrant than anything in reality.