Maui started well when we realised it wasn’t going to be as expensive as we thought.
Had a road trip to a place called Hana. On the way back we stopped in at Ho’okipa Beach, the best windsurfing in the world apparently.
Really popular spot there were heaps of people in the water. Even the animals surf here.
After a couple of overcast but hot days we had a ripper day yesterday. Early start for us, up at 5.50am to get to to the Marina at Maalaea where our snorkel charter leaves from. Got to see a beautiful sunrise over the volcano Haleakala (one of 2 volcanoes that erupted creating maui) on our way out to our first snorkel spot the Molokini Crater, one of 3 partially exposed volcanic craters in the world.
I (Rach) may not have been as graceful as a mermaid in the water but once I got the hang of the whole snorkel thing I had a great time. Matt was a bit more of a natural at it.
We had an hour at this spot and the time went really quickly, the water was so clear around 160ft of visibility. Not hundreds of fish but got to see a few different ones and the coral up close. Back on the boat to the second spot, a reef just off the beach. This was the turtle spot. We we’re lucky and spotted 4 (well it may have been the same one 4 times but we’re saying 4) turtles, great to be able to swim with them, and some more varieties of fish. Photos taken by us with disposable underwater camera.
Last night we went to a lu’au at the Marriott hotel in Wailea. I got presented with a lei and Matt got a turtle carving. Great fun, all you can eat/drink, sitting around a table with people you don’t know to start with but get to know by the end of the night.
Beautiful sunset while the performance started.
The funny thing about booking these tours is that there are so many street booths advertising the same thing for different prices. We ended up at one which quoted us a good price for both. What you don’t realise until you go to pay for it is that the agents get subsidised by hotels in the area only if you attend a time share presentation. We can’t resist a good deal so sat through and endured a 2 hour one on one sales pitch spiel by a very enthusiastic / desperate lady! This included a tour of the hotel which was actually quite cool. We are now the proud owners of…. no we definitely did not buy a time share.