Hawaiian Adventure - Day 3 - Friday, October 24, 2014

Up at 6:30 so that we could go snorkeling today. Jason's uncle Tom, who is the Captain of the Maui Jim (more on that later), hooked us up with a "friends and family discount" today for our snorkeling trip. He is friends with Jan, the owner of the Queen's Treasure, a 65 foot catamaran, that was custom designed and cost 1 million dollars. There were 40 people on the voyage and we had a great time. We started off with some instructions on how to board the boat and some boating safety rules before we got under way. Then we had a nice breakfast while heading out to the reefs for our snorkeling. We were able to see a lot of coral, fish and even a turtle cleaning station - where the fish clean the turtles back.  We saw a number of large turtles and saw some of them come to the top. Chris had one very close to her and we're not sure who was more scared - her or the turtle.  After snorkeling for nearly 2 hours in the pristine warm waters of the Pacific, there was a nice lunch awaiting us on the boat.  We thought we were spoiled by the incredible coral reefs that we've snorkeled in Cuba but the reefs on Maui were equally spectacular. On the way back, some people - Jason included - saw the fluke of a Humpback whale come out of the water.  It is earlier than normal but there supposedly had also been a sighting last week. We also got a glimpse of the Maui Jim boat while we were out. Tomorrow we will be deep sea fishing on it with Jason's parents. We came home and I blogged while Ron read and the kids slept.

Our catamaran - The Queen's Treasure

Another view

Out at sea

An "old" salt

Our group enjoying the sun

Contemplating the future

The Maui Jim - the "boat" we'll be fishing on tomorrow.

After a nice rest we ventured out once again. On each 4th Friday in Kihei there is a block party so we went to eat Mexican at Roasted Chilies and then strolled around a bit. Back to the condo early because we had a 4 a.m. wake-up call. Nitey nite.
 

Sunset view from Maui Beach Vacation Club