Turtles on Tuesday

Yesterday we went on an all day snorkeling trip with the Pacific Whale Foundation. It was a great day. They fed us breakfast on board the boat then took us out to Molokini Crater for our first dive site. It was great, there were lots of fish and even a morey eel. There was also plenty of coral, and sea urchins, which I gladly definitely avoided. Then, we took off to head an hour across the channel toward Lanai. That's when plans changed a little. Our boat talked with the other boats in the area to find out that snorkeling conditions around Lanai were not good and getting worse by the minute. Tradewinds were picking up and things started getting really choppy. To make a long story short, our double-decker boat with more than 100 people on board was getting realy tossed around. Michael said from where he sat he saw five different people hurl. From where I sat, I got douced with enough ocean water to drench me. After about 30 minutes or so, things calmed down and we got to snorkel again off the coast of Maui near Makena. This area is called Turtle Town, and true to its name, we got to swim with giant green sea turtles. One came about 6 feet from me! They are so peaceful and so beautiful. They just come right up beside you. It's illegal to touch them, but you can definitely get a closeup. I can't wait to develop the pictures we took with the underwater disposable camera. The Hawaiian word for those turtles is Honu, so our guides said we had a "Ho-nu expereince." When we got back to the harbor, we shopped a few minutes in the gift shop, then Todd made us a wonderful spaghetti dinner.

This is what David and Michael thought of the boat ride through the five foot swells. Michael did get a little queasy on board.

Today, for Halloween, we're going to Lahaina for an annual celebration that takes place on the streets with parades and vendors. We're looking forward to good food and shopping. Okay, well, Todd, David and Michael aren't looking forward to the shopping part, exactly. Happy Halloween!