2012-6-2  Molokini and sunset at Kameoli: 

 This morning started really early for us.  As an avid snorkeler, I've heard about Molokini and have always wanted to go there.  Carolyn said she'd be happy to drop me off and entertain herself for the 5 or 6 hours I'd be gone.  So I paid my $60 and went on the early morning excursion.  If I remember correctly, we were on the road to the marina by 6:30 am.

Here's a view of Molokini from the catamaran I was on.  On our ride out, they almost had me scared into renting a wet suit.  They emphasized that the water would be much colder being so far off shore and the majority of the snorkelers paid the extra $10@ for the wet suits.  I'm glad I didn't.  The water was great!  Certainly warmer than Kauai in Feb. and it wasn't noticably colder to me then the shore snorkeling I did earlier or later.

I was disappointed in how crowded the little crater was.  By the time we got there there were probably already 8-10 boats there.  We anchored even with the rest and were told not to go farther then the boats directly on either side of us.  That pretty much limited our area to about a 10' width!  I loved snorkeling there, but not the limitations.  I probably won't do another excursion there, either. 

But the snorkeling and coral life was abundant and the water was very clear.  There to greet us as soon as we got in the water were schools of Black Triggerfish.  There were also a few Pennant Fish amoungst them, but they were so far away I couldn't get a good picture of those tiny white and yellow fish.

The water was really clear

 and there was lots of colorful coral

 as well as colorful fish

 a pink tail triggerfish

A saddle wrasse

This is an Achilles Tang.  I was excited to see some of them here since I'd only seen one once before (on Kauai) and didn't get a good picture of it.

Sparse on Kauai, too, are the Yellow Tangs.  I saw lots of these guys on the Big Island, but I've heard they're being illegally fished out of the Hawaiian waters and sold to Aquarium stores.  I'm happy to say I saw quite a few of them around Maui.

As I was swimming back to the boat, this large eel took off across the bottom some 40-60' below. 

Our excursion also took us to "Turtle Town".  Here is one of the 3 turtles I saw there.

I was surprised how close we were to shore.  In fact the coral extended all the way to shore.

Snorkeling here was really good, too.

 Lots of fish and lots of coral

and close enough to shore that you don't need a catamaran to get to it.

Got back to the marina about noon.  Carolyn came and picked me up. Too bad it wasn't in this truck!

 Around sunset, we headed to the beach again. 

 looked somewhat promising

 We hung out at one of the Kihei beaches.

 Got a little color, but there really weren't many clouds left by the time the sun set.  Did get a full moon, though.

At least I watched the sunset.  Carolyn sat with her back to the sun and wrote in her journal.

sunset was pretty lack luster, but the palm trees helped it out.

 and that's a wrap.