2018-2-13  Snorkeling Po'olenalena and The Dumps!

Ken still isn't feeling good.   So no snorkeling for him!  But that doesn't mean I didn't.  Gotta take advantage of the conditions when they're good!  So today we went back to Po'olenalena so I could snorkel it with clear goggles (yesterday i didn't reapply the no-fog gel and my mask was foggy most of the time).  Ken sat in the sun and rested.  Then he drove us over to the Ahihi parking lot where he rested some more while I snorkeled The Dumps.  That has to be the Nirvana of snorkeling!  While I was snorkeling, Ken also manned the phone.  Turned out we got 2 important calls.  First one was from Trilogy saying our whale watching tour tomorrow was being moved to Lahaina instead of Kaanapali.  Good thing!  Since we thought we were going to Maalaea!  I called back and asked if we could do the one out of Maalaea instead and, fortunately, they switched our reservations.  The other call was from Lenscrafters to say my hi-index glasses were in.  So a trip to Kuhului was in order for the evening.

But first---Po'olenalena ---

Again I was treated to the music of whales singing in the distance.

 underwater terrain at Po'olenalena

 looking back to the beach from the reef.

  just another one of the 3 turtles there

 endemic peddled butterflyfish

 chub

 ornate butterflyfish

orange spine surgeonfish

 what the sand looks like when the waves break above it

 a lonely starfish

 not so lonely turtle

 female stareyed parrotfish

 yellowstripe goatfish

 yellowtail coris

 ringtail surgeonfish

 really, I tried to swim away from the turtles, but they kept coming at me anyway

 find the eel

 arc eye hawkfish

 spotted puffer

 moorish idol

 unicorn fish

 4 spot and milletseed butterflyfish

 On to The Dumps!  After the first time we went here years ago, I got some rubber bottomed sock like things (fin liners?) to wear to walk over the rocks.  It really helped! 

Immediately upon entering

the coral reef here is amazing.

so are the fish!

They get really big here---like this peacock grouper

There are fish everywhere here.

filefish

white spotted surgeonfish.  I've only seen one or 2 of these guys elsewhere, but there were a bunch of them here.

There were also a big school of flagtails near the shore.  Not sure what the guys on the rocks are---haven't seen them elsewhere.  Their fins almost make them look like little sharks---but their heads are different.

pink tail triggerfish

assortment of fish

oval butterflyfish

the odd couple

I keep trying to get a picture of these sailfin tangs with their fins extended, but haven't had much luck.

There's a lot of shallow areas here.

orange bar surgeonfish

elegant butterflyfish

achilles tang---there are a lot of these guys here, too.

more butterflyfish---I love how they come in such a variety of colors and designs.

white bar surgeonfish

a dark chub

white spine surgeonfish

more of the general terrain here.

a school of yellow tangs.

  a yellow trumpetfish

white saddle goatfish at a cleaning station

white cheek surgeonfish---this is the only place I've seen these guys, too.

a very unique spotted chub.  I've never seen one this dark before.

  4 spot butterflyfish

ornate butterflyfish

gold ring surgeonfish

female bird wrasse

another rarer butterflyfish---pebbled butterflyfish

leather back jack

colorful oval butterflyfish

many bar goatfish

the school of fish by the entrance/exit again.  I'll call them pseudo sharks until someone tells me what they really are.  (think I found out what they are---six-feeler threadfins : http://www.marinelifephotography.com/fishes/mullets/threadfins.htm )

trekking across the rocks on my way back to the car.

Wonder if this wood is used for carvings?  Sure looks like it would be good for art projects.

more of the trail back to the parking lot

LOVE this guys helmet!

heading back towards Wailea.  There certainly are a lot of cacti down South.

The road work that's been going on for awhile now.  Didn't seem to be much of a delay, though.

 After showering and putting real clothes on---we took off to Kuhului.  With the clouds that had moved in, I figured we'd have no sunset tonight, so there was no hurry to get back.  But the clouds did make a mystical draping on the mountains.

 From the stop light by the mall LensCrafters is in.

I, again, was pleasantly surprised at how well my peripheral vision is with my new glasses.  I've had so many problems with that for years now.  I was just led to believe it was because of my very strong prescription and progressive lenses.  Now I know that's not true!  Why 2 pairs of glasses?  These are the high index ones with the frames I wanted.  They couldn't put the polycarbonate 1 hour lenses in those frames, so they suggested I get a pair of glasses with the thicker lenses in 1 hour and order the thinner high-index ones; then return the one hour ones when the high-index ones arrived in about 7-10 days.  So I had planned to return the first pair, but am rethinking that.  Both pair came out to just over $800 with tax---not really much more then I'd pay for them on the mainland.

After getting the glasses, we wandered over to the Ben Franklin craft store in the mall.  Loved going to them in Dallas, Oregon, years ago, and in Kauai.  Didn't buy anything, just browsing.
From there it was off to Long's drug store---for more cold meds for Ken.

Then it was time to figure out where we were going for dinner---yes, we eat out at least once a day almost every day!  Decided on Zippy's---only place we know in Kuhului.  I enjoyed my chili and corn bread.  There was so much of it that I even had some to take back to the condo.  Ken enjoyed his 2nd breakfast for the day (I actually cooked bacon and eggs this morning).  We also ordered a couple malasadas to go.  After all, it is Fat Tuesday!

I thought a couple days ago was about as perfect as a day could get!  I think this one even surpassed that!