2018-2-20  Snorkeling Maluaka and Wailea Beach

Woke up to another beautiful day!  Even the surf was cooperating!  According to www.thesnorkelstore.com, snorkeling at both the South and North beaches got a rating of an 8.  That's the highest rating I remember seeing yet.  So snorkeling was definitely in order.  So after I cooked up the last of the eggs for breakfast, we headed out.

It's been a few years since I've snorkeled at Ulua, Maluaka or Wailea Beach---usually they're pretty rough.  So we decided to check them out.  Ulua's parking lot was full, so we continued on.  Maluaka had availability.  I mentioned in a previous post that they did away with the  upper parking lot; I was wrong.  It's still there, the one I noticed the other day is the one for the boat workers and construction vehicles.  So we were able to get a parking spot way up the hill.
Maluaka

 Looking towards the snorkel area.

the water felt great. 

 It was a little murkier then I expected, but not bad out a ways. 

 puffed out white spotted puffer.

 school of goatfish at the end of the reef.

 love all the red pencil urchins all over the reef here.

 lots of tiny damselfish fish?

 cute little blue-eyed damselfish

 looking back towards shore.

 One of the few eels I've seen this trip

 He was very active.

 I was happy to see these guys again---lagoon triggerfish.  I had only seen these guys here at Maluaka or at Tunnels on Kauai.  Glad to see there are still some here.

 lined butterflyfish

 oval butterflyfish

4 spot butterflyfish  

 after about 1 1/2 hours of snorkeling, then sitting on the beach awhile, we decided to hit another beach.  Without the trade winds the wind isn't picking up in the afternoon. 

 Found a parking spot at Wailea beach, so we went there next.
Continuing on with my heart themed plants.

 looking towards the snorkel area.

back towards the parking lot

 first stop---here for another yummy Hawaiian shaved ice---

 mango coconut for me.

 lots of people at this pretty beach, too.  We've come here to walk the ocean view trail many times, but usually the water's too rough to snorkel when we're around

 after eating our shave ice, we headed to the beach.

 Ken set up in the shade and I headed out.

 school of surgeonfish

 saw a couple turtles here.

 I love these guys---paletail unicorn fish.  They have human looking faces.

 These guys must be use to being fed.  They hung around me for awhile

 Sunburst butterflyfish---first one of these guys I've seen this trip.

 reef triggerfish

 long nose butterflyfish.

 Christmas wrasse----not many of them around Maui, but there are a lot of them around Kauai.

 a juvenile coris.

 There were a lot of paddle boarders out here. 

 my human faced friend again.

 the tree that makes a cool focal point from the coastal walkway.

 flounder.

 I was pleasantly surprised to see these Lagoon Triggerfish here, too. 

 the lagoon triggerfish cousin, the Reef triggerfish.

 Good indication that there's at least 2 lagoon triggerfish here.

 school of little surgeonfish

 There was a small school of yellow fin surgeonfish here, too.  To see a huge school of these guys, snorkel Lydgate on Kauai!

 a coronet fish.

 school of convict tangs.

 heading back to shore.

 sitting in the sun enjoying the views.

 by now it was after 4, so we decided to head out.

We decided to hold off on dinner until after sunset.  Ken stayed back at the condo while I walked North up to Kalama, again.  Along the way, I saw these flowers growing wild on the fence by a drainage ditch.  They look like Stephanotis---a prized flower for weddings!  They have a heavenly scent!

I crossed over Kihei Rd. by Charlie Young park and headed to the beach. 

The guy doing the carving on the beach was there and unwrapped the one that had been wrapped up all the other times I've been by there.  He definitely knows what he's doing!

He drew a pretty good crowd.

I continued on

Between cove park and Kalama park.

even the surfers stopped and watched the sunset

even got a green "flash" tonight.

looking north

from Cove Park

near Charlie Young Park

towards the boat at Kam1----wonder what happened to the 2nd boat?!

By now it was time to eat.  So we headed to Fat Daddy's.  We'd never been there before, but the gal who helped me at LensCrafters recommended them.  So glad she did!  Wish we had gone there sooner!!! We would have been back!  For $40 we got 2 dinner platters (this one was mine), a lilikoi cheesecake, and a soda.  Not bad---for Hawaii.  BTW---those were the best Brussels sprouts I've ever had!  And the chili mango vinaigrette was surprisingly good (I never would have thought to put chili in salad dressing!).  The pulled pork was good, but what made it was the really good bar b q sauce!

Ken's hot links, homemade chips and cornbread (I tried the corn bread and hot links too, and they were both great.  Some how, I didn't get any of the chips).

It was a great day.  Just had to not think about my missing ring.