2-6-19 South to Ahihi with Susan, then Kam3 by myself


Woke up to another beautiful day!!!! Wish they were all this pretty, but alas, rain and high surf is on it's way.  So --- I better get some more snorkeling in while I can.

Susan (barefootnAR) and I planned to go snorkeling on the South side today.  So about 7:30, I in the car and heading South.  Met up with Susan at her condo timeshare and we took off together to Ahihi.

We walked down to the Dumps first, but a regular there told us it was pretty murky.  Not a place I want to go to when it's murky!  So we walked down to Ahihi cove.  Figured it was more protected.  
And it was.  Out past the shoreline it was pretty clear.  And wasn't rough like Airport had been.

 some  of the residents at the Cove:
4 spot butterflyfish

2018-2-12  Snorkeling Kam 3 and Po'olenalena

We got a late start today.  Ken didn't get up until after 10.  Still not feeling great, but ready to play chauffeur.  He didn't want to snorkel, but was interested in sitting in the sun.  So first we headed to Kam 3.  It was crowded as usual. 

I was up for snorkeling, though, so headed in. 

Another injured fish.  Whenever I see one, I wonder how it got injured. 

male spotted boxfish

I love how colorful the red pencil urchins are.

There was also a large school of needle fish here.

hard to tell here, but these sergeants have a blue tint.

a contorted Trumpetfish

view of the underwater terrain here.

wonder what this strange pink fishie is.  ;)

actually saw 2 turtles here.

more Gold Ring surgeonfish here then I've seen elsewhere.

more of the terrain

trumpetfish and red urchin

more of the terrain

an arrow----or Christmas tree?

a reef triggerfish

better view of the blue tinted sergeant major.

 threadfin butterflyfish

yellowstripe goatfish

Young yellow fin surgeonfish

raccoon butterflyfish

even a large octopus. 

heading back to the beach

After sitting out and enjoying the views for a bit, Ken suggested we go to McDonald's and grab a burger.  I jumped at the chance to get a pineapple mango smoothie!  It's been awhile since I've had one and it was a good as I remembered!
Then we headed to Po'olenalena.  He again sat out while I snorkeled.

Didn't take long to find 3 turtles.

looking back towards shore from the snorkel area

looking back towards the beach

the turtles took good portraits.

Seeing the turtles and finally hearing the whales singing made the short stay here worthwhile. 

Everytime I'd try to get farther away from them, they would swim at me. 

Sat on the beach and enjoyed the views awhile longer.

Since I didn't get enough water time already----next stop was the pool and jacuzzi.  Ken even joined me there.

Didn't want to miss sunset, so showered and headed out again by 6pm.
Decided to get a picture of this Bird of Paradise that is growing outside our condo.

 Ended up down the street from the Time's Market. 

 There was even a wedding going on there.

 It looked like it might be a spectacular sunset---and was for about 2 minutes.

 then the sun disappeared into the clouds and the color only lasted a couple more minutes.

 Still pretty, just too fast.

 and that was that.

From there we headed to dinner.  Decided on Ruby Tuesday.  We do have that back by our place on the mainland, but we never go there.  Maybe we should!  We each got the salad combo with sliders.  They advertise that they have the best salad bar on Maui.  It was very good!  Where else can you get edamame, peas, carrots, corn, cranberries, candied walnuts, blue cheese, and lots of other stuff on your salad!?  We actually brought the sliders home after filling up on the salads.

Another great day.  The weather forecast keeps threatening rain and high surf is on it's way.  Wonder how much longer this snorkeling weather will hold out?

2018-2-10  Snorkel Ahihi, walk new development by Maluaka Beach:

Ken crawled out of bed about 9am today.  He seems to be feeling better.  Not 100%, but not worse.  I suggested we head to Ahihi and he can sit in the sun and rest while I snorkel the cove.  Figure there would be lots of people there.
On our way there, I saw this guy setting up something.  I thought it was a hammock, but looking at it here it looks like something else---but what?  And why so high?!

We parked at the nice now paved parking lot just past Ahihi Cove and walked to the cove.  On our way, I marveled at more flowers.  Like these weird ones.

and these interesting ones.

I've seen these near The Dumps before.  They close up in the afternoon. 

There were a lot of little white and yellow butterflies (sulfurs?).

There's now a gravel path down to the cove, too.

the cove---doesn't look like much, but it's plenty big when you're in it and there are tons of fish!

Ken settled on to the rocks on the North end and I headed in.  first fishes were these mullets.

this parrotfish looks like it's had a tough life.

some of the terrain and fish

a juvenile coris.

2 barred filefish

another large parrotfish

And another very large parrotfish.

long nose butterflyfish

school of convicts

convict tangs, that is.

a very large peacock grouper.

white spine surgeonfish?

white bar surgeonfish

another juvenile fish that doesn't look anything like the adult.  I believe this is a juvenile saddle wrasse.

Ornate butterflyfish

red lip parrotfish

4 spot butterflyfish

close up of a coronet fish's head.

school of Hawaiian Flagtails?

looking towards the "beach"

looking towards the road

blackspot sergeant

school of yellowfin goatfish

ambon toby

I was right over this guy before I saw him.  Glad they aren't aggressive!

bird wrasse

don't see many of these guys, either---lined butterflyfish

After about 1 hour and 15 minutes, I got out and we sat on the rocks for another half hour or so.  When I got to the car I noticed the inside of my underwater camera's lens was fogged.  Hope it's not on it's way out!  

Back to the DSLR.  Love these no sight distances and about 1 1/2 lanes.  You literally can't see where the road is when you're reaching the top of the hill.  Thus you can't see if there's a car coming at you.

on the north end of Wailea is this subdivision Wailea Palms, I think.  For some reason that I can't really put a finger on,  I love the design of them from the  outside.  Also love the tree with the yellow flowers!

Heading North on Kihei Rd. 

We decided to go to the new Coconuts for a late lunch/early dinner.  First time I had their fish tacos at the one next to Peggy Sue's years ago, I really liked them.  This time I thought they were just OK.  Service was great and Ken liked his fish and chips.  They do seem to be more expensive than I remembered, though---about $15 for 2 tacos!  Guess they have to pay for the nice big space they have now.  They have the whole north end on level two shown here.

The tacos were huge.  One would have been plenty.

I never knew what an Ono looked like.  Now I know.

nice ambience.  Love the tables which are made to look like surf boards.

Then we drove by the Kamaole beaches and stopped at Kamaole 1 to see if anyone found my glasses and turned them in.  He asked for a description and went to check.  He said that happens a lot.  But they weren't there.  I figure if they're found now, they would be unusable anyway.  I'm sure the sand has scratched them to bits..

The water sure has calmed down!

Then we drove to Maluaka looking for a place for sunset.

I noticed a new pathway along the ocean behind the new construction that's going on.  Looks like the new place is going to be very fancy!  They even have a few golf holes along the beach!

I decided to walk the path and see where it goes.  The sign says it goes to a clubhouse.  

Looks like the clubhouse isn't done yet.

But the landscaping is pretty already!

Decided this wasn't a great place for sunset since you can't see the sun from the park.  So we continued on---but first got to see this cute colorful lizard.

Ended up by Makena Landing.  Not a bad place for sunset!

Again we didn't have much of a sunset, though.

not bad zoomed in, though!

Another great day on Maui! Not missing the cold back home at all!