2-5-19 snorkel Kahekili beach and Kapalua

Another early morning.  Gotta love telemarketers!  4 calls between 5 and 7 am!  I would have turned the ringer off, but I was expecting to hear from barefootnAR in the morning, so I didn't want to shut the ringer off.   
So I got up and cooked breakfast---even baked some chicken breasts and tater tots for later. 

 Then while I waited for barefootnAR to call, I decided to go check out how to get to Napili Bay in case I have a chance to snorkel there.  Found a beach parking spot and went to check out the bay.

2-4-19  Kapalua snorkel!  and walk the trail:

Today started out earlier then normal for me.  Woke up about 5 and  figured I'd check the computer quickly and go back to bed.  That didn't end up happening.  Got into a conversation on Tripadvisor and ended up talking to another forum reader.  With us both being snorkel fanatics, we were trying to come up with a plan to meet up and snorkel.  With the brown water advisory, I didn't want to go all the way to the South side in case it wasn't clear and she couldn't come up here today.  So we agreed to snorkel our respective areas today and report back to each other and try again on Tues.  

By now, I was getting hungry and tired of cereal (which I also had for dinner the last 2 nights).  So I headed to Time's grocery store.  The sun had just risen when I left, so I stopped at a little park on the way to Time's and took a couple late sunrise photos.

 I was surprised to see they even have a really nice looking breakfast bar with quite an assortment of cooked foods for $8/pound.  I thought of getting a container full, but not having a scale there, I figured I'd end up with $24 worth of stuff for breakfast!  So I bought a dozen eggs for about $3.50  and 12oz of bacon for $4.99.  Also bought some pork chops and chicken so I could have something besides cereal for dinner.  Got back to the condo and made myself breakfast.

2018-2-17  Snorkel Honolua!  and Kapalua.  Dinner in Lahaina.

The surf report showed that most of the beaches South and West were pretty flat, so I decided to see if the water would be clear enough for snorkeling---and if we could beat the predicted rains.  South beaches didn't get as high a snorkel rating today as West beaches via thesnorkelstore.com, so I suggested we head West and check out Kapalua.  If it didn't look good, we could go check out the surfers by Honolua and beyond.  So after a delicious cooked breakfast courtesy of Ken, we loaded up all our junk and took off.
First stop, the post office to mail some more post cards.  When we were leaving the post office, we admired this guy's Hog.   Certainly wasn't anything like the Honda we use to ride 43 years ago!

 Then we cut across to the highway.  On our way, we passed the Kihei food truck park.  While I think it's a good idea, I sure think they could make it look more appealing!

2018-1-31  Snorkeling Kapalua:

It was time to hit the beach!  And try a little snorkeling.  What better place then Kapalua for our newbie snorkelers!?

This time we headed to the far side of the beach---near where they rent chairs.  But when we found the rental was $40 for 2 hours or $60 for the day, we decided to set up on the ground.

the view from our mats.

It was quite choppy today.  Not a good day to be trying to learn to snorkel.  Becky bowed out right away.  Don persisted.  It really didn't take him too long to catch on even in the chop.  So after staying close to the beach for awhile, we did venture on down the rocky edge a bit.  Saw our usual pretty fishes.
Teardrop butterflyfish

We had stopped at Snorkel Bob's to rent a snorkel vest, but they recommended noodles instead.  Said they would keep you in the snorkel position better.  They even suggested we go down the block and get them where they're cheaper.  So we did and picked up 3.  One worked really well for Don.  Becky played in the water with the other 2.

a school of juvenile parrotfish

Reef Triggerfish

Ornament butterflyfish

more of the topography of the floor line.

endemic blue stripe butterflyfish

endemic pebbled butterflyfish

a well hidden scorpion fish

scorpion fish again.

a sea cucumber

adult female parrotfish

wrasse

snowflake eel

After about an hour or so, we got out and enjoyed the views from the beach

Don even made a message for his better half.

They took a walk along the beach.  I had found a child's snorkel mask in the water.  As they were walking down the beach, they saw the family who had been looking for one they lost.  So they came back and got the mask and took it to them.  The family was really excited to get the mask back

We even took a short walk along the path along the beach.  Bet this place has an amazing view.

Bet this place has even a more amazing view!

loved the sky today.

We even watched a couple whales off in the distance.

one of the wild flowers along the way

a view of Kapalua beach I hadn't seen before.  We've always stayed on the near side to the  parking lot.

Stopping for a photo.

curious things on the grass by Kapalua

When it was time for sunset, we headed to the beach across from our complex.  Noticed this complex on the right that had sand bags along it's side!  Figure it won't be long before they're in the ocean instead of ocean front!

not much of a sunset today.  But nice for portraits.

Dinner was at Beach Bums in Napili.  We were all very happy with our meals.  Then back to the condo to whip up on everyone in dominoes again.  Great way to end another perfect day!

2018-1-28  Birthday Breakfast at Sea House, then snorkeling at Kapalua, then sunset in Kahana, then dinner at Cool Cats in Lahaina:

What a lucky guy Ken is---obviously because I married him---but also because he gets to spend his birthday in Maui!  So we decided to go out to breakfast today instead of having our usual cereal.  So we had to google and try and decide where to go.  Ended up settling on Gazebo's in Napili, but it's parking lot was full.   I had heard Sea House was really good, too, and close by, so we ended up going there.  Managed to get the last parking spot.    Then walked through the Napili resort to get to the restaurant.  That's quite a resort!  The restaurant was great, too.  Glad we went!

 Can't get banana/mac pancakes back home, so that's what I had.  They were very good. 

 Ken had the full breakfast and enjoyed it, too.  I think our bill was about $24.  Maybe a bit expensive for breakfast, but the location made it worth it. 

 Speaking of location, this is the beach right in front of the restaurant.

 more of the beach

 While Ken made a few phone calls, I took a walk along the beach trail there.

 interesting flowers---or weeds.

 Found it interesting that there were even a few informational placards along the way.

 more of the trail

 Wasn't long before the clouds started to build

 We rode to Honolua to check it out.  Got a little drizzle along the way.  Looked like a great day to snorkel there.  Too bad Ken won't go there any more!

 This is the main reason why---such a rocky shoreline.  But this does look a bit more doable then I remembered.

 I admire their stamina!!!

 Back at the resort, these chairs were sitting out by the elevator!  Just found them artistically waiting there for me.

 Ken asked if I wanted to go snorkeling---stupid question!  So we headed back to Kapalua.  Even got a spot in the little parking lot, again.

 No snorkel equipment problems today!!!!  Ken actually got to snorkel, too.
Right away I spotted this school of orange spine surgeonfish.  I don't recall seeing a school of them before.

 a cute little blenny.  I don't recall seeing one with these markings before.  Usually they're solid colored.

 more orange spine surgeonfish

 a lei triggerfish

 one of the 4 turtles we saw.

 a huge spotted puffer.

Second of the 4 turtles.

 school of goatfish

 just a wide angle with lots of different kinds of fish and different kinds of colorful coral. 

 think this was the 2nd turtle again.

one of the endemic Hawaiian damselfish

 same as the above fish.  They have the neat ability to change from almost all black to black and white.  I see a little blue eye damselfish hiding in the coral, too.

 only saw one eel today.

 ornate butterflyfish

 Pearl wrasse---don't see these guys too often.

 After about 1 1/2 hours, we got out, showered off and sat on the grass for awhile.  Then we decided it was time to head back to the condo to get ready to go eat again.  This pretty little flower was watching over our car.

 By the time we were ready to head out, it was about 5:30.  Too late for an early dinner and too near sunset to go eat yet.  So we went to a park in Kahana.  Didn't catch the name of it, but it was about a mile or 2 from our condo.

It was an interesting park.  Lots of locals picnicking and enjoying the day.

 This proves there are fish here---or was.

Poor little guy---the fish, not the fisherman. 

 Pretty nice location for a sunset

 Clouds got heavy at the horizon, but we still got a pretty sunset.

 birthday boy portrait---where's Kenny?!.

 looking East.

 Back to the West.  Another really pretty sunset.  Hope these sunsets continue!

 We decided to check out Sangrita for dinner.  We saw it the other day when we were getting pizza next door at Round Table.  I even walked over to Sangrita then and checked out their menu.  Today, though, it was closed.  By the writing on the note taped to the posts, it looks like it's a permanent thing---or closed for some legal reason?!

 So we ended up back in Lahaina!  We parked in the free lot at the South end of Front Street, again, and headed to Cool Cat's.  Even had coupons for free root beer floats---a good substitute for birthday cake. 

 My salad with mahi mahi was very good.  Love the mango relish and mango vinaigrette with it.  Ken enjoyed his turkey melt sandwich.  We both really enjoyed the entertainment.  We asked the waiter what the singer's name is, but he didn't know.  He said it was her first time there.  hopefully she'll become a regular.

 On our way out Ken found someone else to talk to.

 The other night when we were there we had gone into this store-Binky's.  The guy working it was a really interesting guy and great artist!  Mark Baagoe----an accomplished painter and artist.  I really liked his metal works.

  He digitized his paintings (took of picture of them?), then had them developed onto metal.  Seems this technique is really in right now.  There was metal artwork in many stores up and down Front Street, but I liked that his were originally paintings and not photos.  I'm still thinking about going back and getting one.

 Then we made our ride back along Front Street and on our way back to our condo.

 The place was still bustling

Another great day on Maui!  A little bit of rain, but I doubt it was even measurable.  I think the high was about 82 today, but it was a very comfortable 82.
Tomorrow we pick up friends from St. Louis.  Don't know if I'll be able to keep up with my blog then, but will get to it soon.  They're newbies to Hawaii, so we're looking forward to showing them all around in the short week that they're here.