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

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.

2018-2-21 Time to check out the pawn shops!

Woke up wanting to hit the beach again.  Thesnorkelstore.com gave South beaches another 8.  But I also wanted to do whatever I could to try and get my ring back.  So----off to a bunch of pawn shops!
First one was the pawn shop in Kihei.  Another 1st for me!  First time being in a pawn shop!  Rather interesting experience.  Lots of cool stuff in there!  Bet my nephew would love these paintings!

We immediately went to one of the employees and explained our plight.  He was very helpful and nice.  We learned the procedures for reporting a stolen item to them.  Nice to know that they are connected to the police site, too, so when they get stuff the police can check to see if it's there.  He had me email the picture and police report to their other 2 offices, too.  Then, of course, I looked around.
Boy, they have a lot of really nice stuff!  This was a fraction of the diamond rings.

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.

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!

2018-2-15 another rainy day!  Time to shop the Shops of Wailea.


We slept in today!  Really on HST now!  Didn't get up until about 10:30!  But it was raining, so there was no hurry to get going.  I looked out our back door to see the drainage ditch pretty full again.  Not as full as a week ago Monday, but still flowing pretty good.  Not quite the view I'd hoped we'd have when I made our reservations 13.5 months ago, but it is pretty private.  At least the location of the building is pretty convenient to the ocean and the pool, so I won't complain too much about the view.

About 12:30 we decided to head out and get some breakfast/lunch.  So we headed to Round Table pizza again.  Had another coupon---which is needed there since they are so expensive.    This time we got the Ulti-Meat pizza instead of the Montague.  Brought half of it home.
 Driving back along Kihei Rd.---flooded again.

2018-2-11  Snorkeling Olowalu (MM14) and a sunset walk at Kam 1

Ken said he was up to doing some snorkeling today, so we headed to MM14.  Figured it would be an easy place for him to get in and out of and should be calm.
So in late morning we headed north.  Some places Maui is actually beginning to look crowded!

But there are still a lot of nature along the roads---like Kealia Wetlands.

and the mountains!

Not so natural, but still interesting are the windmills that look like they're growing on the spine of the mountain.

Nice to see the horses are still here, too.  I always look for them as we pass.  In the past, there were times it looked like there was nothing for them to graze on.  But there seems to be lots of greenery this year.

another picture of the windmills

I always love riding up along the side of the West mountains. 

Sort of reminds me of Big Sur

From time to time we stop at the overlook and look for whales.

love the views of the water as we come around the cliff.

I believe this is part of the campground.  I'm not much of a camper, but at a campground like this, I might be persuaded to camp.

Love the views of the West mountains, too.

 Traffic moved well today and we were at MM14 rather quickly.  Lots of families out enjoying the ocean today.

Didn't take long for us to head on in.

The water was super calm today!!!!

Hard to believe this is an ocean!

This guy swam under me almost immediately.  It is the largest flounder I've ever seen.

Looking back towards the beach

Love the reflections.

cute little Ambon tobies. 

Some of the coral formations.

Ken joining me.

an idea of how large this coral is.  Many areas the coral is quite a bit larger!

even out here it is shallow.

An idea how shallow it is so far out

an Oval Butterfly fish.

Gold Ring surgeonfish

convict tangs

more of the vast coral formations at MM14

Love how the sandy areas shows up as a light green.

Another largest one of this species that I've seen---a huge porcupine puffer.

black triggerfish

another Gold Ring surgeonfish

some different kinds of coral

I'm a little surprised that there aren't more fish out here with all this coral.

male bullethead parrot fish

raccoon butterflyfish

a Keferstein's sea cucumber?  First one of them I've seen around Maui.  I've seen a few around Kauai waters.

threadfin butterflyfish

We were amused by the family next to us on shore.  The little girl loved splashing around in a large storage container with water in it.  They also made a little slide out of the boogie board with water thrown on it.  Pretty ingenious on both accounts.

I went back out for a second snorkel while Ken warmed up on shore.  Apparently he's not feeling as well as he thought.

first one of these guys I've seen so far this trip---cushion starfish

one of the schools of fish

more of the amazing coral formations.

Ornate Butterflyfish

black triggerfish

another school of fish

the Reef Triggerfish

young surge wrasse?

white spotted toby

the White Spotted Toby's cousin---Ambon Toby

Looking out to sea

heading back to the beach again

mesmerized by the reflections in the water.

 Back on shore, again, I dragged out my DSLR Canon 60D to take a bunch more pictures.
MOre of the reflections as viewed from shore.

 playing with a small aperture to get the stars in the highlights.

blue sky reflected on the water.

Too bad this wasn't around when I was young.  Looks like fun.  Now I'd probably hurt myself!

Did I mention how gorgeous it is here?!

Even these guys were enjoying the area

Eventually I felt sorry enough for Ken that I agreed to leave.
This was near the high overlook---the ocean was so calm that the reflections of the clouds could be seen in the ocean!

more views from the pass while heading South

Almost to Maalaea marina

Back in Kihei, I checked my social media.   Someone on Tripadvisor mentioned that a pair of prescription glasses were found and turned into the lifeguard at Kam 1 today, so I wandered over to see if they were mine.  But, alas, the lifeguards were gone already---at 4:30!  ( Turns out they're sunglasses, so I know they aren't mine. )

 Quite a difference a couple days make!!!!  This was the mean ocean that stole my glasses.

One more picture of Kam 1

Ken didn't feel like heading out for sunset, so I took off for a walk along Kam 1 - Kam 2. 

Another not too colorful sunset, but it was a really pleasant evening and still pretty.

Kam 2

almost set.

I found some accommodations between the beaches that had a stairwell in the back, so I decided to check out the view from the second floor landing.

When the sun set, a group of people staying at the accommodations got out their conch shells and blew them in all 4 directions.  I'm hearing this more and more this year. 

Just a couple more pictures from Kam 1 as I made my way back to the Worldmark.

Not sure who owns those boats, but they always seem to be there.

Late dinner tonight (for us).  We decided to stay close and headed next door to Kameole Cafe at the Maui Coast resort again.  Dinner was excellent again! I wouldn't mind going back there yet again before we go home.  There was another performer tonight.  Don't know his name, but he was very good, too. After dinner, I walked to the ABC store and bought more post cards.  now to actually write some.

This was about as perfect a day as I could hope for!