Feb. 22, 2013:  "A" is for Ahihi!

I must be getting use to the time change.  I actually slept in to 8 am.  Ken was already up and on the computer.   We have internet now!  We had the option of getting it for 10 days or a whole year---nothing in between---thus the few days to McDonald's earlier.

It was another beautiful morning---lots of blue sky and white clouds and a nice breeze.  In fact, it didn't seem to be as windy today as it has been---although we still have a constant breeze and lots of gusts.  Anyway, we've heard that snorkeling should be done in the morning before the winds kick up, so that's what we've been doing.  Today I decided we should go to Ahihi Cove to snorkel.  It is south of Wailea.  Didn't look like much from the road, but looks can sure be deceiving!!!  It's another rocky "beach", so entrance is harder.  They had Ahihi preserve workers there telling people where to get in so that the reef on the other side wouldn't get more destroyed.  We still saw a few trying to enter from the wrong side.  I also saw a diver having problems with his gear and totally stomping on a head of coral.  I wouldn't be surprised if this cove is closed off eventually like Fishbowl!  I know it's listed as a great place for beginners, but it's difficult entry and coral so close to shore makes it hard if you have problems while in the water--no where to stand and adjust equipment. 

As soon as I entered the water, I was shocked by the variety and numbers of fish!  I didn't know yellow tangs could get so big!  In fact there were lots of very large fish.  I was in snorkelers' nirvana!  The Kauai lover in me is being taken over by the snorkeling lover in me!  Maui is leaps ahead of Kauai for snorkeling.
First guys I saw upon sticking my face in the water.  Only downside to the snorkeling was the water wasn't nearly as clear as it was at the other places we went to so far.  I'm surprised photoshop cleared most of them up so well!

Whitebar surgeonfish.

Finding Nemo fish-orange spine unicornfish.

blue parrotfish.  There were lots of parrotfish here.

And another yellow trumpetfish!   Not quite as big as the one at Honolua, but very yellow!

A bluefin trevelly.

peacock groupers--  I've seen these guys at Lawai in kauai pretty often.

Lots and lots of yellow tangs here!  They are very rare on Kauai.

Overall view of the terrain.  The coral isn't nearly as large as at Honolua, but I'd say the fish were more plentiful here.

I've seen blue goatfish on Kauai before, but not this blue!

Another fish rare to Kauai--the long nosed butterflyfish, again.

I have no idea what this is!  Maybe in the trevelly family???  I've been told this is a Leatherback Jack.

I saw one of these guys in Oahu my first trip to Hawaii.  Finally found them again!  --sailfin tang.

They deserve another picture!

A filefish? or triggerfish? barred filefish?

Love finding these guys at Lawai on Kauai.  Nice to see they're here, too.  Black Triggerfish.

These guys get overlooked by me so often that I decided to try and get a good picture of one---convict tang.  They're often seen in schools.

This guys deserves another picture, too.  He was HUGE.  Red lipped Parrotfish

About 1 we decided it was time for breakfast/lunch.  So we headed back to our home for now.  I had my leftover kalua sandwich from Da Kitchen and Ken made himself Spam and eggs.  Ken decided it was time to rest, so I took off for a walk by myself.  I headed across the street to the beach and headed north this time.  I was surprised to see the clouds had let up and the sun was really beating down.  Would have been a great day to hang out at the beach all day.  But we had planned to go to happy hour at Stella's on the Blue, so weren't going to get in the ocean again today.  I did enjoy my walk, though.

Agave???

Even found a bunch of purdy flowers to pose for me.

Neat looking flower that looks like bougainvillia, but is rod-like.

LOVE all the bougainvillia!  We don't have any of that in St. Louis.

An interesting vine flower.

Another beautiful delicate looking bush that I don't think we have back home.

I thought this was a really neat art piece.

Shortly after I got back, we headed off to happy hour.  Unfortunately, or fortunately for many people, the Kihei friday night celebration was going on and shopping center where Stella Blue's is was closed for the festivities.  Just when we thought we knew were we were going!  Now we were back to, "Where do you want to go?"  "I don't know, where do you want to go?"   We ended up at Ocean's happy hour and had a brew, a discounted appetiser, and shared a fish and chips (seems to be a theme---obviously we don't get good fish in St. Louis!)  We enjoyed our dinner there, too, and the open air dining.

Ok, a rather odd picture---a bathroom in a park, but this bathroom is very unique.  The mosaic tiles are made up of mirrors and colors so it really twinkles when you go by it.  I noticed it from the car. 

Then we went beach where I was walking earlier in the day and waited for sunset.  Here are the weird rod-like flowers in the foreground that I took a picture of earlier.

Looking south.

No green flash tonight.  Too many clouds at the horizon.  But that led to more interesting sky.

Taking advantage of the sunset.

horizontal wide angle.

Looking backwards after sunset.  Lots of pink in the sky today.

That ends another great day on Maui!  Time is going too fast!

Feb. 21: Just another windy Thursday---

Up early again.  This time we took a walk on the beach across from our resort (Kamaole I, I think?).  It was a beautiful morning.

Lots of blue skies and clear blue water. 

Love the view of the distant windmills.

After walking the beach and sitting on the beach for over an hour, we decided snorkeling was in order.  So back to the condo we went, stopping to take a picture of one of my favorite flowers---- hibiscus.

Soon we were in the car heading south to Maluaka Beach.  I had snorkeled there last May and knew it was great.   Here's a view as we were walking to the beach from the parking lot. 

After snorkeling Honolua yesterday, I wasn't quite as impressed here, but still was pretty happy.  The water wasn't as clear and the coral wasn't as healthy, but there was still plenty to see.  These guys greated us as soon as we got in---right by the shore.

I knew the healthier reef was a ways out so headed straight there.  It was clearer there.

Even spied this zebra eel.  It was about to come completely out of it's hiding place when 2 kids went splashing by.  That was the last I saw of the eel.

I've seen lots of these 4 spot butterflyfish on Kauai, but not in terrain this nice.

Haven't seen any of these guys around Kauai, so I'm including another picture of him.

As I was slowly snorkeling around, this big turtle decided to come up and get a breath of air.

I love triggerfish and don't see many of these Lagoon triggerfish.

After about 1 1/2-2 hours, we were getting chilled so we decided to get out and sit in the sun for awhile.  That is until it totally clouded over!  Plus it was quite windy, as shown by these palm trees.  So we decided breakfast/lunch was in order.

This beach definitely isn't the easiest place to find!  I guess that's why we were able to get a parking spot!  The only clue that we were on the right road was the "road ends" sign.  There was a bit of a walk to the beach, but not bad.  Along the way there is a construction barrier covered with palm branches.  I thought that was an ingenious way to camaflouge the construction tarp. 

I also marveled at all the huge cacti growing by the parking lot.

After driving around doing the "what do you want" conversation again, I said how about Zippy's.  We really enjoyed it on Oahu and noticed they had one in Kahului.  So I punched Zippy's into our Garmin and away we went.  Being somewhat wet, we went to the counter side of the restaurant instead of the sit down side.  I really like that they offer both options.

My mini mahi-mahi meal wasn't bad, either.  Ken enjoyed his burger, too.

While we were in Kahalui, it poured down rain.  But I was on a mission to find lilikoi dessert.  Garmin said there were 3 bakeries in the area.  We tried a couple, but the employees there just looked at me funny.  The 3rd one Garmin took us to was actually a residence!  I decided Garmin didn't know what he was doing and we gave up the hunt.  But at least we were treated to another beautiful rainbow.

Back in Kihei, we decided to drive around and see where it took us.  We ended up at Waipuilani Park.  I was surprised to see it so vacant!  It really is a beautiful spot.  The water was calm and I noticed there were lots of rocky areas near shore.  I wonder if it would be good for snorkeling?  But for today, I just walked the beach while hubby called people back home and checked on the winter storm going through there right now.

As we were leaving the park, I made hubby stop so I could take a picture of the really cool concrete wall along the road.

Also love all the bougainvillea hedges all around Hawaii.  We don't see that back home!

We gave up on sunset because of all the clouds.  Instead we hit the resort jacuzzi.  Love these flowers they have planted around the pool area.

Love the pool and jacuzzi, too.  The pool is even heated.  Our resort on Kauai does not have a heated pool and pools even in Hawaii get really cold in the winter!  This one even has waterfalls.

After dark, we again wondered where we should go for dinner.  I guess I'm going to quit trying to give hubby a chance to decide so we don't have to have the "what do you want" conversation all the time!  I decided we should give Peggy Sue's a try tonight.  It is a cute little diner.  My pineapple milkshake and chicken teriyaki was very good.  Ken enjoyed his bacon cheese burger, too.   Loved the decor, too!

 That pretty much finished off our 3rd full day here.  Hopefully this wind will end soon!  Not only do we have winds, but now we have flash flood warnings, too.  After the floods on Kauai last year while we were there, I'm hoping this doesn't continue much longer.