Feb. 26, 2013: snorkel Olowalu (MM14) and Baileys arrive from PDX---

Yep, another beautiful morning!  Had breakfast out on the lanai again.  Plans for today?----head to mile marker 14 and try some snorkeling.  Then head over to Stillwells and buy lilikoi chiffon pie in their bakery!

It's an enjoyable ride up the north west side.  Although parts of it really look parched!  Wonder what these horses find to eat!

Made it to mile marker 14.   It was amazingly calm!  Although the wind picked up around 2.

 It was a little spooky swimming so far out to the better reef since the water was a bit cloudy.  There are signs on the beach warning of sharks---but then, it's an ocean, so I figure they can be anywhere we snorkel (and the one I saw at Tunnels on Kauai was very close to shore in about 3' deep water).

 The DaKen fish!

 There were lots of schools of juvenile fish here.  Plus lots of channels of deeper water.

 One view from where we were snorkeling way out there by the reef.

 More of the fishies out there.

 more black triggerfish, too.  Lots of them around Maui.

 another little blenny guy

 Another colorful parrotfish (male bullethead?)

 More parrotfish --female bullethead?

 On our way back in, Ken first noticed this guy---the only monk seal we've seen since we've been here.  We always see a bunch of them on Kauai.

 Not the clearest zoomed photo, but I wasn't about to go chase this guy down!  After breathing for a few minutes, it went straight down to a hole in the coral.

 Typical coral heads throughout the area.

 Lots of these goatfish here, too, manybar?

 Lots of these female bullethead parrotfish

After a couple hours, we got out and sat around getting dry until the winds started sand blasting us.  BTW---I noticed then that the sand was actually black sand!   Newly exfoliated, we headed off to our next destination----Stillwells.  OMG!!!!  I think I could have eatten everything in there!!!  Unfortunately, they didn't have the lilikoi chiffon pie that their online menu showed.  They said to call a day before and they'll make it.  But I didn't have a problem finding a substitute.  Got the lilikoi cheesecake and a day old blueberry muffin to share with hubby.  Both were excellent!  We'll definately go back there!!!

We rode around that area for a little while.  Checked out the cruise port---which has absolutely nothing there.  If we ever get to go on a Hawaii cruise, note to self---rent a car from that port!

Heading back towards Kihei, we got a kick out of the dog sculpture at the humane society.

Also saw a whale breeching~!

By then it was about 3:30, so we decided to hit another beach.  We headed to Ulua in hopes of finding a parking spot at this late hour.  We did and we enjoyed another hour or so of snorkeling. 

It was a bit choppy, but there were a ton of fish there, especially these yellowfin goatfish and yellowstripe goatfish.

More goatfish

 even a starfish.  Don't see many of them around Hawaii.

 typical rocky and coral area.

 Look closely---spot the octopus?

 Another goatfish---many bar?

 A view of the Ulua beach from out in the ocean.  We also heard a lot of whales from here.  I was surprised we didn't hear any from mile marker 14.  We didn't even see any turtles today!

When we finished snorkeling, I went to check out the area for sunset.  Looked like great foreground choices.

 Even the beach just north of Ulua looked pretty nice.

 Loved the colorful foliage in the landscaping of the resorts there.

Sun set about 6:30.  Again, the clouds didn't lend to a very colorful sunset. 

 But it still beats sunset at my house!

After sunset, a dip in our resort's jucuzzi was in order! 

So was dinner!  We decided we wanted pizza, so we gave Round Table a try.  It was pretty good.  I especially liked the salad bar and the large variety of items in it!

Thus ends another day.  I swear they're going faster and faster!!!

Tomorrow night---some friends from Portland, Oregon, will be joining us.  Really looking forward to it!

Wed., Feb. 27:

Yep, another beautiful sunny day on the south side.  Winds seem to be up again.  Heard they're 25-30m/h with gusts of 50.  Maybe it's because we left the condo later (about 10 am), but it seemed a lot windier and the water choppier today.   But we had to enjoy breakfast on our lanai overlooking S. Kihei road and Kameole beach!

We tried to go back to Ulua today, but the parking lot was full, so we headed to the next beach parking lot---Wailea.  We had been there for sunset before, but not to snorkel, so we decided to give it a try.  On our way from the parking lot to the beach, we got a kick out of this jeeps roof ornament---a bunch of apple bananas.

This is a great beach for people watching.  We did a lot of that after snorkeling.

The surf was pounding pretty good, so we thought we'd head out to deeper water and see if it was clearer.  There was a Trilogy boat there with a bunch of snorkelers, so we just went out to see what they were seeing---which wasn't much!  We did see a couple whales putting on a show, though.  I headed out to see if I could get a better view, but they quit. 

 The typical reef there.  Not too impressive.  Not a huge amount of fish, either, but there were enough to keep us out there a couple hours.

 Here we are heading out by the snorkel tour. 

 Water was pretty deep out there, but not much to see.  Not even a turtle.  We did see one later closer to shore, but I took videos of it instead of a photo.

 A school of black tail snappers.

 more typical terrain.

 We went way around the point.  This is close to where we saw the turtle.  The beach is way around to the left.

 Checking out the clouds reflecting on the water.

 Another school of little fish.  Seen these guys several places.  Never seen them on Kauai.

 One of the few milletseed butterfly fish we've seen on Maui.

 Orangespine unicornfish

 one of the many coronet fish here---also see a lot of them around Kauai.

 barred filefish.  lots of these guys around Maui

 heading back to Wialea beach.

 ok, maybe not!  Lots of pink tail triggerfish around Maui!  Never saw one on Kauai.

 Threadfin butterflyfish---see more of these on Kauai then here.

 back on shore---people watching and whale watching.

AFter riding around a bit and calling home to check on things there, it was time for a late lunch/early dinner.  Moose mcgillycuddy's sounded interesting, so we headed there.

 Decided on something light---nachos.  They were good, but I was surprised to be charged extra for the sour cream. Sort of expected that for the guacamole, but I've never paid for sour cream before!  This and 1 soda was over $15. 

 DaKenfish then became DaKenMoose.

From there it was back to Worldmark and back to the jacuzzi.    Then I decided to get to this blog early since we'll be heading to the airport about 8:30 to pick up some friends from Portland, Oregon, who will be staying with us for 4 or 5 days.   Don't get to see them nearly enough.  Should be a lot of fun!

But I did take a break from the blog to head to the beach across from our resort to catch sunset.  

Here's the food truck parked by our resort everyday.  We hear it's really good, but couldn't see paying $15 for fish and chips out of a truck! 

After our long walk of about 50 feet, we were there!

The sun disappeared into the few clouds out there, but reappeared for a grand finale.

 Another green flash.

 Upon turning to head back across the street---this car drove by.  Reminded me of my childhood when we had a Metropolitan!  Don't see them much anymore.

 Figured I'd throw in a picture of our rental car.  It was the cheapest thing I could get---about $400 base pay for 16 days+another $200 taxes and fees.  Most we've had to pay for a vehicle yet on our trips to Hawaii!  Gas is about $4.46/gallon, over $1/ gallon more then back home.

Almost time to head out.  Hope I can keep up the blogging.  Even if I have to curtail the length of it. 

And the happy travellers are here!

Feb. 25, 2013: Po'olenalena and Drums of the Pacific luau---

 Must be getting use to the time change, or worn out from all the snorkeling!  Slept in to almost 9 this morning.  Had breakfast on our lanai this morning watching the traffic and people go by.  Almost reminds me of the Olympic Cafe on Kauai!  Great start to the day!  Hardly a cloud in the sky.  Hardly any wind---until late in the day in Kapalua. The ocean is calling us!  So---off to Ulua Beach we're headed.  Then to the luau in Kapalua at the Hyatt tonight--Drums of the Pacific. 

Well, we didn't make it to Ulua.  The parking lot was completely full.  So we headed down the road and found a parking spot at the nearby Po'olenalena Beach.  This time we were at the north end of the beach instead of by the hotel where I took a picture yesterday. 

Didn't look like much of a snorkel area, but again we spent over 2 hours in the water.  Headin' in!

A view of the north end of the beach from the water.

 There were lots of schools of tiny fish, even though there weren't a ton of other fish.  But the coral was in good shape farther out and coolest of all was listening to the whales song again!  Could hear it even close to the shoreline.

Did spot these 2 eels---white mouth moray and a piece of a zebra eel.

Also saw a lot of these shells-clams?  Haven't noticed them elsewhere. 

Cushion starfish?

another cushion starfish?  Didn't see them anywhere else.

Hybrid Hawaiian sergeant?

ringtail surgeonfish

believe this is a lizardfish

 slabeaumefish

Yep---another turtle!  In fact, we saw at least 4 turtles here!  We've stopped counting them now!!

 Did I mention I love palm trees?  Another thing we don't have in St. Louis!

 The beach just north of Po'olenalena (something like Paleaua?)

 The plant to blame for lots of holes in the bottom of my flip flops.

We left the beach about 2 and hit the jacuzzi before heading back to the condo to get ready for the Drums of the Pacific Luau.  We headed off to Kapalua a little after 3:30.  I enjoy this ride and it's varied scenery, like this in the valley.

and here of the windmills

 We were greeted at the Hyatt with this rainbow!

 Good thing we were there early!  We asked where we could park and was told anywhere you can find a spot.  So we went into the parking lot and realized it was $2/hour.  We headed back out of the parking lot and asked about the "free self parking".  They were clueless, so we parked in the public beach access parking.  At least they had pretty hybiscus growing there to make things right again.

 Walking back towards the beach we came across this unique outdoor shower. 

 The public access had hardly any cars in it.  Sort of surprised me when I saw how pretty the beach was here.  Probably not good for snorkeling, but it looked great for hanging out at and playing in the water.

We had about an hour to kill before the luau, so I had to wander around and take more pictures.

 Just another picture of the beach by the Hyatt while killing time.

 Finally we were led into the luau grounds and taken to our seats.  The performers and musicians/singers were very good. 

 Had to try a few drinks before finding they had pina coladas.  Didn't care much for the mai tais, but the pina coladas were pretty good---even though it was on the rocks.

 The food was the usual luau food and it was very good.

 When the sun set, I walked out of the luau area for a few minutes and took a couple pictures.  Again, it was a rather lack luster sunset.

A few from the walkway before heading back in to the luau after sunset.

 After eating, the show began.  I was a little concerned earlier when they did a fashion show, but it was just entertainment while eating.

 The performers did a very nice job.

 They did the dances from all the polynesian islands that came here.

 The ending was the fire dancer. 

I did enjoy the luau, but wouldn't have done it otherwise.  After going to the Smith Luau on Kauai 6 or 7 times, I don't think any luau should cost more then Smith's, since I don't think they can beat Smith's!  We love the Smith's luau---it's grounds, food, young local performers, the whole thing.   I've also gone to the Germaine's Luau on Oahu and this Drums of the Pacific luau sort of reminded me of it---a more "professional" performance, instead of the "family-like" feeling of Smith's.  We feel like we are part of the Smith's family at that luau.  The Drums of the Pacific luau was about $100/person, but with the BOGOF coupon I won and the $100 gift certificate for going to the owner update, we had it covered with nothing out of pocket.