Snorkeling. Snorkeling was the big activity of the vacation. We went most days that we were on Maui. Our first day of snorkeling (Tuesday, at Maui Prince) was moderate to poor visibility, so we didn’t stay in very long. But LK had her first up-close-and-personal encounter with a turtle! Very exciting. Also, being our first glimpse of the reefs, B and I were totally blown away by the colors of the reef. We’d seen colorful fish on Oahu, but never such healthy reef and so much color.
Our second snorkeling outing, on Wednesday, was just LK and B. (Our friends went on van/helicopter trip to Hana and back. You can see pictures of their tour to Hana here.) Visibility was a little better this day and the reef (at Ulua) was spectacular. The highlight of our sightings this day was a spotted eagle ray (think of the biology teacher in Finding Nemo). We went back to Ulua beach with all four of us on Saturday and the visibility was very good. We saw all kinds of fish, three different kinds of eels. So many different species we’ll never be able to identify them all. The snorkeling was so good that we actually went in twice on Saturday. We all had to get out and warm up in between! Saturday's snorkeling at Ulua would have been worth the trip.
On Thursday, we all went on a Pacific Whale Foundation snorkeling tour to Molokini. Molokini is a marine life park that is a crescent moon shaped island formed by a volcanic cinder cone, located between western Maui and the uninhabited island of Kahoolawe. The northern rim of the of the crater lies below sea level and creates this sheltered area.
In my wildest imagination, I never would have thought the water could be so clear. The abundance and variety of fish was truly amazing. The abundance and variety of humans there was equally staggering. It’s a bit of a Disneyland with multiple tour boats all moored in this small area. We estimate that there probably was over 300 snorkelers (our boat alone had about 120). (Photo here) We also made another snorkeling stop which was not as great for visibility, but a lot less crowded. And there were turtles at the second stop as well. Then we all piled back on the boat for lunch and drinks. Ah…. Added bonus on this trip: dolphins and turtles seen from the boat.
Friday we drove up Haleakala. The summit of this volcano is over 10,000 feet. A pretty impressive vista--from 10,000 feet down to the ocean. It was worth the drive up. And they aren’t kidding that you really need warm clothes up there. It was cold and WINDY. Looking into the crater, the cinder cones are really stunning.Kihei dining. One of the nice things about staying at the Maui Hill condo was that we had a kitchen and comfortable dining spaces (indoor and out) so we did do a little bit of grocery store dining—rotisserie chicken and bag salad, frozen pizza, breakfasts and snacks.
But we did have some great food eating out. I already wrote about Sansei in a previous post and how great that was, but we had some other noteworthy epicurean outings. Our other outstanding dinner out was at Café Lei. Nice place, good service, excellent food. We also got pizza and drinks at the Tiki Lounge. This place was not user-friendly, but they had great pizza. And the drinks are in tiki mugs. One night we picked up takeaway at Pita Paradise—vaguely Mediterranean—and went back and ate it on the lanai at the condo. Lovely. Our best lunches were at Jawz and Da Kitchen. Jawz is a local fish taco place. Mostly fish tacos, but there are other choices as well. (This place just leaves Maui Tacos in the dust, by the way. No comparison.) 
We thought our Mainland friends needed to experience a true Hawaiian plate lunch place and we eventually found it at Da Kitchen. It was just what we were looking for and we had chicken katsu, teriyaki beef, moco loco, and kalua pork. All good. Generous servings at a good price--like a plate lunch ought to be. And no macaroni salad. On our last morning in Kihei, we dropped off our friends’ rented snorkel gear at Snorkel Bob’s and then went over to Stella Blues, with their Grateful Dead-inspired décor, for a big breakfast. A nice, roomy place with a good breakfast menu. I did not give this place the ultimate test though--I didn’t order their breakfast burrito.Then back to Oahu and our friends left for home that same evening. A full week of good food, tropical drinks, lots of snorkeling, and good company.
You can see all the pictures of the trip, if you are so inclined, on the Q-pages.
NOTE: Sorry! Photo links no longer work as I've shut down the Grafia site. -LKQ
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