Woke up at midnight, four, five – I hate my neighbors! Yet despite the constant interruptions (or in anticipation of them) I didn’t need to use the loud alarm on my phone as I was once again up before six. I put on my swimsuit and ate a power bar before gathering my gear and heading out the door for my planned snorkeling adventure.
Got checked in at the nearby dive shop; which meant getting huge flippers for my huge feet, the strongest goggles they had, and of course signing a waiver absolving the shop in case of my getting eaten by sharks or something. Then it’s back to the car and back the way I came until I reached Kihei pier.
A small young woman named Tia introduced herself and checked for attendance while a couple of guys unloaded the boat from the truck that was towing in into the water. Then we slowly piled into the boat and met the captain named John. John explained what would happen on the three-hour tour (can anyone ever utter that phrase without thinking about Gilligan’s Island ?) and that while he would be steering the boat, Tia as a dive instructor, marine biologist, and nautical ninja would be in the water with us to assist. They offered us coffee and small snacks before we took off.
Unsurprisingly, I’m the only single and the only black woman on the boat. There is one older couple, two couples with two teen daughters each, a woman with her two daughters, her son and his girlfriend, and another couple with their two young kids. The father of the last couple bears a striking resemblance to Evan Handler, the guy from Sex and the City and Californication, right down to the bald head and the stocky frame. I almost thought it was him until his wife called him Brian.
We headed out and before we even got half-way there, we spotted our first big green turtle in the water. Our destination was Molokini, a crescent shaped crater about half an hour away from Kihei. We wouldn’t be landing on the crater since actually a bird sanctuary and off limits to humans. Instead we set anchor just off the shore along with a bunch of other boats full of divers and snorkelers.
Already we could see some dark blue fish near the surface as we started to gear up. let everyone else take their turn to get off the boat, still nervous about getting into deep water. I was the kid in swim class who wasn’t lining up to dive into the deep end of the pool after the lesson was over. But I want to face the fear, hence the snorkeling. The tour guides turned out to be more than accommodating for the squeamish like myself. There were boogie boards to hold unto with a hole in the center for seeing the bottom for anyone who wanted them. There were also floatation devices in the form of bright yellow belts in different sizes. I slipped one of those on but, not wanting to look like a total wussy, I left the boogie boards to the others.
Also, something I didn’t know, you don’t have to spit on the masks to keep them from fogging like you see in the movies. Tia showed us the technique of using a spray bottle full of heavily-diluted baby shampoo onto the lenses. Rinse them off in a bucket of water and you’re left with a thin sheen of soap that doesn’t sting your eyes and keeps the lenses from fogging. You learn something new every day.
Okay. Flippers on, floaty in place, face mask prepared and properly fitted, dive shirt on to protect from sunburn, and here we go.
Oy. I thought Tia said the water was warm. Maybe to her but on my sun-warmed skin, not so much. It took a few minutes but just like my earlier trips into the ocean, I eventually got used to the water. The floaty around my waist refuses to let me drown – I could literally just stop moving and still be afloat. Cool. Deep water not so scary anymore. Now all I had to do is navigate the bit in my mouth and try to do some snorkeling.
You know, once I figured out that I should actually breathe into the odd apparatus in my mouth instead of holding my breath, the whole idea of being face-down in the water didn’t sound nearly so suicidal. And oooh …. fishies!
Tia was sitting on a surfboard nearby and once I let her know that I was okay, I was off and snorkeling. There was an amazing amount of visibility. I could see all the way to the bottom of the reef several feet away. The mask wasn’t nearly as strong as my prescription but still allowed me a good view. No pictures unfortunately. I was worried about getting my camera wet so I didn’t bring it and I neglected to buy an underwater camera. This postcard might help you get a visual. This is not Molokini but the reef looked a lot like this with schools of fish everywhere. Some of the others even saw a shark though I missed that one. Too busy trying to calm my breathing which is very loud to my ear while having to adjust the rubber piece over my nose to be more comfortable. Still kept getting water in it which required me to do some very unladylike snorting to get it out.
About five minutes after we got there, Tia warned us that another boat was coming in so stay out of the way. This one was much bigger than the one we were on and carried a whole lot more people. Dozens of them with bright floaty sticks that promptly scared most of the fish away. Man, I was just getting into that. Oh well. Our half hour at Molokini was soon up and we were back on the boat.
Have I mentioned that I love being on the water? I really love it. Even last year when I was on the ferry in Italy Maui on another gorgeous day with the sun and the waves and the sea air … awesome. Even Tia remarked that she’d love to just stay on the boat and enjoy the day. All we needed was a grill and some beer and we’d be set. Believe me, nobody gave her any argument.
The next spot was a place called White Rock that was near Wailea Beach Turtle Town ’ for this trip though the location of Turtle Town
We headed back to the pier after a brief three hours, stopping just short of docking so John could tell us a few things. He stopped in the middle of ocean because some other boats were launching from the pier and making too much noise for him to be heard. He encouraged us to finish off the snacks because as soon as we docked, those little brown birds would be all over it. I already knew about those birds from the breakfast at Caffe Kihei. Little brown vultures. He then none-too-subtly hinted that if we wanted to tip, Tia would be more than happy to hold the money. Oh shoot. I didn’t bring any cash, no credit card, nothing. Didn’t want to risk losing anything and completely forgot about a tip.
John docks the boat and I kind of slunk off and said my goodbyes. I sincerely hope that the other passengers tipped well. That was a great outing and John and Tia really deserve any tips they get. I’ll just have to tip them double on my next trip to Maui .
I have a sudden craving. I want a burger. I had some time before I had to return the equipment so I figured I’d stop by the room for a shower and a change of clothes then head out again. My first thought was to go back to Lahaina to Cool Cat which is supposed to have the best burgers on the island but I managed to restrain myself. I’d already been to Lahaina three times – enough already! Instead I chose to go back to the Wailea shops to a restaurant I remembered seeing.
When I’m seated at Cheeseburger Island Style, one of the first things the waitress asks me is if I want a Mai Tai. I hadn’t even thought of booze as I’m not a drinker but … sure! Where better to have my first one ever than in Maui surrounded by pictures of hula dancers and palm trees? And it was tasty too! The Italian style burger was interesting but also not bad.
After the meal I returned the snorkeling gear then drove to Kahului to visit a scrapbooking shop I’d seen earlier. With all the pictures I’d taken, I wanted to have some island themed supplies for documenting everything once I got home.
When I got back to the hotel that familiar fatigue was hitting me. I wanted to go out and get some ice cream but it didn’t happen. Settled down to watch Eureka
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