"THAR SHE BLOWS!"

 

Friday, February 11, 2022

What an incredibly BEAUTIFUL day in Maui!

The best thing to do on a day like this is to go for an early morning walk and then plop down near the Pacific Ocean to read a book or . . .

. . . watch a beach volleyball game

The views of Maalaea Bay were

SPECTACULAR!

So were more of the ancient

lava flow formations

A nice fan palm near our

Kihei condominium

The big deal of the day was a trip to the nearby village of Maalaea to board the ship Pride of Maui that was scheduled to whisk us into the Maalaea Bay for some whale watching and then on to the islet of Molokini for some late afternoon snorkeling.

This rooster met us at the dock

in Maalaea

The Pride of Maui

looked ship-shape to me

Kevin had some binoculars

to better watch any whales

that we might encounter

Andrew and Jenn were

properly outfitted

"THAR SHE BLOWS!"

We were no more than a couple of minutes out of Maalaea's harbor when we spotted our first whale.

It would be far from the last humpback whale that we would spot today.

The humpbacks migrate south from Alaska at this time of year to give birth to their calves.

There is a LOT of open water

surrounding us!

Kevin was bouncing from one side

of the boat to the other as we were

spotting humpback after humpback

after humpback . . .

An adult's pectoral fin

A humpback's tail or fluke

as is the more proper term

A female humpback slapping her fluke

and her calf breaching

Kevin's glee can be heard when the calf breaches.

This calf must have breached at least

a dozen times over a 15 minute span

Momma's pectoral fin and her

calf breaching yet again!

Molokini getting closer . . .

. . . and the village of Maalaea

getting farther away

After spending a good amount of time slowly drifting/motoring

through the numerous humpbacks, we sped up to reach Molokini to engage in some snorkeling.

We were fortunate that there were only 33 of us on board this ship that has a capacity of 110. When we arrived at Molokini, we were the only boat there which all added up to a great snorkeling experience.

Molokini is a crescent shaped, partially submerged volcanic crater that forms a small, uninhabited islet. The waters in the crescent make for wonderful snorkeling

Left to Right: Me, Andrew, Kevin,

Jenn and her Mother Susan

The Boys

Waving to Laurie and Joe,

who opted to stay dry

Getting back aboard after

a fun session of snorkeling

The boat's captain told us that at some point in our dive to put our heads completely underwater, hold our breath and listen.

I followed his orders and was pleasantly surprised to be able to clearly hear the melodious songs of the humpbacks as they communicated with each other.

It was AWESOME!

The snorkeling may have been done

but the shenanigans aboard the

Pride of Maui were definitely NOT!

Father-son bonding

As I said at the start of today's post, it was an incredibly BEAUTIFUL day in Maui!

The End