Whales, fish, and turtles, oh my!

On Saturday, we awoke early to get to the Kihei boat ramp in order to catch our snorkel charter boat. Only ten people showed up for a beautiful morning of snorkeling at four sites. Because it is the season for Humpback whales in the area, we saw whale pods including babies that leapt out of the water with energy.

Such a great way to start a day! Sorry about no photos of the whales, but we saw quite a few of them. The captain told us it was an escort pod, escorts being the males who swam around the females and their babies, competing for something. As males do.

Here, our boat is headed to Molokini Crater, our first stop of four for our snorkeling adventure. The early morning water was clear, but we were in the shadow of the crater wall (so not much light). Clare loves floating, stationary, and watching the life flow by. So many fish! Brian was interested in taking pictures of everything, so we lost touch with each other a lot, as Brian chased a photo and Clare was just watching.
At a different stop, a sea turtle was swimming away from Brian, who had the camera. So, Clare tried to swim past the turtle for Brian to get a photo of both the human and the turtle. But the turtle could swim a lot faster than the human!
One of the fish inside the crater. We saw many different types, but they did not come out well in the pictures. Brian was sad, but Clare didn’t mind. Swimming with the fish was enough. The coral background was so beautiful.

Each of the four places we snorkeled exhibited different types of coral. This was surprising, because we didn’t travel far between snorkel stops, but fun, because it seemed like a planned “experience” ride. So varied that it almost seemed designed.

Two videos pieced together showing the Humpback whales from the boat and then some fish underwater at the south side of Molokini (second stop). The second part is mainly to hear the whale song.

Getting back toward our resort, which is the large building in the middle. An amazing day!

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