Entries about reef

Today we have very few pictures because our main adventure was not documentable with our phones. In the morning we drove to Honolua Bay, north of Kapalua. We parked in a small parking lot, and then walked through the jungle to reach the rocky beach. There were "falling tree" and "falling coconut" warnings everywhere, but thankfully we did not encounter either. We did, however, encounter countless chickens, including hens with baby chicks. They made a great deal of noise, but mostly got off the path when people walked by. Though the path through the jungle seemed somewhat deserted, the actual beach was full of people, and there were three snorkeling/ scuba diving catamarans in the bay. We got our snorkel gear on and started snorkeling. There were beautiful, colorful reefs there, and there were tons of fish. We snorkeled for about an hour and a half to two hours. At one point we heard someone yell "turtle" and we went to where she was. There was a green sea turtle (honu in Hawaiian) eating algae on the reef. We kept snorkeling, and saw three more turtles. They would come up for air very briefly, then go back down for more algae. As we were looking at one turtle, we saw a giant eel swim by. Afterwards, we swam back to the shore and started to get ready to go. Daniel noticed a stand where a man was selling fresh coconuts and papayas. We didn't have any cash, so Daniel went back to the car to get his wallet and we bought a coconut. First we drank the coconut juice/ water, then the seller broke it and we ate the meat. We all liked it except for Katie, who felt that it tasted too different from the "coconut" flavor she was used to.

We went to the Times Supermarket to get lunch, and had the pineapple that Steve gave us yesterday in the field for dessert. It was Catherine's parents' wedding anniversary, so we had reservations at Duke's, which is within walking distance of our hotel.

We saw a plumeria tree on our way, and there were a lot of flowers on the ground, probably due to the aforementioned fiercely-blowing trade winds.

We picked up some flowers for Catherine and Katie to wear in their hair.

Anniversary dinner.

Some pictures from our dinner. The restaurant is right by the ocean and we were there for sunset, which was beautiful.

The food was delicious: taro rolls before the main course, then our dinner: chicken and mashed potatoes, and Maui onion soup (suspiciously similar to French onion soup, but made with Maui onions).

The famous "hula pie" which we had for dessert.

We went for a walk on the boardwalk after dinner. The stars were coming out and it was a beautiful night. It started raining as we were walking back.

Pictures with the statues in the lobby of the hotel.

We stopped at the gift shop and picked up this souvenir. We got a metal sign in Ireland last year, and this year we bought this one. We can add them to the same area in our garage to decorate.

Despite the lack of pictures, today was a wonderful day and we loved everything that we did. Seeing the turtles was spectacular, and we had a pleasant and happy day overall.

Our flight was at 10:20, so we had to get up early to get to San Francisco and get through security on time. Daniel's mom drove us to the airport, and we made it just in time to get a couple of coffees and get on the plane. Hawaiian Airlines names its planes after stars or constellations that were important to ancient Polynesian navigators. Ours was called Keali'iokonaikalewa, which is the star Canopus. Daniel appreciated the astronomical connection.

Catherine arranged for the lei greeting at the airport. Kahului Airport is interesting: very open and outdoor-feeling. It was very hot and humid and extremely windy. The palm trees were bending in the wind, and everything looked like the quintessential tropical destination.

We landed at about lunch time, Hawaii time. Catherine's parents had not yet eaten, and we had only had a little food on the plane. Catherine used Yelp to find a parking lot with several food trucks and a place to eat, very close to the airport. We all found food to eat from the various trucks, and enjoyed a delicious first meal in Hawaii.

We were especially excited about "Thai Mee Up," a Thai food truck. The spiciness scale went from 1 to 10. We asked for a seven. It was spicy but edible, and delicious. Both of us thought it was some of the best Thai food we've had. After we finished, we headed to our hotel in Kaanapali.

Catherine's dad thought he had found such a good, empty parking space. At first he couldn't see why we all objected to him parking there.

Some pictures of the hotel where we're staying. It has a similar open design to Kahului airport, and seems very comfortable. Currently, only Catherine has spotted lizards. Her current count is two.

The view from our room. No ocean view, but the side of the mountains and a beautiful double rainbow (which isn't technically permanent, but was present for most of the day today.

Catherine and her mom with matching leis and matching hats on the balcony.

We went to the beach to wade into the water, and saw a lot of people snorkeling. Since we had, courtesy of Daniel's parents, all of our snorkel equipment in the room, we went back to the room and got it, then went snorkeling. We hadn't expected to do so much on our first day, but it was a fantastic experience. Catherine's dad went with us, and we saw (judging by the "Snorkel Bob's" fish guide available in the room), a couple coronetfish, many varieties of butterflyfish, a humuhumunukunukuapua'a, a few redlip parrotfish, some unicorn surgeonfish, and some others that don't seem to appear on the card. And this was in the later part of the day, when the hotel staff said there would be lower quality snorkeling.

After this, we decided to go to the store to pick up some supplies. We went to the parking garage and got in the car. As Daniel was about to sit down on the seat, he noticed what he thought were flower petals from the leis. He went to pick them up, and they moved! As it turns out, they were small, flying cockroaches. Catherine was especially disgusted, and screamed when she saw how many there were. We decided not to go to the store tonight, and we will call tomorrow and hopefully get a new rental car. Rather than going to the store, we walked to the hotel bar/restaurant for dessert and drinks, then back up to the room to write our blog for today. Hopefully tomorrow we will have a non-bugged car!